| Placebo – Ask For Answers Lyrics | 9 years ago |
| This song is very clearly talking about two things--a relationship where you are never considered first and suicide. That is what asking the sea for answers is about. It's not a conversation you poetically have with the sea. It's about feeling so degraded, misunderstood and trapped that you want to die. That's why the bonds are shackle free because no one is making him stay but he's so in love and in lust he does anyway. It has been hinted often that in addition to being a reformed drug addict that Brian suffers from a mental illness which is often reflected in their albums. There is an entire album called Meds. This song is almost never played in concert and one of the reasons for that is probably because it isn't a time he likes to think about. | |
| Bon Iver – Skinny Love Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| I immediately jumped to the actual interpretation of this when I heard it, but I also thought it could be about someone who was dying. From the point of view of the dying person's lover. It just fits really well. | |
| Vampire Weekend – Horchata Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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I think people take this song as someone in a warm climate during December talking about a time he had in a cold climate. I disagree. I think the reason why the narrator is drinking Horchata in the cold is because the person he ends up referring to used to do so. It's just a strange thing the couple liked to do together. I think this is pretty apparent from the second verse where the other person is looking down on another summer drink while wearing boots. Boots are usually only worn in winter, so it leads to me conclude that they were just drinking cold drinks in winter--something that really isn't that strange. So he's drinking Horchata and while he's drinking he's remember how he felt when he was with this person. The "chairs to sit and sidewalks to walk on" line is pretty indicative of that time during love where everything feels incredibly new. Even something as simple as walking down the street feels new and beautiful. Unfortunately for the narrator, despite loving how he felt, he fought his feelings and everything turned sour. The sidewalks that felt so new and wonderful scream at him and everything he created fell apart. I really like the last line, "You understood so you shouldn't have fought it." It's interesting to me because it suggests that the narrator knew that he was in love and enjoyed their couple quirks, and yet still tore the relationship apart. The song is kind of like narrator slapping himself, saying what an idiot he was for letting this strange, beautiful person go. It is worth noting that when I heard this song for the first 10 times, I did not immediately jump to the conclusion about it being a romantic relationship. I just thought it was about any deep emotional relationship. I also thought it might be about a family because it is set in December. Now I would say it was about a romantic relationship, but it is vague enough to be applied to many circumstances. |
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| Bat for Lashes – Glass Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| I thinks it is very possible that this is a metaphor for a woman who is in love with a man who loves a man. It May sound weird but she goes to a strange foreign land (gay culture) to find her beloved who is being pointed at by the watchman. Seeing this the woman attempts to cover up this vulnerable man whose emotions and thoughts are out for all to see from the watchman. She tries to keep the creed by making him unable to be seen because she wants to keep him. In the end it doesn't work out. She can't stop that which is reflected and the two suns (sons) they fall in love but never quite come together. | |
| Deftones – Sextape Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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The tone of this song screams love song. I think it is about making a sex tape with a lover. I think it's kind of awesome the multiple meanings of waves collide. Waves of pleasure, tv waves, waves of sounds (screams, moans). Just people all mixed up in each other when they orgasm. |
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| Deftones – Prince Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| I think this about the downfall of any sort of fame. Anyone trying to be famous and great may try but they die never making it the way they may want to. | |
| Deftones – You've Seen the Butcher Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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Yes--this song is very sexual but I don't think it's about fuck buddies or casual sex at all or fakeness. I think it's about a very intense and complicated relationship. First verse--He wants to take this person home and fuck but it isn't her/his body that gets him off--it's his/her whole being and personality. This is supported by wanting to watch the way someone creeps across your skull. He wants to watch how this person completely learns him and changes him. The creeping isn't a bad thing--it's something he wants to see. I think the narrator is the butcher and I think when he talks about the person entering slowly he means because he butchers relationships the person has to enter the union cautiously. Also he isn't trusting so the person has to crawl his/her knees off before they can really engage his heart. Him wanting to closely look at the person means trust issues. Also the line about taping seems to mean in context--after we've figured this out, how do we present it to others? Now--you could also take this song to be about BDSM sex. But there seems to be way too much metaphor going on here to be that simple. Also, I don't think they'd put two songs about sex tapes on the album. And the title makes sense with the idea of butchering something, a relationship, etc. |
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| Placebo – Summer's Gone Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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I love this song, and it is definitely meaningful, but "cue to your face" I think actually refers to the television or movies. You cue someone and they come onto the stage and act. I think this song could be referring simply to a character in a play or movie etc. and the narrator finds it sad because this character is a tragic one. The character tries to affect the world and break the mold before he/she dies. The part in the middle with the dramatic speaking also kind of makes it seems like a dramatic play almost like a monologue or what some literary people call the voice of god--where a character comes in and reveals a lot about the character and what will happen if he continues on that path. I think the character in the play might be a singer and he is left stranded by his lover who doesn't come to see him sing. Perhaps this leads to feelings of suicide because when he's left stranded and trying so hard he realizes, like many other people, there is a way out--suicide. |
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| Placebo – Ask For Answers Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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I think this is about falling in love and you're lover just completely not accepting you in the important ways. I think the first line "time to pass you to the test" is actually being said by the lover and the narrator/Brian is hanging on that person's words. I also think "always coming second best" is from the lover's point of view as well. Although "pictures of my lover's chest" could refer to the media getting pictures of private moments between Brian and his lover--I feel like it's more reflective than that. I think he's looking at a picture, one of his lover, and thinking of that person's heart and feeling that longing that is prevalent throughout the song. The person thinks that he doesn't care and really the lover doesn't know that the narrator is hanging on his/her's every word. Getting through the night and there are no second chances could refer to being on the road touring or simply being away from your lover and realizing this is what you have to do with your life. It's hard because you want to be with that person, but you can't. "This time I might" and "asking the sea for answers" seems most definitely about drowning yourself or snapping. He's done this before but maybe he really, really loves this person. More than he's loved anyone and he just doesn't want to see it all fall apart. Falling to the floor could mean either a break up or loosing the trust and respect of your lover. And I think the softer part refers to the fact he's just been to this place before, and it sucks, but he's learned to deal. "Dog boy, media whore--it's who the hell you take me for" is obviously referring to an argument. I've certainly said "Who the hell do you take me for?" when someone is simply misreading me and since he uses that here I'm guessing it could actually refer to a specific instance of argument. This links up to the lines before because he's been misread before and every time someone sees the face he puts on for his music instead of him--it hurts. He wants to be seen by his lover. "Give up this fight, there are no second chances" could be message from the narrator to the lover. He's saying lets give up these arguments because we will only happen once. It could also refer to the fact that life is so fleeting you don't know when you're going to die. He's saying--lets let is go and give it the best we've got because tomorrow this might all be gone. "These bonds are shackle free" might be the narrators way of saying we have a bond but you can go if you want to. The fact that the bonds are wrapped in lust and lunacy and some jealousy just refers to the connection between the two people. They love and lust after each other and they can both be a little jealous sometimes--but that's their bond. They can't make each other staff--but they are bonded anyway. It's kind of like that point in a relationship when the person becomes family and there is this intense bond but one can still stay and go as he pleases, if that's what he really wants. |
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| Placebo – Meds Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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Honestly--this song seems to be about bipolar disorder (I was a psych major and suffer from bipolar myself and it makes a lot of sense). I was alone/falling free/trying my best not to forget/what happened to us/what happened to me/ what happened as I let it slip. This seems to refer to a manic episode. When bipolar 1 patients go off their meds, they don't want to go back on them and in the midst of mania they forget the reasons why they were on the meds in the first place or they choose not to. Which is precisely what this means to me. The narrator is alone because you often times isolate your friends and family when you're manic. You also feel free and happy because that's what mania feels like. And a manic individual may try to not to forget what he/she did to his/her self and his/her family members. But the overwhelming need to keep being manic overwhelms. I was confused by the powers that be/forgetting names and faces/ Passers by, were looking at me/ as if they could erase it. This talks about the confusion and upset a bp1 patient feels towards god. Why is this happening? Why is this wrong? Why should I try not to feel this? Also, this is the progression of the mania. First the narrator is trying not to forget and now he/she is forgetting or not caring about the things that stopped him/her from wanting to be manic. The passersby comment is also congruent with the bp1 because mania causes people to be rude, narcissistic and sometimes violent. They will go up to strangers and talk for hours about themselves. People might see a person like this and give him/her looks like who the hell is this person and why is this person continuing to talk and be such a jerk. The people probably literally want to escape and forget the person. Baby...did you forget to take your meds? When a group of people loves someone with this disorder and they see him/her losing it they all begin to ask the same question--"Did you forget to take your meds?" I can't tell you how many times when I've been really losing it that everyone I know asks about this. I was alone, staring over the ledge/trying my best not to forget/all manner of joy, all manner of glee/and our one heroic pledge. The next stage--depression. People with bipolar are VERY prone to suicidal ideation. This narrator is standing over the ledge trying to remember the mania, trying to remember the good times with everyone they know, trying to remember what matters. And the heroic pledge might refer to two things. When you are suicidal your counselor tends to make you sign a contract to not commit suicide. They make you promise and they make you sign it(not always--but sometimes--and they at least make you verbally pledge). Why is this heroic? Because to overcome suicidal thoughts takes a lot of courage. Because there is a we in this sentence it could also refer to taking that pledge with another person to work towards the narrator's mental health (it is often a group effort with the bp patient needing unyielding support). It could also be a personal pledge between two people in a relationship and making a pledge that they would stay together and the narrator would not kill themselves. How it mattered to us, how it mattered to me/and the consequences./I was confused, by the birds and the bees/forgetting if i meant it. Again this pledge and what it means to the two people in this relationship--and what the consequences of that pledge are (no committing suicide). Being confused by the birds and the bees could mean being confused about whether or not you actually are in love with the person who made you pledge, and forgetting whether or not you meant that pledge because of the confusion. When someone is suicidal they often attempt to logic out their reasons for suicide. "Well, I probably didn't really love you in the first place and it was possibly just about sex so the pledge is worthless and now I can jump off the ledge. " Because if you don't love the person you make the pledge with or aren't somehow connected to them, are you going to feel an obligation to go through with it? And the sex and the drugs, and the complications. When people are manic they tend to have lots and lots of sex. They also may take drugs when depressed in order to self medicate and also when they are manic in order to feel even higher than they already are. This causes so many complications, the entire experience of the disorder is extremely complicated. Now, this song was said to be about someone who is psychotic. Psychosis is literally when someone loses contact with reality which is exactly what happens to BP1 patients and BP patients are spoken about as being, when in their worst state, as being psychotic. Well, anyway, that's my two sense. But the actual transition from falling free to standing over the ledge indicates two different mind sets to me--which is the bi of bipolar essentially. |
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| Placebo – Blind Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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After reading some of your comments I wonder if something is being overlooked. But I'll post my whole interpretation and get to that on the way. If I could tear you from the ceiling/And guarantee source divine/Rid you of possessions fleeting/ Remain your funny valentine In this instance I agree with the drug interpretation and here is why. The first two lines indicate trying to remove someone from some kind of high and promising a better one--which could mean anything,essentially. But possessions indicates actual objects, and fleeting ones likely refers to how you consume drugs and they are quickly gone. The last line suggests that the narrator cannot stay a funny and joyful presence in this person's life unless these possessions are removed also indicating the possessions are somehow bad. Don’t go and leave me/And please don’t drive me blind This is where my interpretation diverges a little. The first line is pretty straightforward but I don't think the second one is. There are two sayings that refers to blindness "blinded by love" and "driving blind." Although it sounds as though the second may have more meaning in this context I'm also compelled to look at the first one. Obviously, the first line is a plea--don't go and leave me (which although may be speaking about the severing of a relationship, I think may actually be referring more to death--especially if this song refers to drugs and the narrator is desperately trying to get the subject off of drugs). Now, the second line could mean don't blind me with love--another plea. The narrator seems to be trying to help the subject. If he/she becomes blinded by love this could mean he/she would be unable to help. And due to the fact that the subject is driving the narrator to blindness, this suggests that the subject is somehow creating a situation in which the narrator/helper is being impaired. To drive blindly could actually be used in conjunction with blinded by love--the narrator may be saying don't blind me with your love and cause me to not know how to help you. This would mean the narrator was making random and desperate attempts to help without actually being able to figure out how to do so because they are being blinded. If I could tear you from the ceiling/I know the best have tried/I'd fill your every breath with meaning/And find the place we both could hide The second line backs up the drug interpretation. "The best have tried" likely referring to rehab facilities/family interventions/etc. The third line also backs up the drug interpretation. When a person is an addict their life revolves around drugs and his/her life's meaning becomes attaining and using. If the narrator can get the the subject off of drugs he would try to become that person's life meaning--become the subject's everything. Finding a place for both of them to hide indicates that the subject and narrator had the same vice at some point but the narrator's already ahead of the subject. If the narrator can get the subject off of the drugs they can hide from their vice together and be each others' everything (as indicated by the third line). You don’t believe me/But you do this every time/Please don’t drive me blind This could mean you always make me love you and you always blind me from being able to help you--hence repeating the plea at the end. I know you're broken-- The repetition of this line three times kind of reminds me of someone saying the same thing over and over again. Possibly the subject goes on and on about his/her problems--constantly repeating them. The narrator is saying, I know, I know, I know--almost saying ok, I get it, lets get beyond this and move on. If I could tear you from the ceiling/I’d freeze us both in time/And find a brand new way of seeing/ Your eyes forever glued to mine The narrator saying if he/she could get the subject off of drugs he would freeze the moment so that the subject could never go back to drugs. Again the reference to seeing and eyes that is seen in the chorus. If the narrator can get beyond his/her blindness and actually help him/her they could find a new way of seeing together. It is possible the narrator is blinded and also the subject is blinded because of the drugs. So instead of them both being blinded metaphorically (meaning being unable to see clearly) they could learn to see the world in a different way outside of drugs (again--the suggestion the narrator may have suffered from the same affliction). So instead of the drugs--they could see each other and see with each other and through each others eyes (my favorite line in this song--well one). So, that's my interpretation. If it doesn't make sense--I apologize. Although I don't see the sex concept in these lyrics it is not that I don't know placebo to be a very sexual band. It just doesn't seem to be indicated in this song. |
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