This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
Hi Time Magazine, Hi Pulitzer prize
Tribal scars in technicolour
Bang bang club AK 47 hour
Kevin Carter
Hi Time Magazine, Hi Pulitzer prize
Vulture stalked white piped lie forever
Wasted your life in black and white
Kevin Carter
Kevin Carter
Kevin Carter
The elephant is so ugly he sleeps his head
Machetes his bed Kevin Carter kaffir lover forever
Click click click click
Click himself under
Kevin Carter
Kevin Carter
Kevin Carter
Tribal scars in technicolour
Bang bang club AK 47 hour
Kevin Carter
Hi Time Magazine, Hi Pulitzer prize
Vulture stalked white piped lie forever
Wasted your life in black and white
Kevin Carter
Kevin Carter
Kevin Carter
The elephant is so ugly he sleeps his head
Machetes his bed Kevin Carter kaffir lover forever
Click click click click
Click himself under
Kevin Carter
Kevin Carter
Kevin Carter
Lyrics submitted by Ice
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More Featured Meanings
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo
Midnight
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Midnight” is a song about finding a love that is so true that it provides a calming feeling through every storm. Ed Sheeran reflects on his good fortunes in landing someone with such peace and support and speaks of not fearing the dark days because he knows they’ll all end in the safety nets of her arms.
“Well, good morning there / What a way to start the day / With everything laid bare,” Ed Sheeran sings in the first verse, enthusiastic to be waking up beside his woman. He apologizes for missing her calls in the second verse and promises to return them because for him, speaking to her is the most important thing. “Well, I get lost inside my head / In this chaos, you’re my calm / And I will find my feet again / ‘Cause еven the worst days of my life will always еnd / At midnight in your arms,” sings Ed Sheeran in the chorus, revelling in his good luck.
Another Love
Tom Odell
Tom Odell
I think the meaning is pretty clear. This person got really burned in a previous relationship, and because of this is unable to love and show care in his present one, even though he so badly wants to. It's lovely song, and very sad. You can really feel how defeated and frustrated he is with himself.
Somewhere Only We Know
Keane
Keane
Per the FAQ on Keane's website, Keane's drummer Richard Hughes, stated the following:
"We've been asked whether "Somewhere Only We Know" is about a specific place, and Tim has been saying that, for him, or us as individuals, it might be about a geographical space, or a feeling; it can mean something individual to each person, and they can interpret it to a memory of theirs... It's perhaps more of a theme rather than a specific message... Feelings that may be universal, without necessarily being totally specific to us, or a place, or a time..."
With the nostalgic sentiment and the overall tone of the song, I think Keane is attempting to express a Portuguese term known as 'saudade', which does not have a direct English translation but roughly means "that which we remember because it is gone."
Zombie
Cranberries, The
Cranberries, The
"Zombie" is about the ethno-political conflict in Ireland. This is obvious if you know anything of the singer (Dolores O'Riordan)'s Irish heritage and understood the "1916" Easter Rising reference.
"Another head hangs lowly
Child is slowly taken
And the violence caused such silence
Who are we mistaken
-
Another mother's breaking
Heart is taking over"
Laments the Warrington bomb attacks in which two children were fatally injured on March 23rd, 1993. Twelve year old Tim Parry was taken off life support with permission from his mother after five days in the hospital, virtually braindead.
"But you see it's not me
It's not my family"
References how people who are not directly involved with the violence feel about it. They are "zombies" without sympathy who refuse to take action while others suffer.
Kevin Carter was a photographer and won the pulitzer prize for a photo of a vulture standing looking over a starving child in Africa. The picture became famous despite it's controversial contents. Kevin Carter was a war photographer. The picture was taken during the apartheid and kevin carter and the group of photographers he travelled with [the bang bang club] were known as kaffir lovers. Kaffir Lovers were ppl who sympathised with the africans who were being discriminated against. Kevin Carter gave up war photography for nature he couldn't take the scenes of hardship ne more. But unable to cope with the guilt he went on to kill himself.
This is one of my favourite Manics songs, despite the odd lyrics and sad subject matter. The music evokes perfectly the turmoil Carter must have been feeling (the aaaah section).
In a broader sense, the song could represent the dilemma faced by most journalists in poverty-stricken or war-torn countries: whether to get involved or keep their distance.
A documentary entitled The Life of Kevin Carter: Casualty of the Bang Bang Club was nominated for an Academy Award in 2006.<br /> <br />
"Named after the Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer who documented the war in Rwanda. After being accused of exploiting the situation for his own name (his photo of a child's body with a vulture in the background became a famous image of the war), he turned to wildlife photography. Unable to live with either the guilt or his memories of the conflict, he took his own life." okay I got it a bit wrong lol.
good music too!! love the trumpet solo
This song is musically one of the Manics' best I think. The lyrics are really interesting. I was thinking the other say about the line "Vulture stalked white-piped lie forever", which is a pretty bizarre lyric. But it made me think how ironic it was that Carter was photographing a vulture when the press (particularly the paparazzi) are often described as "vultures", making him the kind of super-vulture in that situation. Thinking about it like that, it doesn't exactly surprise me that he killed himself.
dude, i didn't know all that data related to this song. thanks. now this lyric has more sense to me.
ps: the trumpet solo is excellent.
guys!! i've just seen the photo you were talkin about. i gotta say SHOCKIN!!! and make me think about how powerful an image could be and how many ideas and different reaccions you can achieve with only one photo....
ps: sorry for my english is not my native language
So surely this is mirrored in Richie's feelings before he disappeared that the press were feeding off his misery and furthering their careers with it? The irony being that he (may have, here's not the place for the theories) killed himself because other people were doing this.
a link to the picture kevin carter won the pulitzer prize for: grijalvo.com/Africa/Kevin_Carter_Starving_Child_Pulitzer.jpg
Rumors are that he stood and waited like 20mins before he took the prize winning shot. then he chased the vulture away and left the girl, something he later regretted badly.