| Genesis – Paperlate Lyrics | 26 days ago |
| On a Genesis tour in (I think 1980), the band performed the intro to DWTMK and Phil said he found himself singing the word "Paperlate" over and over again during soundchecks. As I understand it, that got mentally filed away as a fun word in song composition. Phil would often latch onto a word or phrase to sing during improvisation that seemed to fit. Another being "She seems to have an invisible touch". | |
| Pulp – I Spy Lyrics | 6 months ago |
|
I saw this as about a man (first person) who grew up with a girl he knew from a distance (neighbour or at school) but as an adult is left in a flat, unemployed, on the dole and with no prospects. He's got little to do all day so he watches those around him, winding himself up with jealousy over a long time because they made something of their lives while he can't get himself out of his trap. Its mounted up so high and he consoles himself that he'll somehow outdo them all and 'get his revenge' on them. Really, he's getting revenge on the sense of inadequacy and defeat that's grown to unhealthily consume him. He imagines the one girl wanting him and still composes critical notices on himself like he did as a child. But now they're about how he's fictitiously got the girl and has revenge on her husband/boyfriend, taking everything that's his and shaming him. Just because the husband/boyfriend has the life that the first person wants. He'll fantasises that he'll take the girl and give her the life he wants her to want: a life with him. But he can't, it's an impossible plan, borne of that sadness and loneliness that over time turns to resentment of others. He'll always remain the man in the flat watching others out of the window or walking alone amongst them. |
|
| Genesis – Snowbound Lyrics | 9 months ago |
|
Here the explanation from Mike Rutherford and Phil Collins, taken from a Nicky Horne radio interview on BBC Radio 1 in 1978: NH: Another track is called Snowbound… MR: We tried to make this song a bit different, a verse/chorus romantic acoustic song and the drums were slowed down, if you listen, they have a funny sound. It was an easy one to record, a romantic song about a guy who gets inside a snowman outfit to hide from everybody, he was paranoid, and he gets stuck! PC: We have never really, apart from perhaps this album, written love songs. We have always shunned away from them for some reason, a subconscious thing. It’s getting to the point now when most of the songs can be taken as love songs - Snowbound for instance is very romantic. (https://www.twronline.net/issues/twr23/twr23_radio_interview_1978.htm) |
|
| Crass – Rival Tribal Rebel Revel Lyrics | 2 years ago |
| The 'Rival Tribal Revel Rebel, Pt. 2' version on 'Christ - The Album' has a different lyric in the third-verse which I much prefer: "I used to go down the cafe til me boot got attacked by the door" :-) Great song. | |
| Genesis – The Return Of The Giant Hogweed Lyrics | 2 years ago |
|
I think the lyrics just are what they look like: a sci-fi story turning the real and painful Giant Hogweed into a monster out to take over the world. It's dark comedy, nothing more, no allegories about politics or society or anything. They're just having fun mucking about. |
|
| The Beautiful South – 36D Lyrics | 2 years ago |
|
There's nothing ingenious, tongue-in-cheek or ironic going on here. The lyrics are just a pretty nasty and misogynistic attack on glamour models: the girls seen in lads mags or on Page 3 of The Sun newspaper in the past. To me, the lyrics just ridicule the writers for their shallowness. Their other song lyrics suggest they would know better but this shows just some simple anti-women prejudice. And I imagine they thought they were being clever when they did it. The writers later realised this...well, when it was pointed out to them, some time after they'd written a song, rehearsed it and gone to a recording studio for a day or more with it. That was good of them. See the Wikipedia articles: "After appearing on three albums, Briana Corrigan left the band in 1992 to pursue a solo career. The decision was driven by a desire to record her own work and partly by ethical disagreements with some of Heaton's lyrics, particularly songs such as "36D", which criticised British glamour models and the industry that employed them.[citation needed] Hemingway later remarked, "We all agree that we should have targeted the media as sexist instead of blaming the girls for taking off their tops"." |
|
| Billy Joel – The Siegfried Line Lyrics | 3 years ago |
|
"Oh they say the English are giving up the war" Not quite sure where that came from. Wasn't happening in any year of WW2 but certainly not in '44. |
|
| Genesis – Vancouver Lyrics | 3 years ago |
| This reads almost like an alternative version of She\'s Leaving Home by The Beatles. That song tells of a girl leaving home to get away from her held-back life with her well-meaning parents who don\'t understand what she needs.\n\nVancouver tells of a girl who tries to leave home in the night after unspecified events including her parents saying things that upset her. Once out, she realises how difficult it will be and the problems at home seem simpler (*"I may be wrong but home seems so much more friendly now"*).\n\nShe returns home and is in bed without anyone knowing she went. In the morning, her mum apologises for what was said. | |
| Genesis – The Fountain Of Salmacis Lyrics | 4 years ago |
| @[proggie:39991], I don\'t think they were less wordly-wise then or that anyone\'s more wordly-wise now. But if the audience didn\'t know the word, they\'d have to ask someone or maybe go days or weeks for convenient access to the answer. They couldn\'t just stick their hand in their pocket, get a phone and look the answer up. | |
| Adam Ant – Apollo 9 Lyrics | 6 years ago |
| @[gobeyinstrainer:29391], I'd say neither a message nor coincidence, just a bit of fun during arranging the song and getting 6-6-6 in their for kicks. | |
| Genesis – Stagnation Lyrics | 7 years ago |
|
Stagnation is on Long Ago In The Rome Hills, a concert bootleg recorded in Rome on 18th April 1972. Gabriel introduces it with: "It tells of one man who is left alive after the bomb has fallen. This is very exciting and it tells of how he plants his new crop of onions." |
|
| Grease – Beauty School Drop Out Lyrics | 8 years ago |
| Its meaning is pretty clear but it's my one disliked song in the film, the bit I fast-forward through. | |
| Grease – Summer Nights Lyrics | 8 years ago |
| @[kmk_natasha:23703], I don't think he's lying during the summer. Quite the opposite - away from his friends, he's being completely genuine. That's the problem he wrestles with throughout the film and finally resolves at the end-of-year funfair. | |
| Grease – Summer Nights Lyrics | 8 years ago |
| @[Comrade_Liar:23702], she's got no agenda to lie for and her version is simple, unlike his. You can't call it a ridiculous version of events as we don't know what the events are. The film's opening beach sequence has the same tone as her and she doesn't lie or exaggerate throughout the film. | |
| Ian Dury – You're More Than Fair Lyrics | 8 years ago |
| Difficult to imagine what he's getting at, here. Maybe something to do with a girl he's pulled. | |
| The Doors – Light My Fire Lyrics | 8 years ago |
| @[NomadMonad:23175], thanks very much, appreciate the quality of your posts :-) | |
| The Doors – Light My Fire Lyrics | 8 years ago |
|
@[NomadMonad:23138], I agree with you that it's tempting when you're young to believe that a rock band has discovered the meaning of life and other mysteries and put it into their lyrics. And I agree that at some point such a believer might realise it's not all-revealing. But it doesn't mean it's all then worthless and fake. It's theatre, showmanship and storytelling. It's honest and decent entertainment. And there is some insight in there, enough to send your own mind exploring in directions it might not have gone in or just hadn't gone in yet. It's good to see and hear these things. |
|
| The Doors – Light My Fire Lyrics | 8 years ago |
| @[heavymetalchic:23137], you're believing the 1990 film version - and that scene is completely fake rubbish. You can find the real Sullivan appearance on YouTube. He just sings normally. | |
| The Doors – Light My Fire Lyrics | 8 years ago |
|
In reality, the purpose of the lyrics seems to be to get in every word that rhymes with 'fire'. I don't think there's much beyond that. I'm a Doors fan and love this song. But it's lyrically very distant from their usual output, from start to finish. |
|
| The Doors – Light My Fire Lyrics | 8 years ago |
| @[Ereinion:23128], are you sure you're not just quoting the 1990 film's version of events? I love that film but it's far from a documentary of Jim or of the band. | |
| David Bowie – Fantastic Voyage Lyrics | 8 years ago |
| @[milkshock:20210], 1797 was a scary year for atom bombs. And getting run over by a train at 3 mph :-) | |
| David Bowie – The Stars (Are Out Tonight) Lyrics | 8 years ago |
| @[mortal:19460], I was going to agree. But you're not a follower, you see it for real and you just don't care, while I'm just a square in the herd. So I'll say it's shit instead. | |
| Dusty Springfield – You Don't Have To Say You Love Me Lyrics | 8 years ago |
|
I've loved this song since I was a kid. I think it's beautifully sung and performed by the band, a real masterpiece of early 60's writing and musical drama. But I didn't go through the lyrics in full until lately and they've transformed my opinion of them. They say, "you can get away with anything you want, treat me like a doormat, and I'll be here for you". Which is an atrocious message. In fairness to the song, a lot of early 60's lyrics have this devoted-girl-demanding-boy theme and it's a sign of the sexism of those distant times. It'll always be a fabulous song to me...but I don't think I'll be singing along soon. |
|
| Tears for Fears – Suffer The Children Lyrics | 8 years ago |
|
To me, it's about a little boy born to a single mother who didn't want a child. She regularly leaves him on his own in a one-room bedsit flat while she's out. She thinks it's unfair that she got pregnant and can't pick him up and tell him that he's wanted because he isn't. Lyrically, it's terribly sad and captures the loneliness of a child on his own, both when his mother's away and heartbreakingly when she's there. Brings memories of others alive for me, with more adult wisdom on it. Awful to think it happens every day to children right now. |
|
| Blur – Badhead Lyrics | 9 years ago |
| @[phifedawg:16481] @[iloveiguanas:16482], I thought the same. It made me think of an unemployed friend who had his days like that: getting up around two from a lack of owt to do. The music has the forlorn and futile tone to it of aimless days. | |
| Alanis Morissette – Right Through You Lyrics | 9 years ago |
|
This is clearly about dealing with record executive. In the first verse, she's trying to get in to see him but being half-ignored. In the second, she's being assessed by him but thinks he expects sex as part of the deal. In the third, she's taunting him because she went elsewhere and become very successful. (Incidentally, I always hear the song line as, "Now that I'm Miss Fame", never as, "Now that I'm Miss Thing".) |
|
| Q Lazzarus – Goodbye Horses Lyrics | 9 years ago |
| I think this song is about wanting to stand stark bollock naked with your cock between your legs pretending you're a girl. All in the subtext. | |
| Blur – Fade Away Lyrics | 9 years ago |
|
This is a very clear lyric to me. It's about a married couple who live together but completely separate lives. He's got his friends and interests and she's got hers. They got married because that was the expected pattern of things but they do nothing together and essentially co-habit. Now when one's in, the other's out. "I have darts Monday, you're at the karoake bar Tuesday, Wednesday's at Terry's for a games night, you see the girls on Thursdays..." and so on. |
|
| Genesis – Burning Rope Lyrics | 10 years ago |
|
I have to be honest: I think TB started with the two lines about climbing up a burning rope but putting the flames out so that others could follow...and tried to build a whole song on top of that. I've always felt that this song lacks lyrical depth. It does have the romantic and dramatic trademark of Banks around that time. It's like a mini One For The Vine in some respects. |
|
| Dire Straits – It Never Rains Lyrics | 11 years ago |
| It's a matter of opinion but I think it's a brilliant track. A grower I'll admit but a brilliant track. | |
| Dire Straits – Sultans Of Swing Lyrics | 11 years ago |
| Relax, many comments on this forum aren't discussing the meaning. They're discussing its meaning to themselves. You could ditch the 'OMG' and all the exclamation marks - sentences carry their weight just fine without them, everything looks full of rage otherwise. Take it easy. | |
| Dusty Springfield – Just A Little Lovin' Lyrics | 11 years ago |
| Fairly self-explanatory: Dusty likes it in the morning and so should we. Spot on, girl :-) | |
| Peter Gabriel – Indigo Lyrics | 11 years ago |
|
I just took it as: he could hide problems from his family and everyone all his life but he can't hide dying. Most people hide problems away from others to try to shield everyone from the burden, instead of pouring every single thing out. But not death you can't! |
|
| Dire Straits – My Parties Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| Nice song, musically captures the sort of party he's singing about. The classic Knopfler singing annunciation adds even more humour to it ("The secret's in the cheese"). | |
| Billy Joel – Somewhere Along The Line Lyrics | 12 years ago |
|
Wonderfully clear lyric: feel invincible when you're young but the consequences of fun and excess will have an effect when you're older. Each verse covers this on a different subject: (1) Lavish eating and drinking (2) Smoking (3) Promiscuity (4) Old age It's yet another example of Joel's fabulously clear lyrics. States his point then makes his point. |
|
| Peter Gabriel – Indigo Lyrics | 12 years ago |
|
Fantastic song and about dying of old age as I read it. Not by accident, murder or being stolen away at an earlier-than-expected age. Just good, old-fashioned snuffing it. Talks about giving up the fight against the illness, or just the body packing up, and hoping to go into a Hereafter to meet his friends. Terrific song and one I'd love to have at my own casket-to-cooker bash :-) |
|
| Billy Joel – Code Of Silence Lyrics | 12 years ago |
|
This is a simple, clear and direct song about something anyone can feel: a bad or harsh episode in laugh that you try to forget, to blot out, and pretend you have. But it's there and stays there for years. And it may well be smaller than you think in retrospect and over the passage of time. And simply talking about it to someone, voicing it out loud, helps resolve the problem and may demote it from 'horrific moment of my life' to 'a bad thing that happens to others too and it's gone now'. Wonderful lyrics, truly brilliant. This is far from a superstar/fame song. |
|
| Supertramp – School Lyrics | 12 years ago |
|
You know, for years I thought these lyrics were supposed to be the inner dialogue of a child abuser as he goes out to take his next victim: STALKING I can see you in the morning when you go to school After school is over you're playing in the park Don't be out too late, don't let it get too dark They tell you not to hang around and learn what life's about And you're full of doubt (SO YOU STAY OUT) ABDUCTION Maybe I'm mistaken expecting you to fight Or maybe I'm just crazy, I don't know wrong from right Finished by "You're coming along", particularly harrowing in that double meaning of the phrase for progress and a statement of abduction. Coupled with the mournful tune, angry middle eight and the anguished, pained singing voice, it all seemed pretty clear to me. I never went through all the lyrics, I just listened to it occasionally. I've since read the writer saying it's simply about school and I have to say I'm relieved because my original interpretation is a vile subject in life. I always thought is was astoundingly brave to write a first-person song about such a thing. So I'm very glad I got it completely wrong. At the same time, its harrowing quality has diminished greatly for me, like when you watch a horror film years later and find it's not all you thought. But that's a better outcome than it being about horrible things and some evil sickos using it for inspiration. |
|
| Supertramp – School Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| I'm sure he/she does. 'Reminiscent' means 'reminds me of' and has nothing to do with chronology. It reminds him/her of the themes conveyed in The Wall. So referring to their actual point, I can see that. (I also love The Wall and like Supertramp too :-) ) | |
| David Byrne – Lazy Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| I think this song is just a plain-and-simple comical observation of a fictional character. I think the appeal of the song, to the band and to the audience, is its honesty and its mundaneness. Truly a brilliant, brilliant song. | |
| Kate Bush – James and the Cold Gun Lyrics | 12 years ago |
|
I read this as talking about well-liked guy who leaves to join the Army. Fairly simple and straightforward lyric. (I might be hopelessly wrong!) |
|
| Kate Bush – Them Heavy People Lyrics | 12 years ago |
|
To me, it's pretty clearly about someone seeing a therapist or maybe a therapy group. They're using the technique where they sit in a circle and the therapist rolls the ball to each and they roll it back. It's a simple method to build trust and very gently interact with others, or summat. I like the Prof's theory below, though! |
|
* This information can be up to 15 minutes delayed.