| Dessa – Matches to Paper Dolls Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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I'm surprised more people haven't been commenting on this song, if only to sing Dessa some praise. She's one of those rare artists that tightropes music and poetry without fall or falter (at the moment I have to think all the way back to the Doors for a fair comparison). So yeah, primarily just a pair of lyric-checks in this post: 1st verse - instead of "look" the word should be '"built" like a moth...' (this plays much better with the rhymes at the close of this verse, and also helps illustrate how some of an individual's qualities are inherent in their nature) 2nd verse - the final words should be 'the moth "won't let it"' as opposed to "will go" Things could be a lot simpler if we knew how to choose who to love and who not to love, but were that the case I doubt we'd ever hear songs this beautiful and live moments so magical. |
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| They Might Be Giants – Everything Right Is Wrong Again Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| and this is the 2nd comment made about this song. | |
| They Might Be Giants – Everything Right Is Wrong Again Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| and this is the 2nd comment made about this song. | |
| They Might Be Giants – The Bells Are Ringing Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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my interpretation in six words: zombies. |
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| They Might Be Giants – Cage & Aquarium Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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it becomes* a cage. ooph. |
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| P.O.S. – Low Light Low Life Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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Dessa's verse deserves a place in the 'top 10 verses a majority of the music-listening population will never hear.' i pretty much think that any time this song comes up when the mp3 player is running on random. |
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| They Might Be Giants – Four Of Two Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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I'm not really sure if anyone above this post has alluded to this or anything, but... the girl was on time. the song's speaker was late. ouch. |
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| XTC – Dear God Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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whoa. some people are getting a little too intense for my tastes, by do what you must, i suppose. at risk of suffering through some relatively stale and boring atheist responses, I'm going to try to work from the song outward, rather than bring my own views in and see how well they fit the lyrics. there's a fair amount of which-came-first, chicken-egg stuff in these lyrics, and i think that's important and helpful in developing an overall message in the tune. the prime example is "Dear god..." in itself. If god existed, the speaker wouldn't need to write this letter in the first place, but he feels the need to write a letter in the hope of getting a response as confirmation that he/she can exist. I'll admit it may take a little bit of acrobatics as far as considering the order of the lines goes, but i find it kind of fun and interesting to examine the cause and effect throughout the entire piece: reducing beer prices -goes to- people are starving... but going backwards there, why would anyone be worried about buying drinks when they need food to survive (and yes, for this one i imagine it would seem more of the poet thing to do to buy the booze, but consider mothers/fathers who need to provide for their children. they'd go food first) reducing the world's sorrow -goes to- people are fighting each other... if the fighting ceased, so could the tears things the speaker wonders if god made: 1.) disease (which effects man directly) 2.) I'm going with a blue diamond (as this is indirectly perceived by man's senses) 3.) mankind these three queries seem to go from small to large (man's touch/feel, man's perception of the world, man's history/existence in the world), when it seems the speaker wouldn't be concerned with such a concept as 'what is blue?' when his very next question is "Did all that weird stuff that they wrote about you and the devil really happen? or am i reading the wrong book/asking the wrong guy?" it's the word of god -goes to- and it was written by man... from here the speaker is hoping that god can concede that some of those dead tongue translations have really lost something after thousands of years or rewrites and added color pictures to really draw the crowds in. from here we go to that amazing finish that i don't really want to comment too much on, mainly because of how it always manages to hit me pretty hard. on pretty much every other listen it'll get a tear or two to slowly drift down my cheek. that's a sign of a pretty awesome song, if you ask me. and then the start and finish of the song, one last time: Dear God -to- If there's on thing I don't believe in, it's you -to- Dear God -to- ..???.. sorry if this seems to long, but if you're reading this, i say thanks and just bring up one final point that a lot of other posts brought up in my mind. I'm not one to judge anyone else by what they believe, and i guess that has a lot to do with just how much gray i see in the world every day. seriously, just look a split-second longer and the blacks soften and the whites dim a bit. keep that in mind for each and every line of this tune. they're all at a different hue. there a quite a few religions on this rock, and i imagine the speaker addressing a different being each time he uses the word "god". this division of whatever preceded us into 30 different flavors to mix as well as melt could be his biggest problem. you can write a letter to anyone you'd like. the big step is sending the letter out, which is hard enough as it is, but even more so when you don't have their mailing address... |
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| Mashmakhan – As The Years Go By Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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the word 'love' is very often used to represent something other than what the speaker intends. this is no fault of their own heart, mind, or soul, however, but instead the simple inability of the spoken word to fully describe such a powerful and complicated emotion. |
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| They Might Be Giants – Cage & Aquarium Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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i can't help but agree with a lot of the interpretation that's been posted before my humble addition, so hey, well done, all. it's also nice to see TMBG's older trick of retooling lyrics from other tunes to fit in with their songs have a strong impact on the overall message people pick up. but yeah, i'm not totally content with what i've come up with, mainly because my initial reaction was to the 2nd half of the song (probably because of the repetition/more distinct lyrics). but anyway... my first notion was that of a plane crash. the moment a passenger plane hits the water (despite recent miraculous events), it because a cage, and soon thereafter, an aquarium. while a moment before the violent descent all the passengers were individuals, on to their rent-a-cars, and limousines, and awaiting relatives with the mini-van, and then their separate lives, as soon as the altitude plummeted, they were all the same basic person, struggling through same basic crash procedures (oxygen mask, seat belt, assume the crash position), shouting the same basic pleas until impact, where they sink an only manage to create a dull yawning sound as they drift down towards the fate awaiting. again, working back from this to the first half of the song, i can try to stretch that they've closed the window shades, and the pets are fastened in back with the luggage. i could even try to go so far as to say that the rest of the opening stanza refers to an announcement over the intercom on what everyone should be doing, (and yes it would be under pressure in a very tense situation), but really aren't all of the emergency procedures kind of common sense when you think about it? did they need the voice to remind them what their survival instincts are silently telling them to do? of course it's all for nothing in the end. they decorate the aquarium soon... thanks for reading if you have! i know some of this may be out of nowhere, and i repeat, i do like and agree with much of what's already been posted. i guess i was hoping that i could "direct your attention to the [preceding] simile" and maybe provide a slanted view of the Hippy-->Yuppy evolution. |
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| They Might Be Giants – Boss of Me Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| believe it or not, 50% of the human population is below average... | |
| They Might Be Giants – Alphabet Of Nations Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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global crises! the alphabet of nations is weak in its division! (in other words, Q for Qatar is missing in the lyrics right now.) |
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| They Might Be Giants – S-e-x-x-y Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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Jamie Lee Curtis. *love the Bond-ish feel of the little horn part toward the beginning, by the way |
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| They Might Be Giants – Spiraling Shape Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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i was going to bash a few (in my opinion) lacking interpretations here, but instead i just offer my own, rather short and sweet. drugs. you really can't know unless you try it yourself. often one of the most concrete memories you can hold on to while you're on your way up from a far-too-large dose is of that person who told you not to do it, or what their trip was like, or what it's was supposed to feel like when you take it. and then you're there, dropping through the void, wishing you hadn't taken it, wishing you'd listened to the people who'd told you not to. you wanted to know the unknowable, but only managed to journey far enough to pick up a few mental scars and a very vague image of something just beyond. someday, before they set of to discover it for themselves, your friends will ask what it felt like, what you saw. that unknowable is of course without description, but you offer your best: "it was like a spiraling shape..." |
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| They Might Be Giants – Till My Head Falls Off Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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i'm on team suicide for this one for quite a few reasons. i think if you want to stick with that interpretation, the lyrics can handle it mostly by themselves. i understand that the fact that Advil is used can take away from that interpretation for some people, but if you consider it a lame way to take yourself out, doesn't that just reinforce the sad existence of the individual in the song? also, what form of suicide isn't lame? i'm also kind of wondering if it's something of an "AKA Driver" situation. i think 'Advil' is a soild, recognizable, 2-syllable word for an opening image/scene, but maybe a generic word just wouldn't fit the rhythm, or another brand name couldn't get cleared(?) the 'audience in the mirror' is beautiful and playful to me. i agree that old age can be represented by not being able to recognize one's image in the mirror, but i also think that you can seem a completely different person from one day, even hour, to the next. the person in the bathroom was once young, and is now old. they may also have been married, sober, healthy and happy a few days before standing at the sink divorced, drunk, decrepit and severely depressed. suicide attempts are a sticky scenario of losing control while trying to regain control of a life that's gotten out of hand (this poor soul can't even keep track of the pills in his medicine cabinet, though he tries to bitter end). i love how proud the chorus/refrains/whatever you'll call them are. in song they play bold and proud as i imagine they do in the speaker's mind, and then i picture in reality the soft mumble they exhale right before they fall asleep and assume the temperature of the tile floor... "This isn't over until i say it's over-" |
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| They Might Be Giants – Turn Around Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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from the vibes i'm getting in some of these responses, maybe my interpretation is going to seem a little upbeat, but... put yourself into a really awkward, painful, horrible situation, like any one of the three scenes in the lyrics (or any just generally bad situation at all: you got dumped, fired, broke an extremity, etc.). sure, you feel bad, maybe scared, or perhaps even doomed, but hey, you're not dead yet, right? it'll be at least a little while before you're another skull on the ground, so cheer up for as long as you can! the chorus i suppose could be summed up as, "well, at least you have your health." |
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| They Might Be Giants – Fingertips Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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as far as the whole "life cycle" theory or whatever you'd like to call it goes, meh. i think the interpretations i've read for each snippet (or track on the CD) could easily be considered in many different ways. sorry, just seems like one of those deals where some TMBG fans work the lyrics to fit their analysis, rather than working the other way around. no offense intended, there. as for me, i'm more of a radio mind on this one. how does one quickly shuffle through the stations while on a long drive? by use of the fingertips... (also, i kind of like that if you look at these tracks and consider them in the sequence provided, the longest running and final track is "I Walk Along Darkened Corridors". why is this track left to run for about a minute while the others are passed so quickly? seems like the driver of the vehicle has a thing for churchy tunes...) |
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| They Might Be Giants – Which Describes How You're Feeling Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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not sure how i'm only the 2nd or 3rd person to comment on this song. seems to be about words/language to me. i think an important part of this interpretation is the center piece of the song that has the somewhat slowed and mumbled "Which- de- scribes- how--" when language was in early development, the important thing was to describe the physical world surrounding the speakers. Dangers and resources needed to be recognized, communicated, and dealt with accordingly. when our ancestors had that down, they moved on to describing things that are beyond our senses and common experiences. Our emotions, thoughts, feelings, desires, and the like are a great part of our everyday speech, yes, but beyond that, we have all now somewhat internalized what used to be just well enunciated grunts and yelps. when you're sitting quietly in a calm park, or hustling through the crowds on the subway on your way to work, let me ask, are you thinking in words? in English? ever know exactly what it is you want to express, but then not have the words to do so? from brain to mouth, something just couldn't translate. i think that's a large part of this song. we all have a different view of the world, but try our best to agree on what is what, using our language. the sky is blue. we all see this, we agree upon it, and are able to say it to one another in understanding. then we go to France ("overseas") and the old man in the park turns to us and says "le ciel est bleu." though we agree with him on that point, and may agree with him on the way we feel when we wake up every morning, we won't be able to speak about it. we'll just both interact through a polite smile, then turn to a tres belle sunset and each frown to ourselves, thinking, in our respective languages, how we wish we knew what the other was thinking right then and there. |
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| They Might Be Giants – Where Your Eyes Don't Go Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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i could sing the "every jumbled..." line over and over again. not only fun lyrics and twisty melody, but the cadence, especially on that line, really does a lot for this song. now please, nobody get me wrong here, love TMBG about 90% of the time, but does the Kurtis Blow inclusion in the song kinda take away from it, in anyone's opinion? there's just so many great qualities to this song that of course i always listen and enjoy when it comes up on the mp3 player, but that pop cultural reference just always seems to kind of put me off a bit when i'm otherwise enjoying scarecrow archetypes and weaving-wavy lyrics. (i have no problem with Blow, certainly not his soul train appearances, but maybe i'm too young to completely get the reference?) |
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