| Tom Waits – Come on Up to the House Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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While this is obviously a gospel song done in a traditional style, I think a lot of you folks are reading a bit too far into it, not that Waits doesn't fill his songs with symbolism layers of meaning. But I think it has less to do with Waits' religion and more to do with the fact that Waits likes to touch on just about every genre. The song seems to be about being down on your luck, feeling mentally and emotionally depleted, possibly even at rock bottom, and finding help, hope, and salvation at a church or at least something like it. And the "The world is not my home I'm just passing through" is a way of expressing the transitory nature of life. The reason I'm ready to dismiss the bible thumping that you folks seem to be accusing Waits of is so many of his other songs. Songs like "Chocolate Jesus" which is pretty tongue in cheek about Christianity, and "God's Away On Business", or "Heartattack and Vine" in which he says "Don't you know there ain't not devil, there's just god when he's drunk". This and the number of times he portrays himself as the devil, like the music video for "I Don't Wanna Grow Up", and the movie The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. He's quoted as saying "With the God stuff I don't know. Everybody ponders it. I don't know what's out there any more than anyone else, cause no one's really come back to tell me. I don't know if I'm on a conveyer belt or if I'm on the tongue of a very angry animal about to be snapped back into his mouth. I think everyone believes in something; even people who don't believe in anything believe that." Which sounds like he's relatively ambivalent on the subject I think "The House" could be a number of things. The most direct line of symbolism is the church, but that's just the top layer. This can stand for anything that serves this same function, somewhere you can go for help and forgiveness from a power out of your hands. This could be a church, a temple, a mosque, the home of your family, rehab, a community outreach center. Somewhere you can go when your world is falling apart, when your outcry cannot be heard, and you have nowhere else to turn, you have to go to that place where they cannot turn you away. Tom Waits is many things, but I hate to see him painted as a bible thumping "devout christian" because that is one thing he is definitely not. |
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| Jethro Tull – The Whistler Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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From what I hear Ian Anderson describes himself as "somewhere between Deist and Pantheist". Reguardless of his own beliefs, if the other songs on this album are any signifier, it seems very unlikely this song is based in any Judeo-Christian symbolism. It seems like, as with the other songs of this album like Ring Out Solstice Bells, Jack in the Green, and Cup of Wonder being as rich with old pagan symbolism, this is much the same in its use of symbolism. Given, a lot of Judeo-Christian traditions and stories have a base in old Pagan mythology simply out of old traditions dying hard or some compromise made to convince folks to convert. That being said, as for interpreting the meaning of the song itself, I'm not sure, but it seems to present the idea of the classical bard. Personally, I mostly like it for the energy of the instrumental bits, especially during the chorus. |
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| They Might Be Giants – I'm Impressed Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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Yeah, folks seem to be on the right track with the interpretation here The threats are impressive, in that they inspire enough fear to force the person being threatened into cooperation. But the "gorilla pounds his desk" and the "Torpedo in the vest' are showing the idea of the person inspiring this fear as being impressive in brute power, but not in finer thinking. They are impressive, and scary, but inspiring fear is not the same as inspiring loyalty and respect. The gorilla is impressive in strength and ferocity, but beyond immediate orders in which disobedience is met with violence, one wouldn't want to take his words as any sort of wisdom. The torpedo in the vest is possibly a war general, impressive in destructive force, but nothing more than a tool for war. So he's 'remembering the exits in back of him' so when things go wrong he can get the hell out of Dodge. |
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| Lordi – Biomechanic Man Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| BYE OLD MECHANIC MAN! | |
| Deli Creeps – Grampa Bill Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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The part listed as "Unintelligible" is just him saying "I'm going down to the uh..." Which makes perfect sense. "I'm going down to the, uh... American Legion, post 299" |
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| Dethklok – Murmaider Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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Man, Mermaids are fucking metal. It's sort of funny that one of their goofiest songs in episode turned out to be one of the most awesome ones on the album. When it's just the "Murmaider" repeated word chorus in the episode it just seems like an almost half-assed joke, a one word song with a completely ridiculous topic. But when they actually put forth the effort to make a whole song out of it's so fucking brutal and epic. Brendon Small is my hero. |
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| Blues Traveler – Run-Around Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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That's a bit of a far cry to say he thinks he can read her mind. "What you feel becomes mine as well" is more just a way of saying that he wants them to feel the same way about the relationship and life in general. |
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| GWAR – Ragnarok Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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I think this is a great way to look at the apocalypse. Because really, when the end of the world comes around, there's only a couple things to do. You can panic and freak out which will get you nowhere, or you can party it up and do all the things you wouldn't do if there was a tomorrow to regret it. When Ragnarok comes, I wanna party it up. |
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| Talking Heads – (Nothing But) Flowers Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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I think it's basically kind of a statement about how we could tear down all the stores and factories, and if we really wanted to we could get by as a hunter/gatherer society in a way that preserves the earth rather than destroys it, but most of the people who could make these changes wouldn't be able to adjust to the loss of all the conveniences. So many people have become completely dependent on technology, so it's not likely we'll be making these environmentalist changes any time soon. |
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| DMX – Where The Hood At? Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| I'd agree with ANTWAN there, it's pretty catchy, very energetic, but it seems like a rapper who's been out there for as long as DMX has been could come up with better insults than "Lol, ur gay" | |
| William Shatner – I Can't Get Behind That Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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I'm pretty sure we all know what the song is about. Henry Rollins, William Shatner, Adrian Belew, and a pretty slick ass drummer. Pure insanity, but the good kind. Also, I don't think it's "Piss corrected" I think it's "Pitch corrected", because he's talking about all the famous singers who can't sing so they tweak the sound till it sounds good. |
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| That Handsome Devil – Elephant Bones Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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It is about the end of the world, but not necessarily that simple. It's about the end of the world and about how between all the petty shit we fill our lives with, the drugs, the latest fashions, our celebrity idolization, we'll be so caught up with our petty existences, we won't even see the end coming. Then, years down the road when people who had left the planet come back, or alien civilizations come centuries down the road, they'll be digging up our remains, studying us like we study cavemen. What are they going to think of all the stupid shit we had and stupid shit we did? |
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| Oingo Boingo – Mary Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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I believe I'm going to disagree with the prostitution/Pregnancy/Drugs/Cult theories. I think this song is about a woman who was born and raised in a very conservative religious community. She was unhappy with this way of life, so she left home in search of better things. The mountain that she’s been taught to avoid is probably sex, since the religious folks tend to frown upon it, and at first it hurts, losing her virginity. But she comes to appreciate it, the love, and the intimacy. I don’t think the “Growing inside” means pregnancy, I think it just means that having experienced more of what life has to offer, she grew as a person. She becomes used to the lifestyle outside of the religious ways, being free. She gets a feel for the world and people around her, and she feels more spiritual than she ever could have felt in a religious town, ironically. Nonetheless, she longs to go home and tell her friends and family of this great new life she’s found. She goes home, and she finds that these people aren’t happy for her and her new life. In fact they fear what she’s become, and the “sin” that she brings with her. Her family still loves her, though. They want her back and tell her that she can go back to the way things were, that she could repent and be Christian (I’m assuming) again. That’s when she starts to cry because she realizes that she can’t keep her lifestyle and her family and friends. She can’t go back, she doesn’t want to go back, and so she realizes that she can never come back, because she’ll never be accepted living the way she wants to. If you ask me, it’s a song about a woman who takes her life in her own hands in order to be happy, but has to make sacrifices to get there. |
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| Talking Heads – Once In A Lifetime Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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There are many ways to interpret this song, and none of them are necessarily wrong. I even read the time travel theory, and it makes sense, it could go any way. Personally, I don't think it's a tale of anyone's life in specific, I do think it's a message to the public, a sermon if you will, like zooey74 said. So many people live their lives without asking any questions. They just follow the stream, the water, and live the life you're expected to live. You let the days go by, held down by the water, the common idea of what living a good life is. It’s when you run out of money and are desperate that you really start to question things. You start to ask yourself, are you right to live your life this way, you question where you’ve been, where you’re going. “Where does that highway go?” you finally hit a point of ‘happiness’ where you have a beautiful wife and a beautiful house, but where do you go from there? After that you just raise your kids and die in some retirement home. Same as it ever was… You just keep repeating this to yourself, trying to convince yourself that this is how lives have been lead and this is where you want your life to go. This is the way it has always been. |
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| Primus – Groundhog's Day Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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I think TheHeckler had the best description for it. It's a simple day at first, but it is such a great metaphor. Like TheHeckler said, the only being able to find the corn chex when he really wants some apple pie, it's saying you can't always get what you wanted, but what you get is just as satisfying. He has his mind set to go outside, and the puddles are his obstacles. While some people might see it and go "Well, I'll go outside when it dries up" he has determination. He throws on his black stomp boots and he goes outside anyway, unhindered by his obstacles. The second part of the song is him saying that when he was yound, like all of us, he was told he could be anything he wanted. So as an average Joe, with his "Big blue collar" on, he gets out into the real world to "find the easy way", and finds that it's never that easy. "What an Ice Cold Bath it was when I found you have to pay to play" It gave him a real wake up call, you have to put as much into life as you want to get out of it. But "the taste" the thought of hitting it big and getting what he wants out of life, it's constantly hanging there and he really wants it. "The Taste is strong, but soured in my learned eyes" So far it seems people have been ignoring this line, but it's a very important one. This is where he gets through life and he gets an eye for how the world really works. The golden ideal of the fame and his goals from his childhood of fame and fortune is tarnished. He sees now that this isn't what life is about. "Well, if a woodchuck could chuck wood He'd get down on his knees to pray This little snappy boy might see The light this ground hog's day" The light that he is to see is the real thing, and not just the common idea of what it is to make it in life. Which brings us back to the begining of the song, the corn chex. It's not about getting what everyone wants, it's about being happy with what you have. |
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| Frank Zappa – Cosmik Debris Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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Actually, Gimpy Jim has it right. Despite popular beleif, Zappa was very much against any and all drugs. The Cosmik Debris are the drugs, cosmik like psychedelic far out etc. "He said, for a nominal service charge, I could reach nervonna t'nite" For a little money, he could purchase some drugs and get so high he'd fee like he was in nirvana from the drug enduced pleasure. The shaving kit was more than likely heroin, as that's how most people carried that stuff (see the movie "Ray" for example) It's basically Zappa saying that all the dealers that saw him as such a far out musician thought he was some kind of druggie and thought they could make some money selling him drugs should look to do business elsewhere, because he's above such things. |
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| Stephen Lynch – Kill A Kitten Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| I think it's supposed to make fun of those creepy dark bands by basically saying "Oh you think your songs are dark? I got an entire song about killing kittens!" | |
| Ween – It's Gonna Be A Long Night Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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I don't think it's about speed strictly. I think the rack em up and suck em down part could be drinks. I think it's a song about a general night of getting totally wasted and hopped up on speed and having a hell of a night. |
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| Violent Femmes – Fat Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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The first three lines seem to suggest some woman dumped him, and now he's hoping she gets fat and becomes desperate enough to come back to him. And even if she is tubby, he'll still want her back. |
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| Beck – Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometime Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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I didn't know this was a cover at first, until I found the Korgis version under the name Donna Summer. It's a great song, though I do think I prefer the Beck version. It's such a beautiful but kind of down and depressing song. Its one of those songs that puts you in kind of a tranquil mood. I really dig it, and the movie I first heard it in is a beautiful piece of film. |
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| Franz Ferdinand – The Fallen Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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The Chorus really sums p the whole song. "Did I see you in a limousine Flinging out the fish and the unleavened Turn the rich into wine Walk on the mean" The high and mighty christian types act like their better than the "Unwashed masses", treating them like dirt "For the fallen are the virtuous Walk among us Never judge us to be blessed" Really, "The Fallen" (those who don't follow Christ, those who have fallen from grace) are the real virtuous ones, because they don't judge on petty matters of relgion. "So I'm sorry if I ever resisted I never had a doubt you ever existed I only have a problem when people insist on Taking their hate and placing it on your name" This verse is very important because it explains that he doesn't mean that he doesn't beleive in God or Christ, and that he thinks the religon is fine and dandy, but what he hates is when people judge people based on religeous views, and condemn them for having their own beleifs. Killing (or just fighting) in the name of God. |
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| Rob Zombie – Never Gonna Stop (The Red, Red Kroovy) Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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I love A Clockwork Orange. The language is really most of what made that movie/book, really gave it its character. I love the song and the video that goes with it because of all the ACO stuff. The movie and book are classy as hell, but the depth and confusing language will certainly turn off the "EDGE RULEZ!" types. I remember when I was a pro wrestling fan... what the hell was I thinking? |
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| Anti-Flag – Indie Sux, Hardline Sux, Emo Sux, You Suck! Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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I only heard this song recently for the first time, and I enjoyed the hell out of it because I really can't stand emo kids and straight-edgers. I like some indie music, thought indie-kids can be jerks with all their "Oh, they suck since they went mainstream" shit. The main thing is not to take it too seriously But on a side note, I agree whole-heartedly with the song. |
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| Blues Traveler – Hook Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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This song is great. I'm not really saying anything that hasn't been said. I totally agree with what everyone else has said on what it's about. It's pretty clear. I just think it's great. At first I didn't know what it was about, I just thought it was a beautiful song. When i went to look at the lyrics, I realised that it was basically a song about the song. It's saying how easy it is to make a song like this is that people will get hooked on, and come back to again and again. If you're willing to sacrafice what you really want to say, you can make a simpe love song or something, and everyone will love it. It's so easliy mass produced if one was so inclined... and MTV is so inclined. |
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| Blues Traveler – Run-Around Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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It’s still upbeat because it’s like a “I don’t care what happens, life can hurl anything at us, and we’ll stay together through it” even if life throws in the girlfriend cheating on him, he can still love her and move through it. The first verse is some trouble he's having with his girlfriend. She calls him up and basically confesses to him int he middle of the night that she's been cheating on him, and he finally sees through her lies. He lies and says he's okay with it, but it does hit him pretty hard, but he claims he's okay with it because he doesn't want to ruin their relationship. "And when you're feeling open I'll still be here But not without a certain degree of fear Of what will be with you and me I still can see things hopefully" He's basically saying he still thinks they can be together, and confide in eachother. He can see things hopefully still, despite this blow to their relationship. The second verse is kind of a "All the world's a stage, and we're the actors" thing. He's talking about how things will come by, and shake things up. And while it will make you nervous about life, without these life twists and turns, life, like a movie, wouldn't be interesting. If life were a movie, would you watch it if you didn't see any twists or shocking moments? And Hollywood is like the general public, who wants their life to stay uneventful and comfortable. But he wants something more than that, he wants to feel those drastic moments of life. The third verse is saying, No matter what obstacle in life is thrown in his way, he can still go on. There’s nothing that can bring him down, almost like a challenge to say “Bring it on!”. In the transition of the third verse it’s saying that though he may show signs of the wear and tear of life, his perspective being changed, his attitude changing, maybe becoming a little colder, more distant, more cynical, but no matter what fate brings, he will welcome it with open arms and embrace it. Thank you Rockhound for pointing out his metaphor for fate in the waitress. In the last verse he’s saying that he’ll take on whatever life throws at him and make the best of it, and he will dream of having his happy life, and there’s nothing that can shake that dream, and he just hopes they can stay together through it all. The Chorus is kind of like him saying that she’s giving him the runaround by cheating on him, and while it seems to make things all crazy and speedy, they can still take it slow and love each other. |
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| Alice Cooper – How You Gonna See Me Now Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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It wasn't rehab, it was the sanitarium. The whole album is based on the time he spent in an asylum. Now he's kinda talking to his wife, like in a letter or something, letting her know he's coming home. Wondering if she'll still love him, or if she'll see gim in a different light since he's been gone, and left her alone. He's kind of timid and afraid, since he's been away so long, thinking it's like they're meeting for the first time all over again. Basically the song is him wondering "Are you still going to love me, like you did before?" |
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| Alice Cooper – Millie And Billie Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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This is probably my favorite love song of all time. Basically it's about this couple Millie and Billie who were already married when they met and became lovers. They ended up killing eachothers spouses so they could be together. Now they're homocidal lovers in the asylum. Love makes you do crazy things. |
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| Gorillaz – 19-2000 Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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the song is not meaningless at all. In fact, I love the meaning to this song. The song is about how most of our time is spent looking to move ahead to the future, without enjoying the present. " The world is spinning too fast I'm buying lead Nike shoes To keep myself tethered To the days I try to lose My mama said to slow down You should make your shoes Start dancing to the music Of Gorillaz in a happy mood" He's tried to lose so many days, and now he's saying "where have those days gone, I need to slow down" he wants to slow down, take it easy, dance the the music, take the time to get the cool shoeshine, and enjoy the little things in life. "There's a monkey in the jungle Watching a vapour trail Caught up in the conflict Between his brain and his tail And if time's elimination Then we got nothing to lose Please repeat the message It's the music that we choose" This verse is talking about how the simple little monkey is content just pondering life. The rest is just like "we have plenty of time, so lets enjoy it". Keep a mild groove on is my philosophy on life, it basically means, enjoy life, stay upbeat, keep a mild groove on to take life as it comes. |
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| Primus – Glass Sandwich Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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In certain... "gentlemen's clubs" they have these booths where you go in, and you put in your money, and the shutter thing on the window will open, and you have your show. This is pretty much just a funny story of total irony. THe guy goes in for a little show, and he pops in his money, only to see the girl he had dated before was now stripping for a living. |
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| Incubus – The Warmth Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| I love this song. It's totally my standpoint on life. People need to avoid letting other people bring them down. There are good people in the world "Not everyone here is that fucked up and cold". And though you may feel down and depressed sometimes, there will be moments of happiness to make it all worth it, so you shoud avoid dwelling on petty problems and embrace the good times "Experience the warmth before you grow old." | |
| Men Without Hats – The Safety Dance Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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They went over this song on that True Spin show. This song is a tribute to slam dancing. I know, doesn't seem like a song someone would slam dance to, but slam dancing was a big controversial thing at the time this song was made, and they wrote a song about what they thought. "Say, we can go where we want to A place where they will never find And we can act like we come from out of this world Leave the real one far behind " Acting what most people would think totally insance, ramming into eachother mindlessly and calling it a dance. "Say, we can act if we want to If we don't nobody will And you can act real rude and totally removed And I can act like an imbecile " It's not exactly teh friendliest form of expression. You act like a rude imbecile, basicaly kicking the crap out of the person next to you, but everyone has a good time. |
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| Michael Jackson – Thriller Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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It's songs like this that make you wish Micheal Jackson was still cool like he was back in the days of this song, rather than the creepy looking while woman that molests children. That, and Vincent Price was the man as well. |
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| Cake – Comfort Eagle Lyrics | 20 years ago |
| It's kind of a satyrism of the commercialism of religon. He's mimicking telegangelist folks who sell their religon to you like a set of Star Wars commemorative plates. | |
| Modest Mouse – Float On Lyrics | 20 years ago |
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I like this song, it speaks to me. It says, you know life can be troublesome from time to time, but don't let it get you down. No matter what happens, life goes on, you just float on to the next thing ok. "I backed my car into a cop car the other day. Well he just drove off, sometimes life’s OK. I ran my mouth off a bit too much, oh what did I say? Well you just laughed it off, it was all OK. " This verse says, sometimes bad stuff will happen, but nothing bad will come of it, and everything goes on like nothing happened. "And we’ll all float on OK." This line, repeated as much as it is, is the main idea of the song. No matter what happens, everything will move along perfectly fine. We'll all float on okay. "Well, a fake Jamaican took every last dime with that scam. It was worth it just to learn some sleight of hand. Bad news comes don’t you worry even when it lands. Good news will work its way to all them plans. We both got fired on exactly the same day, that we were gonna quit it anyways. " This verse says that, to every down, there is kind of an upside. Despite the fact that he lost a lto of money to some swindler pretending to be Jamaican, he learned a new trick. Despite the fact that he got fired, he was saved the time it would ahve taken to formally resign. This is a very positive song, and I like that. Too much angst in the world, this is a nice change of pace, allowing people to see that, life is good. |
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| Tool – Stinkfist Lyrics | 20 years ago |
| I'm with Treestump, It's compating fisting to the way we live. We get so attuned to things that we have that would seem seem extreme to people years ago. From drugs to sex to video games. We get bored with things so easy, and we take it to the next level, eventually becoming extremists on the matter. You can only imagine what people years from now will be doing for entertainment. | |
| Tool – Prison Sex Lyrics | 20 years ago |
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This is moreso about child molestation than prison rape. Don't base the meaning soley on the title. The first verse reffers to the blocked out memories of his father abusing and molesting him. The "but I'm breathing so I guess I'm still alive even if signs seem to tell me otherwise. " reffers to the fact that he has been damaged so badly emotionally that he is dead inside, even though he looks normal on the outside. "Do unto others, what has been done to me", now because of what his father did to him, he's doomed to repeat it to his own children. The second verse goes on about how he is starting to get the same perverse urges. "I need you to feel this, I can't stand to burn too long. Released in this sodomy. For one sweet moment I am whole." He needs this now, and he needs to let others feel it with him, almost thinking its a good thing at this point. He has become so familiarized with the rape and pain that he needs to bring it back to feel whole again. "Do unto you now what has been done to me" It's spreading along down the line, and the line "but I'm breathing so I guess I'm still alive " shows that he's killing this child inside just as he was when he was violated. "I have found some kind of temporary sanity in this shit blood and cum on my hands" The only way he can 'cure himself' is to reproduce what happened, and bring himself back to that more innocent time. That's my opinion, and I could be wrong. Tool is good in that it allows many interpretations. |
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| Tool – Opiate Lyrics | 20 years ago |
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I have dealt with this first hand with some pushy religious nuts at my school. It's like how some religons tell you that if you don't do exactly as they say, you will go to hell. They make it out to be as if God hates us all and wants us to burn, so if you don't try your ass off, you're in for a meeting with the prince of darkness himself. "My God's will becomes me. When he speaks out, he speaks through me. He has needs like I do. " That's kinda like with televangelists who say, "God has spoken to me, and if you don't give me money, you're damned to hell". People who try to scare you into a religon, trying to convince you that you have no control over your life or where it goes. You are nothing but god's tool (no pun intended). |
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| Tool – Hush Lyrics | 20 years ago |
| I like this song cause it protests one of the things that has always pissed me off about the press. People are all so paranoid that what kids are exposed to, thinking it's what si making kids violent. Maynard is basically saying "F*ck you guys if you think you're gonna make me change how I do things cause you can't let the blame fall on the idiot who did the dumb deed to begin with where it belongs." | |
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