| Tom Petty – Free Fallin' Lyrics | 5 years ago |
| @[minkoil:29084] - sounds like someone watched the video! :) | |
| Mott The Hoople – All the Young Dudes Lyrics | 5 years ago |
| @[matthewsheffield:27839], I take it that the TV he needs when listening to T-Rex isn't TeleVision but TransVestism. | |
| Mott The Hoople – All the Young Dudes Lyrics | 5 years ago |
| @[matthewsheffield:27838], I take it that the TV he needs when listening to T-Rex isn't TeleVision but TransVestism. | |
| Cream – Badge Lyrics | 6 years ago |
|
Here's my meaning I have for the song. It's not based on any information about what the composers meant, only how the words strike me. "Thinkin' 'bout the times you drove in my car. Thinkin' that I might have drove you too far. And I'm thinkin' 'bout the love that you laid on my table." The singer had a girl in his life, she used to drive his car. Their relationship thus one more than just dating. She drove his car. They probably lived together. But things didn't go too well. He took advantage of their relationship, wanted too much from her or expected to get away with things. In the end he drove her to far with this stuff and ended the relationship. Was it that he cheated on her? Was it that he did too many drugs? Did he push her into drugs and that did it? Whatever it was, he pushed too much. But once she was open and loving, she just laid it out on the table how much she loved him. Even though that line comes after the line that he drove her too far, I think he's at first reflects on the end of the relationship and then reflects on how before the relationship went bad that she really did love him. This makes it more pathetic and sad that he drove her away. There also is a double meaning of them making love on a table when the relationship was good. "I told you not to wander 'round in the dark. I told you 'bout the swans, that they live in the park. Then I told you 'bout our kid, now he's married to Mabel." I think the driving her too far must have been getting her into drugs with him. When he was doing that he told her not to let it take her into danger. The image is of a dark park with a carnival happening. She shouldn't wander round there with no sense of safety, just looking for fun and wild times. The implication is that she did anyway. The line about the swans is a line given by Ringo. But what it operates as is a description of the dark park and the danger of wandering around in it in the dark when high or drunk. There are swans living there and one could trip over them, and by implication into the ponds that are there since they live at ponds. He told her all about this, but she did it all anyway. In contrast to this lifestyle he drove her too, they had a mutual friend, "our kid," who has gone the other way with his life- "now he's married to Mable." The singer told her all about this, how there was an alternative to this crazy, wild life of drugs and sex and rock and roll- there's the stable life like their kid got with Mabel. But she rejected this all... "Yes, I told you that the light goes up and down. Don't you notice how the wheel goes 'round? And you better pick yourself up from the ground Before they bring the curtain down, Yes, before they bring the curtain down." There is a carnival in the park. The lights on the rides go up and down. The Ferris Wheel goes round and round, making the lights go up and down. She's off in the dark on the ground, having tripped over the swans while drunk and high. While the carnival is going on, before they close it for the night "bring the curtain down," she has its lights to see to get up off the ground. But it seems she doesn't take his advice. "Talkin' 'bout a girl that looks quite like you. She didn't have the time to wait in the queue. She cried away her life since she fell off the cradle." So he tries to explain things to her with a story of another girl, one very much like her. In fact she looks like her. This girl also wasn't patient enough to make a relationship work past the problems and become stable. She didn't wait int he queue. In fact all she has done is make her life sad and cry about how bad her life is. She's been doing this ever since she was a baby and once fell off the cradle- this may mean she literally fell out of her cradle once and cried, but more likely it means that she's been this way since she grew past needing a cradle. Now did the girl he's talking to listen to him? I don't think so since the real composer of this is not Clapton but Harrison and the girl obviously is Patty Boyd, who was his wife. George did drive her away, although things were looking good to most in 1969, but in a few years she was gone because he drove her too far. The irony is he drove her right into Clapton's arms, who was already madly in love with her. The double irony is that Clapton later did the exact same thing to her until he drove her away too. In the end Patty did find the stable and happy life- but not with a rock and roller. |
|
| Grateful Dead – Truckin' Lyrics | 8 years ago |
| @[TrippinFool:6765] Actually not "Warlock" but "The Warlocks." | |
| Grateful Dead – Truckin' Lyrics | 8 years ago |
| @[TrippinFool:6758] Warlock | |
| David Bowie – All the Young Dudes Lyrics | 10 years ago |
| T-Rex was the epitome of glam in the UK. The lyric has two meanings. First is that I need a television when T-Rex is on a show like Top of the Pops so I can watch them. The second is that when I go out and club to T-Rex music I need to cross dress like a girl or get with a guy cross dressing, a Transvestite, a TV, to really get with the scene. I need to Glam it up. | |
| U2 – Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me Lyrics | 10 years ago |
|
Oh I left something out. "You don't have to go blind" is part of the call to have sex. Don't be shy, come have sex with me. The alternative to having sex with me is masturbation all alone and the old adage is that you go blind from that. So you don't have to be blind is a way of saying you don't have to deny sex with others, which then is a parallel to the later chorus where he says you don't have to deny love |
|
| U2 – Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me Lyrics | 10 years ago |
|
This song is about Bono's character the Fly, a parody of himself. First let's clear up what "kill me." It's the "little death," that is orgasm. So the entire thing of "hold me thrill me kiss me kill me" means "let's have sex and go all the way." Of course there's a double meaning too. The double meaning is that being a rock star with all the celebrity, status, money, fame and glory is like sex but it destroys who you are and kills you. The final climax of rock star status is death- Holly, Valens, Hendrix, Joplin, Morrison, Croce, Presley, Moon, Bonham, Lennon, Nelson, Wood, Cobain, Hoon, Hutchence, Staley. It's the very fan who give the adulation to the star (sex) who also destroy the star by either shooting them, driving them to drink/drugs to escape the madness or forcing them to fly in bad weather to make touring dates. Now let's look at the verses. A rock star, like the Fly, doesn't really create his own stuff, he steals it from others, who in turn stole it from others. That's the stealing from thieves. He's been caught but instead of getting in trouble he gets rich and famous- he's in the spotlight and it's a big limo coming to get him. Rock stars like the Fly are as much about fashion as music and that means often dressing in glam and makeup like a girl, his sister. Tarting up. The music and show get confusing to some, they don't understand it. But if the rock star is big enough it doesn't matter, the more strange (like putting a big TV behind the stage and showing random things on it) it is, the more it gets labeled "art." But he's not really happy in all this. He's a headache and he's always on tour, so he's a headache in a suitcase- that's what a star. This all happens fast once it happens, you go from being a serious musician trying to create meaningful music to some fabuluous celebrity at parties with hanger ons and all sorts of hype and the star doesn't really know how he got there, but he wants out of the fluff, hype, spotlight and back into something more real. But he's ambivalent he's not sure if really wants to give up or not. Plus he's not sure if he deserves it or not, after all he just stole it all from earlier artists. Part of him believes in himself, "I am a rock god." Part of his doesn't. He's a big smash but being a big smash isn't a good thing, it's more like a rash on the skin that itches and won't go away. He shouldn't scratch it, but he can't help it, it feels so good to scratch it. With Bono, that is the Fly, there's more to this rock star status than with others because Bono began as a religious rock star, people even though U2 were a Christian Band and one of their first hits was a worship song called "Gloria." Bono was and is a serious humanitarian, almost preachy it times in his social concerns. In Rattle & Hum he is preaching about South Africa before "Silver and Gold" and realizes he's going to far and has to stop himself with "I didn't mean to bug ya." So that means that not only do the fans want him to be the star, they want him to be a religious figure. They want him to be like Jesus, they want him to go down on one knee and pray at concerts, like he used to do with "Help," slowing it down and making it a prayer to God for help. But religious folk can be just as fickle as anyone and they want their leaders to be martyrs. They turned on Jesus and killed, crucified, him at 33. But when they turn on rock stars they just want to leave the show and get their money back. In realizing all this, Bono admits that what's he does with his religiosity as a rock star is pimp it- he's turning tricks with his crucifix. This song is very much a critical put down of his own persona, which he dubbed the Fly in Achtung Baby. In the video the cartoon Bono is often the Fly, he's also the Devil, who is both criticing him and at the same time seducing him into the excess of rock star status. Batman? Well, is all this true of Bruce Wayne too? Is Bono the rock star a good guy or a bad guy? Is he a thieving tart or Jesus? Well, is Batman a noble figure trying to hold back the darkness or is he psychopath who created his villains when he donned a mask himself? The song seems to indicate he's both. |
|
| The Beatles – Dig a Pony Lyrics | 11 years ago |
|
This song is a mash up of two very different ideas. First of all I think that John isn't so much saying "I" at the beginning of each verse but "High." The song is about getting high, on drugs of course, and every term is a euphemism for it: Dig a pony, do a road hog, pick a moon dog, roll a stoney, feel the wind blow and load a lorry (not dug a pony.) When you do this, John is saying, when you toke up, then you celebrate anything, penetrate any place, radiate everything you are, imitate everyone, indicate everything and syndicate every boat you row. All this means is that you become high, you become wonderful, powerful, with it, connected, etc. In this sense the line "All I want is you" is about drugs. All you need may be love but all I want is drugs. But why say ONE thing when you can say TWO things Each verse is also about another musician who impacted John. Dig a Pony- the Pony was a dance connected to Chubby Checkers. Chubby's simple rock 'n roll was all about celebration. Do a Road Hog- a hog is a Harley motorcycle, a road hog is one on the road, one of heavy metal, keep your motor running, Steppenwolf had burst out with the music to Easy Rider. This film and this music was about going new places, both metaphorically and literally. It was overtly sexual too. PIck a Moon Dog- the Moondogs were the other Beatles when the band was called "Johnny and the Moondog." The primary Moon Dog that John picked all on his own was Paul McCartney, "Do you want to be in me band?" The Beatles were all about expressing themselves- radiating everything about themselves. Roll a Stoney- the most obvious one: the Rolling Stones, whose music was the eptiomy of British Blues, taking the old Blues of Black Americans and redoing them- imitating everything you know. Is John here putting down Mick Jagger or just commenting? Feel the Wind Blow- another obvious allusion: Bob Dylan and "Blowing in the Wind" and "How Does It Feel?" Dylan's music was indicating what was going on, the relevance of folk music. Load a Lorry- the summation of it all- the final point of music as a business is not self expression or artistic homage or social commentary or simple party time or deeper sexual expression- the end of music as a business is SELLING the songs and loading up the lorries with the records and syndicating the composition. In the end the suits take over. But for John all he really wants music-wise now, in this second meaning, is what so many already have said: to please Yoko One and be with her. John later saying it was garbage? Of course he said that. John had no place for people who couldn't get it, weren't willing to let the lyrics speak for themselves. So he'd put them off with some story that it's meaningless. Was the song meaningless? Well, yeah for the suits who only swa the point as syndicating every boat they rowed. To them it's just garbage that sells. |
|
| Filter – Take A Picture Lyrics | 12 years ago |
|
Lyrics have at least two meanings. The first is the intended meaning of the songwriter. I think there's a lot of evidence that meaning is about Richard Patrick getting drunk on a plane, stripping and having it photographed and sent to his father, with a sub-text of what it means to be famous. But the second meaning of a lyric is what it means to the person who values the song. Sometimes that second meaning is close to the intended meaning. But sometimes this personal meaning goes off in another direction. A lot of poets and songwriters insist that personal meanings are as important as original intended meaning. I find a lot of posts at this site are actually people sharing their personal meaning, even if they don't distinguish between the two meanings. Here's my personal meaning for this song. When I hear this song or watch the video, I experience intense nostalgia. I don't mean just remembering some period in the past fondly. I'm talking an existential connection between the me of the present moment and a time of my life that is gone where I experience a deep spiritual and emotional nexus that combines both remembering what what was real and intense loss because it no longer is real and is no longer experienced and not fully remembered. This, for me, is both soul piercing sadness and elevating joy at the same time. I very much want to feel this but it also very much hurts to feel it. Three things really activate this intense state. Scent, music and images. For instance the smell of cut grass on a hot day takes me right back to my teenage years while not taking me fully enough back, thus I have this experience. The music of this song, now over a decade later, has this powerful effect on me. It's like a magic spell activating the time period when my adult sons were teenagers and we were evolving from them liking my music to me liking theirs. But the words, for me, have a personal meaning that is all about this nostalgia. You see when that past was present I was "Awake" to it, My skin was "bare" to it, even belonging to it, being "theirs," all that was around me including the other people who were there. Here's something weird about this experience. It doesn't matter if back then it was a good or bad experience, it didn't matter if what was happening to me was due to others' scorn or hypocrisy or sanctity. I was awake to it all and now I'm not. Then it was "real" and I was "newborn" into that reality, but now it's gone. So what I needed to make it somehow real now is a picture, a storing of the moment, because "I won't remember" it fully, it will be lost fully. Thus I will have this nostalgia. A lot of nostalgia like this for me is a mix of either when I was a child/youth, in which a vital part of my life was relating to my parents, or when my children were young, in which a vital part of my lfie was relating as a parent. Either way the refrain "Hey dad what do you think of your son now" captures all that, both of them, even though I'm a woman. The entire experience includes the then and the now and what would my dad then think now of me his daughter and what do I now think now about my son(s) then. So that's my personal meaning of the song. I think it is congruent with the original meaning about a specific moment in Richard Patrick's life, because I think he also realized the same existential nexus between that specific moment and the rest of his existence afterwards. But even if it's just my personal meaning, it's still my personal meaning. |
|
| America – A Horse With No Name Lyrics | 12 years ago |
|
I once met a guy who had been involved in the rock scene in L.A. in the early 70s. He claimed he got royalties for this song because he helped write the chorus. This was his story: He and some friends, including a guy who'd later be part of America, partied an entire weekend at someone's home, which one of his friends was house sitting. They ended up in the empty pool playing guitar for hours. The guy claimed he was just getting into Crystal Meth at the time. He was IV shooting up Crystal Meth the entire weekend and he and some others started jamming. The lyrics, "I've been through the desert on a horse with no name," referred to being out in the South California desert in the dry pool at this house shooting up Crystal Meth, which he said is what "a horse with no name" meant. He then claimed that later the guy from America developed the song writing the verses, using it to mean a real horse traveling through a desert rather than being in a dry pool in a house in the desert of L.A. If his story is true this song never was about Heroin, nor withdrawal from drugs. It was about a weekend long binge on Crystal Meth. But it also has all the alternative non-drug meaning many here argue for. It would be about both. But was this guy telling the truth? I don't know. |
|
| Cat Stevens – Lilywhite Lyrics | 12 years ago |
|
I agree this is a powerful and moving song. But I don't think we need to try to make it just about something metaphorical. It precisely is powerful because it is about the profound in the mundane of life. It's not necessary to find some deep meaning in the lyrics. If we take them at face value they tell a story that is how life is and how in the middle of the normal we have moments of meaning. "Back on the mended road I pause taking time to check the dial." He's back on the road, a road that has been mended, that is there's a patch of new asphalt. As he drives over that he pauses from looking at the road to check one of his meters in the car, most likely his speedometer. This is just a normal, mundane moment in life. But as he does it he remembers this girl he recalls and calls her by a flower, Lilywhite. He thinks of her this way because he doesn't even know her name. What ever the connection was with her, it wasn't enough for him to be able to say much about her, but she had a profound impact on her. However he met her he is sure they'll meet again. That will is important to him. Now he looks back up to his driving and puts his hand back on the steering wheel. Maybe he had to tap the dial to make it work, who knows, but he'd taken his hand off the wheel. Literally this is the wheel that changes the direction of his car. As he puts his hand back he feels his life has changed because of this girl and he owns that he changes his car's direction by steering the wheel and he changes his life by every action he takes. This deeper awareness of how profound a mundane moment is, of checking a dial and returning his intention to his steering wheel is due to his re-experiencing in his memory this encounter with this girl and for that he is thankful to her and committed to meeting her again. Now can there be deeper metaphorical meaning? Is the dial the dial of life? Is the wheel the wheel of karma? Is he understanding this girl, whom he calls a flower, to be even more than just a girl but some spiritual figure or calling or destiny? Of course! But the whole deepness is due to all this metaphor being imminent right in the aspects of a concrete moment in life, a concrete moment that was one of those epiphany moments that we never forget. The deep emotion of this moment is found in the music. I think of the straight forward and simple guitar strumming as paralleling the concrete moment. The growing strings, which eventually at the end of the song are all there and go on and on, parallel the deep emotion and spirituality he feels in that concrete moment. |
|
| John Lennon – How Do You Sleep? Lyrics | 12 years ago |
|
Too Many People was before How Do You Sleep. It was in response to Too Many People and Dear Boy that John did How Do You Sleep. Paul admitted that TMP was about John. But he said that DB was not. But I think that Paul may have thought that Instant Karma was an attack on him and was responding to that. |
|
| John Lennon – How Do You Sleep? Lyrics | 12 years ago |
|
nope. John quit the band in September 1969 with the words, "I want a divorce." His intention at that point was to do only solo work, with maybe Ringo and George working with him. But what he'd convinced Ringo and George on, was to keep the corporation going and have Allen Klein manage it for them. Paul was devastated. He still believed in the band and had thought for a long time what they needed was to get back on the road again. The Let It Be sessions had started off as something like that but never went to it. He actually became clinically depressed with his band gone in the Fall of '69. Meanwhile Paul was convinced that Allen Klein was a crook and refused to let him manage him. Unfortunately the other three in the corporation were working with Klein and then Phil Spectre, who from Paul's perspective butchered his music from Let It Be. Paul had been convinced by Linda to go back to work and so he did the exact opposite of what he really wanted. Instead of working with a band on the road he went into the studio and recorded with himself. It was only after the corporation under Klein's control ignored his request over his own music and tried to delay the release of his album that he realized that this marriage was over and that despite the statement that he wanted a divorce what John really wanted was a permanent separation without a divorce leaving Paul with no legal rights what so ever. So he took legal action so he could get on with his life. It took him over six months to finally accept this after John broke the band up and to tell the press and then another seven months before he finally filed suit. It took him another nine months before he was ready to do what he really wanted all along, go out and play in front of audiences in small venues with a band. That was Wings. |
|
| John Lennon – How Do You Sleep? Lyrics | 12 years ago |
|
It all depends on how you look at it. A few years back Rolling Stone did an extended article on what happened. Paul still believed in the Beatles as a group in the late 60s while John and George were both more disillusioned. After Brian died there was a hole in direction. Paul, because he still believed in the band, tended to be the one to be enthused with an idea and worked to sell it. They did try two things to find some inspiration: the Maharishi and Apple. Both ended up being flawed. That left only Paul at all invested in the band. Plus George and John resented Paul because he had the big hits. Despite John's bashing Paul in this song all you have to do is look at the song list of the CD "One" and realize that after about late 65 the big hits were all Paul songs with only a few from John. According to the Rolling Stone article this is what led to the break up. But what is also lost is that Paul did NOT want the break up. Yes he finally sued to end the corporation, but only after months of severe depression that his mates had deserted him. One more thing. The line "You live with straights who tell you you was king," was bashing Paul for not agreeing with the other Beatles to turn management over to Allen Klein, a rock 'n roll manager, but making Lee Eastwood, Linda's brother, and John Eastwood, Linda's father, his management team. John calls them straights here. This was the actual legal battle that Paul sued the rest over, he didn't want Klein, whom he didn't trust, to manage him. John and crew were very pissed off at Paul for doing this. But by the time the suit was settled in 75 they were on his side! John and crew realized the straights were honest and Klein was a crook. Oh well. |
|
| Paul McCartney – The Back Seat of My Car Lyrics | 12 years ago |
|
No, I don't think it was addressed to John. Yes it was released on Ram right during that time the two of them were talking through songs to each other. But you see Back Seat was an old song. Paul actually brought it to the Get Back /Let It Be sessions and there are recordings of the Beatles performing it. But since it never was released Paul eventually did it for Ram. It's intriguing that in 71 Paul recorded and released an old song like that because John did too. Jealous Guy was written in 68 when they were in India, although the lyrics were more recent. Paul took months to get the lyrics for Yesterday; John took years for Jealous Guy. Oh well. |
|
| The Smashing Pumpkins – The Beginning Is the End Is the Beginning Lyrics | 12 years ago |
|
So here it is the last days of 2011 and my adult son asks me what big movie is premiering on Christmas Day. I don't know, but I go to fandango to find out and there's this film "The Darkest Hour." Suddenly Billy Corgan's voice is running through my head. I'm not satisfied with this echo and go You Tube to hear it with my out ears, listening to the whole song first and then watching the famous Watchmen trailer. Being me I google the lyrics too to read them as I listen. You know one of the moments of my life I'll never forget was seeing the trailer for the first time at the Dark Knight. It was an extraordinary moment as the great music of SP was woven together with the best scenes of the film, woven perfectly. In some ways I think the trailer as a small film is better than the real film, which never had the song in it. "In your darkest hour, I hold secret flames, we can watch the world devoured in its pain." I can't say what Billy meant when he wrote this. All I can say is what it means to me when I hear it. Sometimes things are bad. Sometimes the world seems dark. Some hours are darker than others. But what do I do in my darkest hour yet? It seems there's no hope. It seems there nothing to help. The center does not hold. Something wicked this way comes and is slouching it's way to Bethlehem to be born and to end the world. Well, that's how it feels anyway. Life seems empty. The color drains out of things. The flavor has gone out of existence. The difference between the marco world, the cosmos, and the micro inner world of existence doesn't make sense anymore. My world is falling apart and I can't really tell if that's just my perspective of if the whole shebang is really blowing up. But I'm not alone. I don't know who Billy intended to be telling the "you" who has the darkest hour that he or she isn't alone, but the weird thing for me is that the one who comes along side me and keeps me from being alone is ME. I don't only experience the dismal doom of despair, I observe myself experiencing them and I relate to myself experiencing them. It seems for me that the more dark my hour is the more I split like this, feeling horror and standing outside myself seeing my feel horror. I come along side myself with a secret flame, a hidden flame, a way of seeing that is secrete and doesn't undo the darkness but let's me see through it. Then with myself I sit and watch my world devour itself in its pain. There's no hope here in these lines. But somehow the very lack of hope seems to be hope. Maybe it's the Watchmen trailer impacting my experience of the words: Night Owl dropping to the ground, The Comedian wading into a riot, Silk Spectre floating down a flight of stairs, Rorshack saying no to the cries of the world, Dr. Manhattan's empty crystal city (palace cracked) rising from the dust of a dead world, Veidt standing tall, arrogant, beautiful and insane; but I can't give up even when I feel most like giving up, even most alone so the only one with me is myself. But I can't do anything so I'll sit and watch. Strange. |
|
| Rage Against the Machine – Wake Up Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| P.J. O'Rourke is a shill for the rich 1%; he just happens to be a witty one who is friends with Bill Mahr, but don't doubt for a second he'd sell you the rope needed to hang him. (In saying that I don't promote violence any more than Tom does. We're both non-violent.) | |
| Graham Nash – Chicago (We Can Change The World) Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| Yes, its about the trial and especially the binding and gagging of Bobby Seale during the trial. There was a call for Leftists to come to stand in solidarity with the Chicago 8 and testify on behalf of the defendants. Nash wanted his bandmates Crosby and Stills to come and sing in Chicago to support the defendants. He wrote this right at that time. | |
| Buffalo Springfield – For What It's Worth Lyrics | 12 years ago |
|
Yes, I agree. I remember when the song was new. I always associated it with Mike Nesmith of the Monkees talking about the Sunset Strip riots on the Monkees TV show. But now it fits so perfectly OWS. When I participate in my local Occupy Movement I find myself singing it aloud just as I sing "Give Peace a Chance" and "Power to the People." Those three songs are the trifecta of protest songs for me. |
|
| Coldplay – Yellow Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| I think all you cite also works if we understand the song to be about giving blood for his mother who has cancer. | |
| Coldplay – Yellow Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| BeatSoLife, thank you for that information about his mom and her dying of cancer. This song has always made me cry when I hear it, especially when I see the video and Chris walks on the beach singing it as the sun rises. I never really understood why it affected me that way. Now, I think I do. | |
| The Beatles – Blackbird Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| Yeah, I've heard it too, but I've also heard that that is an interpretation from those listening to the song, not from Paul himself. I don't know if Paul has ever commented on whether that interp is valid or not. | |
| Paul McCartney – Every Night Lyrics | 12 years ago |
|
This is a song about the battle between the rock musician life and the life of a family man with a true love. He wants to go out every night to escape his thoughts, what we now call getting into the zone, but what Paul called getting out of his head. When he goes out what he wants to do is play out, that is he wants to make music, play his instrument. But the secondary meaning is he wants to be a player, get the girls because he is the musician. During the day he just wants to be a slacker. He doesn't want to work. He wants to live off the meager money he makes as a musician. During the day he wants to sleep in and not get out of bed. Once he is awake he just wants to hang out, wasting time, leaning on a lamp post doing nothing. He says he just wants to do, there is nothing to add, just do, not do something. The line about every morning brings a new day and every night that day is through has two meanings. The first meaning is that every day just exists to pass into the night when things matter. But the second meaning is the bridge to the other value calling him. He recognizes that things are changing. This is a new day and time for a new life. Because his new family and his new love have given him a new desire. Instead of being out and about, being a player and musician enjoying the night life, he now just wants to stay home and to be with his love. When he calls her "momma" he means that she is the mother of the family he wants now. But there's still a struggle; so he has to ask his momma to believe him. It's not a given. She has to in some way trust him that he really is choosing family over nightlife. Most of Paul's songs were not about himself, unlike John who was basically a journalistic songwriter. But this song is a very personal song for Paul. It is the companion song to Maybe I'm Amazed. It describes the changes that Linda made in him. When I perform this song it becomes a song about how at the moment I perform, the only person or people I want to be with are the person or people I'm singing to. |
|
| Neil Young – Sugar Mountain Lyrics | 12 years ago |
|
I loved this song for years. Finally in 2002 I learned to play and sing it. My middle son, my bad boy, was 20, and he was moving out of the state to live in California instead of near me in Washington State. For me this song will always be about him growing up so fast. Once he was a child joying in the simple things in life, going to fairs with me and my ex, thrilled with candy. He lived on Sugar Mountain. But then he grew up. He became interested in things teens are interested in, like the girl down the aisle. Then he rebelled, glaring at people and sneaking cigarettes. Finally he fully moved away to live as an adult on his own, but the world slapped him in the face. He found out it was real, or as I sang the song in 2002 I figured he was finding out what it meant to be on his own and not in the protected world of being a child. This will always be a precious song to me about the brevity of childhood as seen from a parent's perspective, even though Neil was most likely addressing himself in the song with the second person, to me it is a parent singing to newly adult son. |
|
* This information can be up to 15 minutes delayed.