| The Divine Comedy – The Happy Goth Lyrics | 12 years ago |
|
This is it! This is what it means to be a goth. Goth isn't about being depressed. After all, the best goths I know aren't depressed all the time. Goth is a subculture where being sad is okay and embraced, but that doesn't mean that it is the definition of the subculture. After all, what's the point of being in a subculture if it isn't something you love? |
|
| The Tragically Hip – Montreal Lyrics | 13 years ago |
|
I agree with tweedwoldscream, this definitely is about the 1989 Montreal Massacre. But notice how he describes what the girl likes. She likes really simple, sweet, innocent things. She's only been with the "only boy she ever loved", and she doesn't dress too over the top (pantsuits). She didn't like any of the things that negative stereotypes of women would imply (leopard coats, or being with rich men, or faux-pas lesbianism). These are the sort of negative stereotypes that the sexist killer of the massacre would assume of women (they want rich men, they're all dykes, etc.). This girl is nothing like how the 'coward' perceives her. Yet he's too blinded to recognize it. Hence "give me a chance to explain". Maybe if he had to really get to know her as a human being, without his sexist point of view, he would've found a good person he might've been friends with. But he never gave her that chance to 'explain' herself. But I could be totally wrong. |
|
| Richie Havens – Handsome Johnny Lyrics | 13 years ago |
|
Well let's go through the song and establish some main points: The songs lyrics describe Handsome Johnny going to actual conflicts and wars in chronological order (The Revolutionary War is mentioned before Vietnam). Obviously Handsome Johnny is not going to all of these wars. So we can assume that he is an everyman character. Handsome Johnny is every single soldier who ever fought in any war. To emphasize the 'everyman' status, the lyrics repeat themselves stylistically ("Hey, look yonder, tell me what you see/Marching to the fields of X?/It looks like Handsome Johnny with a Y/Marching to the X, hey marching to the X.") Secondly, 'Birmingham' means the Birmingham campaign, which was a civil rights movement that Dr.Martin Luther King was involved in. So Handsome Johnny does not just mean a legal soldier for a nations military, he is any young man going off to win a 'war'. Whether it be literal (one country fights another) or proverbial (the civil rights FIGHT for black liberation). Therefore, Handsome Johnny is a young man going to fight for what he believes in. Whether he believes in helping England keep those damn colonies in line, going off with the US army to stop communism in Asia, or protecting the rights of blacks. Handsome Johnny is always doing what he feels is the right thing, and it always leads him to conflict. With that thought in mind, you can say this song is saying 'when you stand up for what you believe in, you're going to have to fight for it. Whether you want to fight with the M15 like in Vietnam or with non violent protests like Dr.King is up to you. But you have to fight for what you believe in. How you choose to do it is the only thing you have control over. In the final lyrics he says what is the point? "Hey, what's the use of singing this song"? And that's a good question. Why stand up for something? Why go off like Handsome Johnny and get yourself killed in some sort of battle? Well, if you don't, then you're just sitting their waiting for the 'bullets to start whistling'. They may not be literal bullets, but bad things will happen and everything you stand for will be destroyed ("wait for our fields to start glistening"). If you sit there, uninvolved and 'not listening', you're just waiting for the world to turn to shit. When you don't involve yourself, you're letting people with morals you don't agree with run the world. Subsequently, that means that every responsible person has a duty to be like Handsome Johnny. To stand up for what they believe in, and do it properly (not with M15s, namely). You have a duty to do the right thing and defend it. With the lines 'Here comes a hydrogen bomb, here comes a guided missile/Here comes a hydrogen bomb: I can almost hear its whistle.", the narrator is pretty much saying "Okay, everything going to shit. None of you guys are standing up". With that line, he is saying "we should be standing up to help people, but we're not. So we're just waiting for this proverbial bomb to drop." |
|
| Nina Simone – You Can Have Him Lyrics | 13 years ago |
|
Maybe it's a bit of both. Because of the lyrics, the singer could preform it either way. But let's talk about Nina's performance. In Nina's performance, she does seem upset. So I can assume that this is the sort of thing that deep down she is longing for. I think she broke up with her boyfriend because she knew he was going to leave her for the the other woman, and wanted to break up with him first to preserve her ego. We can take what you say and view it both ways. What if the narrator is being sarcastic consciously, but is actually revealing their private thoughts (like a Freudian slip). |
|
| Throbbing Gristle – Zyklon B Zombie Lyrics | 13 years ago |
|
In the last part (what I can assume) is the officer says "And so I spare you from your friends Who I give Zyklon". Does this mean he saved her from the gas chambers? Because the 'little Jewish girl' says "And as I kiss the shiny leather". Does this mean the Jewish girl gave herself up to the officer (either joined them or just bribed him) and escaped? What is happening? |
|
| Throbbing Gristle – Hamburger Lady Lyrics | 13 years ago |
|
"When somebody tells you there’s a level of pain beyond the human mind The lady on the potty-chair" That is so powerful. Because usually the idea of 'pain' is the dramatic, tragically beautiful sort of thing. But this level of pain is not something you can turn into a Shakespearean play. It is beyond degrading, humiliating, painful suffering. |
|
| The Beatles – The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill Lyrics | 13 years ago |
|
Maybe it's a Vietnam War allegory combined with what 'weezerific:cutlery' said. I thought it was a lot like childrens' games (Captain Marbles, 'All the children sing'). Like how children play fighting and war games like "Army Guys", "Cops and Robbers" or "Cowboys and Indians". They compare that childlike game (where death is treated lightly as part of the game) with war and the reality of a 'kill or be killed situation'. |
|
| The Beatles – Back in the U.S.S.R. Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| The lyric 'That Georgia's always on my mind' echoes the song "Georgia on My Mind" by Hoagy Carmichael and Stuart Gorrell. Which is also Georgia's state song. They're taking that patriotic southern song and turning it into a reference to Georgia the European country. | |
| Dire Straits – Romeo And Juliet Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| Someone else said that the 'Romeo' character is upset when 'Juliet' breaks up with him but is better at the end (Hey babe, how about it?). Would this be anything like how in Romeo and Juliet the play, Romeo is devastated by Rosaline's refusal to have sex with him (unlike Juliet, who has a whole scene monologuing about boning Romeo) and express that 'true love'. But hours later, he is head over heals in love again with Juliet. Maybe the song is making fun of this. As in, in Juliet had just rejected Romeo in the first place, he probably would've just 'gotten over it' within a few days and the tragic romance would have happened (if ever) with someone else. | |
| Throbbing Gristle – We Hate You (Little Girls) Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| Seems logical. | |
| Tom Waits – God's Away on Business Lyrics | 13 years ago |
|
I always thought this was an example of how the idea of God 'goes away' when we do not show basic morality in our everyday lives. Still, the song scares the fuck out of me. |
|
| Bob Dylan – Just Like a Woman Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| I thought that this song was about a relationship with a very young girl, possibly jailbait. Now whether it's sexual or not, it's up to you. But we have a very young girl who has clearly 'filled out', has sex, seems intelligent for her age, and has other 'adult' qualities and interests. However, no matter how clever she is, not matter how 'adult' she may look or seem, she's still just a child. | |
| The Smiths – There Is a Light That Never Goes Out Lyrics | 13 years ago |
|
I always thought this song was about a runaway's love confession to, well, their love. The main character clearly wants to leave and explore the world ("because I want to see people and I want to see life"). I also think this person is convinced that life in their small town or suburb is unromantic, dead, boring and therefore 'not real'. That's why they are convinced that they will 'see life' out there in the world. Because the world, in it's 'tragic beauty' (that's probably how they're thinking) is a thousand times more real than anything presented at home. That's also probably why the narrator is being so overly romantic. I mean, while the line about finding pleasure in dying by your love is beautiful, it's also very 'Romeo and Juliet". As in, it's very over the top. While he might feel that way, getting killed would suck, beloved or no beloved. He's trying to find something real and meaningful in pure emotion, in relationships with other people. He probably left home because he can't relate to his parents. So he's trying to find that 'real life', the 'real me' and the 'real relationship'. I also think that the song is him talking to his love, not his thoughts to himself while with this person. I think he is also talking about his past attempts at trying to confess his love (whenever I start a relationship, me and my new partner will often chat about the times we almost told each other the truth and laugh at how shy we both were). I think that he is trying to convince this person to run away with him. I also think that the person he loves is older, and he respects this person very much. He feels privileged just to be with this person, and this person does seem to own a car. Overall, I think this song is more about trying to find validation for yourself in all the wrong places. This kid thinks that he can find true happiness in another person's love (when really, only you can make you happy), in running away and dying. |
|
| The Smiths – Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others Lyrics | 13 years ago |
|
I always thought this song was about embracing human beings for who they are and not the ideals. I think that the narrator has some sort of relationship with a woman (the last few lyrics, he is talking to someone he refers to as 'you'). He truly cares and loves this woman (can be romantic if you wish, but I don't think it's absolute) for what she is individually. He doesn't care about this person because they fit the 'ideal body' (this can range from the super model super skinny body to the curvy one or the 'super cute' petite girl). And he doesn't care about her because she is the 'ideal' woman in personality (I know a lot of guys want a cute, smart, shy girl who plays video games and would never cheat on them nowadays). He cares about her for her. Not for any idea or concept he has in his head about what a woman should be. He acknowledges that women are all different and they don't fit into categories of 'the perfect women' and the 'imperfect' women. Hence, 'some girls are bigger than others'. This can refer to them being bigger physically, as in fatter. Or emotionally, as in the 'bigger' person in terms of moral superiority. The only thing that sort of makes me wonder about this idea is that if the song is really about loving individuals like I think it is, I don't understand why he would constantly mention the person in relation to another (some GIRLS are bigger that OTHERS). Would anyone have an idea as to what the fading in and out of the music at the beginning could mean? or do you think it's just meaningless? |
|
| The Residents – Nice Old Man Lyrics | 14 years ago |
|
I agree with both of you. But I think at this point in the story, the girl (or boy) has already been molested by the old man. I think the first few lyrics are the victim's relationship with some other person, a healthy relationship. However, they have difficulty accepting the stability of the relationship or 'purity' of the infatuation because no matter how they feel, they associate love with the rape. This isn't uncommon, a lot of rape victims have difficulty in relationships afterwards. Because intimacy can scare them. Remember, the first few lyrics are about someone else 'smiling sweetly' and looking 'tall and thin'. It's the feelings inside the victim that remind her of the 'nice old man'. The last lyrics are pretty straight forward. The rapist is not a friend or a lover (therefore it was not consensual. Because people usually have sex with either their significant others and sometimes friends. And I highly doubt the narrator is having an affair with the old man). But also there could be some detachment here. As in, he seemed like just a nice old man (who played the violin) and not anyone scary. He didn't seem like a bad, nasty, smelly mean old rapist. Sorry for the wall of text. Funny how such a short song can be so indepth? |
|
* This information can be up to 15 minutes delayed.