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The Lumineers – Slow It Down Lyrics 10 years ago
Shoot, did not mean to hit submit. Anyway, other thing:

(Fifth verse) Maybe she was a smoker and quit, but I saw it a little differently. I thought she was still a smoker, but it's speaking to the boys who are around her (who are the same as the "you all" she's making fools of), saying don't bother asking her for anything, not even cigarettes (seeing as a cigarette asked of a smoker is probably one of the simplest, most casual requests you can make). So when "she ain't got nothing left for you", it's less "she doesn't have anything to give you" and more "she doesn't want to give you anything".

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The Lumineers – Slow It Down Lyrics 10 years ago
Spot on interpretation, I love it. Just two minor points I had:

(Third verse) I read it as "[They] smashed in my car window", rather than "[I] smashed in...", they of course being the ones making noise in the street.so saying that because he was apathetic to the world, that gave people the chance to break his stuff (I.e. his car). They didn't steal (radios being a common thing to be stolen from cars) just broke the window it seems for kicks. Also potentially a metaphor for their relationship, saying that maybe it ended because she thought he was being cold or apathetic.

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U2 – One Lyrics 10 years ago
I agree with your interpretation (or at least, what got posted), except for one thing:

Have you come here for forgiveness
Have you come to raise the dead
Have you come here to play Jesus
To the lepers in your head

I feel like there's an implied "or" at the beginning of the third line. "Have you come here for forgiveness? Have you come to raise the dead?" sounds like he's asking "Are you really here to try to put our relationship back together and fix things and make it work?", where "Have you come here to play Jesus to the lepers in your head?", it's the "in your head" bit that gets me, like he's just asking "Did you just come here to try to solve your own problems and to get rid of your guilt, instead of trying to actually work together to make us both happy?" You know, if she wants to fix their relationship, or just cure her own issues in her head?

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Green Day – Rusty James Lyrics 11 years ago
I think it relates to 90's punk rock (a.k.a. the type of music Green Day does) where they're kinda saying that the punk rock scene has dried up and they feel like they're the only ones left. Like the independence movement among teens of the time had died as those teens grew up and became adults and moved into mainstream society like everyone else had. With it the music they listened to died as well or the bands sold out and went mainstream. So now Billie's kind of saying that he feels like the last gang in town, because all the losers (everyone else) can't even win for losing (sold out or died off), and everyone who's just joining the scene now is only doing it because it's cool, not because they actually believe in the same things.

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Green Day – Sweet 16 Lyrics 11 years ago
It's using the concept of a teenage love that you still hold onto no matter how old you are, but it's a lot more. It touches on the idea of "what if we had ended up together" much like Stay the Night, but it uses it as a much broader "what if". And at the same time, it's kind of saying that it doesn't matter, the past is behind us, it's time to evolve and adapt to the new age. It almost seems like he's talking about their music -- they can't keep living in the 90's, it's time to move on and let their music evolve and mature a little. But to still hold onto the same thing you always believed in too. They're still rebels, and they still want to preach the concept of "do your own thing, don't let anyone stop you", but at the same time it's "don't get caught in the past when you do it".

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Green Day – Loss of Control Lyrics 11 years ago
I could be way off, but it seems like he's basically saying that there's no point fighting and clashing with the people that piss you off in life, because even if you deal with them, there's just going to be more of them that come back, so you just learn to ignore them and deal with them and not let them interfere with your living your life the way you want.

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Green Day – Stay the Night Lyrics 11 years ago
I think that "I got an impulse so impulsive that it burns" should be "I got an impulse so repulsive that it burns". Think that's the only correction.

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Green Day – Nuclear Family Lyrics 11 years ago
It feels to me like it's just sort of a general rebellious nature and...sort of the sense of "screw the man" that punk rock (like Green Day) is sort of based off. It's just saying "I'll do what I want, screw anyone who tells me otherwise". And so the whole thing about it being the end of the nuclear family refers to the concept they had in the 50's and early 60's about what a family was, and that now it's time to break out of the grip of that ideal and explore who we can be without trying to focus too much on what anyone else wants.

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Black Sabbath – Lord Of This World Lyrics 11 years ago
To me this song sounds kind of like it's the devil speaking to Judas... I dunno, just my thoughts. I'll post a more full explanation later if people want, I'm too tired to now.

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Tool – Wings for Marie (Pt. 1) Lyrics 12 years ago
The beginning is wrong. According to their officially-released lyrics (http://toolshed.down.net/lyrics/10kdayslyrics.php), it is as follows:

You...
You believed ...
You believed in movements none could see.
You believed in me

A passionate spirit
Uncompromised
Boundless and open
A light in your eyes
Then immobilized.

Broken
Fell at the hands of those movements that I wouldn't see
Yet it was you who prayed for me.
So what have I done
To be a son to an angel?
What have I done
To be worthy?

Daylight dims leaving cold fluorescents
Difficult to see you in this light
Please forgive this selfish question, but
What am I to say to all these ghouls tonight?
"She never told a lie,
... well might have told a lie,
But never lived one.
Didn't have a life,
Didn't have a life,
But surely saved one."
See? I'm alright
Now it's time for us to let you go

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Foo Fighters – White Limo Lyrics 12 years ago
I think it sounds more like "You're in it for the win" to me...

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Audioslave – Gasoline Lyrics 12 years ago
Burning things is a very common metaphor (symbolism? not sure about the proper term here) for leaving something behind. Completely not only leaving it physically, but destroying any connection to it as well. I would guess most likely from the ideas of "burning" bridges and "burning" photographs, which are both used to refer to the idea of leaving something behind; bridges usually being used in reference to people and photographs in reference to older memories.

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Pearl Jam – Indifference Lyrics 12 years ago
I'd agree with you if we were just looking through the lyrics.

The problem is, if you listen to how they perform it, there is definitely a very sad, sombre mood to it. This would seem to convey that the person singing is very upset, and therefore points more to what everyone else is saying.

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Tool – Third Eye Lyrics 12 years ago
It's even more cool once you consider the use of "Prying open my third eye" in the middle. I see it as the the spiritual side of him, the third eye itself, wrote the first one, about his physical self. And then after he pries open his third eye, he tells it that he thought it was hiding (he struggled opening the eye, and thought it was gone), and the third eye thought he had run away (wasn't even trying to open it, had returned to a less enlightened state). Kind cool, and really poetic in my opinion.

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Pearl Jam – Force of Nature Lyrics 12 years ago
That first sentence should say, "...and still like very much." Not "liked", "like".

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Pearl Jam – Force of Nature Lyrics 12 years ago
I was recently in a relationship with a girl I liked, and still liked very much. The problem is, she has a hard time committing to anything or anyone, and in the end she broke up with me because she wanted to remain single. When I first heard this song, it made me very sad, but I loved it instantly, because it relates to perfectly. I mean, she's not "a force of nature [with] contraband hidden deep inside her soul", and I'm not literally "alone, awaiting her to come home", but it connects as far as she's out there just having fun and enjoying her life and all I can find myself doing is sitting here waiting, praying she'll come back to me. Here's how I interpret it:

Understand she's a force of nature
Contraband hiding deep inside her soul
Exercising the will to lose control
She lets go

She's free and just wants to be free and not be held down by anything or anyone. She's perfectly happy single and alone, because she has so many friends.

Common man he don't stand a chance no
One to love gonna allow this in the hole
No way to save someone who won't take the rope
And just lets go

I don't really have anything special about me. I don't really stand out from the crowd, and I feel this man's pain. He's digging himself into this hole because he likes her and refuses to just release himself from it. Some people are even trying to help him out, to tell him to forget her, tossing him rope, but he refuses to take it. He doesn't want to stop loving her.

One man stands the end of the ocean
A beacon on dry land
Eyes above the horizon
In the dark before the dawn

He's sitting there alone, staring out at the good times and adventures that lie ahead, because his love for her is holding him back, but still he hopes (staring above the horizon is a common metaphor for keeping hope and courage), because he believes it's the "dark before the dawn". The meaning of this phrase is sort of double-ended. There's the old saying, "it's always darkest just before dawn", or "it's always darkest just before it gets light." So, it's saying that this is the darkest, the worst time for him, but that it's right on that turning point before the dawn, before it gets better.

Hurricane hears the trade winds blowing
Gale force shakin windows in the storm
Shipwrecked on the rock that he calls home
With one light on

I see the "hurricane" as being this horrible event, the start of all his troubles. Naturally, I connect it to when she broke up with me. It was this storm, came over so quickly, did so much damage, and left me in the state he's describing, shipwrecked alone, stuck in the place I've always been, without her.

Somewhere there's a siren singing
A song only he hears
All the strength, you might think
Would disappear, resolving

This is sort of a double-edged sword here, too. It could mean a siren in terms of an alarm, in that there's some sort of warning going on, but that would make more sense if the lyric was "A song that he won't hear" or some such. So, instead, it means the sirens of Greek mythology, who were beautiful women singing irresistible songs so that they could lure sailors to their doom. So it's that there are these sirens, singing their songs, trying to lure this guy away from his goal. Other women and such that attract him. And you'd think that he'd have all this strength to ignore them, but if he weren't so focused on her all the time, all his strength would just disappear, thereby "resolving" the tale by giving him someone to love and removing the complication from her life.

One man stands alone awaiting
For her to come home
Eyes above the horizon
In the dark before the
darkness meets the dawn

He's still sitting there, waiting for her to come back to him, waiting on her love, and he's still staring at the sky, hoping for a change, knowing that it's the worst point in his life and still praying that it get better.

Makes me ache
Makes me shake
Is it so wrong to think that
Love can keep us safe?

This is sort of a commentary on the story, a summary point dissociated from the actual narration. It's exactly as it sounds, he's wondering how it is that love, the thing most people consider a saviour and beneficial, can cause us so much pain.

Last I saw he was out there waiting
Silhouette in the black light full moon glow
In the sand there he stands upon the shore
Forever more

This catches up to the present. I am/he is still here/there, waiting, hoping she arrives. He's barely moved "in the sand [...] upon the shore", and can't let go of her. And at this rate he'll always be there.

Somewhere there's a siren singing
A song only he hears
All the strength, you might think
Would disappear resolving

Same as above, he's still having to resist the attraction and lure of other things, because he wants to be solely devoted to her.

One man stands alone awaiting
For her to come home
Eyes are closed, he cannot know
But his heart don't seem to roam
Go...home

He's still there waiting, but now he can't even look at the horizon. He doesn't want to know how it ends, he doesn't want to know that she's never coming home, he just wants to shut it all out. And he's not willing to look inside himself to see that it just wouldn't fit, because he's not as free-spirited as her, and could never be, and he needs to just go home and forget about it because he doesn't belong with her, unless he changes.

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Pearl Jam – Rearviewmirror Lyrics 12 years ago
Especially in live versions, he adds so much more anger and emotion into his voice, it's actually a little frightening. I mean, it really chills my blood, and I'm just talking about recordings of live performances. It's really awesome, combined with the intensity of the other instruments.

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Tool – Bottom (Demo version) Lyrics 12 years ago
I agree with you up until the last bit. You said, "Towards the end he sings (Hatred keeps me a live, weakness keeps me alive, loneliness keeps me alive, guilt keeps me alive
at the bottom.) that is where its gotten to the point where he likes the pain."

I actually believe that that has the same meaning as the "I have swallowed the poison you feed me, but I survive on the poison you feed me," in that he's not saying that he lives for the sake of feeling these emotions, that those are what he looks forward to or wishes to feel, but rather just that that's all he has. It keeps him alive, it gives him at least some feeling, but it keeps him at the bottom. He can't push through it and escape unless he can deal with these emotions, by turning his own failures back on the person ("I have gone to great lengths to withstand my threshold of pain / I will use my mistakes against you" in album, or "I must arm myself to fight you / By making weapons out of my imperfections" in concert).

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Temple of the Dog – Say Hello 2 Heaven Lyrics 12 years ago
It was meant to only be a one-album project. It was after Andrew Wood of Mother Love Bone, whom this song was dedicated to, died (I think of drug overdose, but I could be wrong), the remaining members, Stone Gossard, Jeff Ament (you know, guitarist and bassist for Pearl Jam), and Matt Cameron (drummer for Soundgarden) got together with Chris Cornell (you know, singer for Soundgarden), and made the album. Some how it found its way during production to Eddie Vedder (don't remember how), who recorded his own backing vocals and sent it back to them. Gossard and Ament liked his voice and decided to form a band with Vedder, soon getting Mike McReady afterwards. I'm less familiar with how Soundgarden formed out of this project, though.

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Pearl Jam – Angel Lyrics 13 years ago
You can also kind of see it as like... One person is in love with another, but the other person doesn't see it and they're sort of friends. And he's saying, "I wish you well, I hope you're happy, whatever that means for me. I'll be alone for you, I'll sacrifice myself for you, if it means that one day you'll realise that I am, and always have been, here for you when you needed me."

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Coldplay – Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall Lyrics 13 years ago
Hm. I vaguely expected to come on here and see a bunch of Americans wondering what a "fullstop" was and how it related to a comma. I suppose Coldplay fans are just smarter than that.

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Pearl Jam – Sometimes Lyrics 13 years ago
Well, think of how, metaphorically, that connects to the meaning of the song. The meaning seems to be that although you can't control the big picture a lot of the time, you can change how you react to it and all the small things that you do. And all those little things change it all. Here, the big picture is that all of the fans were expecting something like Go, Once, or Last Exit. Pearl Jam, by the time they're making this album, can't control that. That's what's going on. Instead, they can control how they react (i.e. making a song like Sometimes which isn't what they expect), and in the end that changes everyone else's expectations. The little currents are the start to every whirlpool, so to speak.

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Tool – Reflection Lyrics 13 years ago
Also, another comment I have to make. A lot of people on this forum, I've noticed, seem to believe that the "ego death" is a product solely of DMT (which Tool has been known to use). A similar sort of state (or what I assume to be similar, having never used or studied DMT) can be achieved through years of practice with deep meditation. A state of true unification with the world, where the self is truly destroyed and the person becomes one with the universe. I have experienced that myself. Although when the person returns from meditation, they return to their normal state, and the ego returns with them, the memory of that form sticks forever.

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Tool – Triad Lyrics 13 years ago
Although Triad is an instrumental song, it still well closes off the trilogy of Disposition and Reflection well. The way I see it, Disposition is the beginning of the mind or the soul (the childhood, you could say, also shown in Lateralus "in my infancy"), where you have no experience with the world, you go entirely off of what you're told. Therefore, how you see the world (the "weather", or your "disposition") changes depending on what you're told, or what is "mention[ed] [..] to [you]". Reflection, then is the maturing of the soul. The adulthood, if you will, where you (possibly) realise that you don't need all of the things you think you do, and that selfishness and narcissism will do you little, but that instead you need to remove your ego (also known as your "self" per Carl Jung, whom Tool seems to have much interest in) to see the unified consciousness of man. This song feels like the explosion of reality that comes when you see this. All of a sudden, everything opens up to you, everything seems new again, you see all the things you were missing, and it all explodes with the energy of the song.

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Tool – Reflection Lyrics 13 years ago
This is sort of a long analysis, and without an understanding of the concept of the entire Lateralus album, it doesn't make as much sense, but I'll try my best:

First of all, there's a reason it fits so well with Disposition and Triad. They all tell the same story. Disposition is sort of the beginning of the mind or the soul (I guess you could say the childhood), where you don't have as much experience or knowledge about the world, and you go entirely off of what you're taught. Your knowledge of the world depends on your *disposition* to it, and as such what people "mention [...] to [you]" causes the "weather [to] change". Reflection, then, is sort of the maturing of the soul, the adulthood if you will, where you begin to *reflect* on your experience. Triad, although being purely instrumental, closes off the trilogy well. I'll likely explain that on Triad's respective page.

Now for a bit of a part-by-part analysis of Reflection:

"I have come curiously close to the end, down
Beneath my self-indulgent pitiful hole, defeated I
Concede and (Concede and) move closer (Move closer), I may find comfort here
I may find peace within the emptiness, how pitiful

It's calling me (Calling me)
etc..."

The narrator lives in a self-indulgent, selfish lifestyle. He focuses his life on his own benefit, not on his moral or spiritual gain. He considers it a pitiful lifestyle, but he refuses to do anything about it, instead feeling defeated by it, and tries to find his happiness in what he has, rather than doing something to create his happiness by improving his life.

"And in my darkest moment, fetal and weepin'
The moon tells me a secret, my confidant
As full and bright as I am, this light is not my own and
A million light reflections pass over me"

As the narrator is slipping down this path and losing himself, the moon (a common symbol of the spirit or spirituality) shares with him the secret of a proper life. It being "full and bright" means that it is pure and whole. And the reflections symbolise the knowledge and the awakening which he is receiving.

"It's source is bright and endless, she resuscitates the hopeless
Without her we are lifeless satellites dreamin' dreams
And as I pull my head out, I am without one doubt, don't want to be down here soothing my narcissism, I
Must crucify the ego before it's far too late, I pray the light lifts me out

Before I pine away
etc."

The moon is full of wisdom because it is truly complete and never-ending. It gives him hope and allows him to change, something he thought himself incapable of her, and now he believes himself indebted to her. And when he starts to truly see things, or "pull his head out" of his pitiful state, he realises that he no longer wants to be a part of such a selfish world, and wants to be a part of something bigger, which requires him to rid himself of his ego (often also referred to as the self) to become a part of something bigger, before it's far too late to change.

"So crucify the ego before it's far too late to leave behind this place, so negative and blind and cynical
And you will come to find that we are all one mind, capable of all that's imagined and all conceivable
Just let the light touch you and let the words spill through, just let them pass right through, bringin' out our hope and reason

Before we pine away
etc."

And now he shares his realisation with the listener. He realises that we all must rid ourselves of our no-longer-necessary egos to become a part of something truly great, where all people are one. We are all the same person in different bodies. And if we see ourselves as that and unite, we're capable of everything, but rather because we remain selfish and refuse to listen to reason, we remain negative and blind and achieve very little. So he says that we must all accept this ("let the light touch you") and then share it with others to get them to see ("let the words spill though, just let them pass right through") until we can awaken the whole world to the true hope in the world, before we all destroy ourselves.


This song very much draws on the concepts explained in Lateralus, Parabol/Parabola, and to some extent, Schism, The Patient, and The Grudge. I'd suggest looking into the whole album.

Also, has anyone noticed that the intro to this song (when split into sections based on the introduction of instruments) is nearly the same when you play it backwards? I haven't yet found any meaning to this, other than the connection to the title.

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Tool – Disposition Lyrics 13 years ago
Just looking at the titles, that makes sense too. Disposition is like, you're a child, so you don't have any experience that shapes the way the world is, just the things that you're told, hence being the way that you're disposed. If you're taught the world is evil, you believe it. If you're taught to be cautious, you're cautious. If you're taught to be happy and just "watch the weather change" from afar, enjoying the beauty of it all, you do that. Then Reflection would be like, as an adult, you have that experience, so now you can look back and reflect on your life and what you've learned...

Maybe this theory would make more sense after I listen to reflection. Then I can add more detail or change some error in it...

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Tool – Disposition Lyrics 13 years ago
I don't see why it couldn't be what it is. Tell me why not. And if you argue that it's because it's actually something else, all I'll have to say is that you both might be right.

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Tool – Schism Lyrics 13 years ago
@back10minutes

No, it really is about Tetris, don't you see? And about separation of Catholic and Orthodox churches. And about relationships falling apart. And just about anything else you want to imagine it's about. Even though Maynard probably had a particular idea in mind when he wrote the lyrics, he left them open-ended. He didn't say what it was about. Therefore, it's completely open to the listener. You choose the meaning.

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Tool – The Patient Lyrics 13 years ago
The reason they're able to make so much money is because they don't care about it. That's the thing. Because they make the songs for the enjoyment of playing and writing, for the love of the music, for the emotion and meaning they can put into them, and for the purpose of making peoples' lives that much better because they're listening to good music that the artists care about, their songs turn out so much better and have so much more sales than those people that just care about releasing songs that sell, because the people that do that become really big really quickly and then fall just as easily. They don't gain a following or real fans, just people who listen to them until they find someone better.

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Led Zeppelin – Stairway to Heaven Lyrics 13 years ago
@deaconbomb

Although it makes many references to LOTR, I don't think it's necessarily about it. There are "There's a feeling I get when I look to the west / And my spirit is crying for leaving", "rings of smoke", "all that glitters is gold", but I think those are just references.

My opinion is that it's a commentary on what we try to do to secure everlasting peace for ourselves, and how we try to use methods that work in our world to get what we want but not in the afterlife. How she's trying to just buy her way in, trying to just get the easy way, and then no matter what happens, she'll get what she wants because, because she _deserves_ it. And there are things all around her telling her that that's wrong, but she refuses to believe them, staying in constant denial. Then, "In a tree by the brook, there's a songbird who sings, / Sometimes all of our thoughts are misgiven" meaning that we all experience some kind of rotten luck, we all stray from the path at some point, but, as stated later, that doesn't have to decide our destiny. The next verse is a LOTR reference, but it's also just the person who feels old and worn down, knowing that their days are ending. The next verse uses the pied piper as a metaphor for greed and desire, that if we just let ourselves be corrupted by these things, we'll just keep building it up and not even know, and then the piper leads all of the mindless rats (or children) into the death's waiting grip. "Yes, there are two paths you can go by, but in the long run / There's still time to change the road you're on" You can allow yourselves to be corrupted by these things, or you can live a good, spiritual life, but just because you choose one doesn't mean you're stuck with that decision forever. There's always time to become corrupted, and there's also always time to redeem yourself. Then it once again talks about the pied piper and his dirty tactics. "Dear lady, can you hear the wind blow, and did you know / Your stairway lies on the whispering wind" Can you see the right way to go yet, can you lose your selfishness? The whispering wind means that her stairway, her path, isn't something that can be created through tangible means (money, etc.), but rather by spiritual means, by living a good life. "And as we wind on down the road / Our shadows taller than our soul" Let this be a lesson to everyone. We all walk with evil in ourselves, and with arrogance brewing, but there is always the chance for redemption. "There walks a lady we all know / Who shines white light and wants to show / How everything still turns to gold" She still can't get it, she still sees the greed in her heart, and believes that money is what revolves the earth. There is still much for her to learn, but time for it too. "And if you listen very hard / The tune will come to you at last" When you stop running around and going with a destination in mind, but rather just let yourself be free, then you find the meaning. "When all are one and one is all / To be a rock and not to roll" In the end of things, all the little things we worry about, pawn over, desire, and hate don't really matter, but what sort of life we lived and what effect we had on the people around us does.

Listen to what they have to tell you, people, and do what is right, while you still have a chance. Your fate, not just religiously, but physically, and the fate of others, may depend on it.

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Rage Against the Machine – Freedom Lyrics 13 years ago
Or simply using diamonds as a metaphor for riches. War, corruption, all of that. They're killing all the people in the wars to gain things (like oil, maybe?), and then stop anybody who resists.

I'm still wondering what the whole tic-tac-toe thing is about, though...

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Coldplay – Everything's Not Lost Lyrics 13 years ago
It's much like people say Pink Floyd is pessimistic. Much of their music is. But they always close off their stories with the "happy ending", the optimism that says "things may suck, but that doesn't mean they always will, so don't let our music get you down". And in that way, I think they, like Coldplay, have a really positive view on what life could be, they just feel that the possibilities are being ignored by the current situation and that's what's dragging us down.

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Pearl Jam – Aye Davanita Lyrics 13 years ago
Those aren't intended to be the actual lyrics. They're as much a side note as the "science articles" throughout the book. Not real lyrics to the song.

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Tool – Lost Keys (Blame Hofmann) Lyrics 13 years ago
So then why is the song spelt with one 't'. It was the Rosetta Stone, but the song is Roseta Stoned? Possible extra reference?

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Tool – Intension Lyrics 13 years ago
I think the other point he was trying to make was that we've already started devolving into animals, just...'civilised' animals. No, no, not civilised animals, animals in civilisation.

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Led Zeppelin – The Battle of Evermore Lyrics 13 years ago
*points to the word "ringwraiths"* I'd say it's about LOTR. And what's funny is, the Elvish writing (not the spoken language, but the writing) appears to have been heavily influenced by Arabic. Just my thought.

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Roger Waters – The Tide is Turning (After Live Aid) Lyrics 13 years ago
What exactly is he referring to with the lines about Sylvester Stallone? As BrainDamage said, they were cut out, but they were actually re-added as Morse Code messages, which read as such:

"That's it!
Now the past is over but you are not alone
Together we'll fight Sylvester Stallone
We will not be dragged down in his South China Sea
Of macho bullshit and mediocrity"

What is he referencing? As far as I know, Stallone was just an actor who played such characters as Rocky. What did he do to get Waters upset with him enough to include him in a song?

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Coldplay – Yellow Lyrics 13 years ago
Psycho-analytically, yellow is recognised as a happy colour. It is the brightest and happiest colour in the spectrum, invoking feelings of joy and calmness. It speeds up the production of epinephrine (I think that's the chemical, can't remember right now) in the brain and relaxes the muscles. It also reduces thoughts of needing to rush or hurried feelings.

Hence, saying that all of his feelings toward her are "yellow" is saying that he feels happy and calm around her, like there is nothing else that needs to happen and that there is no rush, just those two and no others.

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Coldplay – High Speed Lyrics 13 years ago
His idea behind "living life inside a bubble" is that him and his significant other have been living so closed off that they are the only people in their lives. No one else, and nothing else, matters, and he just wants to be able to slow it down and relax...

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Metallica – Orion Lyrics 13 years ago
To me, it's a song about an epic battle. The song opens with the two sides preparing. At about a minute in, I can just see the two generals shouting orders to their men, preparing the base. By two minutes, cannon shots and artillery. Both sides are sending out scouting parties. The battle is beginning. The lead guitar enters at 3:00 as both sides report what they've found and soldiers are sent out. By 4:00, the sides are retreating to get ready for the next strike. 7:00, the battle begins again. Neither side cares about losses, they just send out all they've got in an attempt to outman and overpower the enemy. This is the "epic battle" part of it. And it fades out at 8:00 as the gods who are watching this, who's eyes we see this through in the song, turn their attentions away.

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Pink Floyd – The Gunner's Dream Lyrics 13 years ago
Here's what I think: It's a song about the Post-War Dream. (Aren't all the songs off this album, really?)

It tells the story from the perspective of an airplane gunner during World War II. Although some people believe the line about "floating down through the clouds" was meant to be taken literally, I think it's more a metaphor for calmness and tranquillity. More importantly, he's talking about a dream, which may refer to this, where floating among clouds is a common metaphor for a peaceful dream. He relaxes for a while, only to then remember his whole life while the "memories [rush] up to meet [him] now," and presumably become worried. He realises that he's going to die in this war, and begins imagining the funeral that would be held for him. He says goodbye (in his mind) to his wife and child (or maybe his parents, though why would he call his father by name but not his mother), reassures them regretfully, and tells them to "hold onto the dream."

The next verse I believe refers to the war between the British Royal Army and the Irish Republican Army, in which the IRA used hit-and-run missions and small sabotage/assassination missions to fight against the British who horribly outnumbered them. But it's referring to this by contrast. By saying that that isn't happening. Everyone's well-fed, sheltered, safe, and content. No one has to worry about getting arrested for speaking their mind (something that used to happen, albeit decades ago, in Britain if you spoke poorly of the king), no one gets killed or kidnapped or arrested, no one has to break into homes (such as Irish homes during the war above) to get rid of potential enemies, and it's generally safe. Although this war may have had some true meaning for Waters, I believe it's simply a symbol for wars in general. What he's referring to is the Post-War Dream, the idea after World War II that world peace may finally be achieved, and the fighting would end. But, it was just a dream.

One other note I must make about this verse, is that he says that "Everyone has recourse to the law." In the last song on the album, Two Suns In The Sunset (which is about the human race getting wiped out by nuclear war), he states that "you have no recourse to the law anymore." What I think he's trying to do is to get at the contrast of the post-war dream, in which everyone's happy and can stand up against things that are unfair without worrying, and what happens during war, when you can get jailed just for saying the wrong thing (or perhaps, after you die, where it no longer matters).

Finally, the last verse is told from the perspective of the returning soldier who speaks in The Hero's Return. He remembers what happened to the gunner, and feels remorse. The optimism of the dream has such a stark contrast with the life that he returned to that he feels that the gunner was betrayed. The gunner "sleeps" (aka, is dead) somewhere out in Germany where he'll never be found and where he can do nothing more to anyone ("what's done is done"), and the hero feels that no one will even remember him for it. He gave his life, and the most he might get is a small cameo in a history book 30 years from now. But no one will cheer for him, no one will commemorate him for doing what he did. He was truly expendable. And the hero is looking at that and saying, "No! We can't let this happen! We can't just forget everything that he lived and died for, just so that we can say we won a war! We need to remember it, and honour his dying wish. Take heed of his dream, that we should all be equal and safe. He died to protect us all, and no one even knows or cares."


As I said, it's a song about the Post-War Dream, and about how much life sucks now (or, then, in 1983) after World War II, compared to how we all imagined it would be. So please, do take heed of his dream.

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Iron Maiden – Quest For Fire Lyrics 13 years ago
I think there's a bit more to this song than meets the eye. Personally, to me, it speaks not only about early man's search for fire, but a satire on modern life as well. That people are so caught up in trying to harness the power of something to stop and figure out how it works, and so it causes a lot more trouble than it's worth. That we start wars over things that aren't worth fighting over because we don't know that there's an alternative. But also that it's this nature that has lead to some of the greatest discoveries that could have happened.

All-in-all, it's a great song with a really powerful meaning behind it. Some of the lines aren't so great, like "when dinosaurs walked the earth", but generally it's good.

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