| Stevie Nicks – If Anyone Falls Lyrics | 1 year ago |
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I think this is a sarcastic song, from the point of view of a woman who wants it to be understood that she is in love with him, but doesn't want to come out and say so. She wants her lover to say that he's in love with her, and is frustrated that his understanding of love is more nuanced and less unequivocal. The rooms and doors in the first stanza are metaphorical – she's blaming him for staying in a separate "room" (or way of being), and of "closing the door" on their love. When she sings "If anyone falls in love... somewhere in the back of your mind", the singer is sarcastically mocking her lover's words, remonstrating with him for being unable or unwilling to simply take it for granted that people fall in love. She wants him to see that she loves him (even if she won't say it), and is trying to pressure him to acknowledge that he already loves her. In the end, she is basically saying that because he isn't saying/doing this, she won't fully let him into her heart ("So I'm never gonna see you... deep inside my heart"). |
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| Mike And The Mechanics – Silent Running Lyrics | 2 years ago |
| @[Jetfire59:49240] – Spot on, great analysis! I came to this page intending to write something vaguely similar ("high command" being a reference to serving God against the State), but I think you've already captured the meaning and added embellishments that fit perfectly with the spirit of it. | |
| China Crisis – Arizona Sky Lyrics | 2 years ago |
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Possibly a kind of ode to the United States by a band touring from the UK, recounting the highlights of their time in the U.S. From the amazing sky in Arizona, to the amazing music on the streets of Manhattan, to a (brothel? bar? nightclub?) in uptown Chicago where they overspent. "Venice is sinking fast" may be alluding to the fact that they enjoyed Venice, but that it paled in comparison to the excitements to be found in America. "Decorate, paint if for the union" may mean, "paint the scene" of their experiences of America, for the "union" in this case being listeners back home in the United Kingdom, the union of Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. In this vein, "Take comfort and possession of yourself" and "No reason to give up on the illusion", are possibly self-affirmations along the lines of, "We can make it here", "We can maintain the illusion of being exotic British rockers", even though we really have imposter syndrome in the face of all this wonder. |
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| Spandau Ballet – True Lyrics | 2 years ago |
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Many, many songs contain hidden meanings or references to drugs or sex; the mantra "sex and drugs and rock 'n roll" reflects the intimate connection between music, sexuality, and getting high. The connections between art and drug use are undeniable and have a very long (if often suppressed) history that I won't go into here. Musicians however, though both less censored and less inhibited in the modern era than has often been the case historically, are still sometimes hesitant to write open tributes to the intoxicants that have frequently inspired them. I believe "True" by Spandau Ballet is an example of this – that it is secretly an ode to getting high. The line "With a thrill in my heart and a pill on my tongue" offers the clearest indication that this is the case, but there are several other more subtle clues. Consider the couplet, "Why do I find it hard to write the next line, Oh I want the truth to be said". I believe its hidden meaning is an allusion to the singer's desire to tell the truth about how wonderful the experience of tripping is, and to the stigmas attached to drug use that usually keep people from speaking this truth about it. In this vein, "Funny how it seems, always in time, but never in line for dreams," may be an observation of how people have the time of their lives when tripping – "head over heels when toe to toe" (blissfully toe-to-toe while having sex high on drugs) – yet few of us list having these ecstatic altered experiences as being among our life aspirations or dreams. If you listen carefully to the part of the chorus transcribed on SongMeanings at the time of this posting as "Huh huh huh hu-uh huh", there is definitely an "i" sound in there. I believe it is simply the word "high" being drawn out: "Hi-i-i-i-igh". (I've submitted a lyrics correction.) This drawn out word may function in the lyrics as a kind of poetic onomatopoeia, given that a well-known aspect of intoxication (tripping on psychedelic drugs in particular) is how it can distort one's sense of time. The experience of tripping is also famously difficult to remember afterward when sober, or capture in words, which is another possible explanation for the lyrics, "Why do I find it hard to write the next line", as well as for the line about "always slipping from my hands". I believe that "sand" serves in the lyrics as a stand-in for the drugs that produce this effect: "Sand's a time of its own". If we assume "sand" is a metaphor for drugs, the cryptic line, "Take your seaside arms and write the next line" makes more sense. It can be interpreted as meaning, "Write the next line while tripping," or perhaps, "write from the perspective of one who is familiar with sand (psychedelics)". I think it's even possible, though more of a stretch, that the use of the word "sand" may be an allusion to Nicholas Sand. Born Nicholas Francis Hiskey (May 10, 1941 – April 24, 2017), Wikipedia describes Nicholas Sand was "a cult figure known in the psychedelic community for his work as a clandestine chemist from 1966 to 1996 for the Brotherhood of Eternal Love. Sand was part of the League for Spiritual Discovery at the Millbrook estate in New York, has been credited as the 'first underground chemist on record to have synthesized DMT' and is known for manufacturing large amounts of LSD." Evidence supporting this idea includes that Spandau Ballet lead singer (and "True" lyricist) Gary Kemp is a known fan of psychedelic rock legends Pink Floyd. In 2018, according to the UK Guardian, he participated in a retrospective project "revisiting the band’s acid-drenched years – with Gary Kemp standing in for Syd Barrett". Finally, "I bought a ticket to the world, but now I've come back again" is an obvious reference to taking a trip of some kind, and I believe he means a psychedelic one. At the song's end, Kemp repeats the refrain that "this much is true" – by which I think he means that the drug experience IS a hi-i-i-i-gh, a peak experience, i.e. a good thing, even if he finds the nature of its value too difficult to articulate, or too socially risque to explicitly advocate in a hit ballad. |
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