| Marianne Faithfull – Working Class Hero Lyrics | 6 years ago |
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Working Class Hero, by Marianne Faithfull is by far one of the most powerful songs to have ever been produced. Upon listening to the lyrics it was self evident as to why they enabled me to hold my head up after decades of severe bullying. From opening lines in the first verse “As soon as your born, they make you feel small, By giving you no time instead of it all. Till the pain is so big you feel nothing at all.” This song is a life life to anyone who has been downtrodden, ridiculed and bullied, in school, college, your place of work, it happens everywhere and can happen to anyone. Before I stumbled across the Broken English album, I was broken, almost completely deflated and felt I had fight left. I was subjected to daily ridicule, consisting of everything from being taunted from the beginning to the end of my day, I must point out this started when I was 7 years of age. The taunts would range from name calling to black eyes and broken ribs. In the verse “ They hurt you at home and they hit you at school, They hate you if you're clever and they despise a fool Till you're so fucking crazy you can't follow their rules“ I didn’t know where to turn, who I could ask for help, and as such who could I trust. The ‘ring-leader’ of the Bullard was my brother. It started from the minute I woke up, and rarely stopped until he thought I was sleeping. (We used to share a bedroom back then. My teachers were, I see now, were useless, the situation at home was turbulent and our mom really did try her best. Every thing I tried to make it stop simply made it worse “When they've tortured and scared you for twenty odd years And then they expect you to pick a career, But you really can't function, you're so full of fear, fear” I left school with no qualifications, any aptitude or desire I had for education and learning was quite literally punched, kicked and beaten out of me. For anyone who’s been through this on any level, these lyrics eventually showed me I was never insignificant, useless or anything of the like as I’d been lead to believe. I found this track in 1991, when I was 17. I’m now 42 and about to start a Bn in paediatric nursing at Edinburgh Napier University, bullies have only the strength we allow them. This track is a life long addition to my life’s soundtrack. Thank you Marianne Faithfull Forgive my rant. If just one other person is to come across this and hopefully find some help or strength in my words, I’ll know it wasn’t a fruitless task. Thanks for reading. Feel free respond. Kyle. |
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| Fever Ray – Seven Lyrics | 6 years ago |
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Once again, Karin effortlessly engages much more than the simpler channels of our pleasure receptors in the track ‘severn’, it is for me, providing a snapshot into the lives of two, probably younger girl friends. In school, yet maybe not quite teenagers who enjoyed spending a lot time together, being the best of friends. They talked and listened to each other, and while this may have seemed ideal to them, and full of wonder, they appear to (for me at least) be under darker skies. In the mix of their friendship, they speak on the phone or meet regularly, by the kitchen sink. Talking about everything young friendships would, a wide and varied collection of conversations. Hearing one such subject refer to dishwasher tablets, hinting towards the possibility they may have been in jested, as they talk about illness and dream about heaven. As with the lyrics of ‘keep the streets empty for me’ where very subtle implications of abuse or trauma can be found, they are, I feel more prevalent in these lyrics. ‘I think I know it from a hymn, they said so, it doesn’t need no explanation ‘suggesting the young friends may have religious connections or backgrounds, or surrounded other avenues of control. It’s possible that as young and perhaps impressionable friends as they may have been, the church or religious order, or simply their strict parents, from whom they would have received guidance and tuition in life’s many complex and varied routes into adulthood. These may very well have had significant standing, while also potentially damaging. I know it, I think I know if from a hymn They said so, it doesn’t need no explanation, our word is law, and should never be challenged or debated, as it would not have been considered the right way. ‘A box to open up with light and sound, making you cold’ Offers the interpretation of youngsters having light and sound, (hopes, dreams and a voice to carry them) as they grow into adulthood, their dreams have become a shadow of something. unrecognisable to the people they once were. The final verse For the subject in this effortlessly classic track speaks volumes for me. A box to open with lights and sound, (a human being with a world of discovery and a voice to share their journey), And if you don’t you’re on your own ( follow the crowd or be cast out) A box to open up with lights and sound making you cold, very cold. The depths of emotion, the feeling and privileged glimpses into what had quite possibly been a difficult and demanding and deeply personal journey within every track this exceptional artist produces shows us all that from dark there comes light, from pain comes relief. Karins ability to produce such powerful imagery and to provoke thought in many different is axiomatic, a genuine credit to the world of music. Thank you for taking the time to read this. Please feel free to give me your take or opinions. Kyle |
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| Fever Ray – Keep the Streets Empty For Me Lyrics | 6 years ago |
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I’m a very recent addition to the undeniably talented musician. After hearing a small section of “morning, keep the streets empty for me” I had to hear the whole song. I believe the lyrics refer to death from a non-human perspective, perhaps a deer, a badger or even spiders but definitely land animals. The chorus could be interpreted as perhaps animals asking (if they could) to get to where they need to be safely, or perhaps with such powerful imagery within the verses, the chorus is a human perspective, from anyone on the planet who’s ever ran late for anything in their life ever (just satin). But I digress, I interpreting the meanings of these lyrics to be a lyrical manifestation of long standing, very deep and perhaps difficult feelings. Dealing with death, seeing cruelty to the animals around us (I’m going to assume Karin is vegetarian) and struggles with it. I also felt there was reference, albeit cryptic, to abuse. I found the compilation completely immersive, hauntingly beautiful and I can’t believe I’ve not heard her before now. If you’ve made it this far, cheers for your patients. Feel free tell me that you think. K |
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