submissions
| Andy Davis – It Just Happened That Way Lyrics
| 2 months ago
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@[losttango:54541] So I'd say it's about a relationship that's dying. The man has nothing to say to her anymore, eats breakfast in silence and leaves the house. |
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| The Raincoats – Life on the Line Lyrics
| 2 months ago
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I believe this lyric is by original guitarist Ross Crichton, inspired when he was delayed because someone had thrown themselves in front of a tube train. |
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| The Raincoats – In Love Lyrics
| 2 months ago
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This song meant a lot to me as a teenage guy at the time of original release. Pretty universal feelings. |
submissions
| The Scaffold – Thank U Very Much Lyrics
| 5 months ago
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Nothing? O well since I remember this very well from my youth, here goes...
Writer Mike McGear was apparently inspired to write the song after spontaneously singing a thank you to his brother Paul McCartney for the gift of a Nikon camera. He claimed in an interview at the time of release that "Thank U Very Much is about drugs, women, sex and depravity".
No-one else knows for sure what the "Aintree Iron" is although some theories are a social club where Liverpool bands used to play and the railings around the racecourse which were removed and donated to the war effort. On the other hand everyone knows what the "birds and bees" are...
"Family Circle" was a women's magazine of the time although I suspect a double meaning, as with "Sunday joint", which older listeners would have assumed referred to the meat served for Sunday dinner but the younger generation would more likely have associated with exotic smoking material.
"Our gracious team"? Aside from the pun on "queen" this must refer to a football club. Liverpool or Everton? I think we know the answer... |
submissions
| The Scaffold – Thank U Very Much Lyrics
| 5 months ago
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Nothing? O well since I remember this very well from my youth, here goes...
Writer Mike McGear was apparently inspired to write the song after spontaneously singing a thank you to his brother Paul McCartney for the gift of a Nikon camera. He claimed in an interview at the time of release that "Thank U Very Much" is about drugs, women, sex and depravity".
No-one knows what the "Aintree Iron" is although some theories are a social club where Liverpool bands used to play and the railings around the racecourse which were removed and donated to the war effort. On the other hand everyone knows what the "birds and bees" are...
"Family Circle" was a women's magazine of the time although I suspect a double meaning, as with "Sunday joint", which older listeners would have assumed referred to the meat served for Sunday dinner but the younger generation would more likely have associated with mind-altering substances.
"Our gracious team"? Liverpool or Everton? Hmmm.....I suspect we all know the answer to this... |
submissions
| Pete Townshend – Jools and Jim Lyrics
| 7 months ago
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It's about Julie Burchill and Tony Parsons specifically - highly opinionated journalists for the New Musical Express at the time of writing. Needless to say both have since gone from being Year Zero punk rock absolutists to right wing blowhards writing for the most reactionary tabloids. (The name has been changed in a gratuitous reference to the Truffaut movie "Jules et Jim" and to rhyme better; apparently the song was originally called "Jools and Tone"). I have no idea how "Oklahoma" got in there - this was written fifteen years before the terrorist attack so it's not that. |
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| Luna – Moon Palace Lyrics
| 1 year ago
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Christopher Boyce was an American who sold secrets to the KGB, apparently in protest against the CIA's involvement in the ousting of Australian prime minister Gough Whitlam. See the book and film "The Falcon and the Snowman" for further details. What this has to do with the rest of the song I have no idea, although Dean Wareham's origins in Australia may have something to do with it. |
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| Creedence Clearwater Revival – Walk on the Water Lyrics
| 1 year ago
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I know this mainly from the Richard Hell and the Void-Oids cover version. I've always assumed it was indeed about Jesus Christ and the narrator was called to be a disciple but fled in terror. (Let's face it, it didn't end well for any of the apostles). It seemed like a really original spin on a familiar story. I like the Vietnam interpretation too, though. |
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| Elton John – Daniel Lyrics
| 1 year ago
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@[Alsatian:52480] - Brits certainly know about shell shock and PTSD. My own grandfather suffered from it. "Daniel" was written less than 30 years after WW2. |
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| Steely Dan – The Fez Lyrics
| 1 year ago
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It probably has nothing to do with the song, but Kemal Ataturk banned the Fez in Turkey in 1925 because it was considered a religious symbol and he wanted Turkey to be a secular Republic. Interesting intersection with the "holy man" line. |
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| Hawkwind – Silver Machine Lyrics
| 1 year ago
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It's inspired by an essay by French surrealist writer Alfred Jarry called "How to Build a Time Machine", which Bob Calvert read and decided was actually a set of instructions for building a bicycle. Calvert claimed to actually have a silver bicycle. |
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| World Party – Is It Like Today? Lyrics
| 1 year ago
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@[meggybears:50445] Indeed. Karl says he was inspired to write the song by reading Bertrand Russell's "History of Western Philosophy". |
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| Nick Drake – Three Hours Lyrics
| 1 year ago
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@[Psyillogy:50336] That looks like a plausible clue. If the song is about dreaming, the words kind of make sense. |
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| Leonard Cohen – One of Us Cannot Be Wrong Lyrics
| 1 year ago
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@[Visions_of_edie:49495] It's about Nico, apparently. Right milieu, wrong femme fatale.
I wonder, by the way, if the "Eskimo" is Warhol, another one notorious for his dispassionate demeanour. Nico starred in his "Chelsea Girls" and Cohen wrote the song in the Chelsea Hotel... |
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| Siouxsie and the Banshees – Israel Lyrics
| 1 year ago
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@[feufollet:49478] The swastika is an Indian religious symbol which the Nazis stole in perhaps the worst act of cultural appropriation ever. You can still see it on Hindu and Buddhist temples all over India. So it's not entirely correct to say it will always mean death and destruction. Siouxsie, Sid Vicious and a few others weren't wearing it as a nod to eastern religions though, more as a stupidly immature attempt to shock mainstream sensibilities. |
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| Donovan – Season of the Witch Lyrics
| 2 years ago
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@[OpinionHead:49117] Led Zeppelin (minus Plant) were actually the session musicians on at least one of Donovan's hit singles. |
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| Siouxsie and the Banshees – Love in a Void Lyrics
| 2 years ago
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I think this song is actually about the music industry and not romantic love as such. The word "bigots" was originally "jews" by which Siouxsie claimed she meant businessmen in general, but note also the lines about critics, stars and making money. I think "love in a void" refers to all the pop songs about romantic love, which the punks disdained and felt were fake (see also John Lydon's remarks about "two minutes of squelching", various Gang of Four songs etc). |
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| Siouxsie and the Banshees – Love in a Void Lyrics
| 2 years ago
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@[life1179:48791] Actually the original lyric was "too many Jews for my liking". She got a certain amount of stick for it at the time, particularly when combined with the black shirts and nazi armbands. Clearly a bit of rewriting of history going on here. Not that keeping the original lyric would have been acceptable. |
submissions
| The Monochrome Set – Golden Waters Lyrics
| 3 years ago
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The first lines are from The Song Of Solomon in the New Testament; Jesus Christ referring to himself. Bid never had problems with low self-esteem ;-)
It goes somewhat off-piste in later verses though. |
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| Elvis Costello – (I Don't Want to Go to) Chelsea Lyrics
| 4 years ago
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@[smollcial1:38487] Chelsea was never a red light district. That was always Soho. Chelsea was the centre of the fashion industry in the 1960's. The song is clearly about models and photographers and the sexual exploitation involved in that industry. (With maybe a nod to Edie Sedgwick in the second verse). |
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| The Monochrome Set – Ici Les Enfants Lyrics
| 4 years ago
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This is about the Louis Malle film "Pretty Baby" starring Brooke Shields as a child prostitute in New Orleans. Shields' first modelling job prior to entering the movie business was in an advert for Ivory soap. |
submissions
| Was Not Was – Walk the Dinosaur Lyrics
| 4 years ago
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So the song appears to be drawing a parallel between the extinction of the dinosaurs by the Chicxulub meteor and the potential extinction of humans by nuclear war (the "two big silver trees" being nuclear missiles). "Open the door, get on the floor" is a reference to the old civil defence advice to 'duck and cover' I think.
The earlier verses set up the narrator and his lady friend as living in a naive state of nature, like the dinosaurs or (anachronistically) cavemen. The final "kill the dinosaur" verse could be a plea for disarmament or it could be an ironic cheerleading of destruction.
Don't ask me what the Elvis verse is about though :-) Maybe "roasting blue pork" suggests eating a policeman post-apocalypse because there's no other food?
Compare & contrast with Captain Beefheart's "Smithsonian Institute Blues". |
submissions
| Steely Dan – Daddy Don't Live In That New York City No More Lyrics
| 4 years ago
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I think the implication of:
"Driving like a fool out to Hackensack
Drinking his dinner from a paper sack
He says I gotta see a joker
And I'll be right back"
is that he's been the subject of a hit.
Small time gangster, senses dulled by alcohol overuse, overconfident, either gets doublecrossed or his associates decide he's more trouble than he's worth. |
submissions
| Steely Dan – Daddy Don't Live In That New York City No More Lyrics
| 4 years ago
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@[roaddog73:36593] I don't think "Saturday night" is a reference to the Jewish Sabbath.
"Celebrate Sunday on Saturday night..." surely refers to a lapsed Christian, probably Catholic, who prefers going out drinking and partying on a Saturday to attending church on a Sunday morning (when he's presumably sleeping off the previous night's excesses). |
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