submissions
| Bob Dylan – Tangled Up in Blue Lyrics
| 10 years ago
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...and looking again, he has realised the woman or whatever it is that she represents, is indeed well worth pursuing, even more than he had previously realised, and thus the song seems to end on a hopeful note, as he pursues truth with renewed vigour, illusions and distractions having been stripped away or fallen by the wayside. Wow I ought to get to bed, I'm getting deep. |
submissions
| Bob Dylan – Tangled Up in Blue Lyrics
| 10 years ago
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This song just came on TV and I'm ashamed to say it's my first time listening properly to it - better late than never I guess. I read the lyrics as I listened, and at the end I just had to smile at how damn good they are. I think it has several layers. There's a story of love found and lost in there, for sure. References to literary figures too I believe. I think it also has a semi-autobiographical element too, like most great writing I suppose. Bob seems to me to be looking back at people who shared his dreams and ideals when they were all younger, but who had "sold out" for one reason or another, in one way or another. At first he seems to take the position that he alone has stuck to his principles, but eventually he is questioning his own life too. To my mind, this is part autobiographical and part comment/analysis of the rock'n'roll/hippy/counterculture dream and its demise. |
submissions
| The Clash – Broadway Lyrics
| 10 years ago
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Totally agree with arfarf and leGraw; pretty much Joe's best ever vocal, he's so in that character, you can feel every punch, physical and mental, and the pain that remains. I'm sure I read somewhere that this was written during a time in the US, possibly NY I'm not sure. During a hotel stay of several nights, Joe would often be seen outside, watching a homeless guy across the road. Whoever had written this thing reasoned that the song was centred around this poor guy. Makes a lot of sense and shows just how much empathy Joe felt with the guy. |
submissions
| The Cult – Little Face Lyrics
| 10 years ago
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I'm giving this song a comment because I love it! Especially the chorus. The guitar riff is neat too. Seems to be about a female, maybe a singer, beaten down by some sort of dark forces.
The kind of song that really makes you feel like something is happening, so rare nowadays that. |
submissions
| The Who – Cache Cache Lyrics
| 10 years ago
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I believe it's partially based on a late night wander Pete went on in Bern, Switzerland, which has a famous bear pit. I'd have to read his book again to be sure but I think he did actually wander in there in the dead of night! |
submissions
| Big Country – Alone Lyrics
| 10 years ago
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Another genius song by the late great Stuart Adamson. So sorely missed.
Pretty straightforward I think, dealing with a breakup. As such I got a lot of comfort from this song when I was going through one myself a few years ago.
This song and the Buffalo Skinners album are just wonderful and woefully underrated. |
submissions
| Big Country – Angle Park Lyrics
| 10 years ago
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Great song that deserves a comment even though I'm not at all sure what it's about!
Many of Stuart Adamson's early lyrics were concerned with the possibilities of nuclear apocalypse which often seemed very real to those of us who were young back then, so I am guessing this lyric may have something to do with Cold War fears paralysing people, and the last verse perhaps urging the listener not to let this stuff stop them from living? |
submissions
| Siouxsie and the Banshees – Spellbound Lyrics
| 10 years ago
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I listened to this song tonight for the first time in many years, and realised just how great it is! On looking at the lyrics at first, and knowing that Siouxsie was very much a figure of the early UK punk movement, rebelling against suburban conformity, my feeling was that there was an element of a war between the generations about them, the voices and laughter the child hears presumably belonging to its parents or other adults. Contrasted with the helplessness of the child, these adults seem to be shown in a sinister light. Reading other folks' interpretations enlightened me as to the religious aspect. I recognise the part about throwing the parents down the stairs for not saying their prayers from a nursery rhyme my mother used to read me when I was small, Goosey Goosey Gander. Apparently this rhyme was associated with the propaganda campaign against the catholic church in the time of King Henry the Eighth.
Putting all of the above together, my own guess would be that this lyric has to do with the older generation selling religion to the child while simultaneously and hypocritically failing to live by the tenets of their faith. |
submissions
| The Clash – Clampdown Lyrics
| 17 years ago
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My understanding is that the prologue lyric goes more like, "The kingdom was ransacked, the jewels got taken back and the chopper descends," Then something about "Missiles gettin in under our duct tape where the spool goes in. Layin in the back he was facin the crowd and he sat up with a crick all night," and that they refer to the deposed Shah of Iran fleeing the Islamic fundamentalist revolution in a helicopter, bound for France. |
submissions
| The Clash – All the Young Punks (New Boots and Contracts) Lyrics
| 17 years ago
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Ditto to Icheadle - I'd love to collate all the ad-libs Joe did on the endings and occasionally beginnings (cf Clampdown) of songs, because they may well give great insight to the thinking behind the lyrics. And because they're cool as f*** of course. |
submissions
| Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros – Yalla Yalla Lyrics
| 17 years ago
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I feel it's about holding on to an ideal of a better place or society for everyone, despite all the negativity and hopelessness that threaten to make us all give up. Sums up Joe pretty well in that respect. I love this song. Seeing the Mescaleros do it live in a small Glasgow venue was, without exaggeration, one of the most wonderful moments of my life. |
submissions
| Bruce Springsteen – Gypsy Biker Lyrics
| 17 years ago
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Agree with all that's been said and just had to add my voice to those proclaiming this song as a masterpiece. Wonder if Dubya's heard it... |
submissions
| Bruce Springsteen – Devil's Arcade Lyrics
| 17 years ago
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To me the song is about a soldier lost in Iraq, written from the point of view of his partner. Heard in that context, it's one incredibly moving and powerful song. |
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