| Mark Knopfler – Sucker Row Lyrics | 9 years ago |
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Indeed, the songs seems to be about an entrepeneur in Vegas,at a time when the "fancy hotels" and "big time singers" hadn't come there yet, and Vegas was not yet the "miracle mile" that it has become. In a sense, the song is similar to Boom Like That, which is also about an entrepeneur that was there when something started that ended up becoming huge. However, I wonder if Sucker Row is also based on a real person - I would be interested in the biography. |
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| Bastille – Things We Lost in the Fire Lyrics | 9 years ago |
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To me it seems to be a song about feeling terribly sorry about messing up a relationship. He looks back at the relationship, thinking it was wonderful. The life with his partner was "all that he adored", and that his partner's diaries told him nothing new testifies to the honesty in their relationship. However, then some problem came up, I imagine it to be a fight about something (the fire), and it destroyed their emotional bond, their ability to wholeheartedly trust and love eachother. This, to me, seems to be what got lost in the fire (fire). Then loneliness came (which made him read his partner's old diaries, to feel close again) but it was already too late to restore their relation, so they ended up dividing their stuff (for which they made a list of all the things that they had). They were really separated now. Just like when they were born, they again had nothing - no love relationship. He feels terribly sorry about what got lost, and wonders if his partner understands that it will never again be the way it was: the two of them in a perfect relationship. And he realizes it is their own fault: maybe we started this fire / the future's in our hands and we will never be the same again... |
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| Bastille – Pompeii Lyrics | 9 years ago |
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Love your interpretation! However, for me, intuitively, interpreting it on the relationship-level does make more sense. I have wondered why, and I guess it is because of the opening sentence. It says "I was left to my own devices", which, for me, makes it very personal: I fucked up again. Me, not all of us. If it was meant on the level of humanity, I would expect the song to open with "We were left to our own devices". Of course, later on it becomes clear that the "I" isn't the only one to blame, when the song goes on to sing about "our vices" and "our sins". However, because of the opening sentence, it does seem to me that the "I" made a very substantial contribution to the failure. The song makes me think about trying to make a relationship work, but failing time after time, because, in line with your interpretation, we make up after each crises (the rubble), but we don't change our characters (our vices, our sins) which are causing new crises over and over again. So when we close our eyes, and stop to be distracted by the particularities of the current crisis situation, we realize that nothing changed at all in the underlying dynamics. How, in these circumstances, can we be optimistic about the future? |
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| Elton John – Song for Guy Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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According to Wikipedia: Elton said this in the sleeve notes of the 7" single:"...As I was writing this song one Sunday, I imagined myself floating into space and looking down at my own body. I was imagining myself dying. Morbidly obsessed with these thoughts, I wrote this song about death. The next day I was told that Guy (Burchett), our 17 year-old messenger boy, had been tragically killed on his motorcycle the day before. Guy died on the day I wrote this song." |
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| Green Day – 21 Guns Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| I don't think this song is about war. Of course, with all the military metaphores, I understand where the idea comes from, but to me it seems to be about the end of a relationship. The song seems to describe the feelings one has at the end of a relationship that you've tried really hard to make work. But at some point you have to admit it's beyond you're power, you can't change the other person (and his/her feelings), and trying is just going to hurt you, because your partner will reject you over and over again. The chorus seems to be about being alone again ("one"), declaring dead on the relationship (21 guns) and giving up the fight against the inevitable... | |
| Mark Knopfler – 5.15 A.M. Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| wow, these details add a lot to the lyrics. thanks. | |
| Mark Knopfler – 5.15 A.M. Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| thanks for the details! wonderful! | |
| Mark Knopfler – Everybody Pays Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| Yes, Jonpalin I agree. It seems like he's warning an old friend for the dangers of gambling. | |
| Mark Knopfler – Stand Up Guy Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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yes it definitely seems to be about a traveling snake oil salesmen. I do wonder however what the exact role of the narrator is.. "I'm just one who plays the songs", were they performing rituals? Or were they also offering entertainment? According to wikipedia " to increase sales, an accomplice in the crowd (a shill) would often "attest" the value of the product in an effort to provoke buying enthusiasm" Might that be the narrators role? The line "here's to absent friends" might indicate that the narrator thinks no one can be trusted, which could serve as a justification for him to keep on deceiving other people as well? |
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| Mark Knopfler – Madame Geneva's Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| Thank you Mishel for all that information and the wonderful details. Based on that, it seems like the song is trying to make a connection between the way criminals (and not only the worst ones) were treated back then, and alcohol abuse. The writer who is speaking might be drinking so much (like many at the time) because he is afraid and is trying not to think about what might happen to him some day (keeping the demons, that he is facing each day to make a living, at bay)... | |
| Mika – Toy Boy Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| I think the song is about a homosexual toy, who is in a happy "relationship" with a boy in the beginning. But then he is taken away from that boy by the mother who thinks that as the boy grows up he shouldn't be sleeping with a male doll. The rest of the song is about how he is taken to a girl who treats him bad and makes him into someone she wants him to be (a straight guy whose clothes don't even match - i think this piece about his clothes refers to homosexuals being said to have an eye for fashion) while he is in fact a gay doll. So not only is his life ruined by him not being able to lead his own life (he is a closeted homosexual, who is forced to have a "girl friend" who then tries to make him look like a straight guy), but also the boy he loved and used to sleep with is taught by his mother to be afraid of other guys when they come close. His mother taught him this and took away his male doll because homosexuality "is a serious thing in a grown-up world". So this is how homophobia is reproduced and people end up living very unhappy lives. | |
| Mika – Toy Boy Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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Interesting comments... So would the part that says "Had a boy once who loved me Now he's so afraid of me" be about homophobia? The boy who never experienced any problems with being close with another (toy) boy was taught by his mother that this is not how it is supposed to be. |
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| Mark Knopfler – So Far From the Clyde Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| Thanks! Love the song now that i understand the background! | |
| Mark Knopfler – Cleaning My Gun Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| in my interpretation it is about a guy who has stopped serving in the army, but his time in the army has made him suspicious, paranoid.. He hopes for a good future, but is very aware of all the possible dangers that he and his partner(s) might be confronted with.. | |
| Mika – We Are Golden Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| I need to study these lyrics some more, but i got this idea that the whole song could be about hiding from who you are. Maybe teen age culture is a circus full of clowns, hiding behind a mask. And the whole song could be about hiding and being afraid that parts of you of which you are ashamed are exposed. I am a little unsure about "running from running", it might refer to the insecurity getting so bad that you get a little paranoid because of it. | |
| James Blunt – Carry You Home Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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When i heard the lyrics the song sounded very straightforward to me. It is about a girl that has had a difficult youth, possibly because of poverty and related social problems. These troubles have made her look much older than she really is, because her life is so hard. The reason for thinking about these kind of troubles is that he is singing: And she says it's high time she went away No one's got much to say in this town Trouble is the only way is down. It seems this refers to the recruitment of soldiers in the US. The government is recruiting soldiers amongst the poorest people with the least opportunity to create themselves a prosperous life. She feels her life sucks and thinks it is high time she went away. But the only way she can go is in the army, which is the way down - because it is devastating for your mental health, as James Blunt can tell from his own experiences as a soldier. In the war she is sent to she dies and while everyone is partying in New York and oblivious to the suffering in that war, her body is brought back to the US in a coffin with an American flag put on it - this is how soldiers are brought back. |
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| Elton John – Original Sin Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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I would say the first two verses are about the person he is in love with. Since Elton John is gay, i will just assume that this person is male. Oh, it's carnival night And they're stringing the lights around you Hanging paper angels Painting little devils on the roof Maybe my English is insufficient but could it be he is at a party (whether the religious fest or a fun fair) and he is looking at the person he is in love with. To him this person is the center of attention, and he is so perfect that "paper angels" are hanging around him. But he is aware that he shouldn't be in love with this guy, that it is regarded as wrong or judged by religion as wrong. This is expressed by the angels hanging around the guy painting the little devils. So while he is looking at something heavenly, he gradually starts realising his homosexual desires are judged as sinful and he shouldn't be in love. The painting stands for the little devils gradually appearing, the gradual realization, pulling him out of the heavenly situation. Oh the furnace wind Is a flickering of wings about your face In a cloud of incense Yea, it smells like Heaven in this place The guy he thinks is heavenly makes him nervous and might be making him sweat and feeling warm. I interpret (but here i am unsure about my english) the first two lines as the angels around the guy flickering their wings and making him feel warm and sweaty (the furnace wind), which would describe how nervous the guy makes him. The cloud of incense and smell of heaven at the same tim tell how much he likes being near the guy. Again this verse is ambivalent: the forbidden love. I can't eat, can't sleep Still I hunger for you when you look at me That face, those eyes All the sinful pleasures deep inside This just tells about how much he is in love with and adores the guy. Tell me how, you know now, the ways and means of getting in Underneath my skin, Oh you were always my original sin And tell me why, I shudder inside, every time we begin This dangerous game Oh you were always my original sin apparently he has been in love with the guy for a long time and he doesn't understand how someone can get him so mesmerized. I think the last two verses are about him not knowing what to do with the dreams he has about the guy, and about him feeling that he is the only one who really loves him, unlike the other guys who might think they do. What do you think about this interpretation? I would love to hear comments about it! |
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