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A Perfect Circle – Magdalena Lyrics

23 years ago

That's part of what makes this song so amazing, the way Maynard talks about losing control to all these things that Magdalena is. That's true about how many of the people referred to in the Bible as "the harlot" were actually not in that occupation -- often foreign women were called this because they didn't observe the ultra-modesty of the Hebrew women and thus were seen as flaunting themselves like prostitutes. Or they could have belonged to one of the earth-goddess religions, who were paid, but it was money for the temple.

submissions

A Perfect Circle – Magdalena Lyrics

23 years ago

That's part of what makes this song so amazing, the way Maynard talks about losing control to all these things that Magdalena is. That's true about how many of the people referred to in the Bible as "the harlot" were actually not in that occupation -- often foreign women were called this because they didn't observe the ultra-modesty of the Hebrew women and thus were seen as flaunting themselves like prostitutes. Or they could have belonged to one of the earth-goddess religions, who were paid, but it was money for the temple.

submissions

Tori Amos – Happy Phantom Lyrics	23 years ago
It's about how she thinks that in death she'll finally be free of all the things that held her in life. But even as a ghost, she still doesn't know what's in store for her.

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Tool – Intolerance Lyrics	23 years ago
So you're saying that just because violence got us where we are today then we shouldn't try to stop it? War also produced bloody regimes, much more of those than free-speech democracies.

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Tori Amos – Spark Lyrics	23 years ago
It's about how people will say they don't really want to live anymore (like when something like a miscarriage happens) but they get drawn into living again by the "circus we're in."

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Tori Amos – Past The Mission Lyrics	23 years ago
I think this is one of the only Tori songs I honestly don't understand. Anyone have any quotes or their own input?

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Tori Amos – Caught A Lite Sneeze Lyrics

23 years ago

I've been saying this a lot so I probably shouldn't say "This a beautiful song" like all the others on this site that I like. But it's so great. The coolest thing (in my opinion) is how this song both about a woman's relationship with a man, and with God. Tori said somewhere that this song is about a nun invoking the Goddess. I think that the woman in the song has been feeling alienated from God, mainly because she doesn't feel he speaks to her. The Church is very male-dominated, even now, so she would have a good reason to feel alienated. So she's asking for a "big loan from a girl zone," trying to reconnect with God through her feminine nature.

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Tori Amos – Professional Widow Lyrics

23 years ago

I remember reading a magazine article that was talking about Courtnye Love, and the writer just flatly assumed that this song was about her. It could be, but it's about a bunch of other things, too. It has that whole steriotypical South flavor like "Little Amsterdam," and it's kind of about a woman who lives in a time and place where she can't have power, so she does everything through her husband. And she's evil, too. I love that last line.

submissions

Tori Amos – Muhammad My Friend Lyrics

23 years ago

Tori's lyrics may not make any sense if they were prose, but as lyrics all the words work together to form a whole. Boys for Pele is about religion (well, most of Tori's albums have that theme in there, but this one most of all). And Muhammad My Friend is Tori saying outright what she kind of danced around in the earlier songs about Christianity. The whole "we both know it was a girl back in Bethlehem" is part of how Tori says that the female side of God and women in religion have been neglected for a long time. I don't really feel like breaking down every line, especially since most of it is subjective, but you might be confused if you don't know who Pele is: the Hawaiian volcano goddess. So she's saying that the burning bush Moses saw can't compare to a volcano's fire. There's a lot of meaning just in that part. Also the part where she says "If I loose my Cracker Jacks at the tidal wave, I got a place in the Pope's rubber robe," she's criticizing people who, when they get scared about what's beyond this world, blindly take refuge in their religion. I have a question, though...ryankyles, what did Maynard do with this song? I can't see anything about him in the liner notes, although I could have missed it. Did he make a remix of it?

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Garbage – Cup Of Coffee Lyrics	23 years ago
This song is really beautiful-- I think it might be the first time Garbage made a song of undiluted sorrow and longing. That line about "I smoke your brand of cigarettes" really gets to me.

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Garbage – Dumb Lyrics

23 years ago

It's about a girl who's breaking her relationship with a guy that didn't understand her -- it seems to me that in the beginning neither of them understood what it was (that's happened to me) and now, he still doesn't understand. It didn't help that she carried a lot of emotional baggage ("maybe I should write a letter to help me with my self-esteem") that he didn't know how to deal with. He wanted it to be just a pure, simple relationship, and she's angry with him for wanting something from her she couldn't give. That's how I see it, anyway. Post your own comments, people!

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Garbage – Only Happy When It Rains Lyrics	23 years ago
Garbage is all about having a pop sound but dark lyrics at the same time, so they kind of slip under your radar.. this song is about embracing your depression and revelling in it. This is a great song for whenever your're really, really down and feel like you're ready to just live with that. Or when things improve but seem dull, and you wonder if all the angst and stuff wasn't more interesting.

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Tool – Eulogy Lyrics

23 years ago

I think it's about the death of God in modern society. People (like the guy in the song) look for meaning in religion but can only find hypocrites and a bunch of people who want to just follow someone. This song is kind of like Aenima in that even though it's mostly angry, it has this part where Maynard slows down and drops his sarcasm, saying how he feels an absence of God and wishes it could be another way. And no, being a Christian doesn't have to keep you from enjoying the song or any of its meanings.

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Radiohead – Idioteque Lyrics	23 years ago
I think the clone-concept fits really well for this song, and maybe that the clone has broken out wherever he's been kept because of the nuclear war/ice age, and is both afraid and revelling in all the chaos going on. He doesn't really care that much though, because nothing really affects him now.

submissions

A Perfect Circle – Magdalena Lyrics

23 years ago

There are/were lots of Christian sects that said things such as Jesus and Mary Magdalene were a couple-- the holy couple that appears in many pagan religions, which of course elevates M. Magdalene to a goddess. They also referred to her as "the black Madonna" because she was the opposite of the other Madonna, the Virgin. I think there's this one Gnostic text which is all about how God is made of opposites: "I am the virgin and the whore," etc. God is also male and female, this guy is seeing this woman, and having sex with her, as a communion with God (some Gnostics had sex rituals). But at the same time, you have this whole thing with the prostitute-- it's kind of shameful to pay for sex, but the man is selling his self-esteem a dollar at a time because of his desire. So more duality.

submissions

A Perfect Circle – Judith Lyrics

23 years ago

I saw a poster for the Judith single in a music store -- it's a cartoon of a little boy and girl sitting around an anthill. The boy has a magnifying glass and is burning the ants with it, while the girl looks on, interested. Over this was the caption "the spiritualist." I'm thinking that maybe the boy (the spiritualist) is the speaker in the song, and the girl of course is Judith. The speaker is cruel in a way, because even though his purpose is to liberate Judith from her dogma he is destroying her faith. Also he's not reasonable, he's full of rage (Fuck your God...). It may just be the English-major in me, but I think that in a lyric it's important to look at the personality of the speaker as well as the personality he's talking to/about. Especially in a song by someone like Tool, who always put multiple meanings in their songs.

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