submissions

Tim Minchin – Not Perfect Lyrics	8 years ago
@[dean111133:19509] - Gravity. Caused in part by the planet's rotation, it's essentially the force which not only holds minerals, plants and animals (including us) fast to the surface, but it also holds the atmosphere in place - without which life cannot be sustained. :)

submissions

Elbow – Some Riot Lyrics

11 years ago

While the references to alcohol are clear, I reckon it's as much about seeing someone you love suffering from depression, and in this case drowning it in booze. It's sadly rarely acknowledged, but it's long been my opinion that most cases of what people call "addiction" start with people trying to self-medicate for depression - and slowly the use of intoxicants as a means to an end (namely dulling the mental illness) can become an end in themselves.

submissions

The 1975 – Chocolate Lyrics

12 years ago

In the UK, the usual introduction to cannabis when you're a teenager is a cheap form of hashish known as "soap bar". Full of impurities it usually comes in bars wrapped in cellophane that resemble a bar of soap, or indeed - due to its brown colour - chocolate. Because it needs to be heated to be crumbled up, it tends to smell pretty significantly, so your best bet for having an undisturbed session is to walk or drive to an out-of-the-way location with your mates and have a smoke. Of course, one of your mates will invariably light up in the car - and even if they don't you're going to reek of it when you drive back home, so it follows that the drive is going to be incredibly cautious in order to avoid attracting unwanted attention from "the boys in the blue". This can be made more difficult if you've become a little paranoid from the effects of what you've just been smoking. :) Anyway, I think that's what this is about - a paean to youthful indiscretions with cannabis.

submissions

The Sundays – Another Flavour Lyrics

13 years ago

This one started life as an instrumental - specifically the theme tune to the ill-fated BBC TV comedy programme "Newman & Baddiel In Pieces". A spin-off from the critically-acclaimed "The Mary Whitehouse Experience", the show was panned by the critics and Rob and David went their separate ways. The lyrics seem to allude to the above story - but honestly (and I say this as someone who is besotted with Harriet's voice), the melody and words feel bolted -on and I reckon it should have stayed an instrumental.

submissions

The Sundays – I Feel Lyrics	13 years ago
Credits are incorrect - should be Harriet Wheeler/David Gavurin. Pretty sure that the line (which smacks you in the face with a gorgeous harmony on the record) is "Love, hate and a pair of hands, that's where I began" - one of the most concise yet beautiful descriptions of art in general (and songwriting in particular) I've ever heard.

submissions

The Sundays – I Feel Lyrics	13 years ago
Credits are incorrect - should be Harriet Wheeler/David Gavurin. Pretty sure that the line (which smacks you in the face with a gorgeous harmony on the record) is "Love, hate and a pair of hands, that's where I began" - one of the most concise yet beautiful descriptions of art in general (and songwriting in particular) I've ever heard.

submissions

The Sundays – Summertime Lyrics

13 years ago

As the songs on "Reading, Writing and Arithmetic" seem to be about life and love for the perspective of moving from your teens into your twenties, the songs on "Static and Silence" reflect the same subjects from the perspective of turning thirty (by which time Harriet and David had been married for some time and had children). If this song is at all autobiographical, it bodes well for them - they're still in love and appreciate that this makes them fortunate compared to their peers who are still looking for love through the lonely hearts ads.

submissions

The Sundays – I Kicked A Boy Lyrics	13 years ago
I think this is one of those where most if not all of the lyrics are David's - at least I know from an interview that the "kicked a boy" lines definitely are. The rest seems to tie in with the questions of self-worth from "Skin and Bones".

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The Sundays – Can't Be Sure Lyrics	13 years ago
Like a lot of songs on this album, a lovely wistful ode on the tribulations of growing up and deciding what you want to be.

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The Sundays – Can't Be Sure Lyrics	13 years ago
Like a lot of songs on this album, a lovely wistful ode on the tribulations of growing up and deciding what you want to be.

submissions

The Sundays – Here's Where The Story Ends Lyrics

13 years ago

Ooh - I like that, and it makes perfect sense. A relationship with a person who ticks all the boxes in terms of what you think turns you on, but nevertheless treats you like dirt - the result being that you end up feeling lousy about yourself (belonging "in the shed" and feeling nervous in company). A story that doesn't end until you realise you don't really love the person (the only thing you want to say - "I love you" - is wrong) and finally pluck up the courage to end things.

submissions

The Sundays – Skin & Bones Lyrics	13 years ago
One thing that's often overlooked with The Sundays' songs is that both Harriet and David wrote the lyrics even though Harriet did all the singing. This one reads like a conversation. The guy's worrying about how he's perceived by others and the girl's trying to bring him back down to earth by pointing out her own imperfections and why they don't bother her.

submissions

Frank Turner – Sons Of Liberty Lyrics	13 years ago
It's a lovely sentiment in theory, but the truth is that the majority of Frank's generation have been priced out of owning their own land or home, and the reason for this is because the wealthy folk and corporations supported stripping back government oversight of property prices, among other things. Great rabble-rousing tune though - he's channelling early Levellers with this one!

submissions

Paramore – Playing God Lyrics

15 years ago

Specifically it seems to address a tendency on the part of people who identify as religious to use their religion to justify their own opinions and actions - in extreme cases, "It's what God would want" (meaning "It's what I want") or "The Bible/Torah/Koran says so" (meaning "That's how I interpret it"). I'm not saying for definite one way or the other, but it does seem like a very pointed swipe at an ex-partner who used religion to try to get their own way.

submissions

Manic Street Preachers – The Intense Humming Of Evil Lyrics	16 years ago
The opening sample comes from "The Nuremberg Trials" - specifically the Soviet documentary directed by S. Svilov and produced by Roman Karmen. It being a Stalin-era Soviet documentary it pulls no punches in the narration - it can be found on YouTube. And yes, the song is incredibly powerful.

submissions

Red House Painters – Grace Cathedral Park Lyrics

17 years ago

This song is quite possibly the most achingly beautiful paean to lost youth and love that I've ever heard. The writer never spells out whether his partner's treatment of him is positive or negative, yet makes it clear he can never reconcile it with the way he feels about himself. On a personal note, I started my honeymoon with the most wonderful girl in the world in San Francisco. While she slept off the jetlag I took my MP3 player to the grounds of Grace Cathedral, lay down on a bench and played this song while the sun went down. There I cried like a baby as I let go of all the negative thoughts that plagued me in the past and looked towards the future. Thank you Mark Kozelek and Red House Painters.

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