| Paul Simon – American Tune Lyrics | 4 years ago |
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The song is certainly brutal. It's about the savaging of American republicanism. It reminds me of the last "thanks" from Wm. S. Burroughs's sarcastic "A Thanksgiving Prayer". The "prayer" is a litany of American anti-republican stupidities. But the last "thanks" in the list is... "THANKS... for the Last and Greatest Betrayal of the Last and Greatest of Human Dreams." When I hear that, I think of the American Dream, the dream of the forging of lasting, sustainable, free, robust republic. Vietnam absolutely savaged that dream, and there certainly have been subsequent savagings (e.g., Reaganomics, 2003 Iraq invasion). |
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| Elvis Costello – Riot Act Lyrics | 4 years ago |
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When you listen, be sure to keep a historical take on the concept of a "riot act" in mind. The context is one of civil discord where elites just pull legal rank on aggrieved lower-class parties. Those parties feel driven to the expedient of violent revolt, and the elites just effectively say, "OK, now you're just breaking the law. Disperse." A "riot act" is an intense concept! Imagine how intense it feels when it's living history for you! |
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| Laura Nyro – Save the Country Lyrics | 4 years ago |
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Lately been thinking about songs like this, and certain songs by (say) Paul Simon, and the like... and they appear to be crying out from the midst of the horrible spiritual darkness of (among other things) U.S.-in-Vietnam. And so sad to have to reflect--yet again--of prophetic artists like this winning the moral battles while Americans bleat and quiver in faithless fear and elect jackasses that schlemiel them *yet again*. It's one of the tragedies of being born a great artist in the U.S.A. |
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| Laura Nyro – Save the Country Lyrics | 4 years ago |
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@[jassss:31569] Ref to an old negro spiritual, "Down by the Riverside". Clever ref! |
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| Steppenwolf – 28 Lyrics | 4 years ago |
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What's interesting about this song is how 1) it's so tied to a place and time, for me, and 2) it really highlights how often a song can induce you to project on it; particularly when you're young (as I was when I first heard it). I'd fairly regularly visit a school chum, Mark Higdon, and he had a tidy li'l collection of real "period", hipster stuff, like Steppenwolf and The Amboy Dukes, and suchlike. And we listened to "The Second" fairly regularly... and this song really stuck out. At the time, I could only make out some of the lyrics... and I have to add, I question the veracity of some of the lyrics posted above! And my impression was a mix of bits that I felt I could construe, plus the "catchiness" of the riff and arrangement. And those bits seemed to be relating how a person can emotionally react to a realization of the passage of time and the finiteness of our lives. Is there more to it than that? Could be, but I'll have to reflect a bit more, then come back. But I thought it worth relating my teenaged response to this song. |
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| Creedence Clearwater Revival – Wrote a Song for Everyone Lyrics | 5 years ago |
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Heard this song again today after having pretty much forgotten it existed. Forgot how much it moves me. It's a lovely song structure, and the words are deeply tragic. I was near tears as I listened. Oddly, it started playing as background music in an ESL class. Innaresting place to get reacquainted with it, eh? It's a theme that gets touch upon in lots of Fogarty's tunes: Blind masses stumbling about while their political masters get the better of them. Tale old as time. |
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| Creedence Clearwater Revival – Wrote a Song for Everyone Lyrics | 5 years ago |
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@[bradburyesqu:30463] For my part, I like that Bradbury doesn't explain the broader meaning; an "exercise for the student", as it were. (And... I basically agree with this interp, and appreciate the backstory. Thx!) |
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| Paul McCartney – Junk Lyrics | 5 years ago |
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If you coalesce the observations in these comments which emphasize the "buy buy" vs. "why why" dichotomy, you have my view of the import of the lyrics; from being a chiding dig at consumerism, to a veiled rumination upon discarded relationships. But I do want to chime in and also comment on how monumentally "of a piece" this song is. It highlights an interesting thing about Paul. As with other genius songwriters, he can knock out a "humble" little tune like this, produce it with minimal instrumentation and a hint of Linda's harmonization, and it's gemlike and supremely artful. It's a beautiful thing; as lovely as anything else Paul had ever written up to that time. |
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| The Rolling Stones – Citadel Lyrics | 5 years ago |
| @[horowizard:29066] Mind. Blown. | |
| The Beatles – Cry Baby Cry Lyrics | 5 years ago |
| @[SOAD:28950] is my world WOW... I'm a little shocked I never stopped to think of these royal appellations as a "distancing" effect in a middle-class family. Awesome, and thanks! | |
| The Beatles – Cry Baby Cry Lyrics | 5 years ago |
| @[GlitterGlue:28949] Sounds like Lennon. He usually played in a plaintive way, and liked to effect his own bass lines in the lower register, and process the sound "tinny" like that. You heard this kind of playing in his early solo work (e.g., "John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band"). | |
| They Might Be Giants – Kiss Me, Son Of God Lyrics | 5 years ago |
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It's a good description of the latent leanings within republics of pre-republican sentiment. As such, the song rises, in my mind, to the level of prophesy. Not in the hokey, Jean-Dixonian, sense of the word, but in the sense that WE HAVE NOW OFFICIALLY BEEN WARNED. But the warning has pretty much gone unheeded... And that's only natural, as Jesus pointed out: It's the greatest irony there is... that folks who "get" messages like this got those messages long ago. It's the very folks whom messages like this might aid who are constitutionally inured to them. What do I mean? I would say that it's not going terribly far out on a limb to suggest you read this lyric while reflecting on the legacy of Trump. Every point hits home! |
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| The Guess Who – Runnin' Back to Saskatoon Lyrics | 6 years ago |
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Betcha dollars to doughnuts Burton Cummings was trying his hand at channeling his own little "Penny Lane". This would make sense: I heard an old recording of (perhaps) a pre-Guess Who band led by Cummings doing a cover of "Penny Lane"... which is still one of the greatest songs written in the English Language, as far as I'm concerned. Anyway, I think we can all think of other examples of this. I think Elvis Costello's "Waiting for the End of the World" is Costello trying to write his own "When I Paint My Masterpiece" (Dylan). But... Back to Cummings: I think he took a cue from Penny Lane and decided he wanted to follow suit; he wanted to write a love song to a place--or, in Cummings's case, a smattering of places over a pretty broad area. |
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| Taylor Swift – I Wish You Would Lyrics | 6 years ago |
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Hated this song from the first few stanzas. Came here to read the rest: It doesn't redeem the song much. First, musically, it falls into the category of sounding like it's written to meet contractual obligations to her producers. It's a piece of drek from the standpoint of "composition". Next, the message is rotten to the core: There's basically nothing to redeem the woman character, longing to see her old boyfriend (I won't dignify this song by calling him her "lover") again. How do we know she's not merely being nostalgic, or resorting to a kind of emotional shorthand that gives her pangs of want, BUT NO USABLE INSIGHT? I've seen scads of these kinds of relationships, and they suck; no wonder the divorce rate is so high in the U.S.: If the people listening to songs like this think they redeem the woman--and, via emotional identification, themselves--that's a red flag, for sure. Get help, pronto. I'm reminded of the image of Diane Dane in Tom Hanks's "That Thing You Do!" It stylistically showcased a popular (at the time), sleazy, underhanded interpersonally damaging form of commerce then, and it apparently hasn't changed a whit. |
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| Neil Innes – Godfrey Daniel Lyrics | 6 years ago |
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I love this song. In his Bonzo days, I think Neil wrestled with a seemingly insurmountable sense of life's absurdity, such that... even though he certainly has a font of good will, he seemed to have trouble saying something warm, wise, meaningful, and connecting. Well, here he weds that absurdity with a very deep, very profound wisdom. This is a song about forgiveness and grace. It's a very, very clever little sermon about what it *really* means to "take the Lord's name in vain". He's saying that it's not the words; it's the attitude. It's the fact that cursing something or somewhat is a failure of the heart. And--true to the form he just prescribed--he doesn't turn around and cuss right back at the cusser; he doesn't want to join the cusser in his/her pit. He cleverly, sweetly, suggests that we can leave ol' Godfrey Daniel in peace, so he can go back to Ohio... or wherever he "belong". He throws a couple of other bits o' wisdom into the mix: The swearing fealty to folk wisdom ("...bird in the hand...") is his way of alluding to the idea that wisdom is where you find it; not where you're *supposed to* find it. And he seems to be closing with a Lennonesque resort to lewdness; like the "finger pie" in Penny Lane. It's (among other things, I suppose) a way of injecting a "disconnect" into the song. So as to avoid the accusation that he's being holier-than-thou. One of my fave songs of all time. I can sing it and play it on guitar! |
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| The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band – My Pink Half of the Drainpipe Lyrics | 6 years ago |
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Much appreciate butchrjuj's ideas; particularly thankful for his interp of the key image... the "pink half" of the drainpipe. I'll go a little further, tho. There are twin images, here: One is of a person's holding on to his weirdness, brandishing it against a "normal" world. And the other--very important--is his self-awareness of this contract. |
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| Steely Dan – Reelin' In The Years Lyrics | 6 years ago |
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The key image is that the singer wants to tell the subject person of the song that his/her values are wrongheaded. Example: The image of "reelin' in the years" means that the subject sees experiences as accessory... and doesn't ask his/herself the question, "Accessory to *what*?" Life is not accessory to anything: Life is life. When you treat experiences like fish that you reel in, you're not seeing the big picture. Downstream (as it were), the subject winds up treating people shabbily, seeing the exchange of sophomoric fripperies as "intellectualism", and generally fails to know the glories, gifts, and real opportunities that this transient life affords each and every one of us. |
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| Henry Cow – The Nine Funerals of the Citizen King Lyrics | 7 years ago |
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Really like the line "That the Snark was a Boojum / All can tell." ; If you read the poem, it's pretty obvious what Henry Cow is getting at: We're told that being nice, well-behaved, and conducive to the designs of Western Civ and its bankers and other elites is a Good Thing; which is like hunting the Snark. But in Carroll's poem, the Snark they pursue turns out to a Boojum. And that means the complete, eternal anhillation of the hunter's being. In other words, this is Henry Cow's way of saying that we're being sold a bill of goods. |
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| Flight of the Conchords – Carol Brown Lyrics | 7 years ago |
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@[tinto1123:17399] I see these contrary theme as an interplay, and a *very* playful one. Strange to think, I'm reminded of how Paul Simon (whom this song refs) could write a song with multiple voices speaking thru the lyrics (Hazy Shade of Winter). |
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| Flight of the Conchords – Carol Brown Lyrics | 7 years ago |
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@[eljavi:17398] Great comment! Wanna add a bit re the Paul Simon ref: Genius! It's both a charming ref/homage, and very cleverly clears them of a charge of copycatting! And, in fact, it's a funny mirror opposite of Simon's song: Simon sang about how a guy can leave women, and of course the Jemaine's singing about the women leaving him! |
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| Elvis Costello – Opportunity Lyrics | 7 years ago |
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And... One more thing... Just so folks "get" it: The scene in the stanza re "When they get to Dover" is taking place in 1066 C.E. It's talking about the Norman Invasion. The French did take over the south of England for about 200 years. During that time you could tell the toffs from the commoners: The upper class professional and royal types spoke French, and regular folk spoke English. This is why there's so much regrooved Old French in the English lexicon today. LOVE that bit in the song! |
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| Supertramp – Take The Long Way Home Lyrics | 7 years ago |
| Strong "mid-life crisis" imagery, here. In particular, I resonated with the disaffection of the wife: This was a key part of my own mid-life thing. | |
| Bob Dylan – Watching the River Flow Lyrics | 7 years ago |
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I think the description of the act of quietly watching a river flow is an (actually, rather old) metaphor for inner peace or "centeredness". It reminds me of a dream comic strip story by Jim Woodring where he and his son are sitting down by the river, and it's reminding Jim of his own youth, and his ability at the time to just sit and watch the river flow for hours on end. Ironically, his son then runs away to get into some kind of mischief or other! I think the rest of the song makes pretty good sense in this light. |
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| Bob Dylan – Watching the River Flow Lyrics | 7 years ago |
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@[chrisb1:15335] Here's the scoop on that accompaniment! This tune (along with "When I Paint My Masterpiece") was produced by Leon Russell, with Leon playing the piano. I had a work buddy in my old corporate job who went to high school with Leon, in Tulsa OK. Amazingly, he wasn't aware of the fact that Leon has quite infiltrated the "beautiful people" coterie in the '60s. So we had a sort of running joke going: Whenever I'd encounter him in the hallways, I'd buttonhole him and say, "Ron: Leon Russell?... was HOT." Then we'd both have a laugh. But... it was true. He's a true artist, who made a good name for himself at a rollicking time in American pop history. If you don't know about him, check him out. He probably made half his bundle selling his fine tunes to others to cover. |
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| The Hochimen – You Bum, Ya! Lyrics | 7 years ago |
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Generally a very nice summing up of the existential question. Reggie (the song's writer) had a break with evangelical Christianity, and seems to have been searching for the replacement. And I think he gives us a nice expression of that replacement, here: Whether you're particularly theological or not, the truth is one of whether you're fulfilling your potential in the body and mind you've found yourself endowed with, and in the world in which we find ourselves. Find out what your bliss is, then follow it! |
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| They Might Be Giants – Particle Man Lyrics | 7 years ago |
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Just want to comment on one thing: Particle Man. Haven't encountered a comment to suggest this, so this is a new idea. A particle is a smallest possible thing. The smallest possible thing has no dimension. And I think this is a very good description of egolessness. Particle Man has no ego. Another clue is the part where it's impossible to say whether Particle Man gets wet, or the water gets "him". Think about it: Under what circumstances would _you_ ever say, in the shower, that the water is getting "you"? Only if you had no ego. It is ego identification which makes it possible for "you" to get "wet". In a way, existing as a particle is a cheater's way to obtain egolessness. |
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| They Might Be Giants – Narrow Your Eyes Lyrics | 7 years ago |
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LIke everyone's comments. To tailgunner I'd say that the key mapping of "narrow[one]" one's "eyes" is to... a healthy skepticism. I think that cuts the knot. The idea is that he's not resentful (or, at least, resentment doesn't hold a central position in his mindset), suspicious (or, at least, not essentially so), or... etc. He's allowing a healthy skepticism take root. And his new mindset looks at her and realizes that she doesn't really have an organically healthy view of HIM, as a complete Human Being. They sort of covered this idea in the song in Flood, "Twisting", which focused on something a bit more overtly venal; that "period" could be a bulwark for relationship. It's not. Anyway, "Narrow Your Eyes" draws a more nuanced, less iconic picture of relationship venality. Again, thanks to all who contributed to the commentary on this underappreciated gem in the early TMBG oeuvre. |
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| DC Talk – Jesus Freak Lyrics | 8 years ago |
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@[lostingod365:9538] Even tho I sense you're asking the question rhetorically, I'm going to answer it. People comment on songs because they find songs endlessly fascinating. And, btw, non-Christians have an expression to describe the attitude you express here: They call your type, "country club Christians". Why treat a comment thread on a song as though it were a country club, and you're one of the entitled? |
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| DC Talk – Jesus Freak Lyrics | 8 years ago |
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@[calebn3v:9537] If you do a little reading on the Philosophy of Science, you'll discover that your thinking here is faulty. The scientific definition of "theory" is very specific (and scientifically productive), and definitely doesn't apply to creationism. That productivity question was addressed, head-on and in great depth, in Kitzmiller vs. Dover. Teaching creation in science class was determined to be a fundamental act of fraud. I'm glad you have faith. But that doesn't mean you have to believe everything. This was the upshot of Christ's Parable of the Mustard Seed. |
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| DC Talk – Jesus Freak Lyrics | 8 years ago |
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I felt this was the weakest song on the album. The rest of the album was great songwriting that showcased "fruits of the spirit". This song seemed to degenerate back to a lower order of religious thinking; the kind of tepid 20th century martyrdom complex thinking that typifies highly religious folks who nonetheless aren't getting much actual mileage from the experience. |
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| DC Talk – Jesus Freak Lyrics | 8 years ago |
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I felt this was the weakest song on the album. The rest of the album was great songwriting that showcased "fruits of the spirit". This song seemed to degenerate back to a lower order of religious thinking; the kind of tepid 20th century martyrdom complex thinking that typifies highly religious folks who nonetheless aren't getting much actual mileage from the experience. |
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| Elvis Costello – Opportunity Lyrics | 8 years ago |
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I consider this song representative of Elvis from this period. It's stylish and snappy and--typical of Elvis--totally at odds with the lyrics which per usual throw his blanket of moral circumspection over the proceedings. After all, what's the purpose of pop music? To background and lubricate our little sex-and-success dramas. And I have two pet appellations for Costello: My Favorite Christian Artist, and "Cockblock Elvis". And" Opportunity" certainly lives up to this expectation. It strips off the veneer of faith in the system and exposes the ugly truth. That most of what passes for love and success are adventitious clingings-on by dim-to-outright-blind humans in a very forbidding universe. The thing about Elvis is that you either embrace his philosophy or put it aside and bask in his awesome stylishness. "Opportunity" is a fine exemplar of this relentless, scary aspect to his work. |
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| Gordon Lightfoot – Sundown Lyrics | 8 years ago |
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There not much I can add to the great comments I find here on this song. But I would like to "vote up" one couplet in Sundown: Sometimes I think it's a shame / When I get feeling better when I'm feeling no pain." This is certainly got to be a classic lyric couplet addressing the issue that the real shame is in not confronting and transcending pain. Oh, and btw, the song was very, very cleverly used at the end of the TV series "The Blacklist" S01E13, at about the 37 minute mark. Arguably a pop culture ref sop thrown to my demographic, but appreciated nonetheless. And I'm sure Gordon appreciated the little bump in his royalties check. |
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| Flight of the Conchords – Carol Brown Lyrics | 8 years ago |
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@[razajac:7534] Wanted to add: I sometimes teach this song in ESL classes here in Taiwan, and I point out the very, very ingenious allusion to Paul Simon. It's great because, on one hand, they "had to" refer to it--to clear themselves artistically; prove they weren't being copycats, sort of), and on the other hand, they did it so artistically; slyly/off-handedly. |
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| Jethro Tull – Aqualung Lyrics | 8 years ago |
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@[BrainDamage:5215] Yes. I just had a flash on something, and came here to make a comment... and find that you've come pretty close to what I had to say. I'll add this tweak: Yes, Aqualung is a misunderstood homeless person; suspect and untrusted, but ultimately harmless (as per pieguy3). But I think Anderson raises him to the realm high metaphor. And the metaphor is this: In a world ruled by religious jackasses, those who choose to hew toward reason and free inquiry are held suspect. There's an old syllogism--sort of on the wane these days, but you can still find it around--that would have us believe that the irreligious can't be trusted, as they lack the "fear of God" that controls men's appetites and makes them "fit" for civil society. Aqualung, besides being a homeless guy, is also a mocking representation of these unaffiliated reprobates. And in the end, the voice saying, "Ya poor ol' sod/You see it's only/Me" is the voice of quiet, calm, even arguably compassionate, Reason. One thing that fascinates me about Anderson in this period is how he managed to have stumbled upon a narrow window in pop culture, in which he was able to slip through a product that downright assaults pop culture's number one cardinal rule: Plan to unstintingly flatter the common man's conceits that his true glory is his capacity to *feel*, ... or there's the door. Anderson, here in Aqualung and later in "Thick as a Brick", attacks the very idea. In a society apparently seriously strewn with religious miniature Mussolinis, he pushed the idea that people *can* and in fact *need to* _think_ their way out of our collective paper bag. |
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| Simon and Garfunkel – Fakin' It Lyrics | 8 years ago |
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@[komcd27:4268] Not sure what you mean, but I would characterize Bookends (the album) as the pinnacle of S&G hewing towards the pop-rock production values of the time; The Beatles, The Beach Boys, The Who, etc., etc. Is that what you mean? |
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| R. Stevie Moore – Wayne Wayne Go Away Lyrics | 9 years ago |
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I feel like "Wayne, Wayne, Go Away" captures the best--and most maddening--about R. Stevie Moore. If Moore had written a "straight up" lyric, I suspect he'd've been able to retire on the royalties from its performances and recordings by greater luminaries. It's one of the most beautiful melodies/accompaniments/song structures he's _ever_ written. But that's where it... Well, I shouldn't say "ends"... because the lyrics _are_ interesting, as a kind of cubistic representation of young love and general, anarchic youthful energy. Including "horn dog" sexual energy, looking to bust out, wherever it can. I was never able to help hearing Moore singing as himself, from whence one gets the impression that the scenario is gay. But I guess it's not supposed to be a stretch to hear the voice as that of a young girl. But that kind of direct, out-of-control expression of sexual energy--without recourse to the buffering (softening) effect of "romance"--is more typical of a guy. So.... In other words, I guess I found it hard to hear the voice as female, as it seems like a typical "guy's world" description of sexuality. And that's why the tune languishes in cult classic hell. Other than that, it showcases Moore's talent as a conduit for good ol', down-home pop tunesmithing. And, make no mistake, that talent is very well represented in this tune. You're struck by his very clever melodic segues (from the second to third iteration of the main theme ("it got so <> bad I had to tell him..."). And his extended dalliance on the leading tone at the end of the main bridge ("..., say hey hey <>HEY...") reminds me of Thelonious Monk. |
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| R. Stevie Moore – Part of the Problem Lyrics | 9 years ago |
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The funny thing about RSM's lyrics is that... most of 'em are pretty straightforward. The meaning is right there. I think this is one of those cases. At the time when RSM penned this lyric, it seems he was productive and happy, and had to face off friends who felt stuck and frustrated. What he's saying is, basically, what many of us find ourselves saying, from time to time: "Just because I'm happy and productive doesn't mean that I am the keeper of some kind of 'secret recipe' for happiness. So bugger off, already." Sometimes the reason relationships fail is because our mates need pointed insights into their condition. It's nice when you *can* help, but at the same time you're not at fault for having not chosen psychiatry as a profession; there's only so much you can do. And, btw, this certainly one of RSM's best songs, musically. He's showcasing all his strengths, here. |
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| Jeff Buckley – So Real Lyrics | 9 years ago |
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Thanks for that bit about "radio friendly". I have a friend here in Taiwan who like American pop rock, but only the "sweet" kind. I felt a need to have him listen to this tune. He said, "I liked most of it, but what was the deal with that bit in the middle where it got all noisy?" And I explained that, to my thinking, the toying with primal chaos, daring that chaos to charge out and get mud all over your pretty little song, *that* is what typifies the best of rock'n'roll. The Taiwanese eat something they call "臭豆腐"; "Stinky Tofu". They innoculate the tofu with a bacteria and let it rot for some length of time. Then they deep fry it and serve it with spicy sauce and cilantro and basil and whatnot. I tell the Taiwanese: "The Taiwanese like their tofu stinky and their music sweet. Americans like their tofu sweet and their rock'n'roll stinky." |
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| Elvis Costello – Living In Paradise Lyrics | 9 years ago |
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I partially agree with elements in the three comments preceding mine, but want to add a touch or two. He's talking about a woman with whom he wants to maintain a relationship, but knows he'll never really get along with; typifying her as a kind of overly-carnal type, with pauperized values. he's obsessed. It's as though, beside being someone not really worthy of an idealistic type like him, she's also some kind of immutable ideal, even in that degraded state; like Pythagoras's Theorem.. And this serves to highlight something about Costello that might partially explain why he has only a cult following: Sometimes he lavishes an amazing amount of craft on squinky subjects like this that arguably aren't worthy of such exertions. It's nice to imagine a redemptive angle, like he's reaching out to the guys out there who suffer from being stuck in these places. Only I question the efficacy of this approach to interpersonal, emotional truth. |
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| Irritating Rainbow – Priest 85 Lyrics | 9 years ago |
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Heard this tune, which plays over the closing credits of Rob Schrab's "Robot Bastard!" (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0418106/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1) This tune is just a fun, jumpy lovely thing, and very much in the spirit of the flick: Modest production values, smart-alec-y, retro sci-fi shoot-'em-up-y! You can find the flick on-line, tho not a very good copy... Still very much worth the watch. |
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| Supergrass – Alright Lyrics | 9 years ago |
| I liked the effect it had as it played over the opening credits of "The Men Who Stare at Goats", with images of Bush-II's invasion of Baghdad as the visuals. You often get the impression that a lot of the Americans over there were sort of young and just trying to have a blast. And that applies up and down the ladder, from the grunts on the ground to the new breed of peachy-faced evangelical youngsters, fresh outta Liberty University and Regent Law, given key positions in the reconstruction (semi-)effort. | |
| Supergrass – Alright Lyrics | 9 years ago |
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I thought it meant being young (green) and running about in reckless abandon. I was curious, so (sue me!) I typed "running green" into Google to see if I'd get any cannabis-related hits, and... nary a one. I even added a "colorado" keyword, and didn't do any better. So "running green" means doing cannabis... to you, and (pretty much) you alone. Which is cool with me! |
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| Supergrass – Alright Lyrics | 9 years ago |
| Oop! Just saw this; sorry! | |
| Supergrass – Alright Lyrics | 9 years ago |
| Pretty sure the word you wanted was "invincible"! And, yes, I agree. | |
| fun. – Stars Lyrics | 9 years ago |
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First of all: I rarely do what I'm about to do: My usual behavior pattern is as follows: I really dig a song, get a lot of meaning out of it, then come here to see what others have to say, and add my own two bits. But I have to say something about this song because it seems like someone has to. Does anyone else notice how phenomenally artless and fey this song is? First, let's look at the music of the song. I know this is a board for commenting on the meaning of lyrics... but, even for folks who enjoy inspired lyrics, a lot of the energy and power you derive from the impact of that song derives from the music. And the song structure/accompaniment of "Stars" is of the most staid, boring variety; the "melody" sounds like the singer listened to those boring 4/4-time I/IV/V chord changes and came up with a correspondingly boring, noodly string of notes that sort of work OK against those changes. Utterly uninspired, all 'round, musically speaking. And what about those lyrics? There's a really easy way to describe bad lyrics of that type: They sound like bad high-school poetry. I'm sure the writer had all those feelings and all that, and bully for him. But there's an amazing tradition in the world of songwriting, and it has to do with the fact that a great lyricist possesses *both* affect *and* skill; and the art of lyrics is thus a little like walking a tightwire: You have to have the affect, but you also have to recognize that there's a tradition which places certain demands on the expression of those feelings. In short, a good lyricist is a true artist, and thus a rare bird, indeed. That said, we can all think of times when a marketing weenie at a music production/distribution company decides to damn the torpedoes and let substandard musical and/or lyrical hackery escape from the studio and find some small market: And this song is a sterling example of that. Wow. Like I said, I've never done this before; and I don't take it flippantly or lightly, as I hope you will discern from the detail in my analysis. But I can't think of a better forum for just letting one's hair down like this and making a good and proper stand for musical/lyrical artistry. Someone's gotta do it, and I guess it's gotta be me. I've only heard one other song by "fun", and it also sucks, in pretty much the same way; I strongly suspect the band to be consistent in their dedication to eschewing artistry. Maybe they will evolve into something better. I certainly hope so! But the key is that *we* have to evolve into something better. And one thing that comes along for that evolutionary ride is discernment in the matter of art. |
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| Jethro Tull – Thick as a Brick (Parts 1 & 2) Lyrics | 9 years ago |
| Y'know, the idea of "sand castle virtues" is an old one: http://ronazajac.com/Shards/CaiRobberTao/ | |
| Jethro Tull – Thick as a Brick (Parts 1 & 2) Lyrics | 9 years ago |
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I agree and disagree. I think Ian was smart enough to have it both ways. His album art sort of seems to lampoon the rock opera concept, but that far, far from extrapolates to the idea that the lyrics lack significance. I remember a teen college freshman who planned to write a paper for a class in which he would claim the lyrics were *utterly* meaningless. In retrospect, this dovetails with a much more facile explanation of that conclusion; that the kid was a greenass freshman with little exposure to the world of ideas and philosophies. But I still very, very much appreciate your shedding light on the idea that Ian *was* having a healthy poke at the genre. I love it when Brit rockers did that, like Viv Stanshall's scathing "Can a Blue Man Sing the Whites?", making fun of the Brit blues players, like Clapton. |
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| Jethro Tull – Thick as a Brick (Parts 1 & 2) Lyrics | 9 years ago |
| My only remonstrance here is that the text is making plain that Ian's still being coy when he gets to the "Won't you join your local government..." bit: He's still referring to the "childhood heroes" ("So come on, ye childhood heroes..."). It makes sense to me, but he's still referring to people failing to take responsibility. | |
| Creedence Clearwater Revival – Who'll Stop the Rain? Lyrics | 9 years ago |
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Flipster, I agree and thank you for your observations, some of which I hadn't thought of. I will suggest that you could easily dovetail your views with another view being voiced here: Since gov'ts had all these lovely plans to organize things to bring opportunity to its citizens, why always the "golden chains" that bind that new-found productivity/prosperity to the schemes of cowardly troglodyte warmongers? |
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