| Tom Waits – Underground Lyrics | 6 years ago |
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this interview fragment from when Big Time came out (1988) has Waits opining crazily about moles at the beginning. So perhaps this song is really about burrowing animals and their "cities" and societies, and not allegorically about music at all. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyrDfCSZJmI |
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| Bob Dylan – Every Grain of Sand Lyrics | 6 years ago |
| @[jambrig:24451] I also believe he was genuine and self examining when writing during this period, and you did a good job of highlighting relevant Christian scripture to interpret this. One thing though, is by 1981, when this was recorded that Dylan was clearly starting to pivot away from the Christian belief he had adopted in 1978. He had started reintroducing a few of his pre-Slow Train songs in concerts in the fall on 1980, and by fall 1981, those songs predominated in his sets. So you're right that he is clearly doubting his faith in this song, as he does elsewhere on the album as you pointed out. | |
| Bob Dylan – Odds and Ends Lyrics | 7 years ago |
| To me this is the track that best shows the Blonde on Blonde era Dylan was still inside Bob. | |
| Leonard Cohen – Who by Fire Lyrics | 7 years ago |
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The song is based on, as has been stated by several others before, as well as by Cohen himself, the Unetaneh Tokef prayer recited on the High Holy Days in the Eastern European Ashkenaz tradition. Those who aren't familiar with this powerful piyyut should look it up on wikipedia, where you can find a reasonable translation. Paragraph two of the prayer is what Cohen is patterning here. I've always thought the "Who shall I say is calling" line was directed at G-d, and @HeathenChilds reference to Exodus 6:13 is interesting evidence for this, but that's not quite what the text actually says there. Moses says "What shall I say to them" rather "who shalll I say is calling" But still, Cohen may well be referencing this question even though he's not hitting the language exactly, because the rest of the song is a personal rendering based on a traditional source, and that question may well be a personal rendering of the question Moses asked. |
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| Leonard Cohen – You Want It Darker Lyrics | 7 years ago |
| @[jwinterscom:16808] See my comment above, I was trying to reply to you. | |
| Leonard Cohen – You Want It Darker Lyrics | 7 years ago |
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Cohen was almost certainly thinking of the Abraham/Isaac story, where he responds "hineni" to G-d at the beginning when he is called. He's used that story many times in his songs. "Magnified, sanctified, be thy holy name, vilified, crucified, in the human frame" are two lines, that are from two different sources. The first part does not have anything to do with Christian themes. "Magnified, Sanctified be thy holy name" is a straight English translation of the first four words of the Kaddish, a Jewish prayer. and while all versions of that prayer start this way, he is no doubt in context referencing the Mourner's Kaddish that is said by close relatives of a deceased person after their burial. However, "villified, crucified, in the human frame" is certainly a reference to Jesus. He's flowing between different traditions here taking from each what fits his litany of suffering that he addresses to G-d in this song. |
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| WILD FLAG – Romance Lyrics | 8 years ago |
| This is a song about being in love with someone who likes the same music as you. "The Sound is what found us . . . Sound is the blood between me and you." Wow. But the chorus is plural, makes it seem to be a song about the band being in love with it's fans. And about the spirituality of being on the stage, or in the crowd, "freeing themselves from the room" | |
| The Replacements – Swingin' Party Lyrics | 9 years ago |
| Paul Westerberg is from the midwest, which used to be covered in prairies. I gather he's referring to walking down the street in Minneapolis, where he is from. | |
| Boston – More Than A Feeling Lyrics | 10 years ago |
| This song is about regret for a lost relationship. I had this album in not long after it came out, loved the song, but didn't realize how sad it was until recently. | |
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