| They Might Be Giants – Lie Still, Little Bottle Lyrics | 8 years ago |
|
It's about amphetamines. TMBG specifically said it had nothing to do with alcoholism. "Black coffee's not enough for me...I need a better friend" - in other words, something similar to coffee but stronger (Amp); "lie still, little bottle and shake my shaky hand" - common side-effect of strong stimulants is shakiness. He needs the pill to lie still because he is shaky, and thus it's hard for him to grab his last amphetamine. He wants to "shake hands" -shaking hands with the pill in this case meaning making a connection, allowing him to grab the pill with his hand as one would normally grab or "shake" another person's hand |
|
| Nirvana – Beeswax Lyrics | 8 years ago |
|
@[regenerator:19306] I screwed up a couple lines "If you're worried it's getting ugly Fiberglass has already been disguised as cotton candy" Also left out "maindens" in the second line, but who knows if thats even close to correct |
|
| Nirvana – Beeswax Lyrics | 8 years ago |
|
Obviously the lyrics here are mostly incomprehensible, but occasionally a perfectly clear line rises about the muck. I will notate these lines with an asterisk, as after listening to this song for 23 years and hundreds of times, I am absolutely sure of these lines if nothing else. The rest of the lines I am trusting other posters, , particularly the guy who said he got it from the journals (though I have the journals and I don't remember that part, and the journals show us nothing if not that he was constantly changing his lyrics, so I'm even going to argue with him on a few.) 'm still putting "??" after lines I am unsure of It's funny, there are a few lines that to me are so obvious that I have seen NO ONE get that are very KURT, as well as being clear. Here goes: Why would she need him for a father?? Now only can occupy my shack?? Gluing my manhood towards a manhole?? Like Pepe LePew would say Hey! hEY! Hey I wanna clash?? I got my titillate spayed I got my titillate She laughs about it Shrinking inflections if the wind blows just right?? Decadent sums of polyester* - one everyone missed I wanna jump to center?? Right! Hey! When I take it back! I got my titilate spayed I got my titilate I don't know why I gotta joke too silly to sing Don't touch the balls (you're such a bore?)?? I gotta dick dick feel my fucking hate?? If you're wondering it's getting ugly* Fiberglass is already disguised as cotton candy* (taken from guy with journal refence rest of song, sounds right)- Spahning down stream el rancho ovulate Feeding a cow hamburger and raw - Peter has brought me the tiki idol - billy's sneer reminds me of someone - Homesick A Bay Aboard the love boat Toni Tenile Sonny Bono - Charo had a nice set of lungs I got my titillate spayed |
|
| Weezer – Heart Songs Lyrics | 13 years ago |
|
Alright, putting an end to the Nirvana/Pixies argument - he's talking about Nirvana. Don't you guys know anything about Rivers/Weezer? Nirvana might be their/his biggest influence. Hell, they once played a whole show under a different name and played nothing but Nirvana covers. Google it, it's easy to find and listen to on YouTube. Rivers was like so many of the rest of us...Nevermind was a watershed moment in music, an amazing record that changed our lives and made us want to form bands of our own. Just like other seminal records of rock's past like Nevermind the Bollocks, Velvet Underground & Nico, etc Besides, you can draw a direct line from the Pixies, particularly Surfer Rosa, to Nevermind. The prior was a huge influence on the latter, as Cobain acknowledged. So if Cuomo has stated the Pixies were a big influence, that only makes since - I had the same experience. Loved Nirvana, found Pixies through Kurt talking about them, then found I really liked the Pixies as well, probably because of the obvious similar mindset if not sound, and was subsequently influenced by both. |
|
| Sex Pistols – New York Lyrics | 15 years ago |
|
I like your comments moogfaag - "if johnny rotten hated half the people he said he hated he wouldnt be a quarter as funny " - great quote! So is the Greil Marcus line, I had never read that before, pretty brilliant. Makes so much sense...the Sex Pistols so enigmatic when you really think about it, utterly unique (forget the imitators who came later; they didn't get it quite right anyway). One way I interpret the Marcus statement is this - the Pistols were either not a "punk" band, or were the only "punk" band there ever was. The SP were a force of nature that blew through, knocking everything down in their wake, then disappeared suddenly. Trying to encapsulate them, or draw a boundary to define them, is pretty futile. |
|
| XTC – Holly Up On Poppy Lyrics | 15 years ago |
|
I believe the part about it being based on Andy's daughter. Before I read that, I had this impression that it could be about heroin/opium, at least partially. "Up on poppy" sounds like a clever way of saying "high on opiates". Also, take into account the overall feel of the song, which to me has a pleasantly warm, druggy-vibe, esp bc of the nice synth/organ which paints the backdrop of the sound. It sounds almost like a mid-period, Lennon-Revolver/Sgt Pepper's song. There are also possible drug references in psychedelic lines like "secrets crayoned in swirls". "Ride and play the alchemy" sounds like a metaphor for using chemicals (alchemy being a forerunner of modern chemistry), in this setting the chemicals could be drugs. Then there's the darker side of opiates, which inevitably arises despite the romanticism sometimes associated with them (particularly heroin) - "...look her in the eyes, the eyes of storms..." Something definitely troubles this girl, perhaps only visible when looking through the "windows to the soul", as eyes have been described. This also explains the author's difficulty in mustering the strength to look into those eyes - he doesn't want to see the pain, which might normally be hidden (opiate-addicts in particular can keep their secret for much longer than most drug addicts before the truth becomes obvious). Also, simply repeating "laughing!" could mean anything, but going with my interpretation, it could be an expression of the nearly inexpressible (which would explain its simplicity and seeming lack of context when used) joy of being "up on poppy", and giggling all about it. Finally, there's the references to "escape", a common usage for drugs, esp in the case of opiates. Along this line of thinking, perhaps "she has escaped from the world where they bake beautiful girls" - implies she has used drugs to escape the reality where she, as with many women in today's society unfortunately, is constantly compared both by the world at large, as well as her own inner judgment, to the "beautiful girls" that grace the cover of magazines and such (and are artificial, hence them being "baked" as though cooked up by the industry, an idea similar to many themes in Partridge's lyrics), perhaps challenging her sense of self-worth. With the poppy, she can forget all that. Then again, it could just be an ode to his daughter ;) If so though, there's some troubling stuff going on here, I'd almost rather it be about heroin than his daughter having eyes full of storms |
|
| Nirvana – Verse Chorus Verse (Box-Set) Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| It's about Tobi Vail and some of the experiences Kurt had living in the Olympian social scene in '90. Most of Nevermind is about these subjects, particularly Tobi Vail (from Bikini Kill, for those who don't know, and whom he "dated" in 1990 for awhile). | |
| Pearl Jam – Animal Lyrics | 15 years ago |
|
guitar0zero is the only one that mentioned what I have heard for years and years that this song was about - the rest of the band and the manager being very satisfied with their super-stardom after "Ten", and so wanted to stay in the same relatively commercial territory that album explored. I mean, Jeff Ament and some of the other members formerly of Green River and Mother Love Bone said they wanted to go in a more "commercial" direction with their music in their next band. That band happened to be Pearl Jam. Eddie Vedder, on the other hand, as is well documented in the press and his lyrics, had a Kurt Cobain-esque reaction to the fame his first record engendered. He wanted to go in a more punk/experimental direction (which they did with VS. and especially Vitalogy) - those sounds were his roots, too, and unlike the rest of the band, he wanted to stay true to them. There's lots of evidence with this, such as the other members of PJ complaining about songs like "Spin the Black Circle", saying, essentially, "we don't like this, this is the kind of song we would have done years ago in Green River", implying that's the kind of music that didn't get us famous, i.e. not commercial enough. Whereas Eddie was much happier doing the exact opposite, and playing more underground music. If you notice after Ten a lot of the guitar-heroics and mainstream rock cliches were taken out of the band in favor of more punkish/folk elements, power chords instead of Hendrix-riffs, etc. Five against one. For them to stay a band this long, they must have come to a compromise at some point, which I guess they did in the late 90's judging by the sound they were putting out then and ever since, not as punk as Vitalogy but not as commercial as Ten. |
|
| Pixies – Is She Weird Lyrics | 16 years ago |
|
Haha, I like your take on it, Greenwell, especially the blunt way you state it, as if there is no doubt in your mind that the the Bride of Frankenstein of all things is the central figure in the story of this t the song was about - lol! I like it...creative. I, however, like others I'm surprised (but pleased) to see, interpret this to be simply about a vampire. Nothing much more complicated than that. I see a lot of other ppl trying to read deeper into the words when their meanings seem plain enough, esp when you take into account Frank's typical lyrical themes, to which others in this thread have also alluded. He often sang about "weird" things like UFO's, mythical ancient civilizations, etc, so it's certainly not a stretch to think that he simply wanted to write a song about a vampire. Perhaps it's a metaphor, but at the same time it could just as easily be literal. Who knows what kind of crazy stuff Francis digs on to the point of actual belief. That's part of what makes him so cool and enigmatic. Anyway, the verses could be interpreted some different ways, but the chorus seems, as I've stated, pretty clear in its meaning - "Is she weird?" - she some kind of deviant, setting up the next lines.. "Is she white?" - pale skinned, starting to get the picture...what's one of the more common popular images of a white-skinned deviant weirdo? There are more than a few, so lets see... "Is she promised to the night?" - okay, that sinks it for me, this chick is a vamp, or at least pretends to be one, perhaps giving credence to the "goth chick" theories previously postulated by some other users. It's certainly not "childish" too think this is indeed about a vampire, as one user so arrogantly and condescendingly asserted...or maybe it is, now that I think about it, in an intentional and ironic way. There's something very child-like in a lot of what the Pixies did, even in their name...the band is like a beautiful, weird recollection/regression of childhood. For one thing, their lyrics often express interests very dear to 13-year-old boys (aliens, sexy girls, vampires, manta rays, native americans ("indians") etc). Final note - I also think "I Bleed" is about a vampire, so maybe this is a recurring theme with Mr. Charles Thompson III? |
|
| Circle Jerks – Back Against The Wall Lyrics | 16 years ago |
|
Totally agree with xDeadCitiesx - this point is proven further by the Jerks performance in "The Decline of Western Civilization", where Keith alternates some of the lyrics: "You run around, spray paint Graffiti on everybody's walls You think you're really smart, man But you don't know fuckin' shit at all!" |
|
| Circle Jerks – Wasted Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| Uh...it's not a cover. Keith Morris wrote the lyrics and the "melody" (if I can call it that)to the Black Flag song "Wasted", with Greg Ginn supplying the music in his trademark writing style of the time (which was generally more dark and dissonant than other punk bands of the era, including the later-to-be-formed Circle Jerks). When Keith Morris jumped ship and started Circle Jerks, he wanted to keep this song and "I Don't Care" because he had at least a 50% songwriting investment in those songs. So he kept his words and probably Greg Hetson wrote new music, thus creating a "new" song with the same title, words, and one shared co-creator. | |
| Bad Religion – Bad Religion Lyrics | 16 years ago |
|
oh yeah, one more thing (as if my first comment was long enough! heh) - modern man - actually, Mr. Brett not only wrote his fair share of songs, he actually penned many of the most famous Bad Religion songs. His writing is distinct from Graffin's. While they share the same intellectual, hyper-articulate lyrical approach, Gurewitz's songs tend to have a greater emphasis on emotional depth, providing a more varied and compelling listening experience. One reason for this is that he writes melodies that are often more smooth and slower than the machine-gun speed at which Graffin normally delivers his self-penned material. This provides good contrast when sung over the super-fast music Bad Religion typically employs (good ex of what I'm talking about:"Better Off Dead"). Of course, this is all merely my opinion, so let me back it up with some facts. Here are some of the better known Gurewitz-penned songs; I think you'll be quite surprised by this list based on what you stated (he has sole songwriting credit on all these songs): 21st Century Digital Boy, Generator, I Want To Conquer The World, Infected, Generator, Stranger Than Fiction, Along The Way, Walk Away, and many others. Some of my favorites other than these BR "standards" include the aforementioned Better Off Dead, Incomplete, In The Night, Doin' Time, Kerosene and Frogger |
|
| Bad Religion – Bad Religion Lyrics | 16 years ago |
|
A few of my thoughts and responses to what's been said already by you guys - 1)geekgirl9 - Have to adamantly disagree; imo, def one of the worst BR songs (hence I don't think they played it much after the very early 80's); originally written in the embryonic stage of the band before they really found their "voice" - most of their first EP ("Bad Religion") is pretty poor compared to their later stuff, although I do love "Sensory Overload" 2)hennessee101 - i agree mostly with the previous user responses taking issue with what you've said, but I do think in a way you are correct. Being a pure atheist is just as dogmatic as being very religious. However, this song and many others by the band are not making a definitive statement in support of atheism or any other system of belief, but rather showing their lack of support for religion in general, a very important distinction. 3) Are the lyrics really "NAD religion..." in the second chorus (both the "official" lyrics at the top and "Sorrynametaken" list that)? Is that what the reissue of "How Could..."says?! if so that is really funny and weird! 4) Geckat - Brilliant synopsis! I have heard many an eloquent argument espousing the perils of religion, but yours in one of the most well-stated I've ever come across. |
|
| Minor Threat – 12XU Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| I always thought at the beginning he clearly says "This goes out to everybody...ready? 12XU!" A very Ian/Minor Threat/hardcore thing to say at the beginning of a song..."there are no rock stars"..."we're all in this together"...etc. Makes sense to me at least. | |
| Placebo – Song To Say Goodbye Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| Yeah I thought this song may be at least partially about Kurt too, Killed_doll. Placebo are well known huge fans, after all. "You were always someone I could relate to...a voice that made me cry", and of course "your needle and your damage done remains a sordid twist of fate" - a reference to a Neil Young song (and incidentally a Nirvana bootleg), whom Kurt quoted "better to burn out than fade away" in his suicide note. | |
| Nirvana – Blew Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| I've thought about this story a lot over the years, and have ultimately concluded it to be a myth. If one reads about Nirvana, in particular Kurt, you come to understand that there were many myths, half-truths, and flat-out lies spread about the band and its circumstances. The most prominent source of these deceptions was Kurt himself. I think this story about "accidentally" tuning their guitars so low was told this way because, like the "Kurt lived under a bridge" story, fiction was more interesting than fact. Now, this isn't mere speculation on my part. The original demo of this song provides the crucial evidence, IMO, as to what actually transpired. If you listen to that demo, first of all, the tuning is higher than the album vers, either in "Drop-D" or standard. Kurt sings the chorus a complete octave LOWER than he did on Bleach, and stays in the lower range on the verse throughout the song. The effect is interesting, but ultimately not nearly as powerful as the all-out vocal roar heard on "Bleach". Kurt was a songwriter without peer, so at some point likely realized that the song, as it was in demo form, was not as good as it could be. Hitting that higher octave would push the song to another level of excellence and intensity. However, in standard tuning, the notes are extremely hard to hit for almost anyone, even a young Kurt Cobain. Therefore, I conclude that, perhaps after some experimenting, Kurt figured out he could comfortably hit a "C" in the higher octave. So, Nirvana purposely tuned down those two steps to allow Kurt to reach the notes he needed to in order to maximize the potential of the song | |
| Nirvana – Blew Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| Couldn't disagree more. This has always been one of my favorite Nirvana songs. It provides an early example of Cobain's incredible ability to combine seemingly contrasting elements into a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. Even though the song is jarringly thick and heavy in sound, initially sounding almost dirge-like, "Blew" manages simultaneously to be very melodic and catchy. The verse riff (impressive in its complexity) syncing with the vocal line creates an extremely memorable effect. The riff is rare in that its not only a "classic" rock lick, but also outlines a great melody. The sparse separation created by accompanying the "drop-C" bass line with only one guitar(as opposed to, say, a rhythym guitar track chugging out the same notes as the bass), which plays single notes in an octave-higher register, serves to really accentuate the superb vocal line, creating a crucial counterpoint. Now, I haven't even gotten to the chorus, which is my favorite part of the song. Great harmony, instantly catchy (probably the only song off "Bleach" which immediately hooked me back in '93 or whenever it was I first heard it), and one of the most charging choruses (bordering on epic) in the Nirvana catalog. The buildup at the end of the chorus really kicks the song into overdrive, culminating in an explosive wailing scream by Kurt. | |
| Nirvana – Blew Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| Ok, so are you making fun of Kurt, or is the comment about the uncle and the forced fellatio based on any supposed true info? I know I probably shouldn't bother bc most likely yr just taking the piss out of this, but on the other hand, I wouldn't be surprised if that WERE true. Kurt's family was fucked up. Many suicides preceded him. It would explain many things about Kurt if true. Plus, his Uncle Berle was about to be charged with sexual molestation, before he offed himself in 1979(there's one of your other suicides), when Kurt was 12. Was it Uncle Berle? | |
| Sex Pistols – Seventeen Lyrics | 17 years ago |
|
I'm about to 29...depressing. I remember when I was 17, it was when I was first really into this song! Have you heard the demo vers. of this they recorded with Glen Matlock, from the pre-Bollocks-session called "Spunk" as a bootleg? I noticed that the "...And we don't wear flares" lyric is actually quite intelligible, as opposed to the version on the album, where I swear that is not what he's saying. I've never been able to tell what anything sensible out of Bollox version of that line - sounds like "I don't wear MAR-TEZ!" |
|
| Sex Pistols – Seventeen Lyrics | 17 years ago |
|
It's not "I can't even make porridge"!! lol The real lyrics are right there - "I can't even be bothered!" Actually, it's funny because I used to think it was "I can't even make my bed!!" So, no offense intended, it's not always easy to understand all of Johnny's words, great though they may be. Also, I don't know if this is worth "sub-mission" to the site as a correction, but I'm almost %100 sure that they say "I'm a lazy 'SID'" instead of "sod" at least once - I believe it's when they come back into the 2nd and final chorus, the 2nd time they repeat the refrain. "I'm a lazy sod....I'm a lazy SID...I'm a lazy sod - I'm so lazy, I can't even be bothered..." etc. Anyone else hear that/can provide any evidence to prove those are correct lyrics? |
|
| Nine Inch Nails – The New Flesh Lyrics | 17 years ago |
|
I'm surprised there hasn't been more talk, other than the first post by "heartsfilthylesson", about what the actual lyrics are. I guess it's just the rare nature of the song. I don't hear a lot of the lyrics that supposedly appear in this song, according presumably to wherever Trent chose to have them printed (which is where I'm assuming these lyrics came from, as it isn't unusual for TR to release "official" lyrics for a song featuring words that either do not actually appear in the song by all accounts, or are carefully buried and extremely difficult to find). I could easily see the drug reference, but then there are countless other tunes by NIN and otherwise where that deduction could be made. You can never discount the other glaring possibility in the case of all songs such as this (and one that kind of defeats the purpose of a site such as this, fun though it may be) - the artist could have simply conjured up words that fit the melody he wanted to sit which sounded right for the song, with no literal meaning in mind. In which case, discussions on the "true" meaning become somewhat irrelevant. |
|
* This information can be up to 15 minutes delayed.