| Air – Run Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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I think this song is definitely "haunting" but hardly "romantic." Why would his holy girl reciprocate this love by running? These sound more like the delusional thoughts of someone who has abducted a girl he practically worships. |
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| Led Zeppelin – Fool in the Rain Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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This song, to me, is about how when people fall in love, they often forget about how they've been hurt by it in the past. Despite the obvious possibility that the person you fall in love with may end up breaking your heart, you put all your trust and hope in them. It's one of the few mistakes in life that we'll never learn from. |
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| Primus – Nature Boy Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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Honestly, if I wanted to pretend a song was about masturbation, I could do it easily. How does filing out his income taxes have to do with masturbation? Oh, I suppose the pen could be a metaphor for a penis, right? How is the first verse even "obvious"? Because he uses the word genitalia? I have nothing to offer further than that when they say, "I pull the blinds, then I take my clothes off, dance around the house like Nature Boy," they mean that he's comparing himself to someone who may walk around naked, and such people tend to live in tropical jungles or other places where walking around naked might be a good idea. Other than that, I'm still thinking about what he says in the bridge. He wouldn't say it if it had nothing to do with the rest of the lyrics, and, clearly, what he says during the bridge has nothing to do with masturbation. So all you masturbation-crazy kids have failed to convince me that this song has anything to do with jerking it. |
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| Sausage – Prelude To Fear Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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The lyrics read like a script, especially for a play. Most artforms work with tone, and this applies to music and theater. While watching some sort of theater performance, all these aspects that go into setting a specific mood (like a "Prelude to Fear") aren't directly told to the audience. Instead, they're expressed by these things in the lyrics, "Midday, aerobic jog, through streets not well lit by lamplight." So what's the meaning? I don't know if it goes beyond Claypool's facetious sense of humor. But I do like this song a lot. |
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| The Residents – Constantinople Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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Constantinople was the capital of the Roman Empire when Constantine decided to move it (from Rome). The Empire also adopted Christianity, which made Constantinople a significant Christian city. The Hagia Sofia was created as a Christian church (minarets were added to the structure later in fact). This is a metaphorical pilgrimage in death. The death can be infered from "all the leaves are off of the oak." And yeah, the Primus version of this song does kick ass. It's sparked enough interest in me to check out some of the stuff by these guys. |
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| Oysterhead – The Grand Pecking Order Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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First of all, I don't even see how one would think Les Claypool sounds "gay". What the hell does that mean? Is there a way one sounds gay? If so, I'd imagine it involves a lisp, which I'm not hearing in this song. Anyway, I don't really care what Les Claypool is. He's a god on bass. As already mentioned, the song is about the societal ladder. The second verse makes it pretty obvious. But I like the description in the first one more. Also note the line, "For to pout about would only bring disgrace." Basically, they're saying that in the "Grand Pecking Order," one is expected to at least pretend to be pleased with their position, no matter how horrible. It feels like they're describing the social hierarchy in nations like the U.S. and other similar places. In the U.S. we have this idea of freedom of opportunity. It's practically embedded in our brains that people get what they earn or even deserve. Rich people are rich because they worked hard to get there, poor people are poor because they're lazy--that sort of thing. I can't think of the exact word for that concept, but it's very prevalent in America. Not that the implications are this far-stretching, but it still applies. Besides that, I believe Les Claypool wrote the lyrics to this song, and he is an American, so I imagine he's drawing from his own experience. They're definitely not implying the Grand Pecking Order is a good thing. Imagine a bunch of people around a table, some in fat splendor, sprawled out on top of the lesser/miserable people. And the miserable ones have to pretend they are happy. All the while, they suck their own dicks, figuratively, by toasting "To the Grand Pecking Order" over and over again. |
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| Rage Against the Machine – Bulls on Parade Lyrics | 20 years ago |
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I'll start here since I can't make sense of the first few lines: "Terror rains drenchin', quenchin' tha thirst of Tha power dons" Equates politicians in power to "dons", a term for leaders of organized crime families, to liken them to criminals. "That five sided fist-a-gon" Clearly, a reference to the United States' pentagon, but using the word fist. The most obvious and likely intent is that we enforce our own laws, here and abroad, with war (the fist signifying bullying, further, violence). "Tha rotten sore on the face of mother earth gets Bigger" This can be interpretted in two ways: 1) America is the rotten sore, which grows; this seems to be popular 2) The rotten sore is simply scorched land from wars "Tha triggers cold empty ya purse" First of all, "tha triggers cold..." makes it seem as if something is wrong. The speaker of this line would be the politician, stating that the trigger is cold, and we are obligated to warm it. And when we start beating the war drum, the nation's citizens will need to fund it. "They rally round tha family With pockets full of shells" As has been said, a lot of politicians talk about family values, yet are completely ready to send us off to war. Naturally, this points at their hypocrisy. "Weapons not food, not homes, not shoes Not need, just feed tha war canibal animal" Obvious enough, he's talking about how we spend money to fund war instead of helping feed, cloth, or house people. "I walk tha corner to tha rubble that used to be a Library Line up to tha mind cemetery" Again, like the last line. But this is a bit more striking because while food, shelter, and clothing are essential needs, education isn't requred for human survival. Instead, it is pivotal for our development. The allocation of resources to our wars in lieu of libraries (symbolic for education in general) causes us to progress in the wrong direction. "What we don't know keeps tha contracts alive an Movin' They don't gotta burn tha books they just remove 'em" This is similar to the last statement, though a bit more specific. By disallowing certain books, threats of simply thinking radically are severely hindered. You can't really oppose something if you don't know it's even there to be opposed. "While arms warehouses fill as quick as tha cells" Simply put, we're building weapons and incarcerating people at the same rate. Considering the song, up to now, has been speaking about how those in power are pouring so much effort into war (and, naturally, building weapons as well), it would follow that cells filling as quick as arms warehouses are filling... quite fast. Someone said something about political prisoners and people who disagree with the government. Sorry, but that is utterly moronic. People are simply being put in jail. I'm pretty sure that huge prison population of persons who were put in for smoking crack weren't exactly POLITICAL prisoners. This is just a statement about how ridiculous our prison system is. It is ridiculously easy to be sent to a prison in the U.S. "Bulls on parade" Bulls, throughout history and in many different cultures, have been a symbol of power. We're talking about those in power in America. |
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| Sublime – Badfish Lyrics | 21 years ago |
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How are any of you positive that it's just heroin? A direct reference to "booze" is made. Yes, I know most of this song is metaphorical, but what would the significance of "two pints of booze" be otherwise. Also, reef sounds a lot like reefer. He could be talking about several drugs in this song, not just heroin. Think about it. He didn't just arbitrarily pick something in the ocean and decide that it would symbolize heroin. Why would he pick reef? |
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| Operation Ivy – Healthy Body, Sick Mind Lyrics | 21 years ago |
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You're both close, but not quite there. The song isn't about materialism. It's just about overworking yourself for money. The person is only spending their time working and staying 'healthy,' which is where the expensive vitamin pills, wheat germ, and running shoes come in. The song points out that this is just an illusion. Though you may seem to be doing well to others, having a decent-paying job and your (physical) health, you're neglecting your self. Thus, you've become mentally ill, not on the same level as someone in an insane asylum. Nonetheless, with little time to yourself, you've basically become a robot. |
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| Cake – The Distance Lyrics | 21 years ago |
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First of all, a song doesn't have to be about a single subject. Let's look at the surface. First of all, by surface, I mean the meaning that seems obvious. The song can be about a guy who is not over a girl. "Thinking of someone for whom he still burns..." Sure, this seems like a sound interpretation. But this song is definitely more about sex. Look at the first verse. Listen to it. The diction, rhythm, and anything else you can say about the words said have a sexual feeling to them. These words aren't all used to describe races most times. Pumping, thumping, churning, burning, maneuvering and muscling, reckless and wild, etc. this is a pretty damn good depiction of the act. Imagine that the "they" in the first verse are two people having sex. Seems to fit quite well. But after the sex is over ("flags go down..."), they are seperated. "She's all alone." "The arena is empty except for one man." They've parted after the sex. It's almost like a one-night stand. "No trophy, no flowers, no flashbulbs, no wine." This furthers that idea. They aren't in some sort of relationship other than a purely sexual one. Nothing of the romantic sort is included, like flowers or wine. And then we get that he has "doubt" and "remorse." You may feel this after having sex just because. But he's still going the distance. The song is basically about a guy who seeks to have sex without getting in a relationship. He's going the distance, going for speed, etc. While he may regret his actions briefly, he doesn't really consider it for more than a moment and continues on his way. And she ends up all alone, "in her time of need." Though I may not be right in jumping to conclusions about the man only going the distance for the hell of it. The song could be about a relationship that has dwindled to nothing but sexual encounters. It could just be about a single sexual encounter. I'm prepared to say this song is about a lot of things. Yet it is most definitely about sex. |
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| Led Zeppelin – Ramble On Lyrics | 21 years ago |
| Though I do find it plausible that Plant tried to make more of this song comparable to LotR than just Gollum, Mordor, and Sauron, it seems unwise to say this song is "about" LotR as opposed to the determined search for one's true love. | |
| Led Zeppelin – Ramble On Lyrics | 21 years ago |
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Okay, to everyone who is agreeing with Chris211 on this Aragorn idea, you're all wrong. Your entire interpretation falls apart here: "T'was in the darkest depths of Mordor, I met a girl so fair." No one met any girl in Mordor. In fact, from what I remember, there was little other than orcs in Mordor. If you're trying to set this song strictly to The Lord of the Rings, you better be ready to defend every line of it. I'm a huge fan of both Lord of the Rings and Led Zeppelin, but I won't be the first to say that this song isn't "about" the Lord of the Rings trilogy. It's pretty much about falling in love, losing your love, and moving on, yet all the while, continuing looking for love. The reference to Mordor, Gollum, and the Evil One are basically homage to Tolkien by literary allusion. All three are metaphorical. His woman wasn't literally taken away by Gollum and the Evil One. He never actually met her in Mordor. By the way, there's another hole in the notion that this song is only about some specific occurance in LotR. Gollum and the Evil One, presumably Sauron, were never in league with each other. They never worked together to slip away with "her." And if you insist that she is the One Ring, this is also erroneous, because Sauron never possessed it while Gollum was around. How could they both "slip away" with the Ring of Power? It's such a stupid idea. Please, stop being stupid. |
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| Led Zeppelin – The Ocean Lyrics | 21 years ago |
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The song isn't just about the crowds or his daughter, it's about both. Plant narrates this exultant image of the crowds he sings to. He sang for the oceans and mountains of people, but now he sings for his daughter. This doesn't mean that he doesn't sing to oceans or mountains of people any longer, it just means that the emotion he is putting into his music is now for his daughter. The song basically compares his daughter to the ocean, showing that he loves her more than any ocean or mountain (real or metaphorical) you could conceive of. Even if the mountains and oceans were or are great. |
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| R.E.M. – Losing My Religion Lyrics | 21 years ago |
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lucycat and jc499 explained this song the best. Seriously, some of you are coming up with very strange interpretations. A night at the prom? Give me a break. Here's a clue: if you have to skip an entire verse for your interpretation to make sense, then you might be on the wrong track. |
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| Reel Big Fish – All I Want Is More Lyrics | 21 years ago |
| This song is about a dog named Skip who eats a magical can of beans. He travels to Candyland where he marries a dish. The end. | |
| 311 – Don't Dwell Lyrics | 21 years ago |
| As Deathwaffle said, there really isn't a question about what this song means. | |
| Rancid – The 11th Hour Lyrics | 21 years ago |
| And I failed to mention this, but the "11th-hour" refers generally to decisions made at the latest possible time. It coule be an idiom. | |
| Rancid – Olympia WA Lyrics | 21 years ago |
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This song is obviously about loneliness. It's hard to say what everything means. However, one thing is clear, Tim isn't actually alone in the song. Lars is there. So are three Puerto Ricans. It's not that kind of loneliness. You could be in a room with a hundred people and feel lonely. You could be in a city, watching a thousand people go home from work, and feel lonely. One could say that you feel even more lonely that way. However, Tim is still with Lars. So the song isn't just about being lonely. It's about that unexplainable loneliness. The best he can do to describe it is say that there's "something burning deep inside of [him]." He knows he feels alone, but he doesn't really know why. Though he does know that the city isn't making him feel any less lonely. |
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| Rancid – The 11th Hour Lyrics | 21 years ago |
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"This song is actually about the 11th Hour when the band decided not to sign to a major label." Did it not occur to you that this song could have such a title of some significance, yet not actually be about that specific event? The message of this song is pretty damn clear. Do you know where the power lies? It starts and ends with you. Duh. It is an uplifting song. I can look at my past mistakes and still say that I will "walk on through." Ingenius. |
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| Radiohead – Karma Police Lyrics | 21 years ago |
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I don't get why people think this concept of, "What goes around comes around," is what is being put across in the song. There are several things wrong with that, but mostly the entire idea of karma goes against the thought that Karma Police could exist, which is, I believe, what is being put down here. "Karma Police Arrest this man He talks in maths He buzzes like a fridge He's like a detuned radio" As I see it, the man being spoken of is the embodiment of science, which one may have a fear of when there is little to understand of it. Often, technology is viewed as evil. Sometimes it is an unnecessary evil (the atom-bomb, for instance). "Karma Police Arrest this girl Her hitler hairdo Is making me feel ill And we have crashed her party" I find this stanza to be more important than the first. The girl's hairdo is likened to Hitler's. I see how a lot of you were somehow comparing this to trends. Doesn't work for me. Do you really think Radiohead, when speaking about Karma, would compare trend-followers to Hitler? They're a bit more grown-up than all the high school kiddies trying to interpret this song to their needs so that they can say, "Thom's really stickin' it to those stupid fuckin' preps with their trendy haircuts!" No. How does one compare someone else's hairdo to Hitler's? There's two situations: 1. The girl's hairdo really is Hitler-y. This seems inplausible, considering these are lyrics to a song. But, going with that, if a girl had a hairdo like Hitler's, perhaps the speaker is homophobic, and is so uncomfortable with a girl having a haircut like a man, that he would compare her to Hitler. Again, as in the first stanza, we see a fear for something different. 2. The speaker hates the girl enough to compare her to Hitler nonsensically. Such a comparison, in both cases, shows fear. It is doubtful that the girl succeed in killing millions of people, yet she is still villified on a tier with Hitler, easily, the most recognizable name amongst historically evil men. "This is what you get This is what you get This is what you get When you mess with us" And this is the most important part of the song, to me. If you know what Karma is, you'll see how terrible it is to think of these words with relation to Karma. Karma is not vengeful. I cannot take something personally and say, "This is what you get, for messing with me." That is not Karma. The whole idea behind all of this is that there are people who think Karma is with them, on their side. They spend time convincing themselves that others are horrible people, and that they will "get theirs," but that is not how Karma works. You cannot ask the Karma Police to arrest someone. You cannot "crash" their "party" and be protected by the Karma Police. I think the video captured a bit of this. The man running from the car, (if I recall this correctly), seemed to be the victim of the "Karma Police." That eerie, "This is what you get when you mess with us," image was there. They were going to run him over. However, real Karma intervened, allowing the man to burn their car in the end. That is Karma. The people with hateful souls who will so quickly villify another human being, for whatever reason, will be subject to karma. As for "Karma Police I've given all I can It's not enough I've given all I can But we're still on the payroll" and "For a minute there, I lost myself..." I believe these show what goes wrong when people believe they can take Karma into their own hands. Again, there is a misunderstanding in what Karma is from the speaker's point of view. It is seen through the whole song. It is also seen in a lot of the interpretations here. I may not be right, but I know what Karma is and what it isn't, and I don't think Thom is dumb, so I'm pretty sure the intent was not to make it seem as though, karmically, the speaker in this song is in the right and that Hitler-hairdo girl or math-talking man are going to get "what goes around." In no way is any person able to judge what Karma will bring to another. |
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| Rancid – Tenderloin Lyrics | 21 years ago |
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This song is obviously about a woman of some sort. ten·der·loin n. 1. The tenderest part of a loin of beef, pork, or similar cut of meat. She's a piece of meat. More specifically, she's a prostitute. Also, the "loins" are one's reproductive organs. This song is definitely about a prostitute. But, more specifically, it's about how she knows the scorn she receives for this. She even knows that she's "going down below where the fire's glowing." She's not apathetic about it though. "Realise you're dehumanised, You criticise your existence. It´s your demise when no sun arise, When you're paralysed by your lack of resistance." I think it's a sad song. She can't help but do what she does. Not that I find prostitution morally reprehensible, but the fact that she accepts that she is simply a piece of meat and that the only place to go from there is down makes the song depressing with this upbeat sound. Kind of funny. Just another instance of amazing lyrics from Rancid. |
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| Rancid – Rejected Lyrics | 21 years ago |
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Idiots. The song isn't about being a punk. It's about rejection in general. They don't talk about their "punk" style or anything. The song is called "Rejected," not "Rejected Because We're Punks." Just like someone can be rejected for being crippled or having a big head or funny voice or not being very smart, people will reject others for being different in ways that may seem to be overlooked, but apparently are not. "Distrust existed that I never saw, Deep-seeded distrust I was a victim of." As I said, nothing to do with being a punk. It could be applied to anyone that is rejected for being different. |
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| Rancid – Poison Lyrics | 21 years ago |
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First of all, there are errors in the lyrics here. It starts: "Like Chaucer's Canterbury Tales." The Canterbury Tales (written by Chaucer) were stories narrated through characters identified by their occupations (for the most part, if I recall correctly). Each story relates one of the seven deadly sins (I'm just going off of my memory, I'm not positive on this). Anyway, The Pardoner's Tale, and a pardoner was basically the priest that collects taxes for people to not go to hell, was about Avarice (greed). Three men find a pot of gold and end up killing each other instead of just splitting it up, as they all promised they would. The song is basically about bad people. "Some people are poison." This is, by far, one of my favorite Rancid songs. The way Tim sings it, it sounds so emotional. Some people are poison. You know when you get the feeling that someone is evil, not just a jerk or "asshole" or bitter, but completely evil, people the will fuck you over out of greed or whatever drives them to hurt others. Those are the people I think the song is about. "And I'll stare in their eye to annoy them," beautifully said. The implication here is that you can see the evil in their eyes, and they are generally aware of how they are as people, so if you stare in their eye, they will become uncomfortable. So yeah, just trying to explain what I understand about this song. |
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