| Iron Maiden – Die With Your Boots On Lyrics | 5 years ago |
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Another prophet of disaster Who says the ship is lost Another prophet of disaster Leaving you to count the cost Taunting us with visions Afflicting us with fear Predicting war for millions In the hope that one appears He's talking about Nostradamus and his predictions about the end of the world. Essentially, that all soothsayers keep predicting the end of the world in the hopes that it will come, because it never does. EVERY turn of the century for hundreds of years, people have said the world was ending, just like they did in 1999. So, if you're gonna die, die with your boots on. Meaning, don't let the predictions about the end of the world scare you. Face it; "with your boots on". At the ready. |
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| Iron Maiden – Hallowed Be Thy Name Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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This song really strikes a chord in anyone who listens because of its universal theme of death. The inevitability of death and the certainty that life is relentlessly counting down to the end are a primeval instinct that we don't have in mind constantly, but that surfaces any time that we think about how much time we have to accomplish anything that we want to do with our lives and how senseless it is in the end to put so much effort into something that ends. The theme has been explored by all cultures including the Mayans, Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Hindus, Buddhists, and even Christianity. The man in the song is about to be hung. The time is near because the bell is tolling and the priest soon comes to read him his last rites. The story continues on in linear fashion. As he realizes his time has come, terror grips him and he wonders if he's just dreaming. He starts to cry and wonders why, since he has always believed that death is not the end. (A universal fabrication by man in all cultures, since in the end, we are ALL afraid of dying). It just feels better to say that we're not. Religion teaches us all that there is nothing to fear if you follow their mantra. (Well that sounds good to an awful lot of people apparently, as evidenced by the hordes of believers that have lived through the ages.) As he is marching through the courtyard to be hanged, someone yells "God be with you", reminding him that God is not saving him now. He starts to reminisce on his life. He thinks about all he's done and been through and he determines that he isn't sorry for anything, since our lives are the sum of our choices and experiences. He gives in to his fate and accepts it up with, "catch my soul, it's willing to fly away". In stark determination he soldiers on, believing that his soul will live on and that he is now willing to go beyond life to seek the truth of what happens to us after death. He then delivers the deepest message of the song: When you know that your time is close at hand Maybe then you'll begin to understand Life down here is just a strange illusion. Meaning that life is never what it seems. It's something temporary and ethereal. We don't begin to understand it until the end is near. The very last lnes of the song are pure ambiguous genius.This part can be taken as a surrender to God on the part of the protagonist or as a mockery of how men hold God's name Holy. After all, if God puts us through all of this suffering in life only to die in the end, it's ironic that man would hold Him as Holy (honorable and unreproachable). The fear that death puts in a man leads us all to believe that repentance for our wrongs will save us, even if it is in the last moments of our lives Yeah hallowed be thy name Yeah hallowed by thy name Yeah |
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| Genesis – Dodo/Lurker Lyrics | 10 years ago |
| I think that this song, like the title track "Abacab", is about nonsense. It's imagery that conjures many ideas. It talks about the nature of certain things and tries to make sense through random connections that end up being more of a stream of consciousness. If there's a recurring theme, it's that of cycles within a system. Relations between forces within the system. Dodo is ugly so it must die. Mink is pretty so it too must die. Cynicism preys on beauty and pacifism? Fish has problems because he has a hook in his throat so he hopes he will be thrown back in the sea because he is too small.... The less important are more fortunate because there is less interest in them from the agitators and aggressors? And so on... Philosophical meanderings jumping from tangent to tangent and illustrating many interwoven concepts that are part of a system. | |
| Genesis – Keep It Dark Lyrics | 10 years ago |
| It seems the abducted by aliens story fits best. The news tells the story that this man was kidnapped by thieves, so when the man returns he goes with that since the true story, the one about aliens, cities of lights, no war... would not be believed by the general public even though it's a more beautiful (and real... well in the song anyway) story. | |
| Supertramp – Take The Long Way Home Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| Awesome way to put it. | |
| Supertramp – Breakfast in America Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| The song is about a young dreamer who thinks that by going to America he will live a better life than what he has. He's unsatisfied with his girlfriend and thinks that he will find a better one in California because of the stereotype of the California model/actress/fun-lover that he has of that place. He asks his mother for kippers so that he can feel like a Texas millionaire when in reality kippers are considered lower-class fare, but in his family they're a treat. This shows that he doesn't understand his own world enough to even know what he should be striving for. He calls himself a winner (he wants to make himself seem worthy of the American dream), a sinner (maybe because he is unfaithful to his girlfriend if by thought alone), "Do you want my autograph?" (A young Roger dreaming of stardom while writing this song and tying it to the American dream), I'm a loser, what a joker" (the songwriter realizes how silly he is to dream in this way when he is only a nameless teenager). Then the teenager guards the same girlfriend, that he isn't satisfied with, jealously as he realizes that she's all he's got until he can make it to America to fulfill his dreams. | |
| Rush – Cygnus X-1 Book II: Hemispheres Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| Indeed! | |
| Porcupine Tree – Prodigal Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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The song is definitely about someone considering suicide. The line about I spend my days with all my friends They're the ones on who my life depends I'm gonna miss them when the series ends is a reference to someone watching TV and being bored with life. His 'friends' possibly the characters in the series "Friends". This person has tried everything that he can to maintain interest in life but hasn't been able to find anything worthwhile. He/She tried religion and then later: I tried the capsule and I tried the smoke I tried to aid escape like normal folk But I never seemed to get the joke Beautifully written and executed; It fits the album's theme of serial killers because their mental illness often starts with a disinterest in life and the things that they like. Soon they become clinicallyl depressed and their thoughts turn to killing, sadism, or whatever other fantasy their depression takes them to. Kudos to Stephen Wilson. Bad ass guitar throughout. Wow... |
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| Porcupine Tree – Collapse The Light Into Earth Lyrics | 18 years ago |
| I think that the song is from the point of view of a victim. They are held hostage and are desperately trying to hold on to a semblance of hope and dignity. They think that their tormentor will leave someday, although they don't know that for sure. The line "I wouldn't stop you if you wanted to stay" is an irony. The victim hopes that their torturer will leave them alone but feels incapable, in their fear, of stopping their tormentor from leaving. | |
| Porcupine Tree – Strip The Soul Lyrics | 18 years ago |
| This song is about Fred West. He used to kill people and brick them into the walls of rooms that he would add to his house for that purpose. He also abused his wife and children. His wife helped him lure strangers to their home to torture and kill them. The phrase "Strip The Soul" means that he would remove the flesh from their bones to release the soul. | |
| Porcupine Tree – Trains Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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Train set and match spied under the blind Shiny and contoured the railway winds And I've heard the sound from my cousin's bed The hiss of the train at the railway head Always the summers are slipping away A 60 ton angel falls to the earth A pile of old metal, a radiant blur Scars in the country, the summer and her Always the summers are slipping away Find me a way for making it stay When I hear the engine pass I'm kissing you wide The hissing subsides I'm in luck When the evening reaches here You're tying me up I'm dying of love It's OK It'a about someone who is visiting at his cousin's and he misses his girlfriend. Apparently he and her were around trains or maybe rode trains as is common in Stephen Wilson's native England. When he sees a train through the blinds at his cousin's house, it reminds him of her. When I hear the engine pass I'm kissing you wide The hissing subsides I'm in luck This verse talks about how he is imagining kissing her as he hears the sounds of the train which remind him of her. The summer feels like it's slipping away without her. A 60 ton angel falls to the earth A pile of old metal, a radiant blur Scars in the country, the summer and her The 60-ton angel might be a train car that fell of the tracks and was never removed from the wreck sight. It scars the countryside and served as a place where he and her meet? At the end of the day she comes back to him and she's "tying him up" with her body? Maybe the girl is his cousin |
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