| Ann Lee – Two Times Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| This song was originally going to be entitled '412 Times', but this just seemed a bit too much. | |
| Madonna – Bad Girl Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| The melody almost sounds Chinese. | |
| Bob Dylan – Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| KC49, you're right about that. Dylan has also made much of Hendrix - saying at one point that he didn't understand why Jimi didn't cover more of his songs...'they were all there for him to do'. In the Biograph notes, he also mentions that he enjoyed Hendrix's writing...mentions 'Dolly Dagger' and 'The Wind Cries Mary'. | |
| Bob Dylan – Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| KC49, you're right about that. Dylan has also made much of Hendrix - saying at one point that he didn't understand why Jimi didn't cover more of his songs...'they were all there for him to do'. In the Biograph notes, he also mentions that he enjoyed Hendrix's writing...mentions 'Dolly Dagger' and 'The Wind Cries Mary'. | |
| Jefferson Airplane – Third Week in the Chelsea Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| I don't mean to nitpick, but 'Long John Silver' (1972) was their last studio album. Underrated and heavy!! | |
| Lady GaGa – Bad Romance Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| The background vox in the last chorus sound almost identical to Annie Lennox 'Would I Lie To You?'. Anyway, this song obviously has a lot to do with the overthrow of Francisco Macias Nguema of Equatorial Guinea. I detect Al Stewart and Motorhead influences in certain frequencies. | |
| The Black Eyed Peas – I Gotta Feeling Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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I think the Cranberries said it best: 'What's in your head, Zombie, Zombie, Zombie...' Or maybe Elvis Costello: 'And the radio is in the hands of such a lot of fools Trying to anesthetize the way that you feel...' Drink that kool-aid while it's fresh, folks. |
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| Van Morrison – The Great Deception Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| This song is my favorite from the Hard Nose The Highway album. It's a great portrait of how rotten things got in 'Love City' (probably referring to the Haight/Asbury area of SF) in the early 1970's, long after the Summer of Love era was over. | |
| Einstürzende Neubauten – Yü-Gung (Fütter mein Ego) Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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It's about living in a nice house, I think. Yu-Gung (Feed My Ego) (In English) lyrics by Einsturzende Neubauten -------------- Feed my ego! Feed my ego! Feed my ego! Let's get more vodka Russian vitamins I think we'll have to go back there I think the guy's already gone to bed Definitely! Never! Draw! Never sleep! All lies! Powdered pleasures! Telephone! Draw! Don't you hear it? A fixed idea darts through the room Riemenschneider carves it on the whorls of my brain dowels itself into my head later on you can hang shelves on it, or� Draw! Telephone! But really now, tell me, can't you hear that? Draw! That burns like crazy! Feed my ego! Feed my ego! Feed my ego! I am the whole Chinese people and YuGong can move mountains and everything is important what are we talking about the whole time? Draw! Ssssh! Numb your ideals numb your ideas or simply your teeth in my mouth anyway it's all gone rotten and my nose has direct access to the brain I'm 6 m tall and everything is important I'm 9 m tall and everything is more than important I'm 12 m tall and everything is inconceivable feed my ego! feed my ego! Feed my ego à gogo Draw! I am the whole Chinese people and Yukong can move mountains I am 6 m tall I am 9 m tall I am 12 m tall and feed my ego feed my ego feed my ego tonight! Never sleep all lies Powdered pleasures |
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| The Stooges – Shake Appeal Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| Great track to set your alarm to... LOUD! And these lyrics are so deep! | |
| Ween – Right To The Ways And The Rules Of The World Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| A well-done Bowie parody. | |
| Al Stewart – Year Of The Cat Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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This entire song is a historical metaphor for the Vietnam war. In Chinese astrology, Feb 11 1975-Jan 30 1976 is the year of the rabbit. In Vietnamese astrology, the cat replaces the rabbit: 'The Vietnamese zodiac is almost identical to Chinese zodiac except that the second animal is the water buffalo instead of the ox, the fourth animal is the cat instead of the rabbit and the eighth animal is the Ram instead of the sheep'-source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_astrology Therefore, since Saigon fell on April 30, 1975... You get the picture. |
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| Lou Reed – Dirt Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| Likely written about Dennis Katz, Lou's former manager. | |
| Warren Zevon – Desperados Under The Eaves Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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scumbagstyle, do you mean 'miltonesque' as in John Milton the playwright? John Milton never heard an air conditioner hum in his 18th century life! Anyway, try look at 'Desperadoes' as a play on the Eagles' 'Desperado'...Zevon knew Frey and Henley personally (they played on this album & do backing vox on the track, in fact). Zevon is making a cynical observation about the hard-partying L.A. music scene at the time. |
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| Bob Dylan – One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later) Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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Ricco, that could be the case... Sad-Eyed Lady was a wedding song for he & Sara, but that song did not necessarily start that way when he began writing it....after all...Sad-Eyed Lady is no 3-minute 45 RPM hit single, and parts of the lyric may have been written well before the Blonde on Blonde sessions for all we know. As for Maggie's Farm, the subject matter doesn't jive with an Edie or Warhol connection. |
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| The Doors – My Eyes Have Seen You Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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Great Doors song, yes, but the melody was lifted from a TV & radio jingle for a detergent: "A**x works / Stronger than dirt" |
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| Joy Division – Transmission Lyrics | 18 years ago |
| Maybe connected to Costello's "Radio, Radio". Mr. Curtis does not ASK the listener to 'Dance to the Radio'; listen to his TONE here, he ORDERS the listener to. | |
| Paul McCartney – Band on the Run Lyrics | 18 years ago |
| This song is used early on in the movie 'The Killing Fields' . A FANK (Khmer Republic) soldier is shown holding a transistor radio to her ear while other FANK soldiers execute several Khmer Rouge. The implication of the use of this song is that the FANK are in retreat. | |
| John Lennon – Hold On Lyrics | 18 years ago |
| Thie songs were sequenced well on this album, alternating the Janov therapy screams/rants with interludes like this. The 'cookie' is obviously Sesame Street-influenced. This is 1971, after all! | |
| John Prine – Storm Windows Lyrics | 18 years ago |
| Cool tune, some nice background slide guitar work. The chorus melody reminds me a lot of Mott the Hoople's "No Wheels To Ride". This song is more settled than Ian Hunter's. | |
| The Velvet Underground – Prominent Men Lyrics | 18 years ago |
| jackrabbit37, this song probably is, in more ways than one. This song dates from 1965, when Dylan & the Velvets were hanging out w/ Andy Warhol. Google 'Velvet Underground', 'Bob Dylan', 'Edie Sedgwick', and 'Warhol' and you do the math. | |
| The Velvet Underground – Ocean Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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Here are the original 1968 lyrics: OCEAN -------- The Ocean Here comes the ocean and the waves Down by the shore Here comes the ocean and the waves Dawn by the sea birthes a hollow hair Part of a figure head It nearly drive me crazy I am a lazy son My death would get things done Mostly they ho-ho-ho But here comes the waves Down by the shore Washing the eye of the land That has been Down by the sea, down by the sea Down by the sea, down by the sea Here comes the ocean and the waves Down by the shore Here comes the ocean and the waves Dawn by the sea Insects are evil thoughts Fought off by selfish men It nearly drives me crazy I am a lazy son I never get things done Mostly they ho-ho-holler But here comes the waves Down by the shore Washing the eye of the land That has been Dawn by the sea,... Here comes,... |
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| Huey "Piano" Smith and the Clowns – Don't You Just Know It? Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| A difficult, dangerous song. | |
| Violent Femmes – Country Death Song Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| This song is a close cousin of 'The Ballad of Hollis Brown' by Bob Dylan thematically, but may or may not have been inspired by it. | |
| The Black Eyed Peas – My Humps Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| The amazing complexity of this song is elusive to all except those who take the time to familiarize themselves with 1) the process of ideological change in pre-1400's Tibet, 2) Inca knotworks and the numerical representation of dynastic lineage, 3) Dolphin linguistics, and 4) The systematic bio-chemical reactions of plastic mannequins to bulls**t like this song. | |
| Pink Floyd – Come in Number 51, Your Time Is Up Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| Yes, Vannaroth, it Exists. It is on the Zabriskie Point soundtrack (with a few other Floyd tunes). 'Number 51' is a studio version of 'Careful With That Ax, Eugene'. (Less heavy than on Ummagumma, but more creepy, and more keyboards). | |
| The Stooges – Real Cool Time Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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The 'real' meaning to this song is in the emphasis that The Ig puts onto a different word every time that he sings the line: We will HAVE a real good time, tonight WE will have a real good time, tonight We WILL have a real good time, tonight We will have a real good time, TONIGHT We will have A real good time, tonight We will have a real good TIME, tonight We will have a REAL good time, tonight We will have a real GOOD time, tonight |
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| Bob Dylan – Tomorrow Is a Long Time Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| The only Dylan song ever covered by Elvis Presley. I think that Elvis' attitude was that at least Bob was American, even if he wasn't keen on most of Dylan's work. | |
| Bob Dylan – She's Your Lover Now Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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This song hasn't been tackled simply because it is so complex, on the surface. The shifts in perspective can be hard to follow, but I don't think the song could have been done any better. Dylan's talking here to an ex and her new lover in alternate verses. There's a lot of venom chucked at both of them in lines like: 'Yes, and you, you just sit around here and ask for ashtrays, CAN'T YOU REACH?!?'. The problem is that there's not much of a 'hook' to this tune, and you have to pay attention to it in order to enjoy it. After so many years of fans having to seek this out on bootleg, it is finally appreciated as The Masterwork That Wasn't ! That's the reason why I think it was left off the _Blonde on Blonde_ album, and parts of the song were recycled for 'One Of Us Must Know' (Sooner Or Later). There were supposedly 17 takes of 'She's Your Lover Now'; I'm sure a good track could have been spliced together if Dylan wanted this on album at the time. |
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| The Stooges – I Wanna Be Your Dog Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| Well, perfectlemur, maybe this should be covered by Sarah Brightman or someone like that. | |
| Bob Dylan – Visions of Johanna Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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Agreed. Not to be esoteric or anything, but what I was getting at was that this is the closest Dylan ever got to attaining meaning through Keatsian/or Rimbaudian synesthesia... that is to say, the imagery coupled with the sounds of the words (as opposed to the words themselves alone) provoke the listener to create meaning. I did not say it was 'about a painting' (although it may be so, in part)... I said that it IS a painting. Years later, around the time of 'Blood on the Tracks', Dylan said that he had finally learned to 'recreate consciously what [he] used to be able to do unconsciously' with his writing. Much of this song was created unconsciously. |
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| Bob Dylan – Changing of the Guards Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| Perhaps superficially, Detective, but closer examination reveeals: "Or else your hearts must have the courage / Of the changing of the guards"...the 'changing of the guards' is here shown to be the cowardly option. | |
| Elvis Costello – Radio Radio Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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Hold on, folks. This is about how the BBC's stations were the only legal radio allowed in the UK at the time, and how people got around it with pirate stations (like 'Radio Caroline'). Rem that the BBC was a totally government-run thing at the time (and Thatcher was on the way...). THE SONG WAS KEPT OFF OF US PRESSINGS OF THIS ALBUM WHEN IT WAS INITIALLY RELEASED, BECAUSE IT HAD NO APPARENT US CONTEXT! JUST LIKE THE THE CLASH...AND...THE BEATLES!!!! Whatever, the SNL thing put it in a totally new context. I think Elvis figured that out not too long before he did the song live in the US! |
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| Bob Dylan – Shooting Star Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| The final coda to his so-called 'Christian Phase' where Dylan addresses the Vineyard congregation about his experience there. Very touching stuff. | |
| Bob Dylan – Ballad of Hollis Brown Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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Egad, how you can you prattle on about such a simple song? For the urban sequel, listen to 'Frankie Teardrop' by Suicide. Then maybe you'll get the message! |
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| Bob Dylan – Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| I'm a lyrics freak. The lyrics ROCK. The music SUCKS! Cow-boinking stuff! (And I'm a Gun Club fan!) | |
| Bob Dylan – Man in the Long Black Coat Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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This is the best song Dylan had written since 'In the Garden' (overlooked track from the panned and totally ignored album 'Saved'). Yes, elements of 'paranoia' are there, but that's just the microscope talking. It's about how in the midst of destruction ( 'African Trees'/ and then 'tree-trunks uprooted'), people are unwilling to face the fact that they have to come to terms with the fact of Death (MtterOFctItsAllDrk is actually right here). Very heavy track. |
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| Bob Dylan – Visions of Johanna Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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This song is not 'about' anything. This is a painting. Analysis is its antithesis. Congratulations, Bob. |
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| Neil Young – Thrasher Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| Neil Young's best song. And, even though it might have been inspired by the CSN&Y break-up, sure, there's obviously more to it. | |
| Pink Floyd – Crying Song Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| And, yes that IS Syd Barrett. BION | |
| Bob Dylan – Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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This song is about 'peace, love, and understanding'. Haaaaaa... Cavern is on the right track here. There's a little more to it. A 'clue' is the last lines about "And here I sit so patiently / Waiting to find out what price / You have to pay to get out of / Going through all these things twice" . The imminent contract dispute with his manager, Albert Grossman, revolved around money that Dylan felt he was owed after all the touring he did during this period. Songs like 'Nothing Was Delivered' and 'Dear Landlord' also hinted at this after the fact. 'Stuck' just gets the moment where Dylan begins to think that maybe he is taking on too much. |
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| Leonard Cohen – So Long, Marianne Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| Marianne is a street in Montrèal. | |
| Bob Dylan – Absolutely Sweet Marie Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| "Well I wait, Edie, for you, inside the frozen traffic, Edie / When you knew I had some other place to be" listen closely...this is about Sedgwick. | |
| Bob Dylan – Desolation Row Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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The song has various meanings, and is meant to be so. However: One interpretation on one verse: "Dr. Filth" = Andy Warhol, "leather cup" = to hold paint, "sexless patients" = Factory 'stars', "blow it up" = obv sexual ref, "the Factory" = (well, that's obvious), "heart-attack machine" = have you ever seen some of the 'devices' created for Warhol's 'Factory' or 'Plastic Exploding Inevitable, "insurance men" = Warholian entourage checking "to see that no-one is escaping to Desolation Row" (i.e. leaving the Factory). |
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| Bob Dylan – Just Like a Woman Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| We'll never know...it may about an involvement with a socialite, some say Edie Sedgwick. "What's worse is this pain in here"...her public persona masks private despair... (addictions, mental illness) "she breaks just like a little girl" when the mask drops. He can't deal with it, her problems are too big. This one is not hard to fathom from that perspective, but the "I" in this song may be another also. For those who give a facile critique this song as 'sexist', listen to the Roberta Flack version. | |
| Bob Dylan – One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later) Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| No probs. "One of Us Must Know" is so literal that it is confusing when a single metaphor gets thrown in. It sounds like Bob just wrote someone a letter and sang it. This might be a stretch, but further evidence on this count; the 'factory' with the 'heart attack machine' in "Desolation Row" could easily ref the Warholian mad science & paraphanalia of the 'Plastic Exploding Inevitable' sideshow & Warhol's movies, etc....the 'castles' in "Desolation Row" might be the 'Castle' club in NYC where Neuwirth, Sedgwick, & Dylan used to hang around this time. BTW, Dylan I think has a right to be pissed off about the new movie being made about he & Sedgwick ("Factory Girl"). The fact that "Lay Lady Lay" is implied to be about Sedgwick shows just how uninformed the filmakers must be. That song appeared much later on "Nashville Skyline", and simply does not fit the context. | |
| Bob Dylan – Maggie's Farm Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| The title "Maggies Farm" is a play on "Magee Farm", where Dylan had played in 1963 in support of the Civil Rights movement. When some people were angered by the way he "moved on" to other subjects in his songs, he argued that "protest" was simplistic, and that he had the right to write about whatever the hell he felt like. This song just makes that point. | |
| The Doors – Peace Frog Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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Odd historical correlation: this song was being played by a lot of US troops when the invasion of Cambodia happened in 1970. The Pol Pot regime, which took power in 1975, adopted the following as their anthem: The red, red blood splatters the cities and plains of the Cambodian fatherland, The sublime blood of the workers and peasants, The blood of revolutionary combatants of both sexes, The bloods spills out into great indignation and a resolute urge to fight, 17 April, that day under the revolutionary flag, The blood certainly liberates us from slavery. |
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| The Doors – Peace Frog Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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Odd historical correlation: this song was being played by a lot of US troops when the invasion of Cambodia happened in 1970. The Pol Pot regime, which took power in 1975, adopted the following as their anthem: |
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| Pink Floyd – Interstellar Overdrive Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| Of the several versions 'floating' around out there, the best is live in Rotterdam, 1967 (w/ Syd, of course). Absolutely crazed & no-holds-barred. | |
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