| Brand New – Good Man Lyrics | 9 years ago |
| Read Perks of Being a Wallflower. This song could be Charlie writing to Sam ten years later. | |
| Bright Eyes – Everything Must Belong Somewhere Lyrics | 10 years ago |
| I think the idea to this song is that while maybe there's nothing wrong with saying "everything belongs somewhere" or that everything has a purpose, or that everything happens for a reason, when we try to determine what that purpose is, we can often be very wrong. Assigning someone or something a "purpose" might cause us to overlook their potential ("leave the gray macaw in his covered cage... leave the garden tools in the rusted shell" "leave the true genius in his padded room"), make us indifferent to suffering ("leave the widower in his private hell) and indifferent to injustice ("leave the poor black child in his crumbling school"), and even allows people to validate "leaving" these things alone - because it is say, God's will. | |
| Blink-182 – I'm Sorry Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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On the song being about Scott... Name of the song is "I'm Sorry" and first line is "Don't bide your time cause IT IS ALMOST OVER" First line in Man Overboard is "So SORRY, IT'S OVER." Could be significant. Also, maybe significance in the line, "I'll see you around." Same line in Man Overboard ("Yeah later, see you around.") |
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| Conor Oberst – White Shoes Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| A love song that is very sad. Loving someone who is that kinda person (wears white shoes into the mud, plays slide trombone in catacomb, kidnaps girl and tells person she's dead, etc) and make them common or tame is just not possible. So he says, "Anything you want to do" You can hear the pain in that line - just being torn between that feeling that such a person is so close a horrible trainwreck, and not wanting to lose that person. | |
| Taking Back Sunday – Faith (When I Let You Down) Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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Also thought I'd say, judging by the list of things of things you might lose faith in before you lose faith in him, I'd say it's not written to John and Shawn (why would he say "you can lose your faith in friends" if such was the case). It probably isn't written to the fans about Taking Back Sunday (I thought maybe "don't lose your faith in me [as in Taking Back Sunday]" - but probably not since he says "you can lose your faith in music"). Almost certainly to his wife and son. Which to me, is pretty selfish and brazen. Adam is not the exactly the picture of faithfulness. This song reads like a list of things he's lost faith in at one point or another - almost as if he were being accused of all these things - you lost faith in God. You've lost faith in your friends (at one point). You've lost faith in the band (there have been times you've wondered if you should just hang it all up). And as far as women go, not only was there that thing years ago with Michelle Nolan, the whole reason he's with this chick and has a kid to begin with is cause he cheated on his fiance (the girl from Eisley) during the engagement. And instead of writing a song about, "you know what, maybe I don't have a clue what faithfulness is or how to practice in my life - maybe I need to worry about myself and figure out how to be a faithful husband, or a good father..." ...he writes a song that questions people's faith in him while he continues to let everyone down. No wonder people boo him at shows. |
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| Taking Back Sunday – Faith (When I Let You Down) Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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This is what gets me about TBS. They write a song like Places to Be a Mom which is, in my opinion, the best song they've written since Where You Want to Be, and the closest thing to a return to original form. They write El Paso, which while it is clearly in the vein of Devil and God and Brand New, I don't mind. An album of songs like El Paso would be, in my opinion, a welcome reinvention of the band. Then they write this. It's like when Pete Wentz praised The Get Up Kids for their influence on today's pop punk scene, and Suptic responded by saying that's nice that people feel that way about them, but "the problem is most of [the bands they inspired] aren't very good," and he went on to literally apologize for "the world they've created." I feel the same about Taking Back Sunday. Those first few albums inspired so many bands who wanted to sound like that, and most of them aren't really that good. And instead of writing more material like Best Places and El Paso, they write songs that sound more like those bands. Best Places and El Paso sound like Taking Back Sunday, and this song sounds like Taking Back Sunday playing covers of a crappy band that plays crappy Taking Back Sunday covers. Suptic was right when he said "The punk scene we came out of and the punk scene now are completely different. It's like glam rock now." It's not that I don't like the band, it's just that it's clear to me, especially after hearing El Paso and Best Places, that TBS is capable of writing an album that is both a step forward for them, and true to their roots as a band. |
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| Bright Eyes – Classic Cars Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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My take is this song is about having to relearn his songwriting when he got clean. -Whoever the woman was, she seemed to understand how artists' careers often come to tragic endings (overdosing on drugs, specifically) and the first verse seems to establish that she had offered an open door should he ever want it. -My guess is she's older (all the men her age are mean; also, chic chameleon that can hang with anyone - perhaps suggesting she knows lots of people, has connections). -Conor got clean for Cassadaga - plenty of other songs about that. He references in "If The Brakeman Turns My Way" that he wanted to find somewhere to get away that people wouldn't really look for him. Maybe California? Maybe with this woman? -References to being clean from drugs: the room renovation, the name he has to change, the new death mask, changing the combination, let people wait, the fly trapped in the windowsill. Perhaps the line about not understanding something, it's best to be afraid is a reference to his songs (doesn't understand the man who was writing them, maybe doesn't even understand the songs themselves - "Digital Ash"?) -He wasn't sure how to begin writing when he was clean - so he had to learn to listen and to let ideas come to him, as the phases of the moon, rather than to go looking for the ideas by doing drugs. -"Life is how it is not how it was" - again, drug reference, learning to write without them. However, the woman's lies seem to indicate she is ashamed of her past. Conor is also taking advantage of her (takes all that he can cause it's free). -"When it does you will know what to do" - in reference to his songwriting - once he knows what to write about, she has faith that he'll know what to do, that he'll write an amazing song. He is still looking for that "blindfold faith" -As it turns out, when he realizes what to do (write a song about her) he also knows what he has to do (leave her because he is using her, and she will continue to do whatever he wants even though she is being used - he can't break her heart, no matter how hard he tries, no matter how much he uses her) -It ends on good terms, he has fond memories of her (a couple ships) and he eventually relearns how to write and reinvent his creativity, though the process is slow (glacial pace) and re"memorizing" the maze. |
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| Iwrestledabearonce – Tastes Like Kevin Bacon Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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I admittedly do not listen to this genre of music. I have to be in a real mood to hear it (which is rare) and it has to be ridiculously brutal, to the point that I don't take it seriously. Bringing me to this song. I understand people listen to the genre seriously, and that there are people who do listen to metal for the lyrics as well as the mosh. But in all fairness, the lyrics are free-associated at best. It's a stream of consciousness. I doubt they did any editing to it, nor do I get the impression a band like this sat down and carefully deliberated each line of the song to craft it around the theme (we all take part in the evils of society). Let's face it, it's not hard to simply turn on the five o clock news, write down a stream of consciousness, and then just scream and growl and throw in a Mexican car horn. And it has nothing to do with it being a girl. There are far more male lyricists who can't write. |
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| Good Old War – My own sinking ship Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| They played this one, and Making My Life. | |
| Good Old War – My own sinking ship Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| I was at that show too - they killed it. They played this song, right? Was it the last one, where they came out in the crowd, or was it in the middle of their set... it was one of those... | |
| Taking Back Sunday – Where My Mouth Is Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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Funny, I just came back to this, I'm kinda intrigued that people would write all that. I double checked, and TakingtheFall is right that it was Where You Wanna Be that debuted at #3 - I thought that Tell All Your Friends was there. And I should add, you are right in saying that Taking Back Sunday has achieved greater success, even, as far as SELLING albums. That, again, is true. While those facts might speak louder, it would also be fair to say, judging by the fact there's been so many changes in the band, at least SOME of their success can be attributed to their namesake. And even though they didn't hit nearly as high as I stated on the charts, it's still true that they blew up out of nowhere into a successful band that became poster children for the "emo" genre. But I still stand that in terms of critical success, the band had taken a turn. "Tell All Your Friends," was an album that defined a genre, a genre that as a whole has taken a huge plummet. I know the comments were directed at Fall Out Boy, but Jim Suptic in The Get Up Kids said: "The punk scene we came out of and the punk scene now are completely different. It's like glam rock now. We played the Bamboozle fests this year and we felt really out of place... If this is the world we helped create, then I apologize... the problem is most of [the bands TGUK inspired] aren't very good." I know that's one guy, but I feel there's a general truth to that... Old Taking Back Sunday T-Shirt: http://www.merch.com/images/vic.01.ara.jpg New Taking Back Sunday T-Shirt: http://merchnow.com/store/graphics/00000018/Taking%20Back%20Sunday%20225.jpg I can put it a little less harsh as I did in the first post. While Taking Back Sunday, like them or hate them, may still write decent music, they will NEVER write another album like Tell All Your Friends, just as Brand New will never write another "Your Favorite Weapon," or Thursday will never write another "Full Collapse," or Dashboard Confessional will never match "Places You Have Come to Fear the Most." I think the fact that the original lineup got back together makes me a little more certain that the whole John and Shaun thing was still on Adam's mind, and this song is probably getting at the nostalgia for that time in their band's history. And while I'm just as excited as anyone that the original lineup is back together, I'm calling it now that they will never write another genre defining album. Even Rivers Cuomo realized it when he said, "I could write 1000 Keep Fishin's - there will still only be one Say It Ain't So." |
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| Regina Spektor – Genius Next Door Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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I've read through most of the comments, because initially I had no idea what this might be talking about. But, after thinking about it, I'll take a stab and honestly, I really think this is pretty close. I think Regina might be getting at something really deep here... and I think it might be the meaning, the value, of life itself. The local kids go drinking and would presumably, dare each other to see how long they could hold their breath - as many have stated before, they'd heard that if you get close to drowning it'd feel like an orgasm. So they would take up the challenge and try to do it, and as they'd come back up they'd be laughing and drinking and whatever. When Regina says, "to them it didn't matter" that's a deeper statement about those kids attitude - they could kill themselves doing something really stupid. Life doesn't mean enough to those kids to say, you know, this is probably a really bad idea. As they're drowning, these kids "think it through" and come back up to the surface, deciding the risk of drowning isn't worth the foolishness of trying to hold in their breath and orgasm. Then there is the genius next door, and I'm guessing he is actually a genius, or at least well read, that he mumbles German fables. However, he too does not see much value in living - he's a "genius" but he works a dead end job and all he wants to do is get high. Because he is a genius, because he is the kid next door that everyone must know, people think he is happy - his secret is its all a facade, and he hates life. So he makes his way to the lake as well to drown himself. Judging by the camera crews and reporters arriving, I imagine the genius drowned and the story is huge - a local youth who everyone knew and loved and had seemingly everything going for him, is found dead, drowned. You'd think an event like that would make people think about life's value, especially those kids who get drunk and try the orgasm thing. But everyone starts up their cars, the busy day as usual, off to work and to all the things that make life so meaningless. And I think the atheist line is huge, and very important. Whenever something like that happens, people pray to God for comfort, for some good to come of it somehow, or for there to be some meaning for all of the suffering. The atheists mock the prayers, "Dear God, please show us the meaning for all this suffering." All the people looking for those answers, the atheists are mocking. There is no meaning - to them as well, life means absolutely nothing. The irony in all of it, is the genius holds his breath as well, until he's "thought it through" like those other boys and realizes he too, does not want to die. However, he never made it to the surface - he drowned. The saddest thing is that he realized in those last few moments, LIFE DOES HAVE MEANING, there is an "antidote" to all of the suffering and horrible sadness in life that makes us want to die. The "antidote" is to orgasm - that is, to swim to the surface and feel all that wonderful pleasure that comes from having survived that drowning feeling. The "come back up in full" offers an image of baptism, of passing from the old self to the new, of having a born-again attitude towards life. Sadly, he never got to experience the life he realized was possible. Oh foolish child. |
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| Cursive – From the Hips Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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I love how Tim constantly relates sex to songwriting: "I'm in my worst when I'm at my best / I'm at my best when I'm trying to look and think and talk / And sing and read and write like all the rest / We're all just trying to play our roles / In a play that runs ad nauseum / I hate this damn enlightenment / We were better off as animals" Whether or not he means to, it makes me think of how the lyrics to The Ugly Organ were laid out as a play, and how that was one of the big things about the Ugly Organ - shooting from the hips for the sake of art. Oh Cursive is so cool. |
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| Taking Back Sunday – Where My Mouth Is Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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Interesting note. When I saw Taking Back Sunday with Blink 182, the only song they played off Tell All Your Friends was Cute Without the E. When they finished it, Adam yelled, "This next song is the saddest song you are ever going to hear," and they played Where My Mouth Is. Sorry for people who like TBS now, but even Adam knows TBS is a shell of who they were when John was in the band. And it sounds like what he is trying to say by "money where his mouth is" is he used the band's incredible success to justify letting John and Shaun walk away, as if to say, "Whatever, this band is successful we don't need you, and I'll let you walk away CAUSE I CAN, because this band will continue." Remember, Tell All Your Friends shot to #3 on Billboard, while they were rookies with Victory Records. That's an amazing achievement, but TBS has never even come close to that again in terms of critical success, and by the sounds of this song, Adam is lamenting that he let that hot start get to his head. To me, it sounds like EVEN ADAM is aware that he overestimated what Taking Back Sunday was going to achieve... |
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| Taking Back Sunday – Where My Mouth Is Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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Interesting note. When I saw Taking Back Sunday with Blink 182, the only song they played off Tell All Your Friends was Cute Without the E. When they finished it, Adam yelled, "This next song is the saddest song you are ever going to hear," and they played Where My Mouth Is. Sorry for people who like TBS now, but even Adam knows TBS is a shell of who they were when John was in the band. And it sounds like what he is trying to say by "money where his mouth is" is he used the band's incredible success to justify letting John and Shaun walk away, as if to say, "Whatever, this band is successful we don't need you, and I'll let you walk away CAUSE I CAN, because this band will continue." Remember, Tell All Your Friends shot to #3 on Billboard, while they were rookies with Victory Records. That's an amazing achievement, but TBS has never even come close to that again in terms of critical success, and by the sounds of this song, Adam is lamenting that he let that hot start get to his head. To me, it sounds like EVEN ADAM is aware that he overestimated what Taking Back Sunday was going to achieve... |
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