| R.E.M. – Perfect Circle Lyrics | 2 years ago |
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PERFECT CIRCLE In life, we moved from childhood to adulthood. But we learn the importance of recycling through our past to assist us to appreciate and understand the present and the future. The circle of life is more than just childhood, adulthood and then old age. We can cycle through childhood innocence and the wisdom of adulthood many times in the same day. This is for me the concept of perfect circle: a eurphoric voyage through time to find all our variuos fragments. The piano speaks to me of a winding road taken back in time to recapture a missing piece of the puzzle needed for a challenge today. (same piano sound in sara from Fleetwood mac, I find????) These lyrics speak of fragments of ourselves strewn across the chequerboard of time. The mind pulls out details of important moments or pivot movements in our psyche; thus these incoherent lyrics, like a reverie or daydream. When I read that Mr Buck cried to oversee a kids game of football it helps to convince me that the song IS about appreciating the different times of our life to become complete. It can be emotional and those tears are in fact tears of happiness; happiness to be alive. I just love this song because it is a catalyst to appreciate LIFE Thanks so much REM ???????????? |
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| R.E.M. – Perfect Circle Lyrics | 2 years ago |
| @[driver08uk:37726] thanks so much for telling us about the touch football game, it really helps to know this point ;););) | |
| Keane – Can't Stop Now Lyrics | 3 years ago |
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@[Makeitmeansomething:35781] I meant TOM (not TIM) :):):) |
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| Keane – Can't Stop Now Lyrics | 3 years ago |
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@[Makeitmeansomething:35780] "The motion keeps my heart running..." "The motion keeps my heart running..." "The motion keeps my heart running..." "The motion keeps my heart running..." |
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| Keane – Can't Stop Now Lyrics | 3 years ago |
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I think the song is about someone who needs to SPIRITUALLY REBOOT THEIR SYSTEM to restart their broken heart. In a personal relationship, when we have emotional pain or disappointment we often enter into a dysfunctional mental and emotional space. It can be that our heart stops and so we neglect our friends, our family. Essentially the other parts of our lives that are outside our personal relationship suffer as a result. I think here the reference to running or ‘the motion’ is not so much a physical motion but a spiritual one. Here he wants to have a spiritual restart to believe in life, to be active in his spirit again. So at the end, he says: ‘the motion’ (believing in life) keeps his heart ‘running’ (operating). I like to think that once he fixes his broken heart that he can return to trying again in love :) I so love the sincerity of the lyrics and delivery of Tim’s vocals, it is so beautiful. But he is a beautiful person in real life Thanks Keane |
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| Neil Young – Don't Let It Bring You Down Lyrics | 4 years ago |
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@[featherpaperweight:32882] thank you so much for this wonderfully insightful and rich interpretation. Every part of this is a pleasure to read. I feel it fits, it has incredible resonance. it makes me think of Joni Mitchell's circle game. go there to continue your beautiful wise and kind journey. Thank you again for shining a light and helping me lose some of my own blindness in the process. We don't need those castles, let us get closer to the truth ...LOVE |
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| Donna Summer – MacArthur Park Lyrics | 7 years ago |
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Hi everyone, gee i LOVE LOVE LOVE this song. I have known for most of my life the DONNA SUMMER version which is amazing due to Donna's beautiful voice and the disco sound. But please also check out the Richard Harris version which came first. It is so genuine and multi-layered, with 4 parts which are all very contrasting. The Green cake metaphor also intrigued me so i looked it up. Jimmy Webb wrote this song about the end of a relationship in 1965. He used to meet this woman in Macarthur park in LA at that time. They had these big birthday parties there when he would spend time with his lover. He said he was re-enacting those times when he wrote the lyrics. The cake could been seen as a metaphor for the creation of the relationship and so after the end, the cake was wasted. The rain is the emotions of sadness after it ended. But you see the cake is also a literal memory from the relationship before it ended. Jimmy put all the real stuff into the lyrics :) the best ingredients to any cake, sorry, song lol love love love it |
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| Paula Cole – I Don't Want To Wait Lyrics | 7 years ago |
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@[MattC075:16703] thank you for such an open and inspiring post. you sound so strong and courageous to me. life's challenges make us stronger. you sjow us that :) thank uo |
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| The Commodores – Nightshift Lyrics | 9 years ago |
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@[N:1773] thanks N, * your interpretation of NIGHTSHIFT as HEAVEN really touches me people stay with us forever LOVE never dies |
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| The Commodores – Nightshift Lyrics | 9 years ago |
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REAL POWER - - - I learned tonight that this was a tribute to MARVIN Gaye and JACKIE Wilson/ i like the interpretation here that NIGHTSHIFT could be their heaven. what strikes me so much is that this song is full of LOVE - - - The artist is reinforcing that 'we are not alone', ... we are influenced by souls departed, ... even after they go, - - - this is the real power in these sung verses |
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| Kate Bush – Wow Lyrics | 9 years ago |
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@[musicatokc:1623] she could have just as easily been referring to a straight playboy (steve mcqueen type) with the vaseline comment lol |
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| Kate Bush – Wow Lyrics | 9 years ago |
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@[cheesezebra:1622] i agree with you and think that her campness has been misinterpreted here. It is relevant to portray the narrator as a camp, it feeds into the tone of tragedy but i really think that she is making a two sided commentary on ALL artists versus their critics (see my posting) |
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| Kate Bush – Wow Lyrics | 9 years ago |
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@[carrotkins:1621] i agree that this is more addressed to art industry (gay or straight). It seems that being camp in the video has been taken too literally on this thread :( |
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| Kate Bush – Wow Lyrics | 9 years ago |
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Firstly i do not think this song is specifically about gay artists in their profession but i do admit though her campness does make us think of them whether she is intending to parody a gay perpetrator or a gay victim// i think the song is specifically a satire on the negative feedback artists are subjected to from within the profession (directors, casting personnel etcc...) or outside it (the audience, the critics). She references them all in the lyrics. She is mocking the would-be know it alls and also the artists themselves for almost asking for it. I like the fact that she is portraying both sides of the story. She is saying yes i am an artist and i am subjected to the pretentious nonsense from the profession and the press/ public but she is also saying maybe we are pretentious ourselves and indulgent. the ending: 'we are all alone tonight' is a haunting mirror that we witness her holds up to herself: almost as a test to whether or not she is really being herself. This opens it up more as a question: who is worse? |
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| Tori Amos – Virginia Lyrics | 9 years ago |
| she will supply | |
| Tori Amos – Virginia Lyrics | 9 years ago |
| she will supply | |
| Tori Amos – Virginia Lyrics | 9 years ago |
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wow i am so blown away by your incredible insight. Of course you are right about the link to naive americans and Virginia the location. I understood that the Girl's name and the state were Tori's intentional interplay. But I completely missed the link between the virgin and mother earth. It dramatically transforms the tone of the entire piece for me: This is a song about loss of innocence and the virgin must try to find her identity to regain that innocence. Thank you so much for your wonderful posting. If you are a true Tori fan you'll appreciate why this means a lot to me: Tori is always referencing the virgin in her work and here it was yet again. 'she will supply' in professional widow, i know she will remember her name even after the ghetto pimps and the corrupt presidents ... i just know!!! :) |
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| Tori Amos – Virginia Lyrics | 9 years ago |
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wow i am so blown away by your incredible insight. Of course you are right about the link to naive americans and Virginia the location. I understood that the Girl's name and the state were Tori's intentional interplay. But I completely missed the link between the virgin and mother earth. It dramatically transforms the tone of the entire piece for me: This is a song about loss of innocence and the virgin must try to find her identity to regain that innocence. Thank you so much for your wonderful posting. If you are a true Tori fan you'll appreciate why this means a lot to me: Tori is always referencing the virgin in her work and here it was yet again. 'she will supply' in professional widow, i know she will remember her name even after the ghetto pimps and the corrupt presidents ... i just know!!! :) |
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| David Bowie – John, I'm Only Dancing Lyrics | 9 years ago |
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the more i think about it now, i think SCAREXCROW is right - - - this is what i think:- - - - (again if we assume ziggy is the name of the singer here) Perhaps Annie and Joe are a straight couple. They go to this bar with a couple Ziggy and John. (John is gay but ziggy is bi). - - - Ziggy is dancing with Annie in this sexual way and since he is BI John has to be reassured that it is only attention seeking rather than a real come on!!! |
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| David Bowie – John, I'm Only Dancing Lyrics | 9 years ago |
| the more i think about it now, i think you are right. Perhaps Annie and Joe are a straight couple. They go to this bar with a couple Ziggy and John. (John is gay but ziggy is bi). Ziggy is dancing with Annie in this sexual way and since he is BI John has to be reassured that it is only attention seeking rather than a real come on!!! | |
| David Bowie – John, I'm Only Dancing Lyrics | 9 years ago |
| So Joe is 'she' and the other gay guy, then leaving us asking who is ANNIE ??? LOL | |
| David Bowie – John, I'm Only Dancing Lyrics | 9 years ago |
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(Well so lets call the singer ziggy) - - - ziggy is dancing with annie He tells john that he is just moved by the music rather than the woman So john is either annie’s boyfriend or ziggy’s boyfriend. - - - I like to think it is the gay version since it has much more taboo :) - - - But who joe is, well that has me stumped |
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| Zazie – Je suis un homme Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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hey halfbloodsister thank you for the translation. Concerning your interpretation, I could not have put it better, yes this is a pondering of an artist on what we are doing with our planet. and what an artist she is. This really engages our conscience and activates the heart!!! I just love this so much - - - Moi je tourne, on tourne en, en rond. |
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| Johnny Cash – Hurt (Nine Inch Nails cover) Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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I would also agree with he people in this thread who have felt that Johnny Cash has made a very personal and powerful re-interpretation of the original work. - - - I have been haunted by this piece simply because it has such dark and hopeless overtones. I would normally avoid anything that is so dark but there is also a purity here: You feel he is trying to redeem himself and there is something so honest in the whole unadorned expression; yes its rawness is hard but the truth is to be admired. - - - The eternal optimisit in me wants to believe that through his expression of loss and regret that he has to find solace through learning; that somewhere later on down the line, he WILL FIND HOPE and maybe for a second time look back, this time with more perspective, this time with more hope. - - - This work is so powerful and truly has to be recognized for the art that it is. Thank you Johnny RIP |
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| London Grammar – Strong Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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BTW - - - 'caught in the middle' refers to being coaught in the middle of 1. BEING STRONG 2. BEING VULNERABLE - - - i guess that is if you agree with my previous personal interpretation :) |
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| London Grammar – Strong Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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STRENGTH AND VULNERABILITY - - - There is a beautiful diametric nature between human strength and vulnerability. Strength and vulnerability both exist on emotional, spiritual, intellectual and physical levels. - But everyone actually needs to have experience of both extremes strength and vulnerability to be complete: - - - When we face fear we can eliminate it through courage. This journey starts with vulnerability and ends with strength. It is human nature to experience vulnerability and strength within the same journey. - It is survival instinct that drives us to be strong when we are vulnerable. Most survivors will say that their challenges are what trained them to be strong. Without the experience of vulnerability very few of us will ever face such a challenge and thus never learn. - (Note that vulnerability is not the same as weakness) - - - In the video the opposing forces are presented: The nurturing father preparing to entertain the child (his strength) but the look of tiredness or worry of a parent’s responsibility on his face as he walks with the child on his shoulder (his vulnerability). - This is represented conversely with the previously sleeping child (vulnerable) later offering protection to the parent at the end (strong). - - - The song’s lyrics re-iterate the important of listening to nature:- The lion’s roars should be listened to (strength) The child’s cries should be acted upon (vulnerability) - - - The message:- Be strong but do not forget that it is natural to be vulnerable too. - Nobody is 100% strong, celebrate your vulnerability. - If you give to the child when they need help, there will be someone there to help you when you too are vulnerable. - - - BTW The lyric is : ‘If a child, a child cries would you not GIVE them’ |
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| T'pau – China In Your Hand Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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THE CHEMISTRY CANNOT BE PREDICTED: WE CANNOT KNOW WHAT WE WANT IN ADVANCE I agree with the Frankenstein inspiration but i still think we ought to try to translate the inspiration for the song into some form of interpretation for the song : Here’s what i think : (wonder what you think ?) The point is the potential disparity between the IDEA and the REALITY of a DREAM or DESIRE : I am talking BIG dreams/ desires: the things that we YEARN for or tell everyone we are dying for: A new life in a new country, a new job, a dream lover. There is something to be learned from knowing that an IDEA is rarely a sure guarantee of the eventual REALITY: Frankenstein was an IDEA to create F but the REALITY was so far from the IDEA. In the song the warning of such a disparity between IDEAS and eventual REALITIES is applied to a love relationship (as opposed to creating human life). So the warning is : you might dream or desire strongly to have this big love story (IDEA) but be careful since NOBODY ever knows anyone fully until the idea is actually tried out and you both get to know each other (REALITY). Essentially, how can you know what a relationship can be in advance ! Unfortunately in life, we do often make this mistake, we run to love for either looks or security thinking the IDEA will make the REALITY, but after enough real life experiences, we learn that we just cannot ever know what we really want in advance, the ‘chemistry’ cannot be predicted (as in the story of Frankenstein) |
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| Lionel Richie – Say You, Say Me Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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I like to hear this as a love song (romantic love) but of course its original use in film (1985's WHITE NIGHTS) is intended to describe the platonic love between two close friends I think that this song is about: The POWER OF LOVE (whether it be romantic or platonic), that can be so STRONG. LIGHT OVER DARK What i love is that light over dark theme that recurs: the power of love is the light that ALWAYS overcomes the dark of doubt, the uncertainty caused by those who lie or masquerade and even the shadow of loneliness As for the Chorus, i agree with Tambre 2: I think it is about ADVOCATING to the power of love, we need to actually each and one of us, SAY WE LOVE in order to change things, to clear away all the darkness and replace it with LOVE. |
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| Gary Numan – Please Push No More Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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Hi there, I love this song so much! Despite its melancholy sound, i truly believe that there is a progression from problem to resolution. I agree with some of the other comments on here and would like to share my personal opinion, thanks :) - - - VERSE 1: THE PRESSURE OF FAME - - - 1. ‘I'm behind glass, I'll talk to you' His studio recording medium is his most comfortable means of expression Although just as on a prison visit, talking from behind glass, maybe he feels more confined than protected. - - - 2. ‘The telephone lines blind, you have defaced my face’ The media, press or critics communicate powerful misleading defaming and blinding information - - - 3. 'I bet you laughed at me, you bright young things' A normal human insecurity: an artist who is sensitive to negative critics - - - 4. 'And now I need no-one, I miss you, so' The pop machine propaganda: if you are famous, fame is all the love you need. But he is human. He wants human love. Anyway wanting and needing is not the same thing. Independent people can still hold romantic dreams (not need but want love) 5. 'Please push no more' As a conclusion to verse one: Fame presents its pressure - - - VERSE 2: REAL LIFE/ TRUE LOVE - - - 6. 'Now it's all over for sure, I'll walk back home, we must all come down', After the end of a concert: The anti-climactic episode after being on stage: A transition from public persona (fame) to private REFLECTION upon life and love. 7. 'we all grow old, we are close, we are hurt' This is a reflection of REAL things like life and love as opposed to superficial love (fame) Consciousness of his own mortality, need for real love. - - - 8. 'So that was love, and love she kills me, It needs to, so' A reflection on a moment of true love occurs. True love exposes us to the risk of pain. - - - SYNOPSIS - - - VERSE 1: THE PRESSURE OF FAME VERSE 2: REAL LIFE/ TRUE LOVE (as opposed to FAME) - - - Perhaps real life/ true love is what will release him from the pressure of fame We feel that there is liberation from this pressure by the end of the song the dolphins communicating freely, without glass, freely swimming in the sea: nobody is pushing anymore: HE IS FREE |
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| Boy George – Coming Home Lyrics | 10 years ago |
| THANK YOU BOY GEORGE for such an self-empowering track. The lyrics tell a story of someone who has come back to life. The music is a hypnotic tonic. Everything is brought together with your distinctive voice, a Leitmotif, we're none of us, ever going to forget. The video adds that little cheeky twist, something to inspire anyone who is DIFFERENT to see it as a special GIFT, rather than a weak point, in the face of our critics. /// Love it/// YES YES YES | |
| Suzanne Vega – Marlene On The Wall Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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I love this site, it is always so great to see the various personal interpretations of the songs we love. Thank you everyone for your contributions. On a personal level, i think that the opening verse about rose tattoo and blood and fingerprints has always brought to mind a victim of abuse, so i would ten to lean towards that interpretation (put forward by many here already). Whether it is about being a victim of physical abuse or self victimisation by deliberating avoiding intimacy (also possibly stemming from previous bad experinces) the point of the song for me is that she has decided to take her previous fate into her own hands and change it. i love the felling of retrospection, the 'taking you back' to what she once has lived, the invitation into her dangerous and detrimental history. there is something strong there in the gentle singing style of the verses set against the haunting lyrics. But definitely for me, my favourite thing is that a fragile and anxious verse blooms into a tiumphantly confident and strong chorus: the messgae fo rme is that we can change our destiny. I cannot help but think that marlene may be both her role model in danger (femme fatale referenced in the utube link i gave u earlier) and yet also the influence of a strong woman who can steer her out of victim-hood. so Marlene is both a blessing and a curse. just my personal view. thnaks |
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| Suzanne Vega – Marlene On The Wall Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hnBlm-bpyQ interesting that the picture that originally inspired suzanne was actually a picture on a TV!!! :) |
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| Doves – Caught By The River Lyrics | 10 years ago |
| this song is not about escapism: it warns us against escapism and distraction: the message is about GROUNDING YOURSELF TO REAL LIFE, to make something real, rather than getting caught in the river (emotions without structure and purpose) | |
| Madonna – Falling Free Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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LOVE LIVES ON - - - I would agree that this song is SAD and deals with FORCES BEYOND OUR CONTROL, but i would definitely disagree with the comment that it is HOPELESS. This song deals with the narrator's response to the FUSION OF TWO HEARTS: Her response is to see this as a liberation. To surrender control is to fall free. Yes perhaps there is an analogy here to be drawn with death but it also could be about a union found, so long after a wilderness or dark solitude (thus the somber soundscape, perhaps an echo from a previous time) - - - i prefer to see 'falling free' as the powerful freedom to excel to our zenith when we have surrendered our hearts to love. The solemn ending for me is the realisation that live will end, but love never dies. SADNESS in not synonymous with HOPELESSNESS (wonder what sheila thinks ?) thank you madonna |
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| David Gray – Nos Da Cariad Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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(second verse) - - - It passes ‘neath the tree What is it your waiting for ? Sweet love is on its knee - - - (the significance of on its knee (one knee) is a proposal, whereas on its knees is about submission) |
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| Duran Duran – Breath After Breath Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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RESPONSE TO Merlot Goddess: 04-12-2007 i truely adore this song, i have many things i could say, but the previous post so eloquently says it all, ''it expresses the mystery of life'': i love that quote: 'As our conceptual ideas fall away we become pure' MY PERSONAL INTERPRETATION IF you enter into the lyrics and identify with the vocalist. At the start, we experience disorientation, no direction. Then the voice is heard, the muse. The muse is the language of love and life. It gives us a sense of purpose. The music helps to activate what is being told to us, something spiritual is strong within love. It tells us where we come from, where we are going to LOVE : the spirtual love within us. |
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| David Gray – Nos Da Cariad Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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LYRICAL ANALYSIS Yes this song does seem to deal with death, and yes it does seem to reference birth. (I wondered though since death comes before birth in the lyrics.) (I wondered with the running, is he truly running away from something ? but in the chorus I considered isthe running is just living life, using muscle and energy to move your life forward. Could it be both running from and to something ?) This is the key. THE RUNNING: I think the running is simply being active, fighting against the challenges of life (fear and death) living your life. Whereas death/ fear is referenced in the song, i think that it is more about OUR RESPONSE TO OPPRESSION MUSICAL ANAYSIS position 1: Musically the versuses are filled with a melancholic and oppressive piano, there is a feeling of intrepid pusuit (the listener can identify with being chased by something/ someone). position 2: The chorus however conversely is filled with a hopeful and courageous confidence ‘we'll be running afraid of nothing’; the feel here is of adolescence full of verve and drive. MY PERSONAL INTERPRETATION So combing both lyrics and music : This song is set at the end of the day. Feeling tired, low, oppressed by a hard day. There are always fragile and fearful things that come to haunt us when we are weaker. He tells his sweetheart (could be a lover, a muse, or merely externalising a message intended for his soul) ‘go to sleep’, soon you will dream and you will experience a different existence. In the moment of release, 'silence is golden', separated from the forces of oppression in the real world, the soul can be re-charged. In a dream ; we run for our lifes , like an athlete with a sense of purpose, without fear, instead facing fear and overcoming all obstacles. This is the cycle of death and rebirth, every day, letting our fears die and the rebirth of hope. SOMEWHERE BETWEEN SLEEP AND THE DREAM, we recharge, and HOPEFULLY , in the next day, we will be running, in the real world (rather than just in a dream) |
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