| The Smashing Pumpkins – Where Boys Fear to Tread Lyrics | 3 years ago |
| it may be a little facile, but has anybody wondered if the song is really about kids dying in a nuclear war? i'm not exactly challenging the kids-in-love narrative, but the apocalyptic imagery seems pretty literal. i'm always reminded of dr strangelove regarding the "get on the bomb" line. | |
| Billy Idol – White Wedding Lyrics | 7 years ago |
| @[dgkfhjlffjfjhlfhja:28023] that is probably not true and if it is then you've taken the situation out of context or been taken in by something meant for a prime time audience; this is not a song wishing somebody well, but essentially a brutal slut shaming. | |
| A Silver Mt. Zion – Teddy Roosevelt's Guns Lyrics | 7 years ago |
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@[Hungryforalynchin:27120] i think it's pretty straight-forward, if perhaps not exactly historically clear-minded. teddy roosevelt was pretty late as far as american imperialists are concerned. and, it was the policies of woodrow wilson, fighting republican isolationism, that turned america into a true colonial superpower. if there's anything tongue-in-cheek about it, he may be pushing back against the legacy of "progressivism". i could imagine a debate between a "progressive" and an anarchist in some smoky backwater somewhere, where the progressive promotes roosevelt's trust-busting agenda, and the anarchist cynically intervenes with talk of roosevelt as an imperialist monster... it could consequently function as a takedown of hypocritical progressives. but i think it's really just as straight-forward as it seems. |
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| A Silver Mt. Zion – Teddy Roosevelt's Guns Lyrics | 7 years ago |
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@[Hungryforalynchin:27119] i think it's pretty straight-forward, if perhaps not exactly historically clear-minded. teddy roosevelt was pretty late as far as american imperialists are concerned. and, it was the policies of woodrow wilson, fighting republican isolationism, that turned america into a true colonial superpower. if there's anything tongue-in-cheek about it, he may be pushing back against the legacy of "progressivism". i could imagine a debate between a "progressive" and an anarchist in some smoky backwater somewhere, where the progressive promotes roosevelt's trust-busting agenda, and the anarchist cynically intervenes with talk of roosevelt as an imperialist monster... it could consequently function as a takedown of hypocritical progressives. but i think it's really just as straight-forward as it seems. |
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| A Silver Mt. Zion – Teddy Roosevelt's Guns Lyrics | 7 years ago |
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@[Canvaverbiste:27118] while the band came out of montreal, most of it was actually born and raised in ottawa, and it's essentially a jewish band rather than french-canadian one. this is just an anarchist rant from somebody living in canada. |
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| A Silver Mt. Zion – Teddy Roosevelt's Guns Lyrics | 7 years ago |
| i think the "never been your son" line is a reference to the line in the canadian national anthem, "in all thy son's command". | |
| cEvin Key – Beauty Is The Enemy Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| gen quotes liberally from the picture of dorian gray. not entirely sure how that relates to cev's synth part, but it may be a little tongue-in-cheek. | |
| Genesis – Supper's Ready Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| gabriel is basically taking the piss out of yeats, | |
| Peter Gabriel – Shock The Monkey Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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or, to put it another way, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9IaxhXceAo |
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| Peter Gabriel – Shock The Monkey Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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"if you think that it's pretentious, you've been taken for a ride" gabriel had a level of sly wit that i find americans tend to miss. they want to take him on a deep allegorical level, when he's really usually pulling the audience's leg rather blatantly in an attempt to make them think it's meant to be taken on a deep allegorical level. but it's not an elaborate fraud because he always admits as much, or at least he does in several songs (like the one i've quoted). it's more of a type of post-modern joke, with the audience as the punchline. i think it *is* about experimentation on animals, but wrapped up in a lot of ambiguous hyperbole that allows it to be taken on a number of levels. that is to say that it's about experimentation through the whole gamut: medical experimenting, experimenting with recapturing our animal nature, experimentation with abolishing it. in truth, we're somewhere halfway between. we can experiment with returning to our roots, but escaping from them is itself ab experiment. ignoring the imagery in the video, the plotline has him pinned down and brought into a room, where he finds himself. that's one of those ambiguous allegories that might suggest that he's about to be shocked - and from there the medical ethics point comes up, through a sort of shock therapy - the idea of shocking the human monkey is shocking. and maybe that's the whole put on. |
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| Līve – Iris Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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why are 95% of the interpretations posted here about sex? no wonder punk failed. y'all should've been listening to gun 'n' roses. the song is romanticizing revolt, and pointing out that nationalism is a significant barrier to revolution. to move forwards as one, we need to burn our flags. fwiw, i believe the singer was actually celibate at this point in time. get your heads out of the fucking gutter. |
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| Foo Fighters – Alone + Easy Target Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| the song was first recorded in 1991, so it's not likely that these ideas are correct. it could maybe be about grohl's stint in scream. also, 'head is on' could be referring to the drum head. | |
| Michael Jackson – Beat It Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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i don't know how widely known this is, but michael jackson was heavily tutored by paul mccartney in his mid to late teens. he was sort of a father figure to him. paul even let him live with him... i would suspect this track is very much the result of mccartney's influence. it is very basic - stop fighting, and just get along. stop trying to be tough and start loving each other. also, it's rather audibly obvious that 'funky and' is actually 'fucking'. how much longer must we wait for that rather trite correction? it's sort of tiring to continue to see it all of the time when it's completely fucking obvious what he's actually saying. |
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| Nine Inch Nails – The Hand That Feeds Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| it's an appeal to reject the system we live under in general, interspersed with specific pleas for right-wing christians to get closer to what their faith suggests and tell the right-wing evangelicals and republican to fuck right off ("get off your knees"). | |
| Nine Inch Nails – Gave Up Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1zci07Kono it carries on the nihilism-meets-anarchopunk theme of the rest of the record, simultaneously ending in submission and disdain. |
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| Nine Inch Nails – Happiness in Slavery Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| i think he's playing with themes of s&m and whatnot, but the song is ultimately about wage slavery. | |
| R.E.M. – King Of Birds Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| to clarify a little, it's a rejection of the professor's life. so much to study, yet so much beauty to experience. there was always a sort of an anti-intellectual streak running through REM. stipe was still exploring this theme way into the 90s ('sad professor' on up). the message is simply that he'd rather go out and have fun than sit in his room and read books and write theories. | |
| R.E.M. – King Of Birds Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| watch pi. yes, this was before pi. same idea. | |
| A Silver Mt. Zion – Movie (Never Made) Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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i just need to point out that, at the time, it was well known that this record was a tribute to his dead dog, wanda, and that this track was inserted into the middle of it, literally being discarded from a film that was never made. i'd source that through the gybe! mailing list, which was active in the late 90s and early 00s. i think the zionist references are correct, but the readings into the holocaust are very wrong. it's more of a horrified reaction against current zionism, which is a persistent theme in this band's music. this is then tied backwards into a general global struggle (this was the era of anti-globalization protests) that aligns the protest movement in north america with indigenous movements, like the one in palestine. when mt. zion approach israeli politics, and they do frequently, they take a view that is very much aligned with left-wing jewish intellectuals like noam chomsky - this amounts to extreme opposition to the israeli right and the havoc and death and destruction they're causing. but, it also comes with a sense of remorse that comes out of a feeling of responsibility. i'm not jewish myself, but i've noticed that a sense of extreme belonging is inherent to their culture, and that feelings of responsibility that might otherwise seem irrational are not at all from a jewish perspective. so, yeah. you're sort of all right. it's a protest song, and it's about zionism, but it's in protest _of_ zionism as a violent, colonial force, rather than as the preferred vehicle for peace and understanding. |
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| The Moody Blues – Nights In White Satin Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| knights in white satin would seem to fairly clearly refer to the kkk. i think it's about a klan member having an epiphany that he's wrong. | |
| The Beatles – Savoy Truffle Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| harrison wrote a number of songs about him grappling with his elevation into more than comfortable wealth that are essentially existential class commentaries. i've always interpreted this as one of them, in the sense of it being about sex, chocolate and a tongue-in-cheek jab at the bourgeois/bohemian lifestyle. | |
| St. Vincent – Paris Is Burning Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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there is discussion of photographs, thereby ruling out the french revolution. i think the 68 riots are a best fit, and that the war is vietnam. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_1968_protests_in_France |
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| The Rolling Stones – Paint It Black Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| you know what's weird? i've always interpreted the racial AND romantic meanings, meaning that i think the song is about the taboos surrounding biracial relationships and how jagger is not able to publicly be with a black woman he cares about. it's not any secret that jagger had a thing for black women, and that his musical influences were all black rock 'n' roll musicians. | |
| Frank Zappa – Uncle Remus Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| also, i think he says "downin' a doob" | |
| Frank Zappa – Uncle Remus Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| i just think it's important to add that the lyrics and music of this song were partially written by george duke, zappa's keyboard virtuoso who happened to also be african-american. i've found the analysis here unusually enlightening for this site - thanks. | |
| Siouxsie and the Banshees – Premature Burial Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| ...and hippies. | |
| Siouxsie and the Banshees – Premature Burial Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| poe may be the inspiration, but i think it's clearly about organized religion. | |
| Minor Threat – Guilty of Being White Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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this is one of those things where we need to be logical, not emotional. what logic says is that even if the world is still full of racism, patriarchy and all that other nasty shit (and it is), that doesn't mean that my anarchist, white, structurally unemployable ass that is actually descended from irish "indentured servants" and very recent norse and italian immigrants has a damned thing to do with it - not even in the sense that my ancestors are responsible, because the fact is that they aren't. what logic says is that blaming me for the legacy of slavery, me being a lower class white person that is descended from servants for fuck's sake, and doing it for no other reason than the colour of my skin, is actually the definition of prejudice. it's racist. that's what logic says... and, yes, it does tend to get a little irritating sometimes when i try and reach out to people of colour in an attempt to work together and the result is being accused of some kind of inherent systemic preference due to my skin colour, a preference that i'd like to take some advantage of, but that seems rather illusory. that makes it really hard to build inclusive systems, moving forwards. that's what the important point here is. i'm consequently led to the conclusion that this song makes a difficult to acknowledge, but absolutely pertinent point: my white, anarchist, hopelessly unemployed ass wants to work together with people of all colours, genders and orientations to try and produce legitimate change, not get brow beaten by an upper middle class coloured person for being a privileged functionally homeless person. whether intentional or not, what we see in the critical race theory when put into practice is very powerful divide and conquer. and it's drilled, drilled, drilled. i've repeatedly seen white kids on welfare or worse apologize to dark kids that live in mansions for not recognizing their privilege. it's absurd. however, logic isn't always the best way to approach the situation, and if put into the wrong set of hands this song can become very racist. it could be used to stifle dissent, to deny the necessity of state reparations or to eliminate policies that level the playing field of continuing systemic injustices. but, of course, punk music is supposed to exist in this kind of gray area. the proper, non-racist way to interpret the song is to apply it to something specific, not something general. there *are* people of colour in the activist community that need to get their facts straight, and this *does* need to be said to them - specifically. but, it cannot be generalized, as, when it is, it erases and trivializes a lot of things that should not be trivialized or erased. |
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| Every Time I Die – Underwater Bimbos From Outer Space Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| is it maybe the presentation? the hyper-masculinity? the over the top testosterone? | |
| Every Time I Die – Underwater Bimbos From Outer Space Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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i'm not really a fan of this band. they're a little too metalcore for my tastes (i'm more into artsy punk/hardcore), they're not so adept with constructing melodies, and they lay down the testosterone a little too heavy for me to be able to relate. really, it's sort of like modern hair metal; a more poetic axl rose. however... ...it's rather obviously an anti-war song, is it not? how come none of you got that? |
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| St. Vincent – Strange Mercy Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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i think she's playing the role, not necessarily of a mother, but certainly of a guardian of some sort, and i'm tying it the context of some kind of imprisoned activist - the reference to police brutality, the hemingway jawline... so, ultimately, i think it's a song of solidarity. |
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| A Silver Mt. Zion – Blindblindblind Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| i believe he says "travails", not striving, and i think that is in the liner notes (my cds are boxed up, i can't double check - somebody should). it doesn't really change the interpretation, other than to specifically state "labour", albeit in french. the idea of art as a valid form of labour is a common theme in the godspeed universe. i think it was largely borrowed (and reinterpreted) from michael gira. | |
| The Offspring – Take It Like A Man Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| the song is about welfare. and, yes, it's sarcastic. | |
| The Offspring – L.A.P.D. Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| almost the whole record is about the rodney king incident. | |
| The Offspring – Burn It Up Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| a sarcastic skewering of la rioters. | |
| The Offspring – Kick Him When He's Down Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| police brutality, particularly in the context of the la race riots. | |
| The Offspring – Come Out And Play Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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i need to get this out somewhere so that people get it. the responses i've been seeing on the internet are disturbing and ironic. the offspring have explored themes of racism very comprehensively, both before and after smash. the idea that this is pro-segregation is preposterous. what it is is a callout and a warning to the black community that if serious action is not taken to reverse the systemic causes of racism, then the white majority is going to go back to calling for segregation - as many of the comments i've seen here, on youtube and in other places are doing; it says get this under control, because you're tying your own rope.... you'll note that dexter holland never says 'keep 'em separated'. it is a very harsh and alarmist analysis, and whether or not it takes a proper account of the root causes of racism is perhaps questionable. however, it is also starkly realist. one could perhaps tie it into clinton's social welfare and mandatory minimum policies, but that could be reaching a bit. |
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| Soundgarden – Outshined Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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i agree with the interpretation of the song being about soundgarden's rise to success. at that period, the band must have felt like it was on the cusp of taking over the world. now we can see which rock stars gets mystified.... but, i just want to add another spin to the california/minnesota line. this seems to be one of cornell's best known lines. maybe it's because it can be interpreted so many ways. but, given the context of the song, it may be interpreted as the way the band was always misunderstood in the mainstream music press. "looking california" could be a reference to hair metal, like guns 'n' roses. "feeling minnesota" could be a reference to SST records, and the husker du scene. that is to say that it could be a remark about how he feels out of place being marketed alongside mainstream metal acts when the band had more of an underground fan base that existed on the margins of punk rock. |
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| Billy Idol – White Wedding Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| i think you've mostly got it right, but i don't think he's literally talking about his sister. he's probably actually talking about an ex that he knows is in love with him, but is being forced into a marriage with somebody she doesn't really love because she accidentally got pregnant with him. she may have even cheated on him, hence the tone and the sarcastic "white wedding". | |
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