submissions
| Lisa Hannigan – Lille Lyrics
| 8 years ago
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Does anyone have any idea what "bruise and drip decay of childish toys" means? That's the reason I'm on this website in the first place lol, I could never figure out what she was saying in that line! So I looked it up today and now I'm just as confused as I was before. |
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| TV on the Radio – Keep Your Heart Lyrics
| 13 years ago
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i know these aren't the full lyrics, but i was hoping that by posting them we could figure out the rest of the song together because i can't discern anything else they're saying or find any other lyric transcriptions on the interweb.
dear tv on the radio: you make my heart explode, but i'm still mad at your releasing nine types of light without a lyric booklet >:(. |
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| Regina Spektor – Aquarius Lyrics
| 16 years ago
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sweetunknown, not everyone may believe in god, but a higher power and all the ideas it connotes are a huge part of our culture, whether we like it or not. Just because you don't believe god exists doesn't mean you get to pretend the belief in any god doesn't exist for anyone. |
submissions
| Regina Spektor – The Mustard Musketeers Lyrics
| 16 years ago
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Thanks, GoodbyeGorgeous :D.
And porcupinegloves, I found it on an Index of Regina someone compiled, but is now defunct. I don't know if it's on there for sure, but your best bet is to check reginaspektor.net for it; that site's a gold mine of rare/live tracks. |
submissions
| Regina Spektor – Love Affair Lyrics
| 16 years ago
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"The song itself represents gossip to me. Albeit in a very catchy manner."
Which made me laugh because dude, the thing about gossip is that it IS catchy. This song pretty much embodies gossip in every single way. :D |
submissions
| Laura Nyro – Timer Lyrics
| 16 years ago
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Aha, Laura Nyro once said that this song was written about her cat :D. Obviously, there's a bit more to it than an ode to a fluffy friend, but I kind of love that coy little answer--and Laura, and all of her marvelous idiosyncrasies. |
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| Eisley – Plenty of Paper Lyrics
| 16 years ago
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My view of this song is more akin to oyasumi's than to kissing someone on a cold, grey day. I took the lyrics to be an unabashed criticism of society. |
submissions
| Regina Spektor – Lucky Penny Lyrics
| 16 years ago
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This is really such a sweet, sweet song. It's got a nice literal story and a lovely melody, but I think it's also about the kindness humans are capable of. Doing something nice for other people, without expecting any type of reward, maybe even without the person you're helping having any kind of idea who you are or even that you helped them. It's a bit similar to "The Wallet," isn't it?
And speaking of the song's literal meaning...the other day, my mom and I were walking outside of Stop & Shop, and all of a sudden, my mom bends over, and I almost trip over her. I ask her what she's doing, and she says she's flipping over an unlucky penny for someone else to find. I was like, "Oh, that reminds me of the Regina Spektor song!" And she said, "That's where I got the idea." So yes, there's my pointless story. In conclusion: it makes me happy that I got my mom into Regina :). |
submissions
| Regina Spektor – Love, You're a Whore Lyrics
| 16 years ago
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Hmm, instead of "that Daddy loved a little more," I hear "the day I didn't love you anymore." Which really changes the meaning, doesn't it? Still, "that Daddy..." sounds possible too. I wonder which it really is. |
submissions
| Regina Spektor – The Devil Came to Bethlehem Lyrics
| 16 years ago
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I'm too tired to articulate what this fabulous song means to me at the moment...I have a minor lyrical correction to offer though: "reading the news and the...looks bad" should be "reading the news and it sure looks bad." For the record, "Sitting in a park in Paris, France/reading the news and it sure looks bad" is a line pulled directly from "California" by Joni Mitchell. Regina even emulates Joni's voice in the recording I have of this song, which made me laugh the first time I heard it. |
submissions
| The White Stripes – As Ugly As I Seem Lyrics
| 16 years ago
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Let me preface this comment by saying that I know nothing about the White Stripes. I heard of this song from a friend, and I don't know who writes the songs or if their music is usually autobiographical or fictional.
To me, this is about a teenager who's growing up and not meeting his parents' expectations. The parents want him to be one thing, he wants to pursue his own dreams. He feels the disappointment he's bringing unto them intensely and is bitter and resentful instead of ashamed.
"There is a drop of blood on the ground
And it seems to me that it's not my kind
And I can't be sure if it's yours or mine"
Even while he's rebelling against his blood, he sees the similarities between his parents and himself. He knows they're "not [his] kind," but he and his parents are both so alike, maybe they have the same sort of dogged determination, the teenager is acknowledging the possibility of him becoming like his loathed parents.
He thinks he's ugly to them. |
submissions
| Regina Spektor – Prisoners Lyrics
| 16 years ago
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I think "someday I will remember" are the prisoners doggedly expressing the unlikely hope that one day, their life sentence will be over, they'll be free, and all they've been through won't be anything more than a memory. It makes sense to me that the song would end this way. Most of Regina's songs seem to tackle really dark and/or lonely themes, but she always manages to instill them with so much humor and hope. That's what I like about her. |
submissions
| Carly Simon – Let The River Run Lyrics
| 16 years ago
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I don't even really like Carly Simon, but this is an incredibly powerful and uplifting song. Her voice is so strong and clear, as are the lyrics. |
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| R.E.M. – Hope Lyrics
| 16 years ago
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This really is rather a blatant rip-off of "Suzanne." According to Leonard Cohen's Wikipedia page, the band even credits Cohen as a co-writer ("Although Cohen had not truly collaborated on 'Hope' the band felt that it shared too many similarities to 'Suzanne' "). |
submissions
| Regina Spektor – Long Brown Hair Lyrics
| 16 years ago
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I can see it being about someone dating a girl with overly religious parents (and they're not very mature about respecting her parents' beliefs, I guess, ha ha--"I wasn't even her first, so don't blame it on me").
But it really sounds more like rape to me, either that or some kind of illicit love affair. This song seems to emanate guilt and attempted justification to me. |
submissions
| Regina Spektor – One More Time with Feeling Lyrics
| 16 years ago
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I like the hospitalization idea, but I also think the hospital could be a metaphor for pretty much any situation which requires tenacity. It might've been written with a specific scenario in mind, but the idea can be applied universally, that's part of what makes a great song so great! I've thought of it as a struggling artist who was just starting out and wasn't aware of how much people loved him; a perfectionist high-school student who always feels he's not good enough so he doesn't see his parents' pride; I've even thought of putting it on a fan mix for "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," ahaha.
Somewhere in my rambling, I started making this song sound pessimistic when it's so uplifting! What I meant to say was that it's really about someone on the verge of success, about to be realized and love and be loved. Like so many of Regina's songs, it's incredibly beautiful and hopeful. |
submissions
| Laura Nyro – A Free Thinker Lyrics
| 16 years ago
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According to the liner notes, the word "hawks" is "being used in its traditional sense of war consciousness, not in reference to the spirit of the soaring bird." |
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| Regina Spektor – Love Affair Lyrics
| 16 years ago
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See, that's why this song is so damn excellent and accomplishes so perfectly what it sets out to do. Some people here see this story simply, literally; others see it as sticky and complex--but that's exactly it. The details are foggy, and there's no ending to it; it's a rumor circulating through a building; the details change from mouth to ear about this love affair that may or may not have once been. |
submissions
| Regina Spektor – A Cannon Lyrics
| 16 years ago
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Oh man, this is such a beautiful song. Definitely about a dreamer; she wants to escape from her life, wants to "tell all the people to be like the water" (I think this means she wants to remind people that they are free, like water flowing in whichever direction it pleases and that *they* are the only ones who control their own lives, they are the sea under their own boats). Maybe she wants to be a writer or a singer or something, but she can't seem to properly articulate herself; no one understands her message. Either that or no one believes themselves capable of freedom and choice; they listen to her words but never apply them.
I don't think she literally throws herself into the sea and drowns. I think she pours herself into her art, I think she writes letters explaining and carries daggers protecting, but still, she's "woken up millions and millions of times" and will continue to do so. She dreams and dreams, but nothing changes. But I hear something very hopeful in this song, maybe it's just the melody, maybe it's the constant anticipation of a big boat arriving to take her away. Who knows? Maybe someday the people will understand, maybe someday she'll escape into the life she dreams of. |
submissions
| Regina Spektor – A Cooler Version of Yourself Lyrics
| 16 years ago
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I'm not sure if I think this is about a girl's first time when she gets drunk at a party. It sounds like the protagonist sought pleasure alone, a one-night stand maybe, got wasted, and slept with a guy who thinks he's a big shot. I think "a cooler version of your dad" means that he believes himself to be an infinitely better person than his dad--and then there's "a crueler version in my mind." She sees his father's worst in him, knows he's exactly what he tries to be the opposite of. Anyway, the protagonist obviously regrets her decision (and that regret is probably amplified by the fact that it was not anonymous sex she had; this man is a part of her life; she knows him well). This song could be just a tale of disappointing sex and unfulfilling experiences.
Or maybe it's just the protagonist's opinion of men in general. She's been jaded by so many of these empty relationships, and she thinks men are all the same, they all think they're so cool, she's bored with looking for love. |
submissions
| Regina Spektor – Ain't No Cover Lyrics
| 16 years ago
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Oh, and I didn't finish my comment properly! I meant to say: crumbs, I never thought of that as a heartbeat, but I love that idea! Also, I wonder why Regina always opens her concerts with this song... |
submissions
| Regina Spektor – Ain't No Cover Lyrics
| 16 years ago
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This song sounds like a teenage infatuation to me. She's got eyes for a tough guy who's into drugs. Everyone disapproves of him; her mother warns her that it's just a passing fancy, she's in her bad-boy phase, and she "shouldn't bother," should wait her feelings out; one day she'll realize how silly she'd been and really fall in love with a man Mom would approve of. "I love him till the day that I die" sounds like a very teenager-y thing to say to me; she defiantly responds to all of her mother's criticism with this proclamation.
I think it ends with her running away with the boy. "My lover" and "my son" are what she calls him as she bids him good night when they're finally together, and she thinks wryly that she shouldn't bother, but she's finally free, away from home, free to love him until the day she dies. |
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| Regina Spektor – Another Town Lyrics
| 16 years ago
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Er, I was using the generic "he" out of habit, but I just realized that I've always envisioned the narrator as female ("a girl just like me"). Oh, self, will your genius never end? |
submissions
| Regina Spektor – Another Town Lyrics
| 16 years ago
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To me, it sounds like someone thinking about all the other opportunities he was offered, all the other lives he could've led. What would have happened if he'd made that one choice instead of another, who and where would he be, who would the people he knew be, would he have been happier if...
And then there are the "in another town/I know, I know, I know"s and the "I love you"s. I think this is someone the main narrator is close to--it doesn't have to be his lover and often isn't when I play this story out in my head; maybe it's a best friend or a mother or a sibling--comforting him, telling him not to think and wonder so much, that everything, ultimately, turned out brilliantly because they have each other. That the life the wonderer actually chose has infinite value and meaning in itself, if only because he did choose it, that there is something beautiful and wonderful in that his life is entirely his own, his own decisions hand-picked to create results, his labor of love. Everyone could do with knowing someone like the narrator's friend, eh? Someone to remind us to stop worrying about what we don't have and appreciate everything we've made and earned and been given in our own lives. |
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| Regina Spektor – Ave Maria Lyrics
| 16 years ago
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From what I could gather, it's a call to return to nature.
The boy is an artist who thinks unconventionally and longs for nature. People alternately laugh at his ideas and implore him to stop his train of thought, begging him to stop dreaming about returning to mankind's roots, telling him it's a pointless, unproductive way to think. He should be doing something practical, like learning a new language or holding down a steady job in an office. He turns to prayer for comfort and support, talks to God and Mary because no one else seems to understand him. |
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| Regina Spektor – Open Lyrics
| 16 years ago
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Lozeli, I think you have one awesome mind. When I heard this song, all I could think was: "Oh, someone's lover left so-and-so, and he/she wants them back." You've definitely given me quite a lot more to consider. |
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| Regina Spektor – Edit Lyrics
| 16 years ago
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I am shamefully largely unfamiliar with The Beatles' work, so I always thought white lines to be the lines painted on the road, and I thought the song was about someone who dreamed of greatness but only ever achieved mediocrity. So he invented a life for himself, always exaggerating his achievements and glorifying the people he knew, telling about his award-winning novels, how rich he was, his amazing rocket-scientist Uncle Albert. He could never handle living a lie for too long, however, couldn't "keep it steady," so he always turned to the white lines of the road for comfort and fled: on to the next town, maybe he'd finally make an honest living and achieve the potential he felt inside him, no more lying. But despite whatever he told himself, the cycle would always repeat itself, the proverbial record would scratch and skip.
But now that I know about these Beatles songs, and taking into account Regina's penchant for referencing her favorite authors and musicians, the song's real meaning seems far from my initial interpretation of it. I think I've just listened to a little too much Joni Mitchell :D. |
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| Regina Spektor – Lady Lyrics
| 16 years ago
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I love it when artists I love pay homage to other artists I love. This song is so gorgeous; Billie would be impressed. |
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| Regina Spektor – Love Profusion (Madonna cover) Lyrics
| 16 years ago
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Ha ha, thank you, gman21! I never noticed her saying "Jew" in place of "you" before and was always totally at a loss as to why the audience kept cracking up. I was like, "What, is it just because Regina covering Madonna is hilarious? Is she making a ridiculous face? Does the woman have spinach stuck in her teeth? What is it?" |
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| Regina Spektor – Marry Ann Lyrics
| 16 years ago
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I think Lozeli is absolutely right. Regina so frequently writes songs inspired by or entirely about literature, and this song screams "Lamb to the Slaughter" to me. |
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| Regina Spektor – Marry Ann Lyrics
| 16 years ago
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I think Lozeli is absolutely right. Regina so frequently writes songs inspired by or entirely about literature, and this song screams "Lamb to the Slaughter" to me. |
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| Regina Spektor – Mockingbird Lyrics
| 16 years ago
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I never thought that the father was singing directly to his daughter; I felt this was more of a look into his head. I got the impression that this character is a kind father, who does his best to support and comfort his daughter. The line "what's her name? Monroe, Marilyn" is what endeared this man to me. He doesn't think he's exactly World's Greatest Dad material, doesn't exactly know how to be, feels guilty because of his deficit of cash. It feels like Regina is saying, "He tries, he really does, to be someone his daughter can depend on and admire, but he's living on minimum wage, can't afford to buy her the latest things, can't remember the names of the celebrities who inhabit the posters on her wall."
But he's obviously frustrated and downtrodden (and has a sense of humor), and these are his tongue-in-cheek thoughts. That's what I got from it. |
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| Joni Mitchell – Two Grey Rooms Lyrics
| 16 years ago
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I first heard this song on the compilation album of songs chosen by Joni's friends and fellow musicians from Starbucks, long before I owned Night Ride Home. Then, right in the liner notes, I had Chaka Khan's (who selected the piece) interpretation of it to immediately bias me: "This song is so cerebral. It's an enigma. She's speaking of the left and right brain, and the 'window' she speaks of is the eyes. Just brilliant!"
Now, songfacts.com tells me: "Mitchell wrote the music for this song in 1982 and titled it 'Speechless.' It wasn't until 1989 that she put lyrics to the song, which were inspired by Max Fassbinder, a German silent film-era cinematographer who was left broken-hearted by his gay lover. The song describes a rich man who moves to a shabby apartment (with just 2 grey rooms) so he can watch his former lover walk to and from work."
I always sort of just agreed with Khan, imagined this was everything Joni Mitchell intended to say, and never really bothered to think that the song's actual meaning could be more literal. I think I'm going to continue to believe that the metaphor and the literal story can coexist in this song. It's funny how your view can become so clouded if you're completely focused on one idea! |
submissions
| Joni Mitchell – Amelia Lyrics
| 16 years ago
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I found this on songfacts.com: "Mitchell (from a 1996 interview with the Los Angeles Times): 'I wrote the album while traveling cross-country by myself and there is this restless feeling throughout it... the sweet loneliness of solitary travel. In this song, I was thinking of Amelia Earhart and addressing it from one solo pilot to another, sort of reflecting on the cost of being a woman and having something you must do.' " |
submissions
| Regina Spektor – The Mustard Musketeers Lyrics
| 17 years ago
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One of my favorites. The way I see it, it's about some little kids who used to play together and pretend to be the three musketeers and then grew up and went their separate ways. To me, the ending suggests that they were still "musketeers" at heart. Musketeers with a day job, if you will. :D |
submissions
| Regina Spektor – Ne Me Quitte Pas Lyrics
| 17 years ago
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Oh, and I forgot to mention that I think MadnessMethod's right, regardless of what every other lyric site says.
No matter how many times I listen to this song and no matter how hard I strain to, I never hear "ballas and their lipdamales." I've googled "ballas and their lipdamales" and "balla" and "lipdamale" separately, and it turned up no results other than lyrics to "Ne Me Quitte Pas." While I definitely wouldn't put nonsense words past Regina, they don't make any sense to use in this song. Also, it doesn't make sense for Regina to pronounce "Paris" with a silent S once and then return to pronouncing the S throughout the rest of the song.
Although I definitely could be wrong. "Lipdamales and ballas" could be some extremely obscure literary reference or something, and maybe she really does forsake consistency just because, as she said herself in "Making Records," "[she's] so inconsistent/[her] handwriting changes every other word." Just thought I'd give my two cents (however rambly they may be, heh). |
submissions
| Regina Spektor – Bear Spektor Lyrics
| 17 years ago
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I always think of Regina's little brother asking her to write a song about him (maybe even just jokingly/playfully) and her not knowing quite what to write when I hear this. And then it just sort of lapses into a stream-of-consciousness sort of thing.
This probably isn't the song's real origin at all, but it makes me smile nonetheless. |
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