| The Velvet Underground – Pale Blue Eyes Lyrics | 8 years ago |
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Setting aside the fact that this song is about the sweet balm of heroin it is also about love and life. Being about the same age as Lou (would be). I have a different reaction now to this song to when I was 18. For me it is the sad musings of an older man about meeting someone he hopelessly loved in his youth. An experience I recently had. He knows her so well. Well enough to be pleased saddened and maddened by her. She was everything to him but could never be his. He remembers her eyes. She was everything to him but the problem wasn't her but the world, If he could make the world like the strange enchanting vision he has in his mind they would be together. He meets her years later after they have both lived a life. It's gone – stuff it in a cup. She says to him that their relationship is like money- it's worth something but it's inert and can't stand up. You've always had the wrong idea – down for you is up. She's saying he had value (she loved him) but he never did anything. What they did yesterday is not an affair. It was the genuine love they had years ago. She married to find happiness which is what he wanted for her. She did what he wanted for her. That's why she's his best friend. The sin is they never consummated their love. |
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| Neil Young – Southern Man Lyrics | 9 years ago |
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I am amazed the people are still commenting on this song after all these years But then again perhaps I'm not. This song resonates in so many ways. I was a young man when it was released and I loved it and I loved Neil for having the courage to write it and release it. That he is a Canadian who clearly loves America also resonates. Being English I might add In 1775 there was no difference. They were all British and proud of it. The patriots said they were fighting for “The rights of Englishmen” against Britain (more shame Britain.) But there were many Englishmen then (and since) who did not support the young King George and his Tory government in their war against the 13 colonies. The Canadians were simply the North Americans who chose to remain part of the Empire. It was their choice and probably a painful one. I am no apologist for Empire but my point is there were (and are) many family ties which stretch across the Atlantic. It was a very sad and painful episode of history in which a lot of mistakes were made by both sides which both unites and separates us all. I am sure I have many relatives on both sides of the Atlantic. Most people with Celtic ancestry can say the same. I think Neil wrote about America initially because he was steeped in the American culture as we all were then. But when I see him reminiscing on TV nowadays I can't help but think of him not as Canadian or American or English but just 'one of us.' He's just a real human being. The imagery he employs in the song is undoubtedly the Klan and it is savage and cruel and implacable. It was courageous to speak out against it (albeit poetically) and the harsh strident guitars behind his voice clearly denote anguished condemnation. The song said clearly “how long” is this going to go on? He said similar things in 'Alabama'; “ Alabama what's going wrong?” That very dramatically presented the issue to young minds all around America and the world; even people who were not necessarily interested in politics and he did it knowing what the personal backlash from the racists would be. Racism in the seventies was still very much alive on both sides of the Atlantic (which was also true in 1775.) If you have been involved in combating racism you will know the only way to beat it is to continually speak out against it, Never let it lie. If you do it will creep back. Perhaps better still sing it at the top of your voice like Neil. |
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| Joan Osborne – What If God Was One Of Us Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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I love this song. Mainly because of the uplifting lead guitar line but the words are good too. And I like your thoughts. Like you I am an atheist mainly because of the great historic evils like the inquisition which you allude to. But I don't think all Christians are bound to be bad just because they believe. There are some good ones. The crux of this song is the same as the Jesus myth: a being fully a man and fully a god at the same time. An impossibility because man is flawed and god is perfect. This is a really clever ethical paradox and probably the crux of my own belief. I like the idea. Being good (or trying to be) for me grows out of really perceiving that we are all just human beings: flawed and pitiful but capable of kindness and compassion. In the song this is the way god is portrayed just a sad lonely guy going home on a bus. Jesus was that guy. Even Christians have to accept that. So this song at the same time challenges Christians. It criticises the pomposity of the Christian hierarchy (saints prophets etc.) by comparing it to the humble man (god) on the bus. But at the same time it asks you to feel sympathy for him. Sympathy is a form of love. To a Christian having sympathy for God has to precede having sympathy for a human (you cannot love man or yourself without first loving god.) But the song seems to put it the other way round. You are asked to think of god as a man not man as a reflection of god. I love this. And the last lines about no-one calling him on the phone (except the pope) are both poignant and witty. It pokes fun at the same time as inviting sympathy. I would add a little bit to your conclusion. I agree that this song is challenging the listener to think how they would treat god if he was just like another guy and they met him on the bus. But it could also be challenging us to query the existence of god himself. Is 'god' actually immanent in humanity ? What if god is nothing more than looking with compassion on another human being? You may well know the saying 'God is love' I have often seen this incorrectly construed as 'Deus est Amor.' The correct translation is 'Deus est Caritas.' The latin caritas is the word which gives us the modern 'charity' it means love but love in the sense of sympathy/compassion. For me both the soaring music and the tone and sense of the words give rise to feelings of sympathy hope and faith in humanity. Because I too am an atheist I find that very uplifting. I also really like that it presents Christians with the conundrum of deciding whether they feel sympathy for the guy because he is human or because he is divine. I can say both. They can't. |
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| Archers of Loaf – Web in Front Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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Like Bachmann I don't think songs necessarily mean anything. But at the same time it is hard to write something without meaning creeping in anyway. I always thought this song was about a couple where one of them was seriously ill but I didn't really analyse it any further. So today I sat down and did it from the point of view of my own illness and I was amazed how well it fits (to my mind anyway.) The beginning refers to a spinal tap which is one of the tests which is definitive for MS. So this is my analysis. Stuck a pin in your backbone. - spinal tap to diagnose MS Spoke it down from there. - 'Spoke it down' means give a diagnosis 'from there' is from the spinal tap All I ever wanted was to be your spine. - one form of MS trashes your spine — he wants to make up for it — to be her spine for her Lost your friction and you slid for a mile. - MS is incurable — when you are diagnosed you definitely loose your grip and slide emotionally a long way Overdone, overdrive, overlive, override. The diagnosis is overwhelming and over the top in every way You're not the one who let me down, - She feels she has let him down by getting ill (this is a common feeling) — he says NO. Up, on the radio. This is the MRI to confirm the diagnosis — it uses radio waves and magnetic fields. (it is also in the radiotherapy dept in the hospital.) Sampled your rust from a faucet, I know. -  He disparages the MRI. It doesn't cure anything. It is no better than sampling rust from a faucet. I've got a magnet in my head, - I'll be your MRI — (most of an MRI is a very big, thick, long magnet.) A magnet in my head. Extra thick, extra long, the way it was wasted And there's a chance that things'll get weird. - MS brings weird neurological symptoms Yeah, that's a possibility. Although I didn't do anything, - the question anyone with an incurable disease (and people who love them) asks themselves No, I didn't do anything. And a mouth kept shut and a tongue twist tie. You're the web in front, you're the favorite lie. (? ) You're a buck my lip, you're a lash my lie. (? ) - You're the web in front of a favorite lie. The only thing you can do for someone you love who has an incurable illness is tell them sweet lies and keep your mouth shut about the bad things. The first two lines are saying he will do this for her. The last two are saying she is also doing it for him. Does that make sense to anyone else or is it just me? I am also wondering if Bachmann had a friend or family member who was diagnosed with an incurable disease while he was writing this song. |
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