| Gin Blossoms – Found Out About You Lyrics | 9 years ago |
| I think it's about a stalker. The last verse makes that clear ("it's all I think about / I write your name, drive past your house"), and if you read the first part of the song in that light I think maybe the whole, what he talks about like a real relationship, was "only in his head" (as the lyrics say). Some stalkers believe they had a close relationship with their victim, when in fact it was, at most, just politeness or friendliness from the victim's point of view. I think this guy blew an acquaintance or friendship way out of proportion and now is obsessed with the girl and trying to justify his behavior. | |
| John Fred & His Playboy Band – Judy In Disguise (With Glasses) Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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Yes, it is a pun with "Cross Your Heart" bras. The last part of the line is also a brand of bra, the "Living Bra" (I think Playtex made it), so called because it was flexible and conformed to the wearer's shape unlike the body armor bras of the 50s. I just have to add that I like this song way better than Lucy in the Sky. Lucy in the Sky is so pretentious and self-referential, not to mention musically boring. "Judy in Disguise" is just as lyrically ridiculous, but with a better tune, and you can dance to it. Louisiana trounces Liverpool any day!! |
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| The 1975 – Chocolate Lyrics | 10 years ago |
| It's about a bunch of friends who've been smoking "chocolate" (pot) in their car and are now being pursued by the cops (the boys in blue). I'm pretty sure the line is NOT "bite your friend like chocolate" but "Oh your friends smell like chocolate". The singer has a pretty strong accent, but I think it's more likely that smoking weed makes you smell like weed rather than bite people. | |
| Lorde – Royals Lyrics | 10 years ago |
| I think it's this: she doesn't care about the stuff pop culture incessantly bombards everyone that they should want, because that's not what she's into. She and her boyfriend are into dominance/submission. She dominates, he submits, they both get what they crave, and she gets to be "royal" by ruling him, and live out her fantasy. | |
| U2 – New Year's Day Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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It is New Year's Day in Ireland, and there has been a lull in that country's religio-political civil war because of a snowstorm (a "world in white"). The singer sits alone in his apartment thinking about (a) Ireland's problems and (b) a girl who broke up with him. He conflates them into one feeling of desperate, forlorn hope, as can be seen in lyrics like "We can break through--though torn in two, we can be one," which can apply to either situation. But eventually he comes to the reality that neither one is going to be resolved. There will never be peace in Ireland, and he will never get the girl back: Nothing is going to change. It's depressing--but depression is about 99% of Irish identity, so can't be surprised there. The arrangement is terrific, from the cutting rhythm guitar to the bleak piano riff, really evocative of the emotions portrayed. |
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| Kacey Musgraves – Merry Go 'Round Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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A song about the lives of quiet desperation led by people in a small town. The tone of the song, and the singer's voice, feel like she's too weary and disillusioned to even be angry. There's a play on words about settling in the town. Settling can mean living somewhere, but it can also mean giving up and settling for less than you want. Despite the fact that it's a well-written and musically pleasing song, I was surprised it became a hit. Country music usually pits the wonderful small town against the evil big city, so to hear a song like this on a country station was surprising. I wonder if it didn't become a hit because it speaks to the feelings small-town people have but feel they have to hide. |
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| Gotye – Somebody That I Used To Know Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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Well, I never saw the video, so this is how I pictured it: Ex boyfriend and girlfriend are walking down the street, unknowingly heading toward each other. The beginnings of the verses, where they sing softly, are their thoughts. They are each musing over the relationship and their feelings about it. Their paths cross and the woman tries to avoid the man. At this point the music abruptly gets louder, indicating that he is now speaking aloud. He snaps out and says loudly, "You didn't have to cut me off...(etc.)!" Now at the end of Kimbra's verse, where her voice rises, I picture her retorting, pointing at him, "Oh yeah? You said you could let it go! I sure wouldn't want to catch you having feelings for [sarcastically] someone you 'used to know'!!" (i.e., herself). He yells back, "But you didn't have to cut me off!!..." And while he's going through his refrain you can hear Kimbra in the background. I picture her holding her hands up, palms toward him, shaking her head, and interjecting stuff like, "Oh, please! Seriously! Give it a rest!" Then, when he finishes the refrain, she turns and starts walking away, and he's shouting after her: "You're just somebody I USED TO KNOW! Somebody I USED TO KNOW!" The whole song to me sums up that he still has a lot of complicated feelings toward her, while she has only a little residual hurt at how he emotionally manipulated her. She's over him, but he's not over her--no matter how much he tries to convince himself otherwise. |
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| Gotye – Somebody That I Used To Know Lyrics | 10 years ago |
| Learn English before you post next, OK? HInt: Look up "past participles" on Wikipedia. | |
| Robbie Williams – Millennium Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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To me, it sounds like a description of this new generation coming up, the "Millennials." I see so much of this view in the younger people I know. They feel they have little control over their lives ("We've got stars directing our fate"), that society is running down and unsalvageable, and they might be the first generation to get no benefits from 'progress' ("We're praying it's not too late"), that they want to believe in something but can't find something that seems worth believing in ("We know we're falling from grace"). There's a lot of cynicism in their worldview, a lot of world-weariness. They've never really had a chance to 'just be kids' the way us older generations did. Their lives have been orchestrated for them from the beginning ("players/pawns") and there is little space for leisure or non-goal-directed activities ("We've been making money since the day we were born"). These kids are young, but they're not naïve. And I don't--and *they* don't--know if that's a good thing. But this is the life they've been pushed into, and their future is way more ominous than ours was. That's what I think just from what I see with my nieces and nephews and other kids of that generation that I know. |
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| Kenny Loggins – Return To Pooh Corner Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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This song originally was slightly different and to me was about a boy who was outgrowing Pooh but didn't want to. I say this because of the line that he'd wandered too far and couldn't get back, and wanted someone to help him go back. Also the music changed from happy to wistful at the end, which--and I hope this is not a spoiler for anyone--is how the book ended. The last two verses were added later to indicate that Loggins' son became his way to revisit Pooh and the magic of his childhood days. |
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| Starbuck – Moonlight Feels Right Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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"Moonlight Feels Right" is the musical equivalent of a glass of Sprite--fizzy, tangy, and delicious. Everything about it is right, from the relaxed vocals to the upbeat synths to the romantic lyrics. And a marimba solo! Nobody else thought of that in the 70s! It is, obviously, about a date. But most people seem to think it's set in the South, but it isn't. It's in Baltimore--the Mid-Atlantic. The girl apparently is Southern, so the guy tweaks her a little bit by saying Southern Belles are "hell at night." He's romancing her under the stars by the Chesapeake. We don't know whether she goes for it, but all I can say is...I would. |
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| George Harrison – What Is Life Lyrics | 11 years ago |
| Jeez, I thought it just meant, "I love you, babe." Anyway, it's a great song. I love the bouncing beat, the bashing tambourine, the flouncy horn riffs. It's one of those songs you could hear only once and then still be humming it fifty years later--or, like me, play it fifty times straight because you just can't help getting caught in the sheer fun of it. | |
| Boz Scaggs – Hollywood Lyrics | 11 years ago |
| I think this song is from the voice of an agent painting big dreams for a client, telling her she's going to be this fabulous big star with all the trappings of fame, and how he is going to make it all happen by getting her a part in a show or movie. From that perspective, there's something almost cynical about it, because he's giving her these grandiose ideas about herself ("You sure there's not an uncle name of Barrymore?" and the crowds lining up around the block throwing roses, the Times touting her). That's spreading it on pretty thick. I have to wonder whether the guy is sincere or just buttering the client up to keep her paying his fee. However, it's still a fun song. I love to blast it and belt it out while driving. | |
| Frankie Smith – Double Dutch Bus Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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Y'all really don't know?? Double dutch is just playing jump rope, only with two ropes being turned in opposite directions rather than one single rope. There's probably about a thousand videos of it on YouTube. There's nothing suggestive in the song. Frankie's from Philly, and he's just rapping about missing his bus (Trans Pass is a bus ticket), having to walk to work, and being blocked by some girls playing double dutch. That's all there is to it. |
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| Tom Tom Club – Genius of Love Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| Knowing this song can come in handy in a surprising way. I've heard it so many times I have the nonsense syllables memorized--always a good way to put off those perfume salespeople that chase you halfway down the mall, without having to worry that they speak your second language, or having to actually physically punch them out. | |
| Martin Page – House of Stone and Light Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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It sounds like a man embarking on a spiritual transformation. He realizes he hasn't been living his life right, and gets ready to make a change. Although the song references different spiritual traditions (Buddhism and Native American), I think the "house of stone and light" is a cathedral, and he is saying that his experiences with other traditions ultimately led him to come home to his own tradition (Christianity) in the end. |
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| Sarah McLachlan – Adia Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| I can believe it's about her stealing a friend's boyfriend, if only for the lines, "Leave you with your misery, a friend who won't betray." Personally, if I were Adia, I wouldn't be too thrilled that Sarah had to apologize in a nationally released song that dragged my heartbreak into public view. She should've had the guts to apologize face to face and then shut up about it. I think she's lucky Adia didn't kick her ass off her bones. | |
| Talking Heads – Once In A Lifetime Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| The lyrics are so tightly knit it's almost hard to put it into words, but I believe it is about the moment in your life when you really become fully conscious of the fact that you are going to die someday. | |
| Howard Jones – New Song Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| This song was popular when I was in college, and I had honestly forgotten about it till, about 30 years later, I heard it playing in a drugstore and remembered how much I loved it. Howard Jones's music resonates with me because a lot of it has a positive, hopeful message. The idea of this song--to get out of your mold, see the world in a new way, learn to think for yourself--is exactly what my friends and I were starting to do in college. Thirty years later, I realize the task is never complete, but it's a labor of love, and this song captures that perfectly. (And that's not even to mention the breezy melody, catchy beat, and outstanding synth work!) | |
| Lynyrd Skynyrd – Sweet Home Alabama Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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What's fascinating is that Wallace, later in his life, repudiated his racist views and apologized personally to as many black leaders and organizations as he could reach. He also made record numbers of appointments of blacks to his cabinet and state government offices. He specifically stated that his stand in the schoolhouse door had been wrong. Whether you believe his change of heart was real or not (I do, and I'm from Pennsylvania), it makes an interesting bookend to this song. |
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| Paula Cole – Where Have All The Cowboys Gone? Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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I agree with what a lot of reviewers have said, but I also see this song as a protest or warning about the marriage fantasies girls are raised with. We are given these images that marriage is going to be a lifelong Harlequin Romance, fulfilling every need or wish we have. But girls who believe this will end up like the woman in the song, progressively more lonely and alienated from their mate and desperately sad at heart while their fantasy crumbles around them. I really wish, though, that Paula Cole had done a bookend song that explores the opposite ending: what happens when people marry wisely and learn to take each other for who they are, love each other for who they are, treat each other well, and find that their "ordinary" lives can be very fulfilling indeed. |
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| Boston – Rock And Roll Band Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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This has to be the best-rockin' tune Boston ever recorded! The song is not autobiographical, though, it's a fictional account of a band making it big. Boston was basically hatched by Tom Scholz and went, as far as I understand it, straight into recording rather than playing venues first. I'm sorta mad I never got the words to the third verse right. I've always heard it as the man saying, "When I hear you all in Carnegie Hall," not "on the car radio." I kinda like the Carnegie Hall thing though because it makes the line rhyme. Oh well. |
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| Art Garfunkel – Bright Eyes Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| What a beautiful answer. I too am losing a loved one, and this songs means so much more to me than it even did when I first heard it. I always believed it was about death; now I know how true it is. | |
| Art Garfunkel – All I Know Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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This song haunts me now, because so many of the lyrics apply to my relationship with my dad, who is dying of cancer. He was a musician, so "When the singer's gone, let the song go on," is really meaningful to me. And the part about endings is so true. The ending is coming too fast. But as his daughter, I am the song that must go on. I agree that Art Garfunkel did the song perfectly. Other singers could have made it maudlin, but the simplicity and plainness with which Garfunkel sings makes it moving and, in a certain way, sweet. |
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| The Association – Along Comes Mary Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| Well, I'm not one to read drug meanings into everything and anything...but it sure sounds like pot to me. | |
| Paul Hardcastle – 19 Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| Just have to add that the unconventionality of the song makes it even more hard-hitting. It really creates an atmosphere that tells the story. I just wish it hadn't have had to be written, and I really wish the vets of recent wars didn't have to go through the same things. When will the old guys in the governments all over the world stop making the young guys suffer for their belligerent attitudes? | |
| Charlie Daniels Band – Still In Saigon Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| There was also a song in the 80's called "19" that deals with the aftereffects of Vietnam on the vets. I don't know who did the song, but it's pretty cool, and still pretty topical, since there's so many problems with PTSD among the Gulf War/Afghanistan/Iraq vets. | |
| Charlie Daniels Band – Uneasy Rider Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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This is easily one of the most hilarious songs I've ever heard. Most people think of Charlie Daniels as Country to the core, but he gets his jabs every now and then and this is a classic story of a long-haired liberal guy turning the tables on some Mississippi rednecks using just his wits (and his car, a little bit). I don't know how long Charlie worked on the lyrics, but he came up with some really funny phrases. His diatribe about the green-toothed man being a spy is laced with them, and then "havin' 'em all out there steppin' and fetchin' like their heads was on fire and their asses was catchin'," is totally a classic. I play this song so often in my car that I have it memorized and I never fail to end up with a huge smile on my face as I sing/talk along. Some of the lyrics are specific to the time the song was written, but even if you don't get all the references it's still funny. I like Charlie's other songs but this one is my favorite. |
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| Richard Harris – MacArthur Park Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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I'm surprised and yet not surprised that there seem to be two camps of people: Those who detest and ridicule this song as being the stupidest, weirdest thing they've ever heard, and those who see divinity in the beauty of the melody and the poetic parts of the lyrics. I fall into the second group. I think the tune is romantic, and the orchestration gorgeous, especially the little 6- to 8-note quadrilles. At first hearing they sound alike, but in fact each is slightly different. And I am willing to overlook the striped pants and the cake in the rain in favor of love's hot, fevered iron, drinking the wine while it is still warm, and passion flowing like rivers through the sky. No matter whether it was written as a joke or not, it surmounts all efforts to make it silly and remains halcyon and glorious. I always thought the icing melting was in reference to his memories of the girl and the park fading with time. Memories that were built up over a long time and cannot be recreated, even for all the passion he still feels. |
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| The B-52's – Love Shack Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| What cracks me up most are his descriptions of his Chrysler as being big as a whale and seating about 20. Every time I get my car fixed, my loaner car is always a Chrysler and they are exactly like that! | |
| Peter Gabriel – In Your Eyes Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| To me, this is about loving someone so deeply that it becomes spiritual. When you're that connected, that person can always pull you back from the brink of insanity ("All my instincts, they return") and the craziness of the fronts we have to put on ("And the grand facade so soon will burn"). To love someone that way is metaphysical--I think that's what the lyrics about the doors of a thousand churches refers to. The light, the heat, the completeness you have with them is something beyond this world, something only music can explain. | |
| Peter Gabriel – Digging In The Dirt Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| This is going to sound totally weird, but from the first time I heard the song, I get a mental picture of Hillary Clinton yelling at Bill (I think he was President when the song came out). Can't you just hear her sarcastically berating him, yet unable to get away from him because she wants the power? | |
| Gary Jules – Mad World (Tears for Fears cover) Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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This is one of the few songs that really makes me cry, not just choke up, but tears running down my face. Every word of it is just so sad. "Bright and early for the daily races, going nowhere, going nowhere"--the realization in middle age that your life is not going to be the big fantastic ride you thought it would, and you feel like it's an empty daily grind. "Their tears are filling up their glasses, no expression, no expression"--how you have to always put on your game face and pretend you're happy, even when you're really sad inside. "Children waiting for the day they feel good, happy birthday, happy birthday"--memories of those happy days of your childhood, feeling melancholy that they're gone forever. "Went to school and I was very nervous..."--memories of the loneliness and misery I felt at school, the sadness I try to bury and put away but never totally can. For me it's the prism of middle age. |
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| Eels – Mr. E's Beautiful Blues Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| Oh, yeah, for you young kids, the line about the tear in the Indian's eye refers to an anti-littering ad from the 70s. It shows people throwing stuff from car windows, and litter flapping about on the roadside, then the angle opens up to show an old Native American guy looking out over it, and a tear slides down his cheek. | |
| Eels – Mr. E's Beautiful Blues Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| I think it's about the denial people live in, in order to stay sane. Terrible stuff is happening all around us, all the time (as recounted in the verses), and we are powerless to change most of it. So we force it out of our consciousness, and even insist that it's not happening--"You're god damn right it's a beautiful day!"--to keep ourselves from drowning in despair. | |
| Rush – Limelight Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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I can see where the people who think this is narcissistic whining are coming from, but I always thought the song was more like a primer--"OK, you want to be famous? Here's what to expect." It not only talks about the realities of fame but gives some advice on how to handle it: "Put aside the alienation" (Accept the fact that fame creates barriers and dislocates you from your previous life, and move forward) "Get on with the fascination" (Be true to your creativity and continue to do your thing) "The real relation, the underlying theme" (The relationship with your work, and the spirit of what you want to do creatively). Musically this is Rush's best song; the arrangement and the chord progression into the refrain are sublime. |
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| Dave Matthews Band – Stay (Wasting Time) Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| It's funny that if you had only ever read the lyrics you'd feel like it was about mixed, melancholy emotions...but the music rocks so much all I can think of when I hear it is, "Party on down!!" | |
| Counting Crows – Omaha Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| I think Omaha is a good choice, because, as the song says, it's in Middle America. That makes it a metaphor for all of America, where we all have the experience of trying to get the courage to remake ourselves and our lives and move on. Also, right after that the lyrics talk about getting to the heart of matters, and Omaha is in the heart of the country. | |
| George Michael – Kissing A Fool Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| I too think this is George's best song. A classic song of love that didn't work out, it really deserves a place among the great standards. I seriously wish I could play the piano like that. | |
| Yes – Owner Of A Lonely Heart Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| oops, that should be bedroom WINDOW, not bedroom WINTER. Why can't we edit our posts? | |
| Yes – Owner Of A Lonely Heart Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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When I was a teenager, I used to make lists of "Summer Music" and "Winter Music." The songs didn't have to mention summer or winter, it was just based on their sound. "Owner of a Lonely Heart" was always on the Winter Music list. I can't explain exactly why it has such a cold feeling, but the echoey atmosphere; the effects, like the blur of sound around the words "the eagle in the sky," and the odd, scuttling jumps that sound like spider feet; the three-note riff at the end of each line in the refrain; and the descending bass line before the final refrain, make me feel like it's winter. I sort of get a picture of standing in front of my old house, seeing my teenage self in my bedroom winter composing lists of Summer Music and Winter Music. Well, we're supposed to say what it means to *us*, right? Oh and I think this one of Yes's best songs. Musically it's way ahead of its time in the use of samples/orchestra hits, the verses and the refrain are memorable, and the lyrics speak to everyone on their own terms. |
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| Yes – Roundabout Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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The first time I heard this song was in 1974, on a set of little earbuds on a flight from Baltimore to L.A. I was 12 at the time, and wouldn't have known Yes if they had run up and bitten me on the leg, but I fell in love with the song. I couldn't make out a lot of the words (despite hearing the song at least 15 times during the 4-hour flight), but I just thought the whole atmosphere was so cool. I didn't know what a roundabout was, so I pictured it as some kind of ATV, and the song as being about some guys four-wheeling through some really awesome scenery. Now, of course, I realize that isn't what Yes meant at all--but I still picture guys four-wheeling through some amazing scenery. :) |
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| James Taylor – Walking Man Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| Golden wings against the sky, what a pretty picture that puts in my mind. | |
| James Taylor – Copperline Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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I love the lyrics--they create such a wonderful series of images--and the intricate tune and instrumentation with their fond, nostalgic feel. "The day breaks and the boy wakes up and the dog barks and the bird sings and the sap rises, and the Angels sigh..." That gives me chills every time. Wonderful! |
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| Prince – Pope Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| Prince is so amazing because he can take any style of music and make a great song. I don't know if he did any hiphop other than this song, but "Pope" is so unique, head and shoulders above about 99% of rappers who do only rap and no other type of music. I love the beat, the hooks, the samples and the highly original arrangement. As far as the lyrics, they're just patter and don't really have any deep meaning. But this is a great song to dance to and should be considered hiphop classic. Just goes to show what a brilliant musician/songwriter Prince is. | |
| Michael Jackson – Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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If this song doesn't get you jumping, you're dead!!! It's so underrated! I read somewhere that it was inspired by African music, and it does have that rotating, gyrating sound about it. I think the part about comparing the person to a vegetable is pretty funny ("they HATE you, they eat OFF you"). As to the words at the end, they are from a song called "Soul Makossa" that was popular in the late 60s. It was recorded by an African artist. The words he used are "Mamako, mamasa, mama makoosa," which as far as I can find out, means "I'm dancing." Michael just changed a few syllables, probably to avoid being sued for copyright infringement or something. This song gathers so much force that by the end it practically explodes your speakers. Michael may be wack, but god damn the man can make a song! |
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| Newsboys – Love, Liberty, Disco Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| I'm an atheist and I still love this song. It is so authentically disco-sounding that when I heard it while flipping stations on the radio, I thought it was an actual 70s song that I somehow didn't remember. Then I found out it was new and it was Christian music. But I didn't care, I bought the CD anyway just because this song is so cool. I love the lyrics and the strings--it's like they time-warped back to the 70s. Even though I'm a hellbound heathen, Good Job Newsboys! | |
| Starz – Cherry Baby Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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Yeah, I'm probably the only person on this site that even remembers this song. But it's stood the test of time. It's from the POV of a guy in prison who misses his girlfriend and uses the thought of her to keep his spirits up until his release. My friends and I didn't want to sing "Cherry" because why would a girl sing to a girl? (OK, it was in the 70s, give me a break.) So we sang "Jerry" instead of "Cherry." Anyway, if you've never heard this song, take a listen, it's a pretty good rocker. |
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| Brenda Lee – Jambalaya Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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This is just a good-timin' song with a Cajun flavor. I believe it was written by Hank Williams, but nobody can uncork a song like Little Miss Dynamite, and she blows the roof off this one. Her robust vocals, plus the peppy instrumentation, make for a great party song. Note that she does use a Cajun pronunciation of the French--she sings "shire" for "chere," "Tibeedoh" for "Thibodeaux," etc. You just can't beat a combination like that. This is the first song I ever heard Brenda sing, and to me it's still the best. She's got a headknockin' voice! |
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| Seals & Crofts – Diamond Girl Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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The meaning is pretty straightforward, the guy's in love with the girl and compares her to a gem. But... I'm a huge baseball fan, and my long-ago boyfriend used to call me "Diamond Girl" as in baseball diamond. I still consider it a compliment. |
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