| Ed Sheeran – The A Team Lyrics | 1 month ago |
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The use of Irony in Ed’s lyric is the strength of the song. A cheery catchy melody with a dark tragic lyric adds to the lyrical irony. Being on the “A team” usually means being on the best team, but here it suggests being addicted to a schedule A drug, in the case crack. “The best things in life are free” becomes “The worst things in life come to us for free.” Ed’s gift was his ability to use poetic irony and a catchy melody at such a young age to explore a very dark subject. Good on ya Ed. |
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| Pixies – Monkey Gone to Heaven Lyrics | 5 months ago |
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The start of the song is a lament for the pollution and the “hole in the sky” (destruction of the ozone layer) “We’re all gonna burn” relates to that too. The 5-6-7 phrases at the end express a hierarchy of spiritual development: Human beings (5) are caught between temptation/evil (6) and divine enlightenment (7). 6 however, is closer (more accessible) to 5 than 7. This part of the song symbolizes the struggle of man to rise above the material/evil (6) and reach spiritual enlightenment/nirvana (7). Essentially Francis saying “this monkey’s gone to heaven” means man was too stupid to create a good thing on earth, so maybe he’ll find it in the next world. Morrissey wrote “Love peace and harmony? Maybe in the next world.” At this same time. The Zeitgeist of the musical underground at the time was that boomers had sold out and that uber-consumerism was ruining everything. - They weren’t wrong. |
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| R.E.M. – Swan Swan H Lyrics | 1 year ago |
| @rikdad101@[yahoo:52373].com a very good interpretation, though Michael rarely had direct meaning to his lyrics back then. He used to say he liked to “paint” imagery with interesting words and let listeners fill in the blanks as they see fit. You filled in the spaces nicely. “Hoorah we’re all free now” (to do what we’re told) is melancholy irony I enjoy in Michael’s lyrics. One of REMs best and because it was released before they got big, lesser known. Tragic. | |
| Son Volt – Tear Stained Eye Lyrics | 1 year ago |
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“Can you deny There's nothing greater Nothing more Than the traveling hands of time?” He’s explaining that he doesn’t have power over time he can’t go back and time marches on, it waits for no one. “St. Genevieve can hold back the water Saints don't bother With the tear-stained eye.” The town St. Genevieve built dams and levees to hold back the water after it’s flood - but nothing can help him, he cries and nothing can “hold back the water” the “Saints don’t bother” to give him peace. A song about lost love, lost youth, and cruel truth about time. 100% Mr. Farrar. |
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| David Bowie – Life on Mars? Lyrics | 5 years ago |
| The speaker or narrator in the lyric is describing a person who is being asked to focus on a brutish simulation of reality that leaves the viewer wanting something more. The speaker wonders if there is life outside the Matrix, perhaps on Mars. Bowie was from the future...change my mind. | |
| Bob Dylan – Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts Lyrics | 5 years ago |
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The Jack of Hearts is not literal. He represents the devil or evil in general. He’s the “leader” of the bank robbers and the one that encourages Lily to help kill Jim. Card playing and chance are referenced throughout the song as nobody knows when they will draw “The Jack of Hearts” but clearly people draw that card often in this town and not even well heeled Jim is immune. “But his bodyguards and silver cane were no match for the Jack of Hearts” Rosemary was Jim’s wife. Lily was Jim’s in-town mistress. Both she and Lily (both likely victims of Jim’s abuse) plot to kill Jim probably by Lily getting him in bed and allowing Rosemary to enter and stab Jim In the back. Why would Lily agree to the plot? Maybe it’s the evil at work? “They said nothing would ever come between Lily and the king No, nothin' ever would except maybe the Jack of Hearts” Rosemary ultimately pays the price for the murder on the gallows. Rosemary wanted to do “one good deed before she died” and killing Jim, ironically, was that deed. Lily gets away and is not punished as an accomplice. She seen at the end of the song leaving unemotionally but solemnly considering her luck too, she understands she’s always one draw away...from the Jack of Hearts. “Lily had already taken all of the dye out of her hair She was thinking ’bout her father, who she very rarely saw Thinking ’bout Rosemary and thinking about the law But most of all she was thinking ’bout the Jack of Hearts“ |
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| Nirvana – Jesus Doesn't Want Me for a Sunbeam Lyrics | 6 years ago |
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How do you make the devastating loss of faith in everything beautiful? This right here. Though Kurt didn’t write the song, he gives it a realness the Vaselines didn’t. On loss of faith and rejection of salvation or absolution: “Don’t expect me to cry fir all the reasons you had to die” On loss of faith in self: “Don’t expect me to die for me” On the refusal to fake it or put a positive spin on it: “Don’t expect me to lie” Simple, beautiful, dreadful. One of the best songs of the 1990’s |
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| Vic Chesnutt – Supernatural Lyrics | 6 years ago |
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Vic would have enjoyed the debate over his lyrics. I can assure you it’s not a song about God per se. Vic paints a picture of a buffoon “king” and contrasts it with his experience with Demerol after his car accident. Then he mentions Deja vu and asks the listener are all these crazy things random or somehow “Supernatural”? Then he answers his own question, “Supernatural? ...maybe”. |
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| R.E.M. – Wendell Gee Lyrics | 6 years ago |
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Michael intends to leave his lyrics vague in order to let the listener “finish the work” by interpreting the work in their own way. This was a concept championed by conceptual artist Marcel Duchamp. That Michael made it his lyrical style speaks to his genius. I apologize in advance for my probably horrible interpretation. The speaker has his heart “strings” pulled by his memory of the once innocent and good Wendell. The trees - one’s accomplishments or works, were once held in line by this string. In other words (good works held in line with heart and soul) The line of trees are no longer in line though they once were, the past tense “held” instead of present tense “holds” is used in the lyric. “That's when Wendell Gee Takes a tug upon the string That held the line of trees Behind the house he lived in“ Then the dreadful lyric representing loss of Wendell’s innocence: “He was reared to give respect but somewhere down the line, he chose“ Works themselves without heart or soul are meaningless and temporary. They are hollow trees of sorts in that they ultimately sag and fall. Lizard skin infers the serpent or selling one’s soul out, perhaps the the devil or evil in general. “When he climbed he sagged” infers to the loss of one’s foundation of integrity. “He had a dream one night That the tree had lost its middle So he built a trunk of chicken wire To try and hold it up But the wire, the wire turned to lizard skin And when he climbed it sagged.” The good Wendell was replaced by the bad Wendell and the speaker laments the loss of a friend: “There wasn't even time to say Goodbye to Wendell Gee” The last stanza is perhaps one of my favorite song lyrics anywhere. “So whistle as the wind blows And listen as the wind blows through the leaves If the wind were colors And if the air could speak Then whistle as the wind blows And whistle as the wind blows through the leaves.” Michael paints a beautiful nature scene here as we imagine the speaker missing his old good friend Wendell while listening to wind blowing through the brown leaves where Wendell’s old trees once stood. The trees (our works) are temporary and contrasted with our immortal souls (the wind) “Whistle as the wind blows through the trees.” Indeed. Thanks to JMS for continuing to let listeners “finish the work” themselves. |
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| The Rolling Stones – Monkey Man Lyrics | 6 years ago |
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A Brilliant Savage Lyric. A “monkey on your back” is a term for a nagging addiction or affliction. The narrator is a “monkey man” meaning a drug dealer - he’s a “Cold Italian Pizza” meaning something that once looked hot and appetizing but now makes you sick just to look at it. He “needs a lemon squeezer” why? To turn lemons into lemonade (chance for redemption?) or simply to add flavor to a vodka? (Digging the hole deeper) Mick’s voice interrupts and makes an “apology” for discussing real world issues and for writing another lyric “sympathy for the devil” “Well I hope we're not too messianic Or a trifle too satanic” But we love to play the blues” Then the speaker returns to say he doesn’t worry about all that heady stuff, he just wants to sell some drugs. “But well I am just a monkey man I'm glad you are a monkey woman too Monkey woman too babe.” Savage lyrics indeed. |
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