He reuses the verse melody from the previous album's "Dirty Little Religion", the topics of the verses are all over the place, and he packs too many words into one line (goes to show...) and too few in another (it's pretty hard to find), and rhymes "Henley Regatta" with "Persona non grata", but gets away with it all as only he could.
Ladies and gents
Turn up your sound system
To the Sound of Carlos Santana
And the G&B (it's The Product)
Ghetto Blues from the Refugee Gang
Oh Maria, Maria
She reminds me of a West Side Story
Growing up in Spanish Harlem
She living the life just like a movie star
Oh, Maria, Maria (ayo, Maria)
She fell in love in East L.A.
To the sounds of the guitar, yeah, yeah
Played by Carlos Santana
Stop the looting, stop the shooting
Pick pocking on the corner (ah, yeah)
See as the rich is getting richer
The poorer is getting poorer (ah, yeah)
Se mira Maria on the corner
Thinking of ways to make it better (ah, yeah)
In my mailbox there's an eviction letter
Signed by the judge, said, "See you later"
Ahora vengo mama chula, mama chula
Ahora vengo mama chula (East coast)
Ahora vengo mama chula, mama chula
Ahora vengo mama chula
Maria, Maria (West Coast)
She reminds me of a West Side Story
Growing up in Spanish Harlem
She's living the life just like a movie star
Oh, Maria, Maria
She fell in love in East L.A.
I said to the sounds of the guitar, yeah, yeah
Played by Carlos Santana
I said a la favela los colores
The streets are getting hotter (ah, yeah)
There is no water to put out the fire
Ni gota de esperanza (ah, yeah)
Se mira Maria on the corner
Thinking of ways to make it better (ah, yeah)
Then I looked up in the sky
Hoping of days of paradise
Ahora vengo mama chula, mama chula
Ahora vengo mama chula (North side)
Ahora vengo mama chula mama chula
Ahora vengo mama chula (South side)
Ahora vengo mama chula, mama chula
Ahora vengo mama chula (worldwide)
Ahora vengo mama chula, mama chula
Ahora vengo mama chula (open up your eyes)
Maria, you know you're my lover
When the wind blows, I can feel you
Through the weather
And even when we are apart
Still feels like we're together
Maria, yeah
She reminds me of a West Side Story
Growing up in Spanish Harlem
She's living the life just like a movie star
Oh, Maria, Maria
Oh, she fell in love in East L.A
To the sounds of the guitar
Played by Carlos Santana
Put 'em up, y'all
Carlos Santana with the Refugee Gang
Wyclef
Jerry Wonda
Mr. Santana
G&B
Yo, Carlos, man, you makin' that guitar cry
Turn up your sound system
To the Sound of Carlos Santana
And the G&B (it's The Product)
Ghetto Blues from the Refugee Gang
Oh Maria, Maria
She reminds me of a West Side Story
Growing up in Spanish Harlem
She living the life just like a movie star
Oh, Maria, Maria (ayo, Maria)
She fell in love in East L.A.
To the sounds of the guitar, yeah, yeah
Played by Carlos Santana
Stop the looting, stop the shooting
Pick pocking on the corner (ah, yeah)
See as the rich is getting richer
The poorer is getting poorer (ah, yeah)
Se mira Maria on the corner
Thinking of ways to make it better (ah, yeah)
In my mailbox there's an eviction letter
Signed by the judge, said, "See you later"
Ahora vengo mama chula, mama chula
Ahora vengo mama chula (East coast)
Ahora vengo mama chula, mama chula
Ahora vengo mama chula
Maria, Maria (West Coast)
She reminds me of a West Side Story
Growing up in Spanish Harlem
She's living the life just like a movie star
Oh, Maria, Maria
She fell in love in East L.A.
I said to the sounds of the guitar, yeah, yeah
Played by Carlos Santana
I said a la favela los colores
The streets are getting hotter (ah, yeah)
There is no water to put out the fire
Ni gota de esperanza (ah, yeah)
Se mira Maria on the corner
Thinking of ways to make it better (ah, yeah)
Then I looked up in the sky
Hoping of days of paradise
Ahora vengo mama chula, mama chula
Ahora vengo mama chula (North side)
Ahora vengo mama chula mama chula
Ahora vengo mama chula (South side)
Ahora vengo mama chula, mama chula
Ahora vengo mama chula (worldwide)
Ahora vengo mama chula, mama chula
Ahora vengo mama chula (open up your eyes)
Maria, you know you're my lover
When the wind blows, I can feel you
Through the weather
And even when we are apart
Still feels like we're together
Maria, yeah
She reminds me of a West Side Story
Growing up in Spanish Harlem
She's living the life just like a movie star
Oh, Maria, Maria
Oh, she fell in love in East L.A
To the sounds of the guitar
Played by Carlos Santana
Put 'em up, y'all
Carlos Santana with the Refugee Gang
Wyclef
Jerry Wonda
Mr. Santana
G&B
Yo, Carlos, man, you makin' that guitar cry
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This song is def a twin to "Unfair" (a song she has been quoted as saying is about falling in love with someone who is already in a relationship) so it is presumably about the same person. Given the references to buying an apartment and not being able to see her love interest "after tonight," it's most likely that she's moving away and she'll "wait a day to break the bad news" (i.e. notifying him that she's leaving once she's already gone).
And, of course, the fact that she sees in him a fellow "idealist" and "dreamer" (terms commonly given to people with the INFP personality on the Myers–Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)) portends that she'll always be left wondering if they would've been perfect together.
Step
Ministry
Ministry
Both as a standalone and as part of the DSOTS album, you can take this lyric as read. As a matter of public record, Jourgensen's drug intake was legendary even in the 1980s. By the late 90s, in his own words, he was grappling with massive addiction issues and had lost almost everything: friends, spouse, money and had nearly died more than once. "Dark Side of the Spoon" is a both funny & sad title for an album made by a musical genius who was losing the plot; and this song is a message to his fans & friends saying he knows it. It's painful to listen to so I'm glad the "Keith Richards of industrial metals" wised up and cleaned up. Well done sir.
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"
he finds her as an inspiration . . . . shes a dreamer... he finds shes like this diamond in the middle of a troubled surroundings . . . the song also whispers hope of brighter days . . . its a beautiful song. my ex - now my best friend - dedicated it to me .. since my name is maria esperanza