| The Cars – Touch and Go Lyrics | 16 days ago |
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It's amazing how many high-minded sophisticated interpretations people will come up with for songs that are just plain and simple about sex. Ric/narrator is dating a woman that is only interested in giving and receiving manual sex. She likes to give Ric/narrator handjobs and he fingers her. Ric/narrator is unsure about this because he'd like to have vaginal sex too and also actually develop the relationship further (neither of which she is interested in), but on the other hand, he's so attracted to this lady, and she does in fact get him off. He's unsure what to do. But, that's where they're at - he comes over, fingers her, she gives him a handjob, and then asks him to leave, e.g. [at] "midnight then you said it's touch and go..." This isn't rocket science, folks. What the heck do you think "touched your star" - "headlock on the floor" and "with me it's TOUCH and go" mean? Holy cow. Also: It's "Oh oh I touched your star." not "Uh oh I touched your star." Source: I literally own the record and all Cars albums have the lyrics included. |
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| Led Zeppelin – Immigrant Song Lyrics | 2 months ago |
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It's about the waves of Viking invaders heading to Britain during the early Middle Ages (793 - 1066 AD would be the typical dates given). A bit obscure of a topic to the American audience, but something every Brit would know about and understand from school. Van Morrison also has a great song "Listen to the Lion" (1972) that references the same historical period, with the repeated lyrics... "And we sailed, and we sailed, And we sailed, and we sailed, and we sailed... Away from Denmark Way up to Caledonia" I think both songs are kind of a commentary on the decadence of modern society - people in the 1970s with all the amazing comforts of life complaining about this and that, when their forefathers literally sailed across a dangerous sea and invaded a hostile island to create a new society less than 1,000 years before...but that's just my take. |
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| Jane's Addiction – Summertime Rolls Lyrics | 2 months ago |
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Perry loves his girlfriend because they have lots of outdoor sex while on ecstasy/MDMA and they both like it. This isn't rocket science, folks. |
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| Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young – Fair Game Lyrics | 2 months ago |
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Mr. Stills is advising his fellow men that for good and easy sex, sleep with extremely insecure women who are in fact attractive but think they are unattractive due to their insecurity. Strange and extremely misogynist (even by standards then) lyrics but kick ass song musically - pretty much the same as his also extremely misogynist previous hit "Love the One You're With"... |
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| Generation X – Ready, Steady, Go Lyrics | 4 months ago |
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"Ready Steady Go" was a 1960s era British TV show about the latest popular music. Its presenter (host) was Cathy McGowan. The narrator gets all of his musical opinions solely from that TV show, and he only watches that TV show because he thinks Cathy McGowan is attractive. This is pretty straightforward: Idol is playfully mocking the previous generation for how they "learned what's cool" i.e. because it's not in fact cool to base your entire musical knowledge off a TV show that you watch because you think the host lady is hot. But, that's what the vast majority of young Brits in the 60s did. |
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| Talking Heads – Paper Lyrics | 6 months ago |
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This is a tough one but I think it's just about [song]writer's block and how frustrating it is. When he tries to put his ideas (not sure if he's talking about lyrics or music or both) onto the paper, they seem undeveloped - literally the paper is "thin" and it doesn't hold up to scrutiny (i.e the sun rays pass right through). I think the "take a few weeks off, make it tighter" is again the idea of him pressuring himself to write an even better or more perfect song, while struggling with writer's block. The Offspring's incredible song "Gotta get away" expresses basically this same theme in its lyrics - i.e. it never feels good enough ("I think I'm on a roll But I think it's kinda weak" - The Offspring). So basically David is wishing that everything he came up with is worthy of being put "on the paper" but unfortunately because of his own exacting high standards, it's not. PS Tina's bass playing on this song is so cool. |
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| Radiohead – Bones Lyrics | 1 year ago |
| This song is obviously about clinical depression as many have pointed out. But, what no one has discussed is what do the lyrics "When you've got to feel it in your bones" means; my interpretation is that it's talking about what the typical "chin up, lad" attitude of the stiff-upper-lip British culture would say to a person with depression: you can just feel your way out of it by digging deep and toughening up (bones being the hardest part of your body). He feels awful, and nothing works ("prozac, painkiller") and society's only response is basically telling him to "be strong and toughen up" - feel the strength of your bones. | |
| U2 – Surrender Lyrics | 1 year ago |
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First, I don't think the 48th floor line is a suicide reference: Sadie has given up her "family life" and become a high-end escort, hence the "on the street" and "people she meets" lines in the big city, (e.g. a place like New York). She's in a high floor / penthouse of a hotel, having sex for money. The amazing thing about this song is that Bono is not just saying "the big city doesn't have all the answers" he is also saying "traditional family life doesn't have all the answers" because he states that that wasn't good enough for Sadie. So, in effect, Bono is rejecting the entire false dichotomy (so relevant to today, and the theme of so many songs throughout Rock n' Roll history) of "living a simple life" vs. "the excitement of the big city" For Bono, the *only* solution for Sadie is to seek God, like he has done. She must surrender her entire life to Jesus, or there is no hope. Pretty powerful stuff. PS Musically I think this the most underrated song in all of U2's catalog. The melody when Bono starts singing is so incredibly powerful and uplifting in contrast to the haunting almost scary chorus and high-pitched guitar chords throughout. The music itself is a metaphor for the entire message of the song: Bono's voice is the straight and narrow path to God coming through the glitzy sounds and distractions of everything else about the world. |
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| Talking Heads – Crosseyed and Painless Lyrics | 1 year ago |
| I think this is one of the best songs of all time. However, I have no idea what it means. But, there's clearly a ton of hospital/medical imagery. I think it's just about a person sitting in the emergency room triage line in agonizing pain from some injury and looking around at all the sophisticated hospital stuff and thinking about the extreme amount of education and accumulated human knowledge that has gone into developing the hospital (not to mention all the medical training, i.e. "facts" possessed by the doctors), and then being in awe how, despite all of that, he's still just sitting there, in pain, waiting. | |
| Joe Jackson – Look Sharp! Lyrics | 1 year ago |
| No deeper meaning to this one. It's about a pickpocket who goes to pubs and steals from obnoxious drunk people. The three lines right before "you gotta look sharp" in each verse are what the pickpocket really thinks about the people he's stealing from, whereas the other lyrics are his act getting in their good graces before he steals their stuff. In the end of the song he steals this particular man's watch and wallet after listening to him lecture him on how to dress better. | |
| Joe Jackson – (do The) Instant Mash Lyrics | 1 year ago |
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The song title / lyric "Instant Mash" is a joke / reference to the early sixties "Dance Crazy" era dance called the "Mashed Potato" from 1962. As for the song itself, it's pretty obvious: society programs you to act in certain very formulaic ways, just like the robots from verse three. Moreover, what we do for "relaxation" (the dancing in verse 2) is no different than what we do for work (the process of stacking cans at the grocer's in verse 1). This sounds pretty dark, but I think the song is more intended to be kind of funny - as in if you stop and step back and look at your every day existence, it's kinda silly! Regardless, Joe Jackson is a cool cat and has transcended all of this ("I don't work in supermarkets anymore"). |
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| Kacey Musgraves – Slow Burn Lyrics | 2 years ago |
| Like many songs, it's *gasp* about drugs! Kacey is saying her life has always been too crazy for her since the day she was born (she was born extremely prematurely, which is what the "haven't been early since '88" refers to). So, now she is just going to drink ("good in a glass") and smoke ("good on green", "slow burn"), and drop acid ("take a look at all the flowers" - if the bar is closing in an hour, it's night time, and so she's not looking at actual flowers in the dark. And, for what it's worth, she indicated that she wrote this song while on acid. This also aligns with all the out-of-sync-with-time lyrics). And, you may not like that she is drinking, smoking, and dropping acid, but she doesn't care, because she knows you don't know what it's like to be her. So she's going to "do it [her] way", and "it'll be all right" and that knowledge is beautiful to her. | |
| Talking Heads – Found a Job Lyrics | 2 years ago |
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Sure, there may be deeper meanings/comments about society etc., but this song is about fairly clearly about homemade/amateur porn. "In the bedroom, inventing situations?" ... "Scouting out locations"? "He's having too much fun". In short, Bob dresses up as a fireman or what not, and has sex with Judy in interesting public places, and their "friends and family" film it and sell it making lots of money. |
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| Mark Knopfler – Border Reiver Lyrics | 2 years ago |
| I’m pretty sure the narrator is making unlawful deliveries of some sort of contraband using his truck while still ensuring his “paperwork is all right”. This explains why he needs to drive extra fast to “steal time”…his schedule would have been highly regulated so to sneak in his illegal deliveries he has to drive like maniac. He justifies it to himself morally as the need to “knock out a living wage”. | |
| Pink Floyd – Pigs (Three Different Ones) Lyrics | 3 years ago |
| Such an incredible song, eh? I just vaguely of get the sense Mr Waters isn’t much of a fan of these three people (pigs), although I wish he’d express his opinions more clearly :-) There’s a ton of music written motivated by joy, by love, or by pain or sadness. Even anger. But it’s rare when a song represents pure unadulterated hatred and nothing more and that is what we have here. And, perhaps it’s awful to say, but it freakin rocks. As to the meaning: yes the three pigs are PM Callaghan, Margaret Thatcher, and Mary Whitehouse, respectively. Roger Waters hates them. Simple as. | |
| Silverchair – Tomorrow Lyrics | 3 years ago |
| I always pictured this song as being about poor criminal (the narrator) who is always in and out of prison being in the same cell as a rich man (fat boy) for one night, who has been arrested for something mundane like a bar fight. The rich man is freaking out and the criminal is telling him that he is going to have to wait til tomorrow (to get released) just like any one else. I think the band said what it’s about (and not that) but that’s the story I always envisioned! | |
| Supertramp – Goodbye Stranger Lyrics | 3 years ago |
| This song is not metaphorical, and there are no hidden drug or other meanings. The narrator, which may or may not represent Rick's feelings on the matter, has lots of sex with women in one night stands, and is not apologetic about it. He believes it is necessary for him to continue living in a healthy and happy way ("keep me in my youth"). He doesn't necessarily think it's a good life, nor does he advocate for it for others, it's just the "life he has chosen" and it is what it is. That's what I love about this song. It's just real and true without passing judgment either way. | |
| The Modern Lovers – She Cracked Lyrics | 3 years ago |
| Sometimes I get the impression that Jonathan Richman isn't the biggest fan of women. | |
| Missing Persons – Destination Unknown Lyrics | 3 years ago |
| Dale was scared of death because her brother Brian had just died. She can’t process the anxiety and other emotions from this event so all she can come up with is doing the same kinda stuff she usually does “carry on with what I know.” | |
| Missing Persons – Walking in L.A. Lyrics | 3 years ago |
| This is prolly one of the most straightforward hit songs of this era: if you are walking around in LA, people will think you’re weird, criminal, poor, and/or up to no good. Why? Because no one walks in LA. And the lyrics are not endorsing nor mocking this attitude. They’re just describing how it is. | |
| Van Morrison – Cleaning Windows Lyrics | 3 years ago |
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I think the message of the song is actually that you DON'T have to feel pressure to follow your dreams or "achieve your potential". I think he's talking about how people expected him to grow into some amazing musician (because he had musical talent), but he unironically was perfectly happy cleaning windows and that there's nothing wrong with that. Not everyone has to "be great" if they can just be happy. Also, I disagree with the lyrics on here and other sites. I think he says "in a Down joint" (as in a bar in County Down). Firstly, he is from that county. Secondly he references it in another song on the album ["Northern Muse (Solid Ground)"] and thirdly, I don't know what "that down joint" would mean, otherwise. |
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| Van Morrison – Cleaning Windows Lyrics | 3 years ago |
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I think the message of the song is actually that you DON'T have to feel pressure to follow your dreams or "achieve your potential". I think he's talking about how people expected him to grow into some amazing musician (because he had musical talent), but he unironically was perfectly happy cleaning windows and that there's nothing wrong with that. Not everyone has to "be great" if they can just be happy. Also, I disagree with the lyrics on here and other sites. I think he says "in a Down joint" (as in a bar in County Down). Firstly, he is from that county. Secondly he references it in another song on the album ["Northern Muse (Solid Ground)"] and thirdly, I don't know what "that down joint" would mean, otherwise. |
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| Devo – Freedom Of Choice Lyrics | 3 years ago |
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Some of these lyrics are way off - in the first verse it's "sink, swim" not "sank, swam" (which makes no sense and is not in the same tense as "go down with the ship"). [That's just his Midwestern accent, we pronounce every vowel with the same "ennh" noise. t. Midwesterner] Clearly, the narrator is giving the victim his choices - to sink, swim, or go down with the ship. Obviously as many commentators have pointed out, this song is not celebrating freedom of choice. But, it's also not saying we don't have any freedom of choice either. The point of the song (and especially if you watch the video) is that you do indeed have choices, always, but life is terrible and miserable and so basically you're always just choosing from one or another grotesque outcome. Hence, the example of the boat collision - or if you watch the video, there is a man who is choosing between a handgun and a grenade (presumably a metaphor for someone choosing how to kill someone at time of war, or kill themselves even). So yes - you have choices - but they are always terrible because life sucks. And Devo, (who themselves have been called fascists many times) are pointing out that because of this awful reality of human existence, people indeed prefer to be told what to do and to just be part of the crowd (hence the close-out of the video where everyone gets converted into the same clothing and march along). I don't think that makes them fascists, but I think they are certainly explaining why fascism has so much appeal to people. |
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| David Bowie – Unwashed and Somewhat Slightly Dazed Lyrics | 3 years ago |
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I think the lyrics are pretty straightforward. He's a poor guy who is interested in sleeping with a rich girl, but also doesn't really mind if she's not interested, because he knows he's not going to change. To me, there is also a symbolic meaning, which is about Bowie moving away from folk music and into harder rock. I mean, musically the song literally does that - the beginning is a quiet dreamy folksy song that by around line 10 in the lyrics above has changed a rollicking blues rocker with the hard Bo Diddley beat. I think Bowie is anticipating that the folk movement (symbolized by the rich girl) for switching to Rock, which you could describe as being "unwashed and somewhat slightly dazed" (compared to folk). Bob Dylan of course went through the same thing when he "went electric" a few years before. |
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