The song 'Fortnight' by Taylor Swift and Post Malone tells a story about strong feelings, complicated relationships, and secret wishes. It talks about love, betrayal, and wanting someone who doesn't feel the same. The word 'fortnight' shows short-lived happiness and guilty pleasures, leading to sadness. It shows how messy relationships can be and the results of hiding emotions. “I was supposed to be sent away / But they forgot to come and get me,” she kickstarts the song in the first verse with lines suggesting an admission to a hospital for people with mental illnesses. She goes in the verse admitting her lover is the reason why she is like this. In the chorus, she sings about their time in love and reflects on how he has now settled with someone else. “I took the miracle move-on drug, the effects were temporary / And I love you, it’s ruining my life,” on the second verse she details her struggles to forget about him and the negative effects of her failure. “Thought of callin’ ya, but you won’t pick up / ‘Nother fortnight lost in America,” Post Malone sings in the outro.
The priest sat in the airport bar
He was wearing his father's tie
And his eyes looked into my eyes so far
Whenever the words ran dry
Behind the lash and the circles blue
He looked as only a priest can, through
And his eyes said me and his eyes said you
And my eyes said let us try
He said, "You wouldn't like it here"
No, it's no place you should share
The roof is ripped with hurricanes
And the room is always bare
I need the wind and I seek the cold
He reached past the wine for my hand to hold
And he saw me young and he saw me old
And he saw me sitting there
Then he took his contradictions out
And he splashed them on my brow
So which words was I then to doubt
When choosing what to vow
Should I choose them all, should I make them mine
The sermons the hymns and the valentines
And he asked for truth and he asked for time
And he asked for only now
Now the trials are trumpet scored
Oh will we pass the test
Or just as one loves more and more
Will one love less and less
Oh come, let's run from this ring we're in
Where the Christians clap and the Germans grin
Saying let them lose, crying let them win
Oh make them both confess
He was wearing his father's tie
And his eyes looked into my eyes so far
Whenever the words ran dry
Behind the lash and the circles blue
He looked as only a priest can, through
And his eyes said me and his eyes said you
And my eyes said let us try
He said, "You wouldn't like it here"
No, it's no place you should share
The roof is ripped with hurricanes
And the room is always bare
I need the wind and I seek the cold
He reached past the wine for my hand to hold
And he saw me young and he saw me old
And he saw me sitting there
Then he took his contradictions out
And he splashed them on my brow
So which words was I then to doubt
When choosing what to vow
Should I choose them all, should I make them mine
The sermons the hymns and the valentines
And he asked for truth and he asked for time
And he asked for only now
Now the trials are trumpet scored
Oh will we pass the test
Or just as one loves more and more
Will one love less and less
Oh come, let's run from this ring we're in
Where the Christians clap and the Germans grin
Saying let them lose, crying let them win
Oh make them both confess
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Fortnight
Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
"Fast car" is kind of a continuation of Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run." It has all the clawing your way to a better life, but in this case the protagonist never makes it with her love; in fact she is dragged back down by him.
There is still an amazing amount of hope and will in the lyrics; and the lyrics themselve rank and easy five. If only music was stronger it would be one of those great radio songs that you hear once a week 20 years after it was released. The imagery is almost tear-jerking ("City lights lay out before us", "Speeds so fast felt like I was drunk"), and the idea of starting from nothing and just driving and working and denigrating yourself for a chance at being just above poverty, then losing in the end is just painful and inspiring at the same time.
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
No Surprises
Radiohead
Radiohead
Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
Magical
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
How would you describe the feeling of being in love? For Ed Sheeran, the word is “Magical.” in HIS three-minute album opener, he makes an attempt to capture the beauty and delicacy of true love with words. He describes the magic of it all over a bright Pop song produced by Aaron Dessner.
Wow, I hear that song much less literally than the other comments here.
I think she caught the eyes of a priest in an airport. They looked at each other for few seconds, and she felt like his eyes were speaking to her. The song is a description of what his eyes said to her.
He was sharing the pain in his life, but how that pain nourished him. She was very different from him, but was spiritually drawn to aspects of how he lived his life. She felt seen by him ("he saw me young he saw me old") but didn't know how much of what she saw in him to embrace for herself, spiritually.
someone comment on this song!! what does it MEAN???
Well, it's obviously about religion. Specifically, I think it's about the questions and confusion that can arise when someone is wondering if they should join a faith.
When she says "he was wearing his father's tie", I think that means the traditional collar of the Catholic priest, being the Heavenly Father's tie rather than that of a biological one.
It sounds like a story about a conversation with a priest, him advising her on whether she should become Christian or not and her wondering what to chose.
The lines: "He said, you wouldn't like it here It's no place you should share The roof is ripped with hurricanes And the room is always bare" Seem to be the priest explaining that entering into Christianity means also entering into the burden of the centuries of conflict and controversy it has been through, or the "hurricanes." The "room" always being bare is because more and more people are turning away from the faith.
The "Then he took his contradictions out And he splashed them on my brow" part seems to be a reference to Baptism, because priest usually pour water over the Baptized person's head. The "contradictions" in the holy water are probably the controversies surrounding Christianity, and how often times in the Bible one page can say "this is right," and then the next page it can say "no wait forget that, this is right."
The next lines of that verse are her wondering if she should then accept all of Christianity and become part of it. (BTW a line is missing... after "should I choose them all, should I make them mine" there is "the sermons, the hymns, and the valentines.") The Priest's response to all of her questions at the end of this verse is that he wants her to be honest about whatever she decides, and not choose something just for the sake of not disappointing him.
I'm not entirely sure about the last verse... "Now the trials are trumpet-scored" may reference how Christianity is no longer modest but nowadays needs a big show-and-tell to go along with it. "Will we pass the test" is probably asking whether or not she will continue to be fond of Christianity, or if she will love it "less and less." Perhaps the use of "we" in this verse is supposed to embody the hippie generation, just like in the song "Woodstock" which was on the same album. In this verse, I think she's connecting her struggles with religion to the same confusion about beliefs that most hippies were feeling at the time. "Oh come let's run from this ring we're in Where the christians clap and the germans grin Crying let them lose saying let them win Oh make them both confess." This part probably means that she wants to get away from all the people who make simple things like one's personal religion into an institution somewhat like a dictatorship, which is probably why the "germans" reference is in there. She wants to get back to the simple truths that Christianity used to stand for, like 'Love thy Neighbor', which seem to be lost now to everyone who decides what the Church stands for. "Make them both confess" talks about how even the Church and Governments have sinned, and they need to repent and better their lives just like everyone else.
Anyway, that's my take on it. Could be totally wrong, but whatever. :P
Interesting take on this song. I always thought it was about a pair of lovers and he is a priest- christian not Catholic so he could be in a relationship- and he has decided to become a missionary abroad somewhere in a really basic poor area with really bad conditions (the line should read the 'roof' not the'root' is ripped with hurracains and the roon is always bare), and he doesn't think she should go with him as it would be a really hard life. But she says 'let us try', She loves him and she wants to be with him so she doesn't care about all those things, she is willing to sacrifice a comfortable life to be with him. The bit about contradicions with the missing line about hyms and valentines to me is her saying he is telling to to listen to him as a priest, so she is saying should she choose his words as a priest or the man she loves. Not suprisingly she says she will choose to be with him as a man rather than take his advice as a religous person.
The last verse I think is suggesting that she does go with him and she is wondering if they will last as a couple or will time, hardships and the people who are against them being together tear them apart, but in the last bit she seems to think their relationship will work. Kindof screw what everyone else thinks we love each others thats enough, lets not let them get us down.
You're kidding me, right?<br /> <br /> This song is about a priest who is meeting someone in an airport bar wearing a borrowed tie instead of a collar so as not to draw attention to himself. He is meeting a woman who is attracted to him (and he to her) and they are considering having an affair.<br /> <br /> "And he took his contradictions out and splashed them on my brow." (He's a celibate priest, he's a man with sexual desires...enough contradiction for you?) "the sermons the hymns and the Valentines." which of these will she take? I vote for the Valentine. <br /> <br /> As for the last verse...I have always wanted to ask Joni herself, but wouldn't you want to run away from the judgmental people of this world and their prurient interests as they circle the wagons around their moral beliefs?" Let them both confess", like in a tabloid magazine, so we can all feel self righteous and justified. I mean, he is a priest! Juicy stuff for the the repressed rest of us!<br /> <br /> You also might try finding out a thing or two about the composers very rich and colorful life. You'll feel a tad less clueless about the songs she wrote.<br /> <br />
This is a song about a conversation Joni Mitchell had with a priest in an airport.
Back in the 70s there were countless articles that touted Ms Mitchell as one of the queens of the "confessional" (i.e., Song based on actual occurrences). People wasted decades trying to figure out the symbolism of "Little Green" as it was unknown for decades that Joni Mitchell had given birth at 19 and gave the child up for adoption). This, and the fact that the very first line says "the priest sat in the airport bar, he was wearing his father's tie"; serves as foundation on which the rest of the poem lays. His father's tie being a metaphor for the white collar.
@SteveEddie I'm sure you're right. Doesn't invalidate what i say about The Priest
What a load of Hokum. This is a song about a love affair. The guy is spiritual by nature(in part) It's a whimsy about whether a love affair could last. I suspect the lover is the same as in Rainy Night House
@guymonde the lover in rainy night house is Leonard Cohen.
I have to say that I disagree. Not all Joni's songs are about her love affairs! This one clearly, to me, is about religion. She is considering trying Christianity. She knows that it will not be easy, that it will demand difficult things of her. She knows that some of the creed doesn't make logical sense, may even contradict itself; she wonders how much of it she would have to accept. All, or just some? She also wonders how long her faith might last, will it grow or fade over time? Finally, we have the last lines, which may have to do with the fact that many supposed Christians have behaved evilly. <br /> I find this an extraordinarily profound and unique song about a topic rarely explored in popular discourse.<br /> <br /> Thanks once again, Joni!!