| The Shins – Red Rabbits Lyrics | 11 months ago |
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Passion, Pain, Sex, and Motherhood: The first two lines of this song are packed full of metaphors and double meanings. “Hurled to the center of the Earth again The place where it's hot, love” Meaning (1) The couple finds themselves thrown back into a passionate but tumultuous relationship. What’s at the center of the earth - the hot place? Hell, and torture. Meaning (2) The Earth is a mother. At the center of a mother is her womb. Inside her, the couple makes hot love. And then what gets hurled into the mother’s center - into her womb? Semen or “sprites.” |
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| The Shins – Red Rabbits Lyrics | 11 months ago |
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This song is too involved for a single post. So I'll just add comments from time to time that highlight interesting aspects to consider: What does Red Rabbits mean? From about 1930 to 1960 there was a pregnancy test called the "Rabbit Test." A woman's urine was injected into a live rabbit. After a few days, the rabbit was dissected and its ovaries were inspected. The presence of the pregnancy hormone hCG in the woman's urine would cause the rabbit's ovaries to swell. "The rabbit died" became a euphemism for a woman getting pregnant. Of course, the rabbit actually always died for the test! With this in mind, I think we can confidently say "gunnysack" refers to either the woman's bladder or her uterus. "Into the crucible to be rendered an emulsion" could be referring to the pregnancy test. In this case, Mercer probably misunderstood the exact nature of the Rabbit Test because the rabbit ovaries were inspected through a microscope and not emulsified. On the other hand, he could be referring to the most common form of abortion called vacuum aspiration. Given the nature of the method, there is a sort of emulsification that happens. With all the references to pregnancy and abortion, it's pretty safe to interpret "sprites" as sperm and "the necessary balloon lies a corpse on the floor" as a broken condom. |
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| The Shins – Red Rabbits Lyrics | 11 months ago |
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@[ComfortZone:46896] From about 1930 to 1960 there was a pregnancy test called the "Rabbit Test." The woman's urine was injected into a live rabbit. After a few days, the rabbit was dissected and its ovaries were inspected. "The rabbit died" became a euphemism for a woman getting pregnant. Of course, the rabbit actually always died for the test. Gunnysack refers to either the woman's bladder or her uterus. Sprites are almost certainly sperm. |
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| Fleetwood Mac – Landslide Lyrics | 11 months ago |
| @[deegee87:46895] On their 1997 live album The Dance, Nicks begins the song with the words "this is for you daddy." I can imagine the lyrics resonated in a similar way with her father as they have for you. | |
| Nirvana – Smells Like Teen Spirit Lyrics | 1 year ago |
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I was born a month before Cobain. If you think the AIDS crisis didn't impact our generation's perspective on sex, you are deeply mistaken. When I heard "With the lights out, it's less dangerous... I feel stupid and contagious," I knew instantly and exactly what he was talking about. Of course, one can argue about the artist's intent versus the audience's interpretation. And I'm not saying Cobain did or didn't consciously put this meaning in the song. But the feeling of danger and contagion related to sex was a big part of the zeitgeist of that time (and still is to some extent). And many people, including myself, took it that way. In a similar way, the seemingly nonsensical lyrics and the "Oh well, whatever, never mind" attitude resonated deeply with our generation. There was a sense that something was very off in the world but it was difficult to articulate - "I found it hard, was hard to find." All we know was that we had grown up in a world of optimism and, like the industrial heartland of America, it had decayed into disaffection and cynicism. |
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| Temple of the Dog – Hunger Strike Lyrics | 1 year ago |
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@[dajirok:46381] I think this is a pretty straightforward interpretation of the song. However, there's a twist in the lyrics that I wonder if Cornell even realized himself. He's talking about avoiding greed and exploitation, but uses the phrase "I'm goin' hungry." This implies that he has the desire to exploit and feed off the less fortunate, but he refrains. He wouldn't be going hungry if he didn't have the hunger to begin with. See what I mean? Maybe he's saying this hunger to feed off of others is innate within all of us? And the best we can do is starve ourselves of this desire? Taken this way, the lyrics transform from a kind of virtue signaling into a very harsh look in the mirror. And this makes the song even more powerful and beautiful IMO. |
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| Marcy Playground – Sex And Candy Lyrics | 1 year ago |
| Okay. I don't see any reason to doubt his explanation for the origin of the phrase. That said, songwriters have a long tradition of throwing people off the sent (pun intended) of their song meanings. And I find it far too coincidental that he just happened to throw the phrase sex and candy into a song where he just happened to mention double cherry pie. If this wasn't a conscious lolita reference, it seems very likely it was unconscious. And I'm not saying that makes him any kind of creep or anything. It's simply a literary device in a fictional song. It's fiction people! | |
| Bachman-Turner Overdrive – You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet Lyrics | 3 years ago |
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I've heard this song countless time in my life. I always thought "You ain't seen nothin' yet" meant she was going to blow him away with loving like he's never had. No, she means she's going to destroy him and break his heart in a way he's never experienced. "You think you've been hurt before? You ain't seen nothin' yet." And he sees himself as a willing victim. He also thinks any love is good love and he deserve what he gets. I just never realized what a scorching song this is. |
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| Sarah McLachlan – Possession Lyrics | 3 years ago |
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Well, this sucks. I just learned what this song is really about, after all these years. I always thought it was speaking from the perspective of an empowered and passionate woman taking on the traditionally male role as the pursuer in the relationship. No, it's written from the perspective of her stalker. I wonder if I can expunge this from my memory and continue enjoying the song in the same way I did when I was blissfully ignorant? |
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| The Verve – Already There Lyrics | 3 years ago |
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Nick McCabe in an interview with MusicRadar said that Ashcroft's lyrics on this album were a purposeful stream of consciousness. "Richard was absent, really, for a lot of the first two albums in terms of writing music. We'd go off and play and wait for his appearance. But what Richard is very good at - one of the many things he's good at, I should say - is coming up with lyrics on the spot. And very good lyrics. The accepted wisdom of A Storm In Heaven is that the lyrics are gibberish and that Richard improved over the years. I think that's not the case. His stream of consciousness stuff on A Storm In Heaven is spot on, for me." |
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| David Bowie – Suffragette City Lyrics | 4 years ago |
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I always hear the lyrics as: "This malefact chick just put my spine out of place" Seeing these lyrics, I can now hear that "mellow thighed" is indeed correct. However, I can't help but be a little disappointed. I think my misheard "malefact" gave the song a more interesting twist. The real lyrics seam a bit adolescent in comparison. |
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| Plain White T's – Hey There Delilah Lyrics | 4 years ago |
| @[madwhit:32218] I think you've captured the song perfectly. There is definitely a deep scene of anxiety in both the lyrics and his voice. The lyric "You be good, and don't you miss me" is particularity poignant and telling. He tells her to be good, to not cheat on him. And in the next breath tells her to not miss him, as if to reassure himself that she does indeed miss him. | |
| Gerry Rafferty – Baker Street Lyrics | 4 years ago |
| @[ceadmileuk:31536] I'm not certain the last lines describe such a happy ending. "Going home " is sometimes meant as going home to meet God or to be at peace. And he could be using "morning" as a homonym with "mourning." The song always leaves me with the ominous feeling that he take his own life in the end. | |
| Nirvana – Heart-Shaped Box Lyrics | 4 years ago |
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Yes, the 1st verse is about Courtney. But, I think the 2nd verse is about his Mother. Meat-eating orchids forgive no one just yet [Carnivorous vaginas (women in Kurt's view) don't forgive and perceived wrong] Cut myself on angel hair and baby's breath [Episiotomy? Perhaps Kurt's mother had a difficult birth and tried to make him feel guilty about it.] Broken hymen of your Highness, I'm left back [His mother got married when she was 17 years old. Maybe she was a virgin and got pregnant her first time having sex with Kurt's farther. Possibly she tire to make him feel guilty about this as well.] Throw down your umbilical noose so I can climb right back [He felt his mother was trying to control him, hold him back and ultimately suffocate him.] |
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| The Cranberries – Ode To My Family Lyrics | 5 years ago |
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@[SunDevil:30357] Yes. "Where's" could mean whereas or "in contrast too." However, replacing "where's" with "whereas" doesn't' exactly make sense because of the AND in the sentence. Whereas when I was young AND we didn't give a damn. You see , it's a fragment. It would make if the AND were replaced with a comma. Whereas when I was young, we didn't give a damn. But the AND is there. So, it makes more sense to interpret “where’s” as “where is” and then put a question mark at the end of the sentence. Where is when I was young and we didn’t give a damn? You see, she’s asking what happened to the days of her youth when she and her family didn’t give a damn. “When I was young” is treated as noun in the sentence. It’s an odd, but very working class Irish way of phrasing things. |
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| The Cranberries – Ode To My Family Lyrics | 5 years ago |
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I think many people are misinterpreting this song due to inaccurate punctuation in the lyrics. The chorus should read like this: Unhappiness? Where's when I was young And we didn't give a damn? She’s not saying she was unhappy when she was young. In fact, she is looking at her current state of unhappiness and then asking what happened to her youthful attitude when she grabbed life with abandon and didn’t care what people thought. And she’s being completely earnest about her mother’s and father’s love for her. There’s no irony or dark hidden message of abuse. She was happy as a child. The only sadness comes from the contrast between how her family cared for her back then and how she now feels that no one really sees her anymore. Back then she was “out there,” out of her self-consciousness, out of here guilded cage and living life fully. |
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| School Of Fish – Three Strange Days Lyrics | 6 years ago |
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I always understood it to mean that he had some kind of mental breakdown, maybe a deep state of depression. He was out on the streets, incoherent and in a bad state. They (authorities) dressed him up in all of their clothes (hospital garb) and put him somewhere else (psych ward). Johnny Clueless is perhaps a psychiatrist or counselor who had no idea how to help him or relate to him. The simulated wood grain is what he remembers from the psychiatrist's office. He rests, sleeps,or maybe he was sedated. Then he wakes up, his temporary mental break has past and he feels alive again. The only part that doesn't quite fit this narative is the line: "So I pulled up a chair and started drinking by myself" I'm not sure how to weave that in and have it make sense. |
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| Jethro Tull – Locomotive Breath Lyrics | 7 years ago |
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Such poignant and tragic lyrics. I completely agree with brian333's interpretation: "Locomotive Breath is about the corporate worker who never measured up and wound up in a dead in job with a dead end life that consumed him. The central question of the album is, what part does God play in a de-personalized industrial society? The album asks the question, but gives no answer." - brian333 I think it's particularly brilliant how the songwriter blames Charlie (the Devil) in the first two choruses and then winds up pointing the blame towards God in the end. Having the Devil working against you would definitely suck, but it's to be expected. After all, he is an evil character in religious mythology. But to realize that it's God himself who has fucked you, well, this makes the protagonist's life utterly hopeless, doesn't it? |
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| Aerosmith – Nobody's Fault Lyrics | 7 years ago |
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I submitted a request to change the lyrics "Seven years ago" to "Seventy years ago" Listening closely, one can hear him sing "seventy years", pronouncing it as "seven-deeyears." Seventy also makes sense because Aerosmith "Rocks" was released in 1976. The Great San Francisco Earthquake and Fire happened in 1906, seventy year earlier. |
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| Temple of the Dog – Hunger Strike Lyrics | 8 years ago |
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Yeah, I also think it's about choosing not to exploit those to have less. I always thought is sounds like Chris Cornell sings "And the FIRE's cooking" then Eddie Vedder sings "And the PYRE's cooking" in his verse. I'm certain of this. But it would be a cool little twist on the lyric. |
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| Temple of the Dog – Hunger Strike Lyrics | 8 years ago |
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Yeah, I also think it's about choosing not to exploit those to have less. I always thought is sounds like Chris Cornell sings "And the FIRE's cooking" then Eddie Vedder sings "And the PYRE's cooking" in his verse. I'm certain of this. But it would be a cool little twist on the lyric. |
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| Mindy Smith – Come To Jesus Lyrics | 9 years ago |
| This a powerful and hauntingly beautiful song. I don’t have a religious bone in my body. And generally speaking, I wonder where religious people park their brains. Religion flies in face of simple common sense, not mention all the conflict and suffering it has caused. But when I hear a wonderful song like this, walk into a Gothic cathedral or marvel at a giant statue of the Buddha, you religious folk do tend to redeem yourselves a little. ;-) | |
| Dolly Parton – Jolene Lyrics | 9 years ago |
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I’ve always thought “Jolene” was Dolly Pardon’s feminine version of the song “Cotton-Eyed Joe”. I’ve never heard this mentioned anywhere. And I don’t have any real evidence to back it up. However, if you look at the similarities between the two songs, I think it makes sense. First, of course, there is the name Jolene itself. It’s the feminine of Joseph or Joe. 19th century versions of “Cotton-Eyed Joe” described Joe as bit of a buffoon who, for some inexplicable reason, managed to steal the narrator’s girl. But in the 20th century the character of Joe is often turned into more of a handsome lothario. This is epitomized by the lyrics in Nina Simone’s 1959 version: If it hadn't been for cotton-eye joe I'd been married long time ago Where did you come from. Where did you go? Where did you come from cotton-eye joe? [repeat] He came to town like a midwinter storm He rode through the fields so Handsome and strong His eyes was his tools and his smile was his gun But all he had come for was having some fun [repeat intro] He brought disaster wherever he went The hearts of the girls was to hell broken sent They all ran away so nobody would know And left only men cause of cotton-eye joe [repeat intro] So, Cotton-Eyed Joe is a handsome man who rolls into town and steals the narrator’s woman. Dolly Parton’s Jolene is beautiful temptress who may, or may not take her man. No doubt Dolly would have heard “Cotton-Eyed Joe” many times in her life. I was a traditional bluegrass line dance song. The connection just seems clear to me. Yes? |
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| Queen – Bohemian Rhapsody Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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I agree that the AIDs interpretation is bull. However, I've long wondered if this song were a metaphor for being gay and coming out. Even to this day, coming out as gay could be a death sentence, both literally and figuratively. Homosexuals have often been considered dead in eyes of their families. And of course, in many countries gay people are murdered or even executed. I have no idea if Freddie Mercury had this intent or not. Probably not. But it is an interesting twist. Thinking of it in this light alters the tone of the lyrics from whimsical melodrama into real tragedy. But yeah, the AIDs interpretation is completely bogus. |
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| Marcy Playground – Sex And Candy Lyrics | 11 years ago |
| Lolita! Come on, how obvious does it need to be? He’s an older guys and she’s an underage girl. Sex and candy! Sex is adult. Candy is childish. She’s in the middle, a teenager. She goes out dancing (possible a candy raver from the way she’s dressed) and sips lemonade because she’s too young to drink. And double “cherry” pie is easy enough to decipher. She’s a virgin! | |
| Radiohead – Karma Police Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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Man, some of the ridiculous interpretations given here make me sick. Do people even read the lyrics before they post? Where are the moderators to put end to all this foolishness? Sorry, for the flame everyone. I think I lost my head, but now I've come to my senses. You might notice that the comments above are illustrative of my interpretation of Karma Police. ;-) First the narrator of the song wishes ill on a man because the man is jabbering on about something or other. The irony is that the narrator is probably irritated because he doesn't actually understand the "maths" that man is talking about. Then the narrator wishes ill on a woman because he doesn't like her haircut. The irony is that he's eating her food and drinking her wine at a party he wasn't even invited to. Then he realizes how petty and ridiculous HE is being. I think it's as simple as that. |
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| Rush – Circumstances Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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Interesting back story. But nobody seems to have addressed the actual "meaning" of the song. In the first verse he moves away from home in order make some grand change in his life. But things are bleak and that's the reality of the situation. The innocence of youth enables him to delude himself and push on anyway. That's cool. Nonetheless, whatever we will, we're at the mercy of the fates. And wherever we go, whatever we do, we're never really in control. In the second verse he has grown older and wiser. He's a rock star and has gained much of the success that he dreamed of as a boy. Nonetheless, "wherever you go, there are." He's still at the mercy of the universe, like all of us. I always thought this song was somewhat influenced by, or a response to the Yes song "Perpetual Change". It was written a few years prior to "Circumstances". Here are some lyrics: "As truth is gathered, I rearrange, Inside out, outside in, inside out, outside in, Perpetual change. And there you are, Saying we have the moon, so now the stars, When all you see Is near disaster gazing down on you and me, And there you're standing, Saying we have the whole world in our hands, When all you'll see, Deep inside the world's controlling you and me. As mist and sun are both the same, We look on as pawns of their game." With this song in mind, one can imagine Neil Peart saying 'Yes, we are pawns of random forces beyond our control. Yes, things do perpetually change. BUT, the more things change...' Well, you know the rest. |
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| Live – Selling The Drama Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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Wow, all this deep analysis and apparently nobody has hit on the obvious meaning of this song. The title says it all: "Selling the Drama". Here's another big hint. Right beside the written lyrics in the Throwing Copper CD insert there is a little stick figure cartoon. The cartoon depicts a person standing at a pulpit above a crowd. The person is screaming through a megaphone. Get it? The Bible is the drama and Christian leaders are the sellers. This song is about how religious leaders capitalize and cash in on the beliefs of the faithful. The songwriter takes three voices in this song: 1. The preacher selling the myth. 2. The songwriter himself and his own religious views 3. The parishioners who are being exploited. In the first verse the preacher explains the how religion is sold, with a carrot and a stick. The love of a benevolent father figure is the carrot. The fear of eternal flames is the stick. Good or bad, meek or strong, the book is written and just about everyone knows and believes the story. There is no need to reinvent the wheel in order to cash in. All one needs to do is "just scream it from the wall(s)" to use an old expression. Then the songwriter uses his own voice to tell us about his own beliefs. "I've willed, I've walked.... I've been here before" refers to his apparent belief in reincarnation. The beautiful song "Lighting Crashes" makes strong reference to reincarnation as well. "Oh now feel it comin' back again... forces pullin' from the center of the earth again... presents the circle..." In the line "we wont be raped... we won't be scared like that" he speaks for the parishioners who, when snapped out of their spell, reject the exploitation. Then in the last two verses he reverts back to the voice of the preacher. The sun burns, the wheel turns, we sing, we dance, whatever it takes to keep them under our spell. Armed with the story, symbol and authority of Christ on the cross, the preacher sits back at the pulpit collecting his ransom for the souls of his parishioners. The irony of this song, that I imagine the songwriter doesn't even realize, is that he rejects one brand of superstition while he exposes is own brand of superstition. It's astonishing how many people can have the good sense to rid themselves of such deeply ingrained nonsense, yet they easily fall right into a new flavor of nonsense. It's a flawed song. But the flaws make me like it all the more! |
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| Greg Lake – "I Believe In Father Christmas" Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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To me this song is about waking up from childish delusions, seeing the world for what it really is, and the hopefulness and courage to make it better. Father Christmas? .... Set it aside. It's time to grow up. Fairy story of the Israelite (Jesus)? .... Set it aside. It's time to grow up. Peace on earth? ... Yes, but only if we make it so. No gods. No elves. Just us in the world and what we make of it. |
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