| Social Distortion – Ball and Chain Lyrics | 7 years ago |
| ELTON JOHN??!! | |
| The Decemberists – Make You Better Lyrics | 7 years ago |
| I believe his lover (a woman or a man?) left the narrator for another woman. | |
| Steely Dan – Do It Again Lyrics | 7 years ago |
| Simply put, people do all kinds of dumb things and go back and do them again; they kill, they look for love based on having money and they cheat whilst gambling; all illogical things that they can't hope but repeat if they're able to (verse one), yearn for (verse two) or try to by trying to cheat the system (verse three) | |
| Fairport Convention – It's Alright Ma, It's Only Witchcraft Lyrics | 8 years ago |
| Not characteristic of Fairport Convention tunes and that's a shame! This blues/rock romp is one of my very favourite songs of all time, aided by Richard Thompson's delicious licks thrown between chorus phrases (the first lick on the second chorus should be regarded as one of the greatest ever!) Plus his soloing and the great lyrics seen above (not to mention the singing and all other band member contributions)... Well, let's just say that I LOVE THIS TUNE!! | |
| Heart – Barracuda Lyrics | 9 years ago |
| HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! | |
| Midnight Oil – Short Memory Lyrics | 10 years ago |
| Anybody know the reference to "the friendly five"? | |
| The Pretenders – Tattooed Love Boys Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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It's a lot of rough sex imagery that pulls no punches, to me. "Changing tires" I found as interesting (I used to think it was "Chains and Tires? Upstairs, bro" meaning some real deviant strangeness, but I think I was off!) I think there's a story around it and a lot of the ideas that everyone's brought up are very good ones, but I don't think it gets nearly as specific as some of the ones I've read on here. "Stop sniveling - you're gonna make some plastic surgeon a rich man" just sounds like dominatrix threats as does references to "scars and the lumps and the bumps", though "Paint stick" isn't clear. Great song/lyrics! |
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| The Goo Goo Dolls – Iris Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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This song is sung to me from my wife, who passed away a month ago, but it doesn't have anything to do with her death as much as a period in our relationship, one that I'm dreadfully ashamed of... My Gillian grew up in London, I grew up in the States and we met online when I was 49 and she 46. She was diagnosed with cancer early into our 4 year relationship and we spent most of that time apart. I moved to London for the last 1.5 years of her life to help her and, of course, because I love(d) her so dearly. The Outside World had treated Gillian savagely all of her life but she persevered trying to find happiness; She'd picked up a wicked sense of humor, a sweet nature to those close to her but a suspicious view of a world that had hurt her, and she stayed in the shadows as much as possible. When I first visited England to meet her, I made her feel as though our lives together had just started, discussing how much I loved her and marriage and everything. When I returned to the States, not knowing when we'd see each other again, I succumbed to my single life and started dating someone "behind her back"; She inevitably (and horribly) found out, right around the same time she found out that she had precancerous cells showing up in her blood work, her friends (the few who she'd let get near) abandoned her, leaving her totally alone with her thoughts, pain and fears and her cat died. It wasn't long before the physical pain and bleeding started... Gillian had had a psychotic mother who beat her on a regular basis, a boyfriend who beat their unborn child out of her and a general mistreatment that made her wary of people, but she told me that my breaking her heart was the worst thing that anybody had ever done to her. She had braved the abusive World alone, allowed me in for true love and then was stabbed by that person, the only one she trusted. She told me during that difficult period of her/our lives that this song Told It All. The whole songs comes from her point of view, talking to me: The first two verses are her saying how she loves me. The next verse: And you can't fight the tears that ain't coming Or the moment of truth in your lies When everything feels like the movies Yeah you bleed just to know you're alive is about how I don't really love her (Untrue, but she had a definite right to feel that way). To be with someone who makes you happy, in her mind, meant that I'd have to fake tears amongst my lies, "And I don't want the world to see me 'Cause I don't think that they'd understand When everything's meant to be broken I just want you to know who I am" I'm breaking her heart, and she wants me to know that we know that we love each other but that I'm leaving her Alone again. She didn't want anyone to know about her pain/oncoming death - that was the way she'd always lived - But everything goes wrong in her life and she wants ME, the one person she Loved, to understand that AS I'm breaking her Life/Heart. ...The only good news is that I DID move to London to love my wife (we married when I came over this last time), care for her and be with her every moment until her death. I am in London still, hoping that I can live here in my Gillian's home. I am in agony and this song brings out a REAL story that seems tailor-made for her/us, and not in your typical tear-jerking Love Song. What an incredibly deep and wonderful and Painful song it is to me. And Gillian... |
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| Pink Floyd – Dogs Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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Y'know, for SOME reason (perhaps a few particular lines in the tune) when I first listened to this song, I was convinced that most of if not all of this great song was about working in the mob. There's a very heavy sense of death and danger throughout. I never really looked much more deeply into it until after reading your comments and the lyrics again; This could just as easily be about salespeople and businessmen. The striking formatting of the song is hard to explain; It seems the 1st part takes you on a 3rd person view of someone's entire career who's played the game and will end up "all alone and dying of cancer" AIIIEEEE!!! Then we're back to someone else, maybe (Not the Cancer Man?) who will end up poorly in the end as well as he ages and cannot play the game. Again, this concept can apply to many ways to live your life. Then we're in the 1st person (all of these "movements" separated by musical interludes), nervous, self-loathing, sickened, calculating. These lyrical segments do not fit together like a story (a clear story, anyway). Individually, they're relative to one another in going through the same type of experience, but there may not be any connection between them otherwise. Finally, my favorite part: I was "born in a house full of pain" and "trained not to spit in the fan" (Conservative wisdom from the "parent" trying to keep the child from doing stupid, obvious things). I rebelled but whoever this last bit is about did as he was told and is probably the core of the individuals represented above (I suppose). Iron fist upbringing can breed a "dog" that will break away from the pack but not a good family man and who was, sing it, "Dragged Down By The Stone" in the end. Dogs are loyal and can be trained to be vicious, but they are Submissive and take a beating from the Master, and I think that's what the ending addresses and that at the core of all of these competitive over-achievers is a whimpering, scared, beaten dog. Woof, Woof... |
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| Frank Zappa – San Ber'dino Lyrics | 11 years ago |
| Maybe my favorite Zappa tune! Any Californians out there to give some insight on what some of the lyrics are saying? | |
| Frank Zappa – San Ber'dino Lyrics | 11 years ago |
| Maybe my favorite Zappa tune! Any Californians out there to give some insight on what some of the lyrics are saying? | |
| The Tubes – I Was A Punk Before You Were A Punk Lyrics | 11 years ago |
| ONE OF THE GREATEST SONGS/LIVE PERFORMANCES IN THE HISTORY OF MANKIND! NO SHIT! | |
| Electric Light Orchestra – Strange Magic Lyrics | 11 years ago |
| This GREAT song is baffling in how entrancing it is and yet it's mainly the chorus over and over again! Very little "verses", really, but SO lush and beautiful that it can ride the choruses out forever! Bravo, Jeff! | |
| They Might Be Giants – She's Actual Size [Album Version] Lyrics | 11 years ago |
| I have always (since a child) been drawn to BIG, GORGEOUS, FAT, HUGE Women, and this song is a wonderful "anthem", if you like. Thanks TMBG! | |
| They Might Be Giants – Shoehorn With Teeth Lyrics | 11 years ago |
| I've never thought of this song this way, but I LOVE the interpretation! Hell, I have little idea what the tune's about which is why I'm on here NOW! Thanks! | |
| David Bowie – Diamond Dogs Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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Y'know, years ago I read what somebody on a "decipher the lyrics" page (possibly You!) had written saying that "Diamond Dogs" had Dhalgren references/comparisons within it or that Bowie had read it and included imagery from it. I searched out the book, slogged my way through it (It's HOOJ and pretty Horrible, IMHO!) and saw what could be construed as references with the woman turning into a tree, etc. However, TODAY, year after doing this backasswards research, I just looked up the fact that Bowie had written/released the tune in 1974; Samuel Delaney, author of Dhalgren, published the book in 1975!!! I think that this would ensure that "Diamond Dogs" had nothing to do with Dhalgren! Looks like I read the book for nothing, but time spent reading books cannot be argued with, even lame ones... |
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| Ian Hunter – Just Another Night Lyrics | 11 years ago |
| One of THE greatest tunes ever! This Yank knows VERY little of the slang used - any help out there? | |
| Elton John – This Song Has No Title Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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It strikes me as a guy wanting to know and experience the inexhaustible "Everything", knowing there are limitations (perhaps tortured by that fact), but always thirsting for more. I get the same sense in "Grey Seal", somehow (or something similar). Bernie Taupin does a great job! One of my favorite tunes |
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| Neil Young – Powderfinger Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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But when the first shot hit the docks I saw it comin' Raised my rifle to my eye Never stopped to wonder why. Then I saw black, And my face splashed in the sky. It surprises me that no one has commented on these lines, the last being the best line in the song, IMHO. My friend and I have a joking argument about it; He says that the kid runs out in the water, his rifle misfires, blows up in his face and he falls forward - The water he falls into reflects the sky above, so his "face splashed in the sky". *I* say that his gun explodes (OR he gets hit by incoming gunfire) and, naturally, he falls Backward into the water; As he sinks, facing upward, the sky seems to "splash" around his face. I think it's just a cool story that could fit into any war but the weaponry and the relaxed Mississippi River rolling feel to the tune had an American Civil War-Era flavor to it. Actually, the bootlegger/revenooers conflict seems more likely to me. The specifics of red beacons and such is relevant only to the kid and his family. IMHO |
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| The Kinks – Prince of the Punks Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| Cool! I figured that this song was just about a made-up character! Thanks! | |
| AC/DC – Rock 'n' Roll Damnation Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| This song is my all-time favorite AC/DC tune, even more than their later much more popular stuff. The live version on "If You Want Blood" is just a perfect testament to the power, sound and spirit of Hard Rock. | |
| Todd Rundgren – Black Maria Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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I honestly have felt (and could be VERY WRONG, but) that this was about a guy who was surprised by an encounter with a cross dresser or transvestite, and no, the "gay deceiver" line isn't me going overboard like a simple homophobe might! It's all about being fooled, being an "unbeliever" and being scared and physically affected. Obviously, it can be about any sudden shock provided by somebody, but I think my idea holds water; Possibly a real life experience of Todd's, hmmm?... |
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| John Prine – Onomatopoeia Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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I love this tune but never checked out the words and they're great, too! Another song ala Pink Floyd's "Have A Cigar" (but with more of a sense of humor) about clueless agents and show promoters! I gotta say I get lost on the chorus though. Bang! went the pistol Crash! Went the window Ouch! Went the son of a gun Onomatopoeia I don't want to see ya Speaking in a foreign tongue. Is it the artists shooting at the agents saying that they're speaking nonsense (Onomatopoeia/Speaking in a foreign tongue) or is the artist trying to escape or what? Great tune and interpretive lyrics! |
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| Warren Zevon – Werewolves of London Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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A small correction, but for a song THIS great it needs to be noted: Incorrect lyrics: "He was looking for the place called Lee Ho Fook's Gonna get himself a big dish of Beef Chow Mein" Correct lyrics: "He was looking for the place called Lee Ho Fook's Gonna get a big dish of Beef Chow Mein" |
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| The Who – Happy Jack Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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This would certainly prove to be the most Interesting/Compelling take on the song! For awhile I was thinking Happy Jack was the beach itself - The kids "couldn't stop Jack, or the waters lapping" (trying to build sandcastles that would always dissolved) and riding on him and trying to hurt him (digging in the sand, riding a "furry donkey" on him, etc.), butcha never know! |
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| Toto – Africa Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| "She" is Africa... | |
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