| Loose Fur – Thou Shalt Wilt Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| This song is clearly about exposing flaws in the ten commandments, while insulting them at the same time. | |
| Rilo Kiley – A Better Son/Daughter Lyrics | 19 years ago |
|
I'm not so sure if this is about becoming happy, so much as it is mocking what most people have to do to be "happy" and pointing out all the bullshit you have to endure throughout your life to stay "happy". The last few lines, "Your ship may be coming in You’re weak but not giving in To the cries and the wails of the valley below And your ship may be coming in You’re weak but not giving in And you’ll fight it You’ll go out fighting all of them…" ...can be interpreted in many ways. But I think it's about fighting off the conformity, ultimately. Who else would represent "all of them"? It's the same people she was talking about, your "friends" that you try to be like that make you "happy". |
|
| The New Pornographers – Jackie, Dressed in Cobras Lyrics | 20 years ago |
|
Jackie is someone that wants attention, gets it from the wrong person and has the worst things about her taken advantage of? Maybe it's just telling you to take the upper hand in a situation like that and get Jackie to like you instead. I don't think this has anything to do with "Jackie" from Mass Romantic... but I could be wrong. |
|
| The New Pornographers – Jackie Lyrics | 20 years ago |
| I think this song is about modern politics, period. New Pornos can see the future becuase this song is more truthful now than it was when they wrote it. They're basically talking to Jackie, wishing things could be the way they used to. I don't think it has anything to do with Clinton. "Visualize success but don't believe your eyes." Cable news propaganda and political bickering at the time of the primaries and everything else. | |
| The New Pornographers – The Laws Have Changed Lyrics | 20 years ago |
| I think it is a generic statement that all religions go through transformation by society, and regardless of how much things have changed over the centuries, people still believe. | |
| Doves – Black And White Town Lyrics | 20 years ago |
| Black and White town is a song for someone trying to get out of or simply deal with a boring town where there's not much to do, and as a result it is driving them crazy. Many people can relate to this song. I know I can. | |
| Doves – The Storm Lyrics | 20 years ago |
|
I think this song has one really important meaning: life is more uncertain, depressing and confusing today now more than ever. Basically the song says that we all have to sadly endure the crazy pace of this world and how cold it really is if we want to truly be ourselves. The dramatic orchestrated feel at the end really does seem to convey that the world is a cold place, and we're all stuck in it. "So come out the other side" to me is recognizing what things are like today. Stop faking, accept reality and be yourself again. I think that's what "The Storm" is - a cold, hard place that nobody wants to accept as being real and thus they just deny it, creating a persona that nobody wants to deal with... "don't be sad I'm gone the night you left the storm." That basically says "don't blame me for your ignorance of what the problem really is. If you want to be accepted again come back and face it like everyone else, it's the only way we can overcome it." I think it's ultimately a message for someone who is really struggling. It's basically saying we are all in this together, a lot of people do not like the way things are, but Doves are trying to say you can't give up without a fight and that people will be there for you if you try to get by with them. If we're going down the spiral, we go down together. |
|
| Soundgarden – Burden in My Hand Lyrics | 20 years ago |
| This song is very deceiving - the lyrics are what they are, but the first few times you hear this song you are going to think it is positive. The verse, buildup to the chours and chours itself are all extremely powerful and uplifting; you would never ever think it's about something so degrading and depressing. I gotta hand it to Soundgarden for writing this one, even if the meaning is pretty sick. | |
| Soundgarden – Zero Chance Lyrics | 20 years ago |
| I don't think it's about not needing anyone, not entirely, anyway; I think it's about the fact that you are so different, misunderstood and antisocial that you have come to the realization that you are going to live a very lonely, boring life. It suggests the possibility of other people accepting you, but Cornell is saying that in his case (or whoever he may be talking about), this is going to be a very difficult thing to do. Definitely one of my favorite Soundgarden songs. | |
| Soundgarden – Zero Chance Lyrics | 20 years ago |
| I don't think it's about not needing anyone, not entirely, anyway; I think it's about the fact that you are so different, misunderstood and antisocial that you have come to the realization that you are going to live a very lonely, boring life. It suggests the possibility of other people accepting you, but Cornell is saying that in his case (or whoever he may be talking about), this is going to be a very difficult thing to do. Definitely one of my favorite Soundgarden songs. | |
| Soundgarden – Limo Wreck Lyrics | 20 years ago |
|
An obvious jab at America, a country that's obsessed with climbing the corporate latter and blindly following religion. Amazing that this song is from 1993-94 and perhaps relates to the world NOW better than it did when it was written. And everyone said alternative rockers were crazy and didn't know what they were talking about. The only thing left to do is have apathy because no one else gives a damn either - unless you become brainwashed too. This is basically what Cornell is trying to say. It might sound extremely stubborn, but you have to understand where he's coming from - a world that doesn't care. |
|
| The Smashing Pumpkins – Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness Lyrics | 21 years ago |
| Of the "Sadness" instrumentals, I personally like "Infinite Sadness" better than "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness". You can get it at www.billy-corgan.com, it's the last song on the Mashed Potatoes bootleg in the audio/mp3 section. | |
| The Smashing Pumpkins – Thirty Three Lyrics | 21 years ago |
|
Billy wasn't very religious back in the early/mid 90's... it wasn't until the Machina/Zwan days that he started becoming more faithful. He's still not religious in the Christian sense, he just has an appreciation for the idea of religion in general. Anyway, I think 33 has incredible lyrics, some of the best Billy ever wrote -- but I'm not so sure if it's about Jesus. I think it's about waking up one day and realizing you are getting older, which gives you a deeper appreciation for love and life. |
|
| The Smashing Pumpkins – 1979 Lyrics | 21 years ago |
|
This is a song about a teenage life Billy never had (he actually said this), and also touches on the carefree feeling many kids that age have. "And I don't even care to shake these zipper blues" is a reference to sex. "And we don't know just where our bones will rest to dust, I guess" is just another way of expressing the feeling that you're too young to worry about death or what happens to you after you die. 1979 was actually the last song written from Mellon Collie, it almost didn't make it onto the album. It's a good thing it did. Excellent songwriting, great overall feel. |
|
| The Smashing Pumpkins – Bullet with Butterfly Wings Lyrics | 21 years ago |
|
This song has a deeper meaning than most people think. You may just find it to be another angsty alternative rock song that glorifies hatred of religion and the world in general, but that's not really it. It's about corporations pushing Corgan to not expand his horizons, rather rehash the same angsty lyrics he's written in the past for the sake of sales. He's talking about how he lashed out at things like God or religion on his previous album, Siamese Dream, and how despite the fact that many people (fans) already understood what he said, the record company wanted him to basically write the same songs all over again. But Mellon Collie marked the end of the band's angsty alternative rock days -- Corgan admitted this himself in interviews, stating that he could only relate with the teenage heart for so much longer. So he's saying he gets absolutely no sympathy from the corporate suits for revealing his true thoughts about life, yet at the same time these people want to make more money off of his work. When he says "tell me I'm the chosen one, Jesus was an only son for you..." he's actually not trying to be a bad influence on the listener's religion as many closed-minded parents would like to think, he's talking to the people that were trying to exploit and manufacture his personal pain into a product for kids to eat up. He's basically saying, "you keep telling me to write the same things against religion, so why don't you try doing the same thing? Go ahead and try, then tell me how easy it is." It's a sarcastic, smartass kind of line really. The "I still believe that I cannot be saved" is feeling guilty because he's caught up with these people that want him to be angry and instantly write songs against the thought of god or religion over anything else. This is why, starting with Adore, Corgan really mellowed out and started being a lot more peaceful or spiritual with his songwriting. Machina even had a couple songs you could consider religious, and much of Zwan's work had very religious lyrics. The cool thing is, Bullet with Butterfly Wings is sugar-coated in this dark, gloomy approach and production that makes you THINK it is just another angsty alternative rock song lashing out at the thought of god or religion - and, of course, the execs at the record labels are too shallow to figure out what Corgan was really talking about, so they ate it up. To this day, they probably still have no idea what he was talking about. And this is a song played on Clear Channel stations across the US, a corporation that believes in the things that Corgan attacks in this song. Think of it as an anti-corporate radio station commerical being played on corporate radio. They insult themselves on a daily basis, but don't even realize it. Brilliant. Listen to the song again keeping this in mind and it'll all come to you, believe me. |
|
| Death Cab for Cutie – Debate Exposes Doubt Lyrics | 21 years ago |
|
This is my favorite Death Cab for Cuite song; I feel that it is the best they've ever done, both in terms of songwriting and music. Unlike a lot of people though, I feel that the meaning of this song isn't about relationships or love between two people - rather, a cause. First of all, the name of the song is "Debate Exposes Doubt." This does not sound very emo, now does it? Nor does it remind me of a relationship, but politics. I don't see people pondering breaking up when I read the title - I think of politicians fighting endlessly, or a headline on CNN. I really think Ben Gibbard is trying to underline the fact that those who get too devoted to a cause -- specifically, their politics (or perhaps relationships) -- end up defeating themselves at the end of the day, regardless of if they also defeat their opponents... while a small portion of this song, "thinking (pretending to read) about the impossibility of one to love unconditionally" may hint at a relationship, I think the OVERALL idea of the song is geared more towards politics. "finally there is clarity and there is purpose after all, but every night ends the same as i'm collapsing once more by your side. finally there is clarity: this tiny life is making sense. and every drop numbs the both of us, but i alone am staggering." This completely reminds me of the 2004 election, and I'm sure the 2000 election. People cling together just to "get out the message," but as a result they lose a lot of their integrity; they collapse by each other's side, because that's all they have now. Their "tiny life" of politics makes sense even if it really doesn't to a lot of others. And finally "every drop numbs the both of us, but I alone am staggering..." - once again this demonstrates how people just love their exposure to propaganda and groups of people ganging up on other people, but when they''re isolated, do you really know what the answer is? Absolutely not. These lyrics are absolutely brilliant and Ben Gibbard should give himself a pat on the back for writing them. |
|
* This information can be up to 15 minutes delayed.