submissions
| The Smiths – A Rush and a Push and the Land Is Ours Lyrics
| 1 year ago
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@[mjbarks:45269] This is sort of approaching my take on this song. I think it's more or less about a young adult who left home but then something happened and he had to return home to live with his parents for a time. I've been in that situation myself a couple times so it may very well be projection, but I think even if the narrative is off, we are thematically in the ballpark. |
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| The Smiths – A Rush and a Push and the Land Is Ours Lyrics
| 1 year ago
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@[OscarWildin:45268] I think it's an astronomical leap to read "caffeine" and "spice" as code for China and India, respectively. I think you're reading way too much into that bit, it's like you decided it was about colonialism and then worked backwards to force the words to fit your conclusion. I really don't like Strangeways as an album, and yet this opening track has somehow become one of my Top Ten Smiths songs... I absolutely adore it. But it has one of the most cryptic meanings of any of Morrissey's Smiths-era material. It really does my head in and I've never found an explanation that satisfies me, I think yours is interesting though. |
submissions
| The Smiths – This Charming Man Lyrics
| 1 year ago
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@[waxinglyrical:45266] I find myself coming back to read your analysis from time to time. I can't say I fully agree with it, but I appreciate the reasoning behind it and it was illuminating to find out about the source of the "jumped-up pantry boy" line, because that always threw me off. You sort of lose me with the last paragraph though, but I do think you're onto something with the class commentary.
@[jgb0893:45267] I have to agree that as someone who has also "been there", to me this song is unambiguously about a homosexual encounter of some form or another, although I think it's mixed in with class commentary. You cracked me up with the, "might be referring to a different sort of ring there" bit though! I personally don't think it's referring to anything that perverse, but then again this appears on the same album as "Reel Around The Fountain" so anything is possible I suppose.
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| The Smiths – This Charming Man Lyrics
| 1 year ago
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@[Chloe:45264] le Fay This is the most succinct and obvious interpretation with much fewer assumptions than some of the wordier alternatives I've seen thrown around. I agree with those among us who are frustrated with every single Smiths song being viewed through the lens of homosexuality, but this is one of the times when I think it's clear as day that there is a male-on-male theme.
@[maxdamagus:45265] This is such a stupid take, I'm sorry. The overall tone of the song doesn't fit such a dark situation, and honestly this would be a weirdly homophobic scenario for Morrissey to write about. Also him "staying on his bike" was never an option, as made clear by the opening line of the lyric... odd misreading. |
submissions
| The Chameleons – Second Skin Lyrics
| 1 year ago
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@[silversunsurf:44945] I say this as a literal homosexual, but this is the dumbest "interpretation" of this song I've ever seen. |
submissions
| Swans – Trust Me Lyrics
| 1 year ago
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@[BitterLake:44149] Also would like to clarify, "It's not unusual"... I think "it" is their fucked up relationship/arrangement/situation, whatever you want to call it. He's either telling her directly or this is just in his head. They both know it's fucked up and 'wrong' but they are stuck in this cycle. One or both of them might be dealing with some Cluster B shit. I think this song is mostly an appeal to keep things going even though it's hurting one or both of them, badly. |
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| Swans – Trust Me Lyrics
| 1 year ago
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I've always viewed this song as sort of a pair with "You're Not Real, Girl". Just compare the lyrics of both and observe the themes of trust come up in both of them. Part of me wonders if they're about the same terrible relationship. This one is the guy (who has probably done something terrible or at least has nefarious intentions) trying to console her. I imagine he's done some bad stuff and they're locked in a co-dependent relationship. "You're Not Real" is also from his POV but is actually about her, from his perspective. Maybe the things he says in that song are true, she's a low-life too. Or he's just a manipulative monster. Who knows. |
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| Swans – You're Not Real, Girl Lyrics
| 1 year ago
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@[ernst10016:44148] Seeing your earlier and later comments, I'm glad to see someone who recognizes the layers going on here. It took me a while too. Gira is a master of saying a lot with a few words. I definitely do not think it is an anti-religion song. I think it is on some level a commentary about a relationship gone wrong (which thematically links it to Greed/Holy Money material). But on another level, yeah I think it's either about faith or wavering faith, something spiritual. Also, the word choice of, "When you take my trust in your body" and "You should never trust what you feel" makes me wonder if "Trust Me" evolved out of this song, or the opposite happened. He's always had a knack for taking lyrical themes from one song and scrambling them up for a new one. |
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| Swans – You're Not Real, Girl Lyrics
| 1 year ago
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@[agrian:44147] Plenty of religions venerate women. I doubt whatever God there is (or isn't) has a negative view of them either considering that he created them. |
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| Swans – You're Not Real, Girl Lyrics
| 1 year ago
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@[DaFace:44146] I don't think I agree. This album is often misunderstood by people, but Gira has been fairly outspoken about how it's not an anti-religion album. I think this type of topic would be way too on the nose for him. Every "alternative" band was commenting on this type of shit in the late-80s and he was bored by it. Read the book 'Sacrifice and Transcendence' for citations. |
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| Swans – You're Not Real, Girl Lyrics
| 1 year ago
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@[arredwade:44145] I think I agree with this more than any of the other interpretations listed on here. This type of scenario feels like a very "Swansian" theme to me. |
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| Swans – Blood and Honey Lyrics
| 1 year ago
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One of the best and most underrated tracks on CoG. I wish Jarboe had been given a bit more time on this album tbh. The last few songs between "Trust Me", "Real Love", and "Blind Love" are an unfortunate doldrums on an otherwise perfect album. It's always felt very front-heavy to me. "Children of God" redeems the ending, but I can't help but feel like there should have been another Jarboe song towards the end. |
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| Swans – Money Is Flesh Lyrics
| 1 year ago
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@[BitterLake:44108] I wanted to clarify that when I said "the album version" I was referring to Greed/Holy Money which the vast majority of people will encounter before hearing the isolated two albums as originally released. For a long time I was under the impression that the compilation was exhaustive, but there are differences... aside from omitting the original version of "Money is Flesh", it also omits the original version of "Fool" and IIRC the version of "Holy Money" is derived from the single instead of the one found on the "Holy Money" LP. Confusing indeed! |
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| Swans – Money Is Flesh Lyrics
| 1 year ago
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@[slow:44107] pulse boy I wish they'd explored the industrial sounds they uncovered on this song, A Screw, and Time Is Money with a full-length album before they arrived at the sounds they found on Children of God and The Burning World. It's still an interesting tangent nonetheless and I'm grateful for these 3 tracks. |
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| Swans – Heaven Lyrics
| 1 year ago
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One of my favorites off of Greed. I think this is the track that set the stage for the themes explored on Children of God, where it's a paradoxical blend of agony and religious ecstasy. It makes me imagine a situation that Georges Bataille would have described as a "Limit-Experience". |
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| Swans – Anything for You Lyrics
| 1 year ago
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Like a lot of the lyrical content on the first four Swans albums, the theme here seems to revolve around blurring the lines between literal prostitution/slavery, the employer-employee relationship, or a 'romantic' misadventure gone terribly wrong. Either way, it expresses complete self-awareness of the speaker's subservient status, but he embraces his role. I find the entirety of Greed to be oddly cathartic... this album was the soundtrack of several incredibly terrible jobs when I was younger. |
submissions
| Diamanda Galás – This is the law of the plague Lyrics
| 1 year ago
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It's my understanding that these lyrics are adapted from the Biblical book Leviticus. My very simple background knowledge is that her brother was gay, they were very close siblings, and then he got sick and died from AIDS. She was disgusted by the homophobia of the church and population at large. To me it sounds like pure, unbridled despair and rage.
(There's a funny video on YouTube of her talking about how much of a homophobic Axl Rose was.) |
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| Swans – (She's a) Universal Emptiness Lyrics
| 1 year ago
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@[paulcanham1:43909] this seems incredibly unlikely. Gira has spoken at length about how none of the music they did during this time period was "anti-religion". He recognized that for the utter cliché it was at the time... many 'alternative' bands in the 80s were releasing songs that were critical of Christianity or the government. There wasn't really anything left to say, there wasn't then and there isn't now. I think these lyrics should be taken at face value: it's referring to an actual woman. The fact that she visits a church doesn't mean it's about religion. |
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| Swans – (She's a) Universal Emptiness Lyrics
| 1 year ago
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@[owennnnnnnnnn:43908] IDK, even if I'd never heard the song or knew it existed, if I read these lyrics I'd immediately know it was written by Gira. These are some of the most Gira lyrics imaginable. |
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| Swans – (She's a) Universal Emptiness Lyrics
| 1 year ago
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@[bjbp:43907] Not that weird considering the themes that were explored on Children of God, which was the direct predecessor of this album. I've always viewed the 80s/90s Swans albums as thematic pairs: Filth/Cop, Greed/Holy Money, Children of God/Burning World, White Light/Love of Live, Great Annihilator/Soundtracks. |
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| Swans – Blackout Lyrics
| 1 year ago
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Gira is known to have a 'complicated' relationship with alcohol, so this subject matter makes sense. Compare these lyrics with Alcohol The Seed (from The Great Annihilator) and there are some obvious thematic parallels. I always pictured the "Don't talk until you're spoken to" part being said aloud by the subject of the song while in a state of abusive inebriation, while the rest is sort of an internal monologue. |
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| Bauhaus – Bela Lugosi's Dead Lyrics
| 1 year ago
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@[javad10211:43851] The first part seems like common sense, and I believe you "were there". But the rest doesn't quite add up. The actual Bat Cave club didn't open until 1982, but this record came out in 1979. Also, I'm not sure who you're saying stopped wearing goth clothes but it certainly wasn't Bauhaus: 'She's In Parties' didn't come out until 1983 and they still looked pretty... goth. The video is on YouTube for anyone to see. There are no shortage of 80s bands that cultivated the same image well after this song came out... The Sisters of Mercy didn't release 'First And Last And Always' until 1985 and that's widely considered to be one of the most formative goth records. |
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| R.E.M. – Radio Free Europe Lyrics
| 1 year ago
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@[WingedWolf:43809] What, when did I do an ad hominem? I never called you any names or attacked your character in any way. And how was it not 'rational'? I asked how would a society emerge where communism would immediately happen when they're coming from an impoverished, largely agrarian society that had been living under unbelievably tyrannical conditions before their revolution? That's an incredibly reasonable question. And I cited the long history of American imperialism quashing any attempt at self-determination for sovereign nations who wanted to pursue a socialist system for their people. I mean this in the most polite way possible, but read about the history of American intervention in 20th Century Latin American and ask yourself if it's reasonable for a socialist/communist state to not be militarized. Your movement will be destroyed by external imperialists and internal reactionaries before it even gets off the ground, that's just common sense. |
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| Swans – Money Is Flesh Lyrics
| 1 year ago
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(Also, @[Cynothoglys:43808] where are you? I always enjoyed reading your submissions on here but it says you've not left a comment in 11 years. You were one of the few people on here who ever contributed anything enlightening.) |
submissions
| Swans – Money Is Flesh Lyrics
| 1 year ago
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I always pictured this song from the perspective of a Gordon Gekko or Patrick Bateman kind of character. It seems very appropriate considering the context of when this was recorded, when neoliberalism was rapidly emerging as the dominant American ideology. Money is power and affords the ultra-rich with almost unbridled domination of the weak, whether physically or psychologically. I agree there are strong themes of prostitution, but as always with early Swans the ambiguity of whether it's literal prostitution or simply the average employer-employee relationship, or even customer-employee relationship, seems to be the point. I always found the morphing between "you're a servant" and "you deserve it" to be a stroke of genius.
The live version captured on 'Public Castration is A Good Idea' has an even more interesting metamorphosis between the two phrases where you can't even tell which one he's saying after awhile. I adore the album version too, but the best version is the oddly rare Money Is Flesh #1 that AFAIK only appeared on the original CD and LP presses. All the subsequent versions contain the #2 version, so chances are that's the one you've heard. Seek out the original version on YouTube, you're in for a treat. |
submissions
| R.E.M. – Radio Free Europe Lyrics
| 1 year ago
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@[WingedWolf:43746]
I’m not the USSR’s #1 superfan or anything, but these are some absurd liberal takes. The gist of your original comment was correct, but leigel3 absolutely has a valid point about the political spin being misleading.
>The 'communism' of the Soviet Union wasn't communism at all, but Totalitarian Socialism
This is a typical “No True Scotsman” type, low-effort analysis of what the USSR had going on and/or what Marxism-Leninism represents. There is not now, nor has there ever been, one single strain of socialism/communism. Even before the USSR came about, there were many competing schools of thought. One could easily argue that there is a reason why just about every ostensibly ‘communist’ nation that has existed embraced some derivative of ML ideology… the competing ideologies don’t seem to have led to viable revolutions. Take Trotskyists for example, who have never prevailed anywhere on Earth. Does that mean ML is intrinsically the correct school of thought? No, but it’s certainly worth taking into consideration.
Also, whether the USSR was truly a totalitarian state at various periods in its existence (its history was far from static) is a hotly debated and controversial issue among scholars who study it. This idea gets thrown around as a matter of fact when it’s far from a settled issue. The ubiquity of propaganda on both sides of the Iron Curtain makes it difficult for the average person to access information that can safely be considered ‘objective’.
> with the explicit goal of becoming communist 'eventually.'
I mean… what is the alternative? Do you really think it’s possible to flip a switch and magically have a stateless and classless society, especially starting from what they had to work with? It’s further complicated by the fact that most of the rest of the world was increasingly capitalist and had a vested interest in their project not working. Was it a utopia? No, but the USSR was a more equitable society than what came before in Russia’s history.
> There would have been no war, cold or otherwise, if they were REAL communists.
This is by far the most asinine thing you wrote. You make it sound as if the Cold War was a unilateral effort instigated by the Soviets. You are very naïve if you think that if only communists were ‘nice’ enough the western imperialists would have turned a blind eye and allowed them to exist peacefully. Maybe do some reading on all the different instances where countries tried to convert to socialism only for the US to sabotage them… the history of Latin America is a good place to start. The fact is, without a strong military deterrent there is no way for a socialist/communist society to get off the ground, sorry.
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