| Bright Eyes – Soul Singer in a Session Band Lyrics | 18 years ago |
| I think the City of Salt might be a reference to Utah/its Salt Lake City. No idea about what that means in reference to the song, unless Utah is a place where sellouts go :P. Anyway I'm British not American, so I'm missing that particular nuance... | |
| Maxïmo Park – Your Urge Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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''People are judged on their mistakes, And how much money that they make. No-one wants to lose their youth, In a trench like this.'' Those lines are just genius! This song is so spirited, and it has all these different emotions mixed up - sexuality, disillusionment, apathy. It's not really the topic of sex or having a threesome(?) that's the real issue, just a general sense of being adrift comes through from this song. |
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| The Zutons – It's The Little Things We Do Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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This is an amazing song...I particularly like the lines: ''So I get up and go down the stairs and try to make a sandwich But the ham and cheese, margarine they speak an evil language''. He can be a really original, and amusing lyricist when it comes down to it! |
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| The Killers – Believe Me Natalie Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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'Forget what they said in Soho, leave the oh-nos out'. By Soho, given the Aids interpretation, I think means the Soho in London, not the SoHo in New York. London's Soho has a notorious reputation for being a 'red-light district' where the sex trade is prevalent....especially in the 50s and 60s... Given that prostitution was prevalent in Soho and illegal in the UK - the spreading of STDs must've been very rapid amongst prostitutes in Soho. I think it makes much more sense - 'forget what they said in Soho, leave the oh-nos out'... either the person visited a prostitute and contracted HIV/AIDs or the person *was* a prostitute in Soho and contracted it... I think it seems like a very likely interpretation . It's not incompatible with the Natalie Portman interpretation either. He could've just used the name 'Natalie' to bring a reality to the song however...randomly without reference to anyone. |
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| British Sea Power – It Ended On An Oily Stage Lyrics | 20 years ago |
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I love the bit where he sings - "You look so elegantly bored now Totally at ease with it all, yeah". It illustrates exactly how I feel when I'm with a group of people who are apathetic, and when I'm wondering what the hell I'm doing there. Been feeling like that for a while now. I think it's all about him and another person who feel totally separate, distinct from the cares and worries of a group/the majority of people out there. Hence "he found God in a wiltshire field, and you did not". Sort of like to him - it doesn't matter but it did matter to someone else...? It's almost as if he wants to escape from the rest of the world, and so does "she" through their relationship. Hence "heading for the coastal regions of mind" (ie getting out of that place..) Guess it depends on your interpretation. |
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| James Blunt – High Lyrics | 20 years ago |
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You clearly have not read my comment. I said Blunt's VOICE was unique. I said NOTHING about his music - in fact I pointed out he lacked any "special quality in his songwriting ability". Just because someone made record of the year does not make them a sellout. For starters I never thought he was "underground" in the first place - how can you then decide to cash in on the pop genre. And SO WHAT if he decides to do that? Doesn't make it bad music. No basic knowledge of music at all? Well at least I don't judge someone on the basis of his existence on the charts or not. "Try listening to some real music". Well I don't know what YOUR notion of real music is, but to say that is laughable. I have a 30 gig collection of music on my PC. Are you suggesting that all 30 gig of my music is total rubbish? Are you so arrogant to claim that you and you alone know what "real music" is? |
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| James Blunt – High Lyrics | 20 years ago |
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Beautiful song. The line that struck me the most was: "Thought I was born to endless night, until you shine" Excellent way of expressing it! See William Blake's "Auguries of Innocence" - "Some are born to sweet delight, some are born to endless night". A poetic reference if I ever saw one. It seems the other person referred to in this song is his "sweet delight" - and the rest of the song is I think carried by his lovely voice as opposed to any particular special quality in songwriting as such. I get the feeling that James Blunt could carry off any song as unique, because he himself has a unique voice. |
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| Bob Dylan – It's All Over Now, Baby Blue Lyrics | 20 years ago |
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This song seems to be about change - as someone else has already mentioned, and how little lasts and can be taken for granted - hence, "it's all over now, baby blue". I especially like his mention of the "vagabond who's rapping at your door, is standing in the clothes that you once wore." It suggests a change of status, and implies that you should never judge people for their status (vagabond), because at some point you may have been the same, or at some point in the future, you may be faced with the same status. Strong social message here too. |
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| Pearl Jam – Cropduster Lyrics | 20 years ago |
| Definitely, it's about a difference in point of view from the world generally and humans (their androcentric p.o.v and attitude to the world generally). As humans we like to think that there is purpose for us within the world, and that it was somehow meant "for us". Vedder refutes this, by arguing that actually it's an "accident", and therefore is no more "for us", than for any other vegetation or animal specie on the planet...? | |
| The Zutons – Confusion Lyrics | 20 years ago |
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Fantastic song, definitely about a messed up relationship, simply because it wasn't a relationship in the first place. His voice sounds beautiful, particularly in the chorus; "From day one...." - almost a yearning for the other person, and a wish that he really did feel something for her even though he doesn't. |
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| The Zutons – Zuton Fever Lyrics | 20 years ago |
| It's almost as if he's trying to brainwash you into loving the band - the Zuton Fever runs in all our heads! Nevertheless, he doesn't need to do it....it does "run in our heads"! | |
| Athlete – Chances Lyrics | 21 years ago |
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I'm thinking that, like Wires, this is written to his new child. "All about your cries and kisses"; the beauty of holding a new-born child even when it's crying, watching it grow up, enjoying its unconditional love (kisses). There's something about those first steps of your child "Can't calculate". Take all your chances - imparting advice to his child. Don't know about the 2nd verse, the rest of the song seems directed to a child, but perhaps its likening an adult whom he loves to a child, and a relationship of an adult to a child? I really don't know! |
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| Athlete – Modern Mafia Lyrics | 21 years ago |
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Possibly this is about some sort of relationship that the writer is in - and although he wants to settle down ("I need a home, I need a home, I don't want to be on my own"), the relationship is dangerous in some sense. Eg emotionally damaging; even the "mafia" are "scared of us" - and we know how emotionally/physically damaging the mafia can be. He compares his lover to a "samurai"; again, very attractive, but potentially damaging, ruthless and dangerous. It's like he can't get out of the relationship, he's addicted to it, but he knows nothing good will come out of it. That's why he suggests "it's time for us to redefine"; change the relationship so it's beneficial for both of them instead of damaging (Fix your eyes probably refers to the look in her eyes like a samurai) - maybe be beautiful, but don't be so ruthless? Any other opinions? |
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| Bright Eyes – Arienette Lyrics | 21 years ago |
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This song speaks a lot not just about his emotions, but also the nature of society and the role of humans within it. Just a few ideas, and examples to back up my ideas: "The fragile keep secrets, gathered in pockets, and they will sell them for nothing a cheap watch or locket that kind of gold washes off." [Fragile people are the kind of people who have been undermined to such an extent that their dreams, what they want to do etc - are kept secrets because they've lost confidence to articulate them. That's why they will "sell them for nothing"; for whatever they can get hold of, because they've lost confidence in themselves.] "The sad act like lepers, they stick to the shadows and long to ring bells of warning to tell of their coming so that the pure can shut their doors." The analogy of the sad to lepers is kind of telling; in our society (like in Jesus' in the NT), it's only the happy people you want to know. There's no understanding for the sad/undermined/fragile. There's a social divide, of the "pure", who have never experienced sadness and don't want to be faced with the brutality of life and don't wish to understand "the sad": they "shut their doors". "The angry are animals senseless and savage. They act without order in logical lapses, they stain their mouths with blood." We live a world driven by fear and anger as well as logic. There's none of the in-between (of love, positive emotions)- it's the world of science and logic, and also the world of fear and hatred. That's what Oberst implies when he focuses on "anger" which replaces the logical lapses; it makes us less human, "senseless and savage". Because of this, we have stained ourselves (with blood). |
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| All Saints – Black Coffee Lyrics | 21 years ago |
| I like the reference to the shore - which links this song to "Pure Shores" :). Very neat, slick. | |
| Bad Religion – Broken Lyrics | 21 years ago |
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This is so beautiful: "So please listen to me - there is no such thing as human debris". it's a plea never to give up other people, however nasty or "broken" they must seem. Often we treat people as if they were "debris"; things like Capital Punishment to get them out of the place instead of dealing with the deeper rooted issues of poverty and education. Does anyone else get the impression that the boy has raped the girl: "he only wanted a friend - now he's made something else" - something else = a child? The undertones do suggest rape, but it could easily be teenage sex leading to teenage parenthood, causing their lives to be "broken"? |
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| Elliott Smith – A Fond Farewell Lyrics | 21 years ago |
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This is a beautiful song. As far as I'm concerned, the "friend" he is referring to is himself. If you consider what it means to have a friend, it's all about staying true to them even if you don't agree with everything that they do, but appreciating that they do have good parts to them. It's almost like Elliott Smith is looking back on his life, and accepting that there is a lot that he doesn't like about what he did, but also accepting that he is, intrinsically, a good person. He's accepting that he is a complex person, and the media never realise this with celebrities: for them the litebrite and the pictures are "black and white", never grey. They've reduced him to a "dying man in a living room", and he's saying that that's not just him: he is SO MUCH MORE than that. Sure, he "couldn't get things right" but that never made him the depressed druggie he was made out to be. The "I really wanna dance" comments above fits into this; he was a happy man and he did gain pleasure for some things. He wasn't perfect himself, he had both "good and evil" - a great romance; he was only human after all! He has a higher brain - spirituality? He can deal with pain, but because he's only human, he used drugs/heroin to do so (vomiting in the kitchen sink etc). At some point he did have to "disconnect" - Missing Link, here is really poignant. I think Smith felt his life was missing something and that's why he "disconnected" to drugs. I really love the bit where he sings of the "cold comfort of the in-between"; it's as if no one appreciates how HUMAN he is; he's been reduced to "a little less than a human being" by others, a little less than a happy high/suicide - the two states of mind are extremes. There is no middle-state; humans experience both happiness and sorrow, and the media especially never recognised that in Smith. I'm not sure about the whole suicide interpretation here actually, I think Smith explores what it means to be an individual and human rather than "oh my god I want to die". He finally recognises that there is no black and white to life, and that he HAS made mistakes, and making mistakes is a hard, but positive experience because you learn from them. He has LEARNED from them - he is saying a "fond farewell" - fond because he realises he gained something from that part of his life, but a farewell because he has to move on and make himself a better person. Nice interpretation, no? |
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| Zwan – Settle Down Lyrics | 21 years ago |
| 7 Virtues, 7 sins - I think the seven virtues makes more sense in the context of this song, but the whole idea of 7 conveys a religiousness and supernaturalness, whether positive or negative. And if there has been something that has been present in Corgan's work, from start to finish, it's been an almost fixation with religion, with God. For example, in Bullet With Butterfly.. he declares "Jesus was the only son...I still believe that I cannot be saved". And in the Zwan album it seems almost to be a renewal of faith. So overall, it could be both. Even without the reference to seven, we can see that Corgan is intensely aware of his own mortality and its relevance to religious faith/God. More than whether it's a virtue/vice, that is perhaps most important to take into account. | |
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