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Sting – Fields of Gold Lyrics	10 years ago
This reminds me of the scene in Hemingway's "For Whom the Bell Tolls" where Robert & Maria make love for the first time in a mountain meadow. Hemingway tends to have one riduculously breathtaking scene in each novel that sets him apart, and that was the scene in that novel. Always get the visuals of that scene when I hear this song.

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Radiohead – Videotape Lyrics

16 years ago

Maybe it's about a soldier going to war. He has a child on the way, and he doesn't know whether he'll ever meet the child. So he makes a videotape of his last day home - "one for the perfect days." He doesn't know whether he'll go to heaven or hell for the things he'll have to do, but his family is his center that keeps him sane through it. I thought it was a suicide note too, but it sounds like fate has a big role here. I've been trying to divine some theme to the album. It sounds like a movie soundtrack (a really good one). RH don't generally have a theme for these things, but certainly there's a lot about dying, judgment, and reasons to live for on In Rainbows.

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Grateful Dead – Ripple Lyrics	17 years ago
there's a link from Annotated Dead to a 1988 sermon by Elizabeth Greene regarding this song. It's here: http://arts.ucsc.edu/gdead/agdl/greene.html

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Grateful Dead – Built To Last Lyrics

17 years ago

This album, believe it or not, was my introduction to the Grateful Dead. That's what you get when you're raised in the '80s. I picked it up for about 4 bucks in the used rack at Newbury Comics... "Hey, I've heard of these guys, wonder if they're any good." Well... not really, although I think this song definitely outshines the rest of the album. It sounds like coming down from a coke high, but maybe that's just the '80s coloring my thoughts. In any case, you'll all be happy to know I got into the good stuff in college, but I still play Standing on the Moon and Built to Last from time to time.

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Grateful Dead – Brokedown Palace Lyrics	17 years ago
I read in Annotated Dead that this album (American Beauty) was written as Jerry's mother was dying. This is my favorite dead song. The writing reminds me of summer days as a child, but the somber tone makes it seem like the narrator is reliving it as an adult.

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Midnight Oil – Forgotten Years Lyrics

17 years ago

This song reminds me of my grandfather. He fought in WWII on the European front. When I was growing up, he used to always tell me stories about the war. Nothing fucked up, but always just telling stories about WWII. I think this song sums up what he was trying to say and helps me understand a little why someone would be so proud and at times even boastful of such a terrible time. He was passing on the lessons of the desperate and divided years in hopes that they would not be forgotten years. The are not, and I know I'm lucky to live in a place and time where war is so rare that we actually consider regular people with guns to be abnormal and dangerous.

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Counting Crows – Recovering The Satellites Lyrics

19 years ago

This song reminds me of a girl I knew. I guess I still do, but not in the same way. She went through some serious trauma as a teen, and she compensated by studying really hard and basically just working herself insane to avoid her problems (We're such crazy babies, little monkey We're so fucked up, you and me ). Eventually, her body broke down and she was put in the hospital for an eating disorder after a bad break-up (Shot down in pieces). It was right about this time that I met her (Maybe I slipped in between), when she had come home from school barely alive for the holidays (why'd you come home to this faithless town?). She was so far away from really facing what was going on in her life, and all I could do was poke at the surface and try to help (Till they see themselves in telescopes/Hey listen, do you see yourself in me?) I think the line that really describes the view from the outside looking in was, She sees shooting stars and comet tails/She's got heaven in her eyes/She says I don't need to be an angel/But I'm nothing if I'm not this high. I still keep in touch with her, because she I guess she was everybody's satellite now, circling and circling but never really touching down. And it wasn't a lifetime commitment I could make, and I guess she wasn't my satellite for long at all. But I still hope, someday, she comes down on someone and can be happy and content again.

submissions

The Beatles – In My Life Lyrics	19 years ago
This song is all about life. And best of all, it seems to describe any possible moment. Whenever you hear it, doesn't it seem to be right for the moment?

submissions

Sting – Fields of Gold Lyrics	19 years ago
This song reminds me very much of a scene in Hemingway's "For Whom the Bell Tolls," where a soldier makes love with a beautiful woman with whom he is falling in love just before a battle. It has all the same hints of desperation, mortality, and eternity.

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