| Gordon Lightfoot – The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald Lyrics | 2 years ago |
| I recall hearing this song over and over through the summer of 1976. It is a gut-wrenching ballad, made haunting by the nature of the tune. Forty plus years ago, I guess I was just too much into myself to be affected by the story emotionally. But in recent times, my interest in music in general and in Lightfoot's music specifically has returned, and now, every time the song gets to the verse about the love of God and "all that remains," I shed a few tears. Those strong, tough men deserved to make it to Cleveland! They truly are working-class heroes to me! | |
| The Silver Convention – Fly Robin Fly Lyrics | 4 years ago |
|
Truly one of the most profound songs ever written. It at least deserves the Captain Obvious Award, for describing what robins do. Maybe Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot will take this song to heart - and FLY. (But I'm not counting on it, because she needs office time every day.) |
|
| Corey Hart – Sunglasses at Night Lyrics | 4 years ago |
|
It's time to play. It's time to play "Do You Hear Like the Pop Star Sings?" I have played this game since I was a kid. I would write down what I *thought* I was hearing the Rolling Stones sing on the Ed Sullivan Show. Of course, being a kid, I could not understand every word of their lyrics, even when I heard what the lousy singers ACTUALLY sang. So I made up my own lyrics, based on what I thought I heard, and within my vocabulary. And then, I would sing the song on the playground at full volume - using MY lyrics. I noticed the other kids looking at me. I am convinced now that they were jealous. I gave up trying to hear what Bob Dylan's actual lyrics were. Other pop stars (like Led Zeppelin) were similarly difficult to understand. To be honest, their diction sucked. All through my life, I have progressively appreciated more and more, the singers whose lyrics I could actually understand. Like for example, Frank Sinatra's. Thank you, Frank, for your superb diction! It gets tiring, translating singers' mumbling and speech so slurred, it sounds almost like a foreign (uh, non-English, that is) language. All I want to do is HEAR THE WORDS - KNOW the words - and sing them. And now, onward to play... A popular song in the 1980s was "Sunglasses At Night," by Corey Hart. (I know, it's weird. I mean, WHY wear sunglasses AT NIGHT?) According to how I hear him, Corey Hart seems determined to teach us one excuse for wearing sunglasses at night. Based on my interpretation and hearing of the lyrics, following is the "story" Cory Hart is singing. I mean, I'll *call* it singing; he's carrying a tune, most of the time - but he sure does make it unnecessarily difficult to know and understand his lyrics. Of course, this will differ greatly from other comments on this song... And yeah, I know: the story as I tell it reads like a bad LSD trip. Maybe I'm on to something there. Only Corey knows. (Now, wait: I guarantee, *I* am NOT "on something," like LSD. Never used the stuff. Have met people who have used it. It's not for me.) The story: It's about some guy ("Guy #1," singing in first person, when he's not singing to one of the other characters in the story). He sings mostly about some weird woman. He also occasionally seems to be singing to a third person, "Guy #2." He has some kind of fetish for birds. I guess the birds are swarming around him and blinding him. Guy #1 is trying to feed the birds. Suddenly, the mysterious Guy #2 shows up. Guy #2 has a girlfriend who is mean to Guy #1 in especially odd ways. Apparently, that girlfriend is that same weird woman mentioned earlier. She seems to be endangering herself outdoors - hanging around what sounds like some specially designed buildings. (Maybe they're just bird-feeders.) The weird woman seems to have a fetish about the buildings, eventually using some special-sounding part of the buildings or accessory to the buildings - to feed the birds, I think. There is obviously almost nothing Guy #1 can do to stop the weird woman. He DEFINITELY does not like what she writes! Guy #1 seems terribly alarmed about how the weird, mean woman is endangering herself, with bird food and that special building-part (shelf?). Somehow, the song-picture is not complete without: (1) removal of skates (TOTAL mystery to me how they matter!); (2) an exclamation that many Army troops bellow ("HOO-ah!"), and (3) repeated confession by Guy #1 about wearing sunglasses at night. It isn't obvious, but it seems upon analysis that the birds poop a lot while swarming around Guy #1. So to protect his eyes from bird poop, Guy #1 wears sunglasses all the time - including at night - just in case the swarming, pooping birds descend upon him. (I bet Hart got his inspiration for the song from Alfred Hitchcock.) And now, as if all that above isn't weird enough, here are the lyrics as *I* hear them, and with punctuation that *seems* appropriate. Go to the YouTube video that has lyrics, play the video, ignore the lyrics on your screen, and sing the words below. THEY TELL THE STORY ABOVE. The link (see farther below my lyrics) is to a YouTube video with the alleged actual lyrics. But no: they are NOT the lyrics that *I* hear. What do YOU hear?: Sunglasses At Night - Corey Hart (sing along, now!) I wear my sunglasses at night, so I can sew a candle, What you weave and breathe although you lie; I wear my sunglasses at night so I can sew a camp, Keep track of the pigeons in my eyes... Why, she's in seed in me! 'N cuts my succor and tea! Has she got control of me? I turd to her 'n say: Don't push the bread on the guide-in sheds alone! Don't mess around with the guide-in sheds alone! I can't believe it! You got a maid with the guide-in sheds alone! {ANOTHER VERSE} I wear my sunglasses at night, so I can sew a candle, Go get my name why you co-lack your cream; I wear my sunglasses at night so I can sew a camp, See the light that's bright before my eyes... Well..she's got seed in me She cuts my succor and tea She's got control of me I turd to her essay... Don't push the bread on the guide-in sheds alone! Don't mess around with the guide-in sheds alone! I can't believe it! You got a maid with the guide-in sheds alone! She's got seed on me 'N cuts my succor and tea Has she got control of me? I turd to her essay... Don't push the bread on the guide-in sheds alone! Don't mess around with the guide-in sheds alone! I can't believe it! Don't be a friend of the guide-in sheds alone! It can un-skate you 'Cause you got a maid with a guide-in shelf, oh HOO-ah! ohhhhh...yeahhhh...I say: I wear my sunglasses at night (over and over) Hot say to you now: I wear my sunglasses at night (over and over) I cry to you: I wear my sunglasses at night (over and over) - - - - - - - - - - This is a game that you CANNOT lose. Congratulations, Winner! You, too, like me, can "Hear Like the Pop Star Sings!" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxcZAHTyVCI |
|
| Cat Stevens – Freezing Steel Lyrics | 7 years ago |
| I see on YouTube that there is belief or suspicion that this song is about Cat being abducted by extraterrestrials. A "close encounter" with a UFO and its occupants. I do not subscribe to that interpretation. Cat might have titled a later album "Back to Earth," but, that didn't have anything to do with a UFO or abduction by ET. It had to do with resuming a life as a real and normal person, instead of as some pop music icon. | |
| Cat Stevens – Freezing Steel Lyrics | 7 years ago |
|
I think this song is about a nightmare Cat had during his commercial pop star days. "The house of freezing steel" is an airplane. For some period of years, Cat was touring, on the road all the time, practically living in an airplane going from place to place, hence the airplane was his "house." Not even whatever hotel room he stayed in on any given night was his house, because he only crashed there, after each gig, so he would not even remember the scenery of those brief lights-out rest intervals between gigs. He would only remember the "winding-up" he surely had to do, to get ready for the next gig, wide awake, probably with the help of drugs at least from time to time, while on his flight. (What a GRIND that would be! SO GLAD _I_ wasn't a pop star! All the money, all the easy access to places, cities, venues, all the easy chicks, all the adoring crowds, would not have been enough to keep me happy forever (or for long), either, as I suspect Cat might have already known would be his experience as well, even before he immersed himself in that "life-style.") He played the same songs over and over again, in city after city - remember, one definition of "insanity" is doing the same thing over and over, and expecting different results - so Cat saw how the touring life as a pop star was a taste of insanity: never satisfying, always draining, even exhausting, always leaving him unfulfilled, even feeling trapped as in a prison or insane asylum, even feeling suffocated, even as the illusion of that kind of show business was (to many) that anyone living like that was "on top of the world." The "house" Cat flew in only added to that trapped, suffocating feeling. So he had a bad dream about it all. So he turned it into a song about the "pop star grind." That's my theory, for what it's worth. I have an album of Cat Stevens before he hit the really big time - where he looked more like a "clean-cut" (for the 1960s) pop singer-performer like the Tom Joneses and Engelbert Humperdincks of that time. I have not listened to that album for decades! But, I am almost certain that in the brief interludes in this song, where we hear Cat singing in the background, almost like a faint echo, he is repeating within the rhythm and accompaniment to "Freezing Steel" one of the nonsense, "doo-wop"-like sounds that he sang on one of the tracks on that old album: ["bah-pah-bah, bah-pah bahhh, bah-pah-bah-bah...bah-pah-bah, bah-pah-bah-bah, bah-pah, bah-pah"] |
|
| The Alan Parsons Project – Eye In The Sky Lyrics | 9 years ago |
| @[Clocker:15758] I heard the song this morning, for the first time in a long time, and wondered the same as you. I know very little about Woolfson and Parsons. My guess is that they were influenced by Christianity in British culture, but, were not Christians while making this song, so any religiosity in the work was more coincidental than intentional. Many songwriters (lyricists) seem to have a knack for weaving in double meanings, even when they don't mean to. Speculation can be wrong, but there is nothing wrong about speculating. Peace. | |
| Lynyrd Skynyrd – Gimme Three Steps Lyrics | 9 years ago |
| Hoping to see Skynyrd in concert tonight - thinking of this song, one of my favorites of theirs. | |
| Jim Croce – I'll Have To Say I Love You In A Song Lyrics | 9 years ago |
|
Fun memories: Decades ago I, and a couple of college dorm buddies, enjoyed this song. We played and sang it during our guys-only “party times” in the dorm, while we thought of our girl(s), or girl(s)-we-had-not-yet-found, sharing our sentiments and angst. Those were days of sex-segregated dorms, of the Watergate scandal, and of “bugging” of telephones (“hacking,” in an old-fashioned way). Also in those days, it was a prized talent, and part of the fun of the party, to be able to mimic the voice of the President of the United States. So one day, this crazy idea came to me to adapt the first verse of this song – to speak it while playing guitar accompaniment, imitating the voice of Richard Nixon (which I did fairly well, even if not as well as, say, Rich Little, a famous comic in those days). So I adapted the lyrics to Nixon, as if he was speaking them to his wife, Pat. So this makes me chuckle, just to recall. You’d have to have been there, in the moment, to fully enjoy it. But, if you can imagine Nixon’s voice and the moment, it’s a hoot: “Well, Pat, I know it’s…kind of late – I hope I didn’t wake you. But, there’s something I want to make perfectly clear. I know you’ll understand: Every time I try to tell you, The words just…come out wrong. So…I’ll have to say ‘I bugged you,’ in a song.” |
|
| Bob Dylan – Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 Lyrics | 9 years ago |
| Maybe the alternative title should be something like "Brainless Day Pols #57 & 2009." | |
| Bob Dylan – Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 Lyrics | 9 years ago |
|
I heard this on the radio this morning. How times have changed. It caused me to think of alternative lyrics. Alternative politicization. Along the lines of replacing every "...they'll stone you..." with "...they'll behead you..." "But jihadists need not be so dreaded Everybody must get beheaded" |
|
| Paul McCartney – Maybe I'm Amazed Lyrics | 9 years ago |
|
Ah - here are some comments! I commented on the Paul McCartney and Wings page: "Maybe I'm amazed at the way I comment on this song There must be something wrong" (It did not make sense that no one, ever, had commented before me on this song.) |
|
| Paul McCartney & Wings – Maybe I'm Amazed Lyrics | 9 years ago |
|
Maybe I'm amazed at the way I comment on this song There must be something wrong |
|
| Right Said Fred – I'm Too Sexy Lyrics | 9 years ago |
| I was reminded of this song today after seeing a YouTube video about "Trigglepuff." The song played while a speaker was being introduced to walk onto a stage. I am not sure since I am not YouTube-literate, but I believe the maker of the video put the song into the production, instead of the song being played on the auditorium sound system when the speaker emerged from backstage. What else can I say? This song makes me chuckle. | |
| Bad Company – Electricland Lyrics | 9 years ago |
|
I had not heard this song in I don't know how many years - maybe, decades. Then I saw the title, went to YouTube and..."just wow." Immediately, at "Jolt of lightning...," I thought I was listening to a song Foreigner would do. It made me so curious, I had to check out Foreigner's repertoire on this site, just to see if they had never done a cover of it - or, was it a Foreigner song, and BC did THEIR cover of it? [laughing] I do think this is the one song that helped me to remember that Bad Company exists. This, and "Feel Like Makin' Love." You could have told me years ago that Electric Land was originally by Foreigner, and I would have believed you until today. Just like I would have believed, if I'd been told that BC originally did "Hot Blooded," and Foreigner made it famous. I will be hearing this song more often now, since I liked it so much back in the day when it was on the air so often. |
|
| Gordon Lightfoot – Summertime Dream Lyrics | 9 years ago |
| As I recall, this song came out about the same time as "Afternoon Delight," by the Starland Vocal Band. Though musically very different, either song reminds me of the other. (I have to admit here, the first time I heard the other song, I thought it was an extended commercial for some kind of beverage. Honest! Ha-ha...) | |
| Gordon Lightfoot – Too Late For Prayin' Lyrics | 9 years ago |
|
This song suddenly flashed into my thoughts as I woke up this morning. I had been thinking about a lullaby song unique for one of my grandkids - something to play with my guitar and sing at bedtime. I want the gk to have a memory of me, and of us, calming down together for the night with some decent music. This one just might do - there aren't many like it. Even though the tune is sweet and suited for a lullaby, the lyrics are a bit ominous, even distressing. I don't know the first thing about Lightfoot's religious or political beliefs, but in this song, he seems at turns to be despairing and shaking his fist at a deity, and preaching against the ineptitude of human government. I think I detect a bit of environmentalism, with regret, bitter frustration, and some anger. He seems to be mocking the notion that there would be a God, who would permit generation after generation of humans to spoil the planet with pollution and ruin, all the while destroying its own species with cruelty to its own - including and especially its children. Saying "It's too late for praying" seems to assert that, God or no God, it's up to people to take full responsibility for what they do - how they behave toward one another and toward their "mother ship" - and deal with the damage they have done (and remain ever capable of doing worse and worse). For small children, hearing this tune and its lyrics at bedtime might be soothing, while at the same time introducing the expression, at least, of thoughts they will come to understand better over time, little by little, so that they can learn to apply their understanding in their own thoughtful, faith-based ways. One child at a time, the next generation might discard this song as a lullaby for their kids and grandkids. Or, they might pass it along, with the same hopes and fears that preceded their time, and with healthy concern about the same things that their parents and grandparents were concerned about (but maybe, not concerned enough about to "stem the tide"). Kids might actually need to hear this song today, to develop a sense of mission beyond the day they just lived through. Well, I don't want my grandchild to over-think a familiar lullaby into a promise of nightmares to come, and suddenly realize that the pretty tune masks words of dire meaning. But, I do think this song is one gentle way of "letting them down easy." Kids have to grow up, past "one and two make three." So, part of helping them do that is to help them see what a mess they are inheriting. We can only hope that some future generation will and can turn those brown skies blue again. |
|
| Gordon Lightfoot – Beautiful Lyrics | 9 years ago |
| Having listened to Lightfoot's music since his earliest days, owned albums, etc., I thought I had heard them all. Until a few years ago, when I saw a guy playing this song on YouTube. All I could think was "Wow!" on several levels: Great cover. Great song! How could I have missed this one?! Must learn this to sing to my wife! Thanks to Gordon (and this site), I now have the closest lyrics to matching, in a sincere and straightforward way, both who she is, and how I feel about her. | |
| Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young – 4+20 Lyrics | 10 years ago |
|
In my experience, similar to what I believe the song is about (already described well here by others, I think), "the many colored beast" was neither TV nor drugs, but a huge, fancy, crocheted blanket, big enough to cover a queen-sized bed, that an ex-girlfriend's grandmother had made for the two of us. The girl gave it to me as a kind of "parting gift" - although I had actually been the one who rejected her and "our future together," not the other way around - and I understood why she did not want it any longer. I accepted the blanket. So, while I knew that she and I were not meant to be together, in ensuing times as a single man, occasionally, when I felt "so alone" and wondered why, wondering "Where is my woman?" (not my ex, but just, "the one for me"), I wrapped myself in that blanket. Its multi-colored design reminded me of this song. It kept me warm, gave me an "embraced" feeling, and so it became "the beast" - a reminder that I had a pretty good girl and relationship, but, there was then, both before and after the breakup, "no peace" in me about having the girl and relationship I was meant to have. That peace came a couple of years later, when I met the girl who I've been with since, over 35 years. Now I can't remember where that blanket is! I believe we still have it, in storage since we rarely need blankets like it in our warm climate. I am sure I have never told my wife this whole "inside story." It doesn't matter anymore. It's a beautiful blanket. And the memory now is just like a quilt-scrap piece, a fragment of my life. |
|
| The Doobie Brothers – Long Train Runnin' Lyrics | 10 years ago |
|
I have always enjoyed this song for how the percussion (including the haunting bass groove) makes me think of rocking and clanking along while riding on a train, or watching and listening to a train roll by, either from near or far. When the end of the song nears, the percussion at "the pistons" once again transports the imagination to the noise of a giant machine, straining and pounding to haul massive loads at high speeds. The harmonious, sliding vocalization at "lo-o-o-ve" seems obviously intended to mimic the train blowing its horns. The guitar intro, repeated throughout the song as a theme, seems to express multiple possible things: the train's horns, again (in short bursts, at every crossing); the squeal of wheels on the tracks, and even perhaps the sobs and moans of grieving persons saying goodbyes to a beloved place (as passengers on the train) or to loved ones left behind at the station - or, the sobs and moans of those left behind. This is a very expressive song, instrumentally speaking. A song about a train ride that is (in my opinion) more expressive in its lyrics is "City of New Orleans," which is also about the Illinois Central Railroad. |
|
| REO Speedwagon – Take It on the Run Lyrics | 10 years ago |
|
It’s a confrontation. The guy means to be saying to the girl something like: “Look, I trust you and have trusted you. I have been seeing you exclusively; you are the only love(r) in my life. But now…it seems like things might have changed between us. I would not put this pressure on you, if you and our relationship meant less than everything to me. But I need you to stay honest with me, so I can keep trusting you. So I need to know; I MUST know, straight from you: Is there someone else besides me? Have you seen anyone else (you know what I mean)? Do you still want the two of us to be exclusive, seeing only each other? If your answer is “no,” then we’re finished. It’s over. The fact that you’re headed out somewhere right now, and the way you are acting, looks like a definite “no” to me: You’re headed out without me while I am here with you, while you try to explain why you’re headed out, in a way that’s like telling the little white lies we both know each of us tell – and we know how we act when we tell those lies to others; we know each other that well, and you know I have not lied to you. So please, just be honest. I can’t go on with you if you are not seeing me exclusively.” |
|
| Fleetwood Mac – Silver Heels Lyrics | 10 years ago |
|
In the first verse, I think "She said hop for a ride" should be, "She said, 'Hi four-eyes' " (referring to Welch's eyeglasses) |
|
| Aldo Nova – Fantasy Lyrics | 10 years ago |
| Listen to this, then listen to Jefferson Starship's "Jane." Or, listen to Jane first, then listen to this. I think you will notice some similarities in the songs - just something I noticed today. | |
| Jefferson Starship – Jane Lyrics | 10 years ago |
| Listen to this, then listen to Aldo Nova's "Fantasy." Or, listen to Fantasy first, then listen to this. I think you will notice some similarities in the songs - just something I noticed today. | |
| America – Tin Man Lyrics | 11 years ago |
| @[Fritzie:1179] Thank you for commenting about the "soapsud green like bubbles." I know what a bong is, but never did pot, so I never made the connection to that until now - makes sense. Thanks again. | |
| Stealers Wheel – Stuck In The Middle With You Lyrics | 11 years ago |
|
I can go with most of what ProfessorKnowItAll said (April 2, 2008). I first heard this song on the car radio in the ’70s. It frankly did not impress me then. I remember thinking, “Pothead song.” “Party song (or, about being at a party that’s barely fun, if fun at all).” Even Rafferty seemed bored, or resigned and depressed, in the way he sang it. Or at least, he sang it like he was trying to express how bored, resigned and depressed he felt in a particular time, event and experience. But, I never get bored - but trust me: If any of the rest of you were me in the ’70s, you would have been bored, because even un-bore-able I (me) thought the times and places where I lived in the ’70s were BORING. (I felt sorry for others who I knew were bored in that time, and I can’t explain why or how I managed not to be just as bored as they were.) So I kept on, listening, trying to figure out what (if anything) the song means, as I heard it played over and over during a period in the ’70s. Since my hearing has always been bad, eventually I got frustrated, because I honestly could never make sense of the “Please…please” line – I had no idea what the words were there. So I stopped thinking about the song. (Nowadays, I just blame my supposedly bad hearing on the fact that so many singers have terrible diction. Rafferty was among the worst, in my opinion – in this song, to me, it was as if he was deliberately striving to out-slur a stoned Bob Dylan. Maybe Rafferty was actually mocking him. I don’t know.) Then many years later, I started hearing this song on the radio again. (I have never seen Reservoir Dogs, so now I am curious and will probably see it.) This time, I had the help of the Internet and sites like this one, so I could look up the lyrics and even see what others say. Big help! (Most of the time.) I am grateful. I now appreciate this song much more than I did way back when. I can appreciate Rafferty’s misgivings about and antipathies to the business side of commercial music. And…I learned just today – four years late! – that Rafferty’s been dead. My favorite song of his is “Right Down the Line.” |
|
| Smokey Robinson & the Miracles – Tears of a Clown Lyrics | 11 years ago |
| There is so much about this song that I have enjoyed ever since I first heard it, long ago: The flute and bassoon; overall instrumental track; Smokey's high, clear voice; the harmonies, and more...but I think what I appreciate most about this tight and, in my opinion, terribly under-appreciated work is its relentless irony. The tune is upbeat and cheery, but the lyrics speak of a tragic stoicism in the face of the heartbreak of a lost love or love interest. The guy is calling himself a clown, for whatever reason, apparently blaming himself for the loss. It's no doubt a tale that plays itself out every day. The track of this song which became the big hit is intelligently, intricately and wonderfully composed - truly a soulful classic. | |
| Cat Stevens – How Can I Tell You Lyrics | 11 years ago |
|
Since the lyrics have "honey" a number of times, I tend to be convinced that he is singing about a female. He also mentions "girl" once. (Of course, “honey” could be used by anyone, for anyone, but I have heard the word used only in the endearment language of heterosexual couples.) But in any case, it is not clear to me what state the relationship is in, if there is a relationship at all. It isn't even clear what kind of relationship he might be singing about. A child? A sibling? A girlfriend? A girlfriend he is separated from for some reason? A lost loved one? A love interest who pays him no mind? I agree with Gregavi that the one line should be “…feel my arms surround you…” This is one of the first songs I learned on the guitar. One of my college buddies, whose girlfriend was far away in his hometown, asked me to play while he sang and recorded the song to send to her. That was a great honor. They're married over 35 years now. |
|
| Cat Stevens – Tuesday's Dead Lyrics | 11 years ago |
| This was my theme song at college graduation. I took it like a battle call for revolution. Young, full of energy and idealism and hope, eager to be part of changing the world for the better, I…embarked on a career. The more things change, the more they stay the same. | |
| Cat Stevens – 18th Avenue (Kansas City Nightmare) Lyrics | 11 years ago |
| These lyrics fit for any fan of the (visiting) Los Angeles Angels (baseball team) in 2014. | |
| The Doobie Brothers – Black Water Lyrics | 11 years ago |
|
I have always had bad hearing, which in earlier years annoyed me, but nowadays it just lets me laugh (at myself or at whomever or whatever), and go on enjoying music. Two lines in this song, I have always heard differently than the lyrics shown here. Similarly to plasmaHD, I hear, “Black water keep rollin’ on vast as the sea.” Then, later, I hear, “Just take that sweet college coed uptown.” Now, seeing the lyrics here, I confess they confuse me.The song starts off all Mark Twain-y, from his era, with references to paddle-wheel steamers and floating rafts, catfish jumping, etc. Then, it talks about a “street car that’s goin’ uptown.” There weren’t streetcars in the paddle-wheel days – were there? And honky tonks (so named)? It’s as if the song is meandering between two different centuries of history on Ol’ Man River. I guess it just goes to show that you can get high on whatever, and if you’re talented enough, you can still play great music, no matter how odd your lyrics are. So, “if it rains, I don’t care, don’t make no difference to me” (and yes, I’ll take that sweet college coed uptown…). |
|
| Don Henley – All She Wants To Do Is Dance Lyrics | 11 years ago |
| My apologies to all for posting the same comment three times. | |
| Don Henley – All She Wants To Do Is Dance Lyrics | 11 years ago |
|
At alternating times, Henley’s political commentary through his songs has been to me annoying and welcomed. But the annoyance has never kept me from enjoying the music. I don’t have a guess at what Henley means by this song, politically or otherwise. I can only share what I am (or have been) prompted to think when I listen to it. The following is not meant to be a stream of consciousness; it is only a recollection of impressions, after having paid attention to the lyrics many times: Guy is observing a girl; she is having fun, dancing; that’s all she is doing (dancing), and that’s all that she seems to want to do. But maybe (and maybe the guy is thinking this) she actually wants to do something else, and maybe (under just the right conditions) she wants to do exactly what she seems to be saying that, by way of dancing, she does not want to do. Lots of stuff is going on all around her, and in a way, her dancing makes it seem as if she is oblivious to it all. (But maybe she is more aware than anyone.) Or, maybe she is actually celebrating it all, because it gives her a chance to do the dancing that she is obviously enjoying. Or, maybe her dancing is just her way of coping with it all. She might actually be interested in one of the boys who is out there, mixing in all the chaos and danger – maybe one of the locals, maybe some out-of-town dude. She might actually be interested in keeping herself chaste, or hard to get, or simply whoever she wants to be, on her own terms. She might be a good girl who knows there are both good guys and not-so-good guys all around about her, one or more of who she might be interested in. She is “using what she’s got” to advertise herself, even while knowing that doing that might cause a lot of not-so-good guys (and even some good guys) to covet, objectify and otherwise disrespect her. She might enjoy being a tease; she might hate being a tease even while teasing, while reluctantly using her teasing as some kind of tactic for survival on her own terms amidst a rough crowd that seems insatiable in its demand for a sexy girl who is “just right.” Her dancing goes on, while at least some of the boys, the boys whose homes are farther away, move on. No one knows (perhaps least of all, the dancing girl) how life is going to go for her. |
|
| Don Henley – All She Wants To Do Is Dance Lyrics | 11 years ago |
|
At alternating times, Henley’s political commentary through his songs has been to me annoying and welcomed. But the annoyance has never kept me from enjoying the music. I don’t have a guess at what Henley means by this song, politically or otherwise. I can only share what I am (or have been) prompted to think when I listen to it. The following is not meant to be a stream of consciousness; it is only a recollection of impressions, after having paid attention to the lyrics many times: Guy is observing a girl; she is having fun, dancing; that’s all she is doing (dancing), and that’s all that she seems to want to do. But maybe (and maybe the guy is thinking this) she actually wants to do something else, and maybe (under just the right conditions) she wants to do exactly what she seems to be saying that, by way of dancing, she does not want to do. Lots of stuff is going on all around her, and in a way, her dancing makes it seem as if she is oblivious to it all. (But maybe she is more aware than anyone.) Or, maybe she is actually celebrating it all, because it gives her a chance to do the dancing that she is obviously enjoying. Or, maybe her dancing is just her way of coping with it all. She might actually be interested in one of the boys who is out there, mixing in all the chaos and danger – maybe one of the locals, maybe some out-of-town dude. She might actually be interested in keeping herself chaste, or hard to get, or simply whoever she wants to be, on her own terms. She might be a good girl who knows there are both good guys and not-so-good guys all around about her, one or more of who she might be interested in. She is “using what she’s got” to advertise herself, even while knowing that doing that might cause a lot of not-so-good guys (and even some good guys) to covet, objectify and otherwise disrespect her. She might enjoy being a tease; she might hate being a tease even while teasing, while reluctantly using her teasing as some kind of tactic for survival on her own terms amidst a rough crowd that seems insatiable in its demand for a sexy girl who is “just right.” Her dancing goes on, while at least some of the boys, the boys whose homes are farther away, move on. No one knows (perhaps least of all, the dancing girl) how life is going to go for her. |
|
| Don Henley – All She Wants To Do Is Dance Lyrics | 11 years ago |
|
At alternating times, Henley’s political commentary through his songs has been to me annoying and welcomed. But the annoyance has never kept me from enjoying the music. I don’t have a guess at what Henley means by this song, politically or otherwise. I can only share what I am (or have been) prompted to think when I listen to it. The following is not meant to be a stream of consciousness; it is only a recollection of impressions, after having paid attention to the lyrics many times: Guy is observing a girl; she is having fun, dancing; that’s all she is doing (dancing), and that’s all that she seems to want to do. But maybe (and maybe the guy is thinking this) she actually wants to do something else, and maybe (under just the right conditions) she wants to do exactly what she seems to be saying that, by way of dancing, she does not want to do. Lots of stuff is going on all around her, and in a way, her dancing makes it seem as if she is oblivious to it all. (But maybe she is more aware of it all than anyone.) Or, maybe she is actually celebrating it all, because it gives her a chance to do the dancing that she is obviously enjoying. Or, maybe her dancing is just her way of coping with it all. She might actually be interested in one of the boys who is out there, mixing in all the chaos and danger – maybe one of the locals, maybe some out-of-town dude. She might actually be interested in keeping herself chaste, or hard to get, or simply whoever she wants to be, on her own terms. She might be a good girl who knows there are both good guys and not-so-good guys all around about her, one or more of who she might be interested in. She is “using what she’s got” to advertise herself, even while knowing that doing that might cause a lot of not-so-good guys (and even some good guys) to covet, objectify and otherwise disrespect her. She might enjoy being a tease; she might hate being a tease even while teasing, while reluctantly using her teasing as some kind of tactic for survival on her own terms amidst a rough crowd that seems insatiable in its demand for a sexy girl who is “just right.” Her dancing goes on, while at least some of the boys, the boys whose homes are farther away, move on. No one knows (perhaps least of all, the dancing girl) how life is going to go for her. |
|
| James Taylor – Your Smiling Face Lyrics | 11 years ago |
| From the moment my daughter was born (never mind what year!), and all through her early years, I associated this song with her. I always assumed that JT wrote the song for Carly Simon, as a lover-to-lover song. So I have always felt like I was borrowing the song and adapting its intended expression to my father-daughter love. Imagine my surprise today, for the first time, reading from another commenter that JT wrote the song for HIS daughter! | |
| Stevie Wonder – My Cherie Amour Lyrics | 11 years ago |
| This song speaks of a man who is heartsick, in love with someone but whose love is unnoticed, or under- or unappreciated - or, more generally, the man is heartsick because he desires a relationship, but sees that the relationship is unattainable. It is probably about a romantic interest, but the song speaks to me in a different context: I am hearsick about a young girl who I wish I could adopt, but life just is not going to work out that way for us. | |
| Led Zeppelin – Stairway to Heaven Lyrics | 11 years ago |
|
I don't know why, but over the past year or thereabouts, it has become impossible for me to think of this song and associate it with anything or anyone else besides Hillary Clinton. I have been hearing the song ever since it was first played, and similar to how the lyrics say, it has made me wonder continually what the song is about. But only recently, it's as if it has become impossible to imagine that the song is about anyone other than Hillary. I close my eyes while it plays, and my imagination inevitably, inexorably goes to believing that the voice singing it is actually Bill Clinton's, as he strains to carry the tune and sing directly to Hillary. I am not joking. Music has always amazed me, for how it affects me in ways that I don't understand. But this is one of those songs that affects me such that my inability to understand why it affects me is a great frustration amidst my great amazement. I keep pondering the lyrics and trying to relate them to Hillary. (I say that, but no trying is necessary; it's as if a voice in my mind keeps saying to me at some level to accept, as by faith: "These lyrics DO relate to her, and only to her, whether or not you understand how they relate.") Still, I can't stop questioning: Why do I think this way about this song? Why do I think about Hillary like I do? Just what, exactly, would Hillary be up to, by buying a stairway to heaven, whatever that means? Why would I accept on faith that she is sure that all that glitters is gold? What is it about her character (let alone the impressions she has made on me, regardless of who she actually is) that drives me to associate the lyrics with her? Why do I keep thinking the song is like a sermon - no, make that a EULOGY - for Hillary? I keep hoping that I'll see an interview or documentary about Hillary that will show her talking at length about this song and its lyrics, and relating it to herself. Or instead, a presentation by someone else about Hillary, perhaps even one of her political enemies, who relates the song to her. I do hope to live long enough to see the end of her life (I don't mean that in a malicious way!), just to see if this song will somehow be used in remembrance of her. At some level in my thinking, the song just seems to fit her perfectly. |
|
| The Allman Brothers Band – Midnight Rider Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| Ah. The GEICO motorcycle commercial song. | |
| Eric Clapton – Cocaine Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| Unlike all other lyrics and drugs, this drug is about songs. | |
| Bruce Springsteen – Blinded By The Light Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| It's autobiographical. I'll buy that. More later... | |
| Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young – Suite: Judy Blue Eyes Lyrics | 13 years ago |
|
Definitely my favorite CSNY tune. Such excellence of melody, harmony, vocals, strings and percussion, dynamics and overall composition! I have always thought the song is about a guy and a girl, in a relationship that has either been rocky all along, or especially rocky lately, but who have not given up on each other or on being together, and the guy especially is at his wits' end, burned-out emotionally. They seem to be playing a little cat-and-mouse with each other, because of their angst about the relationship, their baggage, and even their history confined within their times together. The song ending has always struck me as an awkward, perhaps chauvinistic, and brutally blunt marriage proposal: "Be my lady." Now that I know the Spanish (thanks to others here!), that part seems like "honeymoon music" - the hitched couple indulging in every desired pleasure (with each other, too!) in a tropical paradise - could be a honeymoon in Cuba, if not for all the government restrictions for so many years, but at least Cuba and the pleasures of the honeymoon are idealized in the daydreams of the deliriously happy (now married, or imaginarily married) guy. That's how that part of the song sounds to me - like a happy daydream or fantasy about honeymooning - or a more general fantasy about having all of each other, thrilling each other to the marrow, and only each other, forever, with tropical paradise as the metaphorical backdrop. |
|
| The Beatles – Blackbird Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| I played and sang this as a lullaby for my daughter for years. She looked forward to hearing it every night. She once said that she would like for me to play and sing it at her wedding. But that was long ago. I will always think of this song as the background music for any depiction, description or memory of the bond between her and me. So maybe it'll play when Dad and newlywed daughter do their post-wedding dance... | |
| Three Dog Night – Easy to Be Hard (Hair cover) Lyrics | 13 years ago |
|
I've been hearing this song since the opening night of Hair. All that time, up to now, I thought I heard "ugly" whenever anyone sang "heartless." No matter who sang it! (laughing) Worst part is, I can't blame my poor hearing on one moment of being high or otherwise impaired! Well, at least "ugly" and "heartless" are roughly synonymous. I'll admit too, it still is not clear to me exactly what is being sung at "Do you only care about..." I always thought it was "...the real crowd." "...being proud" does seem to fit. |
|
* This information can be up to 15 minutes delayed.