submissions
| iyaz – Replay Lyrics
| 8 years ago
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Simple but lovely, how love should be. When it was released I was dating a vegetarian, so "I'm in the kitchen cookin' things she likes" particularly touched me |
submissions
| Sam Cooke – Another Saturday Night Lyrics
| 9 years ago
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To a modern ear this is quite misogynistic - "find me a honey to help me spend my money", "If I could meet [girls[ I could get 'em", "if I was back home I'd be swinging
Two chicks on my arm" and the Frankenstein line. But it sounds good. |
submissions
| Desmond Dekker – Israelites Lyrics
| 9 years ago
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Funny that adverts are mentioned, as here in the UK I associate it with adverts of Vitalite margarine, which used a glorious parody of it - "wake up in the morning, wantin' some breakfast, tell me what am I gonna spread on my toast, oo-ooh, Vitalite".
I figured the song was about trying to make your way in a tough world without losing your morals and core values, which is still how it reads to me. Nunaya's comment about Bonnie & Clyde fits with my interpretation too. |
submissions
| Frank Turner – Love Forty Down Lyrics
| 9 years ago
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I think it's about addiction - "I've worked far too hard to be this far from victory,
I'm battered and I'm bruised, And I can't afford to lose" seems to me to reflect that. |
submissions
| Eels – Somebody Loves You Lyrics
| 20 years ago
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I'm surprised nobody has commented on this. Considering E's past state of depression it's a poignant piece for anyone in the same situation, "You've got to be sure, When you turn out that light, That it's going to turn on again" is really fitting and subtle. |
submissions
| Eels – Fresh Feeling Lyrics
| 20 years ago
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Yes, he uses the sample and plays it backwards in this track. As mentioned, Efils' God uses a backward sample of a track called Dog's Life. The lyrics here are beautifully simple, the opening paragraph is one anyone can relate to. |
submissions
| Eels – Jungle Telegraph Lyrics
| 20 years ago
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The free-jazz bit in the middle is fantastic. The inlay notes for the album describe the song's subject being born in a storm, becoming a gigolo and fleeing to Africa. Typical Eels, the best songs on that album are completely diverse. |
submissions
| The Black Eyed Peas – My Humps Lyrics
| 20 years ago
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Music like this has ruined mainstreqam hip-hop. Mysogenystic, superficial drivel, albeit with a reasonable tune behind it. |
submissions
| R.E.M. – Hope Lyrics
| 20 years ago
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Illness, perhaps cancer, is what comes to mind for me, although there's a clear Matthew Shepherd reference as well. |
submissions
| System of a Down – Prison Song Lyrics
| 20 years ago
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A few facts quoted in Michael Moore's Stupid White Men, mainly the 'One Big Happy Prison', overlap with this. As well as the increase in prison populations, he notes that most drug-related prisoners are inside for possession, no t supply, and that anyone caught with cocaine (the drug of the nouveau riche) is 1/3 as likely to be jailed as anyone caught with crack (similar, lower quality, but much cheaper and thus accessible to the impoverished communities). It's about how treatment is a much better route than imprisonment, and governemtns are not brave enough to follow this line of action, for fear of being accused of being soft on drugs. The spoken sections make the song's meaning very clear. |
submissions
| System of a Down – Streamline Lyrics
| 20 years ago
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"I wasn't there for you" implies a certain guilt at the loss in question - it could be a partner he didn't love well enough, but it could also be from the perspective of ethnic cleansing and related violence. And I'm surprised nobody has poitned out the irony of calling someone an ignorant immigrant while praising a song written by Armenian immigrants. |
submissions
| Bob Dylan – Ballad of a Thin Man Lyrics
| 20 years ago
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I always took it as being about an old-fashioned patricial man who's attempting to fit into the liberal ethos of the 60s, by reading F Scott Fitzgerald's books and giving money to charity, but ultimately he's not thinking of the people and everyone can see through his greed and outdatedness. The social change of the day is the "something is happening and you don't know what it is". |
submissions
| Faithless – Reverence Lyrics
| 20 years ago
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"I'm not a mystic,My views are realistic, simplistic", "I could never place wealth before my spirit, I feel it's unhealthy" - fantastic stuff about faith and spirituality, from one of the UK's msot intelligent and challenging lyricists. As with something like Jesus Walks, you don't need fairh to appreciate this. |
submissions
| Weezer – Smile Lyrics
| 20 years ago
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Good point Rob - you could definitely imagine the melody and lyrics like "Give me a chance if you can force yourself, Look at me girl and get up off your shelf, 'Cause you wanted some love, I'll make it happen" on Rubber Soul. |
submissions
| Barry Mcguire – Eve Of Destruction Lyrics
| 20 years ago
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The venom and anger in his voice is inspiring - apparently they intended to re-recorded it with more 'polished' vocals, but this version had already taken off on the radio. The main cocnern seems to be nuclear weapons, but Vietnam and race relations come into play as well. Another 60s protest song which sadly isn't outdated and passé now - people never seem to learn. People will routinely be returning from four days in space amidst wars, famine, poverty and crime in a few decades' time. |
submissions
| Bob Dylan – A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall Lyrics
| 20 years ago
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The white ladder implies a difficult escape to me. Some fantastic lines in this, and a song which unfortuantely is still relevant today, even if the exact events are gone. "I heard one person starve, I heard many people laughin', Heard the song of a poet who died in the gutter" is another poignant section in my mind. One of the Dylan songs everybody should hear. |
submissions
| OutKast – Hey Ya! Lyrics
| 20 years ago
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I think Andre did everything except the bass guitar. A great record, with a few really witty and clever lyrics. Just a great pop song with a unique sound. That Razorlight version is interesting as well. |
submissions
| Bob Mould – CLASSIFIEDS Lyrics
| 20 years ago
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About the futility of trying to find a partner through lonely hearts column. One of Bob's best solo tracks. |
submissions
| The Streets – Stay Positive Lyrics
| 20 years ago
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Fantastic. The bit about organising your 2s and 3s is about taking joy from simple pleasures, small steps to improving yourself. The humane nature of things like "What if you see me in that window? You won't help me I know. That's cool" and "Maybe I'm better looking than you tho, maybe I've got more dough - but am I happier... no" is particularly touching. |
submissions
| The Streets – The Irony Of It All Lyrics
| 20 years ago
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A work of genuis, with the drunk just ranting ill-informed stereotypes and the stoner calmly reciting the facts. Terry's association of stoners all being lazy students leads to an especially clever response. Possibly Mike's greatest work, and a very storng pro-legalistation piece. |
submissions
| The Streets – Blinded by the Lights Lyrics
| 20 years ago
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The perfect summary of a bad night on drugs, just goign a bit too far and losing your head. Play this immediately after Weak Become Heroes to really get the best out of it. This is a tune coming in... I'm mashed! |
submissions
| Green Day – Hold On Lyrics
| 20 years ago
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I think it's about being in a bad situation ("a halfway house") and having everyone giving up on you, but trying to retan a degree of self-belief and optimism under difficult circusmtances. Artisitcally it is quite Beatles-esque, although the harmonica reminds me of Dylan. |
submissions
| Green Day – Coming Clean Lyrics
| 20 years ago
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I think the 'dad' reference is just to generalise the subject of the song, to reach out to confused kids everywhere, but clearly this is a personal subject for BJA. I agree that this is an overlooked track, probably among the top half-dozen on the album. |
submissions
| Green Day – Church on Sunday Lyrics
| 20 years ago
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This is rpetty much the only great song on a mediocre album in my book. The lyrics speak of compromising in a relationship, not neccessarily over religion. |
submissions
| Alkaline Trio – Radio Lyrics
| 20 years ago
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"If Columbus was wrong I'd drive straight off the edge" is surely one of Matt's great lyrics. The venom and anger in this song is awe-inspiring, condensed and intense. Starting off slow and building up works really well too. |
submissions
| Erasure – Always Lyrics
| 20 years ago
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Just a nice love song, the bridge ("when it's cold outside....") will strike a chord with anyonewho's been there. As I write this Erasure are back in vogue here in the UK. |
submissions
| The Smiths – I Know It's Over Lyrics
| 20 years ago
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Beautiful song, really touching lyrics. When you see this, you almost agree with Morrissey about celibacy being a good idea - is love really worth it? |
submissions
| Kanye West – Jesus Walks Lyrics
| 20 years ago
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It's definitely "the way I need Jesus" (singular - the other part of that lyric notes that everyone has things and people they need, even if the examples are slightly esoteric) - can you please change this and stop corrupting the guy's words?
I'm agnostic, from a very Catholic family, but I found this really inspiring and thought-provoking. Kanye is really trying to reach out to the world and spread a positive message. Rap music doesn't have to be about guns, drugs and 'bitches'.
"We rappers are role models we rap we don't think" - awesome, let's hope that message can spread. |
submissions
| Kanye West – Diamonds from Sierra Leone Lyrics
| 20 years ago
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There is clearly a point here, about the rich (white and black) joyfully showign off their diamonds without sparing a thought for those whose lives are ruined by the trade of them, not to mention the civil wars and oppression in these countries, but it's suppressed by the desire to make something MTV-friendly, and boast about how everyone was wrong about him, and now he's got loads of money. The apparent reference to God towards the end is a bit naff as well. Coupled with the unauthorised Shirley Bassey sample, and you've got a song which is frankly second-rate, but something of a guilty pleasure. |
submissions
| Elvis Costello – Oliver's Army Lyrics
| 20 years ago
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My take is that it's about the way military recruitment people aggressively target disdvantaged youngsters ("the boys form the Mersey, and the Thames, and the Tyne", all struggling areas of England at this time), as a way of providing soldiers and reducing unemployment figures in one fell swoop. Oliver Cromwell created Britain's first organised army, hence the song title. None of this can describew the brilliance of Steve Nieve's keyboard meldoy for the song, which is surely the track's real appeal. |
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