| Keane – You Haven't Told Me Anything Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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Lyric corrections: As Sir Brock mentioned, it's "Everything I love" not "It's a thing I love". Also, "No words can mend / this fix I'm in / give me your WORST I won't even blink" and it's "I hang on your words" not "having your way" in the first verse (how on earth did someone mishear that?!). On a side note, this song is fucking amazing. |
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| Joanna Newsom – Peach, Plum, Pear Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| Oh, and one last thing, on the title: "Peach, Plum, Pear". All fruits, after all. Very similar-sounding. But different. An evolution, of sorts: from peach to plum to pear, and at the end, the repetition asking: does it matter? They all sound the same anyway. | |
| Joanna Newsom – Peach, Plum, Pear Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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Also, forced to add my own opinion of this song: it's about shyness! Crippling shyness. It tells the story of that horrible unrequited love: "we speak in the store / I'm a sensitive bore" -- the lack of self-esteem, the "floozies", the clinical appreciation of emotions ("I have read the right books" & "you were knocking me down"...), the deviations from the traditional love tales ("this is not like the story / it was written to be"), the claustrophobia of this low self-esteem, this "unwell"-ness, this becoming "bold like a whore" or choosing instead to "bolt like a horse" -- where is the choice in that? Until finally: "you've changed some". Is that how cheap it is? Pride, personality? Changing? "Am I so dear? / Do I run rare?" Is that all it takes, what it takes, does that make it worth it? Is that really the ultimate choice: bolt, or bold? |
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| Joanna Newsom – Peach, Plum, Pear Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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Oh, -guys-. Obviously it's meant to be both "bolt like a horse" and "bold like a whore". The whole point is you can't tell the difference. This is the moment when Joanna transcends from merely brilliant to genius. =) |
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| Imogen Heap – Glittering Cloud Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| blueberry -- are you on crack?! | |
| The Smiths – A Rush and a Push and the Land Is Ours Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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"HELLO I am the ghost of Troubled Joe hung by his pretty white neck some eighteen months ago" Yes, clearly about a relationship. What's the matter with you people? =P Does everything have to be a sodding love story? Thank GOD for bands like The Smiths that refuse to write such trite rubbish. |
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| Pet Shop Boys – Being Boring Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| So true. Just because a musician is gay, that doesn't mean every song they write is going to be about being gay. For Chrissakes. Same with people seeing drug references everywhere in Depeche Mode music. Most irritating and rather superficial. | |
| The Smiths – I Started Something I Couldn't Finish Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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I think the "three word gesture" is pretty clearly an "I love you gesture". How else to "douse a friendly venture"? Couldn't this be...I don't know, something that started off as experimentation (i.e. "friendly venture") which one of them monumentally screws up by saying/acting/FEELING love? So...he's started something he can't finish? |
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| The Smiths – Girlfriend in a Coma Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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Irvster, I concur. I think it's just...there's this beautiful undercurrent of youth & ignorance & innocence running through it -- and then the really dramatic 'do you really think she'll pull through?' (I mean listen to that bit! Just listen to it! It's GORGEOUS!) before going back to 'Girlfriend in a coma I know I know it's serious' which is so...well, naive sounding. But I mean...I don't know, you're a kid, right? You think you're immortal. How can you really begin to understand that situation? And you're thrown into this 'adult' situation or one that requires a depth of feeling that you're not quite capable--like the modern trend of understating & underfeeling everything has gotten far too into your bones and you want to act like it doesn't matter because it matters way, way too much. |
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| The Smiths – Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| desijames -- I love you. You are so, so incredibly RIGHT. Do you ever get tired of it? =) | |
| The Smiths – This Charming Man Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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@ zoe.TRAGIC!: My dear girl, the purpose of this website is to discuss song meanings. Hence the URL. People who come on here and leave comments a la 'I love this song!!!' are adorable & all, but somewhat besides the point. As is this comment, so I shall end it here. |
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| The Smiths – This Charming Man Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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Though, to actually post a 'useful' comment, I think the song could be summed up in the line: "will Nature make a man of me yet?" (which has to be me the most beautiful line in it, me thinks). After all--what is this "machismo" thing Morrissey's bored by? Clearly paradoxical to a "jumped up pantry boy". And who is this "charming man"? Anybody besides me think he's bad news? What you could be--what you want to be ("leather runs smooth on the passenger seat")--but who you should be? Hardly. Remain a pantry boy, pretty please. I like you better that way. |
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| The Smiths – This Charming Man Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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"Feeling detached from and unable to relate to the early 1980s mainstream gay culture, Morrissey wrote "This Charming Man" to evoke an older, more coded and self-aware underground scene. The singer explained of the song's lyrics, "I really like the idea of the male voice being quite vulnerable, of it being taken and slightly manipulated, rather than there being always this heavy machismo thing that just bores everybody."[2]" Wikipedia is your friend. |
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| The Radio Dept. – I Don't Like It Like This Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| Absolutely stunning lyrics. Amazing how they manage to encapsulate so much with so little. | |
| Elliott Smith – Easy Way Out Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| @ ireallylikebagels - WORD. | |
| Elliott Smith – Miss Misery Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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I.e., he's using a relationship with someone called Miss Misery as a metaphor for depression. So I guess everyone's right. =) |
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| Elliott Smith – Between the Bars Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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Guys, it's not all literal you know. And it doesn't have to be incredibly specific, either (though it's cute the way some of you try to get everything to fit ^^). It's about damaged people, as far as I'm concerned. One damaged person trying to take care of another one. |
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| Imogen Heap – Hide and Seek Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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Are you insane, mistressoryx? Have you -heard- the song? Do you really think that sounds like a song about colonization? The MUSIC of the song usually--unless it's terribly written--supports the lyrics--and believe me, this is so modern it's painful. |
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| Keane – Is It Any Wonder? Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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Oh-em-fucking-gee. Does EVERYTHING have to be about a guuuy and a giiiirl and they are in wuuuv but SOMETHING GOES WRONG!11!!!111 Christ. As numsu22 puts it, "obv. its about a girl" 'cause geee, you know, no musician these days seems capable of writing about anything else. Or, if they DO, everyone who fucking LISTENS to it has to interpret it to mean that ANYWAY. |
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| The Smiths – There Is a Light That Never Goes Out Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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Love? What? Love?! No; at least, not more than tangently. The parts that stick with me are "please don't drop me home / because it's not my home / it's their home / and I'm welcome no more" "because I want to see people and I want to see life" -- because they're the parts that ring most true. Oh, yes, he's in love, it's a teenage thing, he's madly in love & it's killing him but it's the entire...god, this song is so achingly truthful and so...utterly encapsulating of the entire adolescent experience. |
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| Tori Amos – Honey Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| WTF? Why does every song have to be about man/woman? Christ, people. | |
| Stabilo – Dont Be So Cold Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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These lyrics are so gorgeous. I think it's more than just a breakup, though. There's this undercurrent of...well, partnership - - they're doing something together, something where they have to put on an act - shake hands, dance...and it's breaking their thumbs. It's showy and superficial and there's something under the surface that they're doing as well - with those sharp, sharp minds - they have goals, they're running & they're ambitious and they have plans with a capital P. And this game, well, it's ruining their relationship. Whether they had one at all, or whether it's all for show, or whether - - it's all become phoney and cold but they're the only other person who understands any of it, and so... It's gorgeous. The chorus. How dare you miss me? It doesn't work like that. Does this make any sense? |
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| Stabilo – Don't Look in Their Eyes Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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What are you all on drugs? XD Disagree completely. I don't know why everyone wants to tie this to specifics. I don't think that's what the song is about at all. The War in Iraq? What? It's about revolution. It's about doing awful things and trying to shake it off. It sounds happy because it's also about freedom and vindication and not giving a damn anymore. And it's about winning. I don't think it's sarcastic. I'd even go so far as to say it's sympathetic. It's trying to get into that certain someone's skin and live it vicariously. Nonjudgmentally. It's absolutely breathtaking, actually. "'cause nothing changes nothing changes" C'mon - we've all felt like that. |
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| Depeche Mode – Strangelove Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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... Thankyou, jlsaldana. Somebody sane. |
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| Depeche Mode – Never Let Me Down Again Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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My question: does it matter? Friends/drugs? For Chrissakes, isn't it the same vibe behind it whichever? Don't let him down, dammit. Okay, seriously. People are being insane on this, which makes the comments entertaining to read and all, but, please. And answer me this: what on earth do TROUSERS have to do with drugs? |
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| Depeche Mode – It's No Good Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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He'll still be there and waiting? What the hell? Not to sound sociopathic but this is so fully not a love song...I'm with all the 'stalker' ideas here. The music is just way, way too dark. Especially at the end, with the eerie wailing and so forth. You don't say you're "going to take your time" to make somebody "yours" when you're in love with them. You say that when you're domineering and obsessed and really want control &/or possession of someone. And you definitely don't say, basically that you know they're not happy without you. That's crazy talk. In my opinion, at least. |
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| Tori Amos – Programmable Soda Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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Yes, I agree, but I think there's more of an emphasis on gender. "genital panic" Feminism/masculism as traits rather than categories...and she's lost somewhere in between. |
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| Tori Amos – Code Red Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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I'm with the music industry explanation. And I do wish people would stop commenting with "Love this song!". That is not the purpose of this website. You are meant to be debating the meaning, not how cool it is. (Brest, I'm not referring to you. Or anyone on this particular thread, actually. Just wanted a side rant. Probably as irrelavant as the thing I'm decrying. Hah. Typical.) |
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| Tori Amos – Siren Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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It's nothing that complicated, if you ask me. The song is a Siren. Not a siren as in the mythical siren, a siren as in that of the ambulance in the chorus. It's going round and round and these are the warning sounds - signs. Growing pains. Self-deceit, drugs - almost, almost, almost - perfect. "know she breaks my Siren" She's the embodiment of that sound - the sound of a Siren. And it's mass panic and whirring and ambulance and disastor. |
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| Tori Amos – Honey Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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"and I think I could leave your world, if she was the better girl. so when we died I tried to bribe the undertaker. 'cause I'm not sure what you're doin' or the reasons." I think I could leave your world - meaning what? If she was the better girl - meaning that she isn't, that the narrator is, she's the better girl. So maybe she's got to stay; take care of her. Look after her. Because when she dies, all the narrator can think of is getting her back -- bribing the undertaker -- 'cause what the hell is she doing? She has no right to be like this; what are the reasons? Throwing her life away like that...it's all about the reasons - "you know what you're doing so don't even" -- Don't you dare. |
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| Tori Amos – Concertina Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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Concertina is such a beautiful song; words can't express how much I love it. I'm disappointed that it's only got 2 comments. "I run into your thought from across the room." I know this feeling. You feel like you have so many personalities you're splitting in, not two, but five, or ten, or tiny little folds...concertina. |
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| Regina Spektor – Pavlov's Daughter Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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I really don't get why you would post on a Regina Spektor song if you don't like Regina Spektor. >< Seriously. And as far as I'm concerned, I hate metal, but if you enjoy it, that's cool. Just don't come on an RS board and bitch about her to what is predictably enough going to be a bunch of fans debating her songs. Please. |
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| Regina Spektor – Pavlov's Daughter Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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I really don't get why you would post on a Regina Spektor song if you don't like Regina Spektor. >< Seriously. And as far as I'm concerned, I hate metal, but if you enjoy it, that's cool. Just don't come on an RS board and bitch about her to what is predictably enough going to be a bunch of fans debating her songs. Please. |
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| Regina Spektor – Oedipus Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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-Correction- It can be another "situation", similar to Oedipus. But I wouldn't dream of applying this in a modern context. It is perfectly empathic as it is. I do think the main character is considering "Oedipus" - because the situation is the same. And he is tossing up whether or not to kill his father - whether he can bring himself to imitate the myth. But I really don't get the "modern!" vibe from this. And yes, I do think it's important that it's not a modern context. Regina usually makes it quite obvious when a song is 'modern' - take Braille, for instance. If she wanted to do a lonely/ignored by his parents kid; I think she would've. |
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| Regina Spektor – Oedipus Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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Is nobody getting sexual vibes from the whole, "And to see me made her awful sad And to touch me made her awful sad And to see me made her awful And to touch me made her awful" ? Doesn't it seem...emphatic...of Regina to have dropped the 'sad'? It makes it mean something entirely different. And I disagree with the general consensus that it isn't about Oedipus so much as about....some child yearning for his parents' attention and feeling invisible. It's more than that. Maybe it's a modified Oedipus, but the story is still there - it's very clearly based in a time and age, and yes, it can be taken as metaphor, but I don't get that feeling from it. It doesn't have to 'mesh' perfectly, for it to be about that. Yes, there are differences, but frankly, it doesn't matter - in my opinion - that the details aren't perfect. It's getting into someone's head - trying to understand someone's motives. It's not some attention craving kid feeling invisible in a crowd. >< If you'll excuse my vehemence. |
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| Regina Spektor – Daniel Cowman Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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No no no, I've got this! At least, I think I do. The beginning is someone mourning DC's death. Then it goes on in Daniel's voice when it goes into, "How could it go on when I don't exist, I don't exist..." DC has 'stopped existing', how could the world continue without him? The next part - that in death, he is not liberated - - or in the knowledge of impending death. It doesn't mean he's free. The second verse is pretty clear, in my opinion. DC in the courtroom, hearing the sentence, etc, etc. Heroin boy - I agree, someone also on death row. He remembers heroin boy taking a bath -- And here, I think, it jumps back to HB receiving his OWN sentence, and screaming about it, as one does when they are curtly informed they are going to die. And then he goes back to HB taking a bath - clearly this is rather important - & he's anxious that HB might drown but is reassured - HB is due to hang, not drown. Here is where it gets a little hazy, in my opinion. Or, subjective, or what. Whether HB drowns or not, I'm not sure. I do think it's about suicide. You know, suicide instead of dying on death row? Taking your own way out - controlling your way of death? I think that HB did drown himself, and now that DC is in the same situation all he wants to do is "take a fucking bath". I like teekay11's take on it though. But literal is so much more fun. ^^ |
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