submissions
| Mike And The Mechanics – Silent Running Lyrics
| 8 years ago
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@[Arbiter:18673] You probably know this by now, but the movie originally titled "On Dangerous Ground" was titled "Choke Canyon" when it was released in the U.S. Since the bands' members are primarily British, they would have associated the song with the continental release of the movie under the former title. |
submissions
| Styx – Mr. Roboto Lyrics
| 12 years ago
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I like your childhood interpretation of this song as well, Xenomantid. It reminds me of Rush's "The Body Electric" from the Grace Under Pressure album from the early 80's. |
submissions
| Judas Priest – Electric Eye Lyrics
| 12 years ago
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I must respectfully disagree with those who think that these lyrics directly reference "1984". Perhaps Priest had George Orwell's classic in the back of their minds when they penned these words, but it seems more likely that they were referencing the growing sophistication of spy satellites and their use in suppressing socio-political dissent when this was written way back in 1982.
This song is amazingly prophetic when you consider how every one of us are under a great deal more surveillance today than we were thirty years ago. They can keep an eye on us with satellites when we're on the street and via software and security cameras when we step inside.
Plus, "Electric Eye" just rocks hard, period. |
submissions
| Metallica – The Unforgiven Lyrics
| 13 years ago
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I don't know if the supposition above "Having a god not forgiving you is the most intense pain a man can experience," is universally applicable. I suppose it depends upon what individual people believe in the most; be it God, science, commerce, love, etc.
I must say that I DO like the premise that "Unforgiven", may be about a god who won't forgive a man. Perhaps it could be about a god not forgiving all of humanity. That gives the lyrics a pretty different turn, considering that for the last 2000 years Christians have taken for granted that God will forgive them if they repent their sins. What if, by regretting the bad things you have done, you allow yourself to be labeled as "unforgiven" by God, who in essence is you. |
submissions
| Jethro Tull – Scenario/Audition/No Rehearsal Lyrics
| 13 years ago
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As I recall from the liner notes in the "20 Years of Jethro Tull" collection from 1988, these three related songs (I'm still wondering if I should call them a trilogy) were from an early 70's batch of studio recordings that Tull did in France. Most of that material was unsalvageable due to unfocused session work and "funky French recording studios". A couple of songs (I cannot remember which) made it into "Minstrel in the Gallery".
These three songs, as far as I know, did not see the light of day until the aforementioned "20 Years" compilation, when they were collectively dubbed "The Chateau D'Isaster Tapes". |
submissions
| Jethro Tull – No Lullaby Lyrics
| 13 years ago
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Hmmm. I don't know about LaughingLynx's idea about a deceased older sibling; I cannot see that in the lyrics myself. I do, however, like his connecting the mythical dangers of dragons, ghosts, and devils to the real dangers of childhood like SIDS and various childhood diseases. Much like those older perceived dangers, children are more susceptible to these real perils than adults, despite everything parents do to protect them (locks, chains, dogs).
In a more expansive sense, "No Lullaby" is about a loss of innocence once children learn fear. The singer is almost guiding the child in ways to strike back at the darkness in terms a child can understand like "come out fighting with your rattle in hand" and "gather your toys in a call to arms". He's telling the child to be watchful and wary and mindful that he or she is vulnerable. The child is his or her own last line of defense, which is a paralyzing thought for those of us who have children. |
submissions
| Jethro Tull – Christmas Song Lyrics
| 13 years ago
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I think that Ian Anderson is just holding up a mirror for us here. I see nothing in the song that speaks of the singers superiority to his audience. He's just making sure that we don't go off a-partying without thinking about those who have less or what the true meaning of the Holiday season is supposed to be about. |
submissions
| Jethro Tull – Beside Myself Lyrics
| 13 years ago
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"Beside Myself" is a lament. The setting is definitively India ("streets of Bombay"), but the situation could be anywhere where poor people have to struggle everyday to survive. The method of survival here is prostitution, as is implied by "I saw you taking money in the shadows" and "Strip off that work paint (makeup), put on a cleaner face." The purveyors are underage ("Small child messing down") and male ("Big sister can you hear him/Big sister can you see him cry").
But the song is really about the narrator who sees these things, knows that they are wrong, feels powerless to do anything about them, and wonders if he even should ("Cities like this have no shame, indeed why should they?"). That contradiction, evils that persist because that is how the most desperate of us survive and that is the way it has always been, causes the narrator to be "beside himself" with anger that can find no release ("Between the guilt and charity, I feel the wimp inside of me").
Musically, I would rate "Beside Myself" up there with the very best of Jethro Tull's songs. Its melody is complex and varied: light when it's required, heavy when it wants to be. It rocks as no other song on "Roots to Branches" does. |
submissions
| Steely Dan – Change Of The Guard Lyrics
| 13 years ago
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My take on the "Change Of The Guard" is that Fagen and Becker are commenting on the "Counter-culture" of the 1960's. What's more, it sounds like they are painting it in a positive light! This is not exactly the sort of treatment most fans have come to expect from Steely Dan on ANY subject, much less one that is now discounted as essentially a bunch of self-deluded hippies.
Forty-plus years of time has given us a certain perspective on past events, but it has also obscured the passion and feeling of the era. We forget how strongly a great many then-young people felt about changing the world that they were born into but had no power over. It seems that Donald and Walter got caught up in those times; indeed, those times wouldn't have been the same without them.
It is important to note that "Change of the Guard" is not without precedent: the title track to "Old Regime" talks very much about the same thing: i.e. that the time for changing the dominant paradigm has come. Another relevent point is that "Can't Buy A Thrill", while hitting the shelves in 1972, was Steely Dan's first album and, as such, may have contained some worthy material that was concieved and arranged while Fagen and Becker were collaborating in the late 60's when the feelings as are expressed in the song were not yet passe. |
submissions
| Steely Dan – Charlie Freak Lyrics
| 13 years ago
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Thank you for writing what is on my mind every time that I hear this song. Homelessness is a subject that is almost never addressed in music. The only other example I can think of is Phil Collins' "Another Day in Paradise". While heartfelt and moving, it is not nearly so good a track as "Charlie Freak". |
submissions
| Steely Dan – Charlie Freak Lyrics
| 13 years ago
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I guess I wasn't the only one who possibly mis-heard lyrics in this song. Even so, in a forum like this these different interpretations of some of the lines only add to the richness of the meaning in "Charlie Freak". An absolutely stellar Fagen/Becker creation buried deep on the second side of "Pretzel Logic". |
submissions
| Steely Dan – Charlie Freak Lyrics
| 13 years ago
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Man, all these years I thought that Fagen was singing "while he sighed his body died in FIFTY ways." Does anybody think that my interpretation alters the meaning of the song at all? |
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