| Genesis – The Carpet Crawlers Lyrics | 9 years ago |
| @[Otto:6829].M Heavy Cocaine and Methamphetamine users can suffer from a sensation that their skin is suffering from some kind of infestation. This is sometimes referred to as Delusional Parasitosis or Cocaine Bug where the sufferer believes he has fleas or other creatures on or under the skin or even around the various body openings. | |
| Genesis – I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe) Lyrics | 9 years ago |
| We may never fully understand the meaning of a lyric as sometimes they're very personal and at others generic, or both. In this case I've been listening on and off to this song since around 1974. Personally I think this song is either (auto)biographical or is just written in that style. There are also more questions than answers, firstly being: Who is, or was Ethel? Mother; Grandmother; Aunt; Foster parent; Adoptive parent? Who is Mr.Lewis? Is he a friend of Ethel or simply trying to be? "Isn't it time that he was out on his own?" Perhaps he's trying to get rid of Jacob so that he can move in on Ethel? "Over the garden wall, two little lovebirds, Cuckoo to you." I don't think that Jacob is a "hired hand" as has been suggested on here on the basis that a hired hand wouldn't be told to "tidy your room now" whereas a teenage son may well be. Mr. Farmer is also trying to persuade him to make something of his life. Is it possible that he's also trying to clear the way to a relationship with Ethel? As to the "upper class British Aristocrats" referred to above, they didn't tend to talk "Over the garden wall". That's a far more working class scenario. Incidentally,The Garden Wall was a name that Banks and Gabriel used in the very early days of their relationship. I certainly don't think that the protagonist is rebuking modern society, he's just a feckless youth encouraged to get on with his life, again recalling the lines: "Isn't it time that he was out on his own?" "There's a future for you in the fire escape trade, come up to town." He seems to have been mowing the lawn so, again, "Keep those mowing blades sharp" could well be along the lines of "Keep your chin up; Keep your nose to the grindstone; Keep your head down.....Keep those mowing blades sharp. With regard to the line "I know what I like and I like what I know," he also states that "Gambling only pays when you're winning, I'd like to thank Miss Mort for schooling a failure." If Miss Mort (Miss Dead?) was a teacher then she could have encouraged him to play life safe, not to gamble with his future and that was what he was doing, is it a case that he feels secure in that he knows what he likes, and therefore likes what he knows? He doesn't like what he doesn't know, the unknown. But then, I may be well off course with this whole post. Who knows? | |
| Jefferson Starship – We Built This City Lyrics | 9 years ago |
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@[johnwi77:4808] I think you're pretty close here John. Dragging up from my memory an interview with one of the band, it was written as a protest against the non-music part of the music industry. There were plans to put on a free music festival in San Francisco, but the "great and the good" of that city objected. The interviewee pointed out that a large proportion of the population of SF were employed, either directly or indirectly, by the music industry. All the producers, photographers, studio owners, but more importantly the accountants and lawyers, were quite happy to earn a lot of money from the bands but didn't like them. Perhaps the most significant/infamous of these people were the record company executives. What they liked was making money, not music. The word "Say" at the start of the first two lines maybe said: Admit it - or say it, that you don't know or care about the people in the industry or the fans. "You don't know me, or recognise my face, You don't care who goes to that kind of place." The movers and the shakers (quite often the non-creative elements) had nothing in common with those who were really making the money for them - the fans. Not only that but they didn't care about the artistes either, just the money. I wonder if the line "Too many runaways eating up the night" was possibly referring to just that; runaways. Young people with problems who might listen to their clients' music. Marconi must refer to the inventor of radio. Someone from Morocco would be a Moroccan. "We built this city on rock and roll" is pretty self explanatory. The reference to playing corporation games and changing corporation names is probably about companies within companies and tax avoidance. "We just want to dance here, someone stole the stage, they call us irresponsible, write us off the page".The youngsters just want to have a good time dancing to the music but the music establishment just want to criticise them and issue derogatory press statements. "Who counts the money underneath the bar" The establishment don't reveal how much money they make, either to the bands or the tax authorities. "Who rides the wrecking ball into rock guitars" They are destroying the real music and making it TOO commercial. I don't think Takin' it to the Streets by the Doobies was written with how much money it would make as the objective, there was a social message there. When Jefferson Airplane wrote White Rabbit they wanted to tell a story, now make a million. If accountants had written "What's Going On" to be sung by Marvin Gaye, there would have been nothing about young black men dying or mercury in fish. So my take is that the managers, accountants, lawyers and executives wanted to make their money, and lots of it, but thought the musicians and fans as just so much money earned rather than people. They still wanted to wear the black tie and dinner suit (Tuxedo) and go to the opera, but didn't want a free concert because they wouldn't earn anything, plus who would want all those nasty young people with their long hair. That's my take anyway, and as it's now 1:24 am and I've been awake since 4:15, I need to got to sleep before the brains ceases to function altogether |
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| Dire Straits – On Every Street Lyrics | 9 years ago |
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I'm going to take a different viewpoint. At the time this song was written (late '80s - early '90s) Britain, like the US was undergoing a problem of young people leaving their families in provincial towns and heading for the bright lights, ie London. I think he is looking for this girl professionally. -If you were looking methodically for someone you would check hospitals, voters registers and the local police or social services - "There's gotta be a record of you somewhere, you've gotta be on somebody's books," - If you were looking for someone, would you not have a photograph to show around? "The lowdown - a picture of your face". - Does she have a grievance against her family, friends or boyfriend? "The injured looks" - Has she leat things she holds very dear to her; or things she doesn't really care about? "The sacred and profane". - Was she the victim of abuse at home or in a relationship? "The pleasure and the pain" - She's out there somewhere. "Somewhere your fingerprints remain concrete". - As he walks down the street he's looking at all those who pass. "And it's your face I'm looking for, on every street". - He tracks down a man (at a rail or bus station?) These people used to hang around waiting for young people arriving in the city to get them into prostitution or drug dealing. They were often attractive to the young and impressionable. "A ladykiller - regulation tattoo, silver spurs on his heels". - He makes excuses.....it wasn't his fault. "Says what can I tell you, as I'm standing next to you, she threw herself under my wheels". - There are risks in everything, what can I do about it? - "Oh it's a dangerous road, it's a hazardous load" - If she doesn't want to be found, then she can please herself. "The fireworks of liberty explode in the heat, and it's your face I'm looking for. on every street." - Could never decide about the next line. "A three chord symphony crashes into space." - The next line is purely descriptive, he's looking at a reflection in a puddle. Or is he reflecting on the futility of his search, or is the moon mocking his efforts? "The moon is hanging upside down". - He doesn't really think he'll ever find her. "I don't know why I'm still on the case". - He's saying that the city will consume the naive and unwary. "It's a ravenous town" - He won't find her if she doesn't want to be found. "And you still refuse to be traced". - If she feels trapped by the city or her circumstances (drugs, prostitution, crime) "It seems to me such a waste". - When he finds a runaway he may be taking them back to where they were running away from in the first place. "And every victory has a taste that's bitter-sweet". "And it's your face I'm looking for, on every street." |
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| Mark Knopfler – Silvertown Blues Lyrics | 10 years ago |
| I always thought Telegraph Road was about the New World (Australia, Canada or US) not the old. There are similarities between songs and numerous other cities. Allentown by Billy Joel is about Pennsylvania but could easily be about Middlesbrough not far from Newcastle. Visiting Baltimore 9 years ago I was struck how it had had the s**t kicked out of it and was fighting to recover, but it could never be like it was. | |
| Mark Knopfler – Silvertown Blues Lyrics | 10 years ago |
| My maternal Great Grandmother lived in Silvertown in the '20s & '30s, my mum still has vivid memories of visiting her as a child just before WW2. The area had many problems including an explosion in an armaments factory in WW1 that killed many and hundreds of men had to queue up for work outside the docks during the Depression. It was also heavily bombed during WW2. Silvertown way is a long road that runs roughly east to west, north of the Thames past the Royal Victoria & Royal Albert Docks. Mark asks: If I'd a bucket of gold what would I do? Leave the story untold. If he had a lot of money he wouldn't be telling this story, he'd have just left. Later he adds: If I'd a bucket of gold, silver would do? He wouldn't need a lot, he'd just go anyway. But he doesn't, so he can't. Even when he goes to the CItizens Advice Bureau they don't tell him anything new. He's heard it all before. The glamour of long distance flights just rubs it in. Flour mills, sugar refineries, docks and chemical companies used to line the Thames & provide manual work which has now all gone. But then, nothing stays the same. | |
| Genesis – Undertow Lyrics | 11 years ago |
| In 1976 I knew a young girl of 18 (I was only 19 myself) who lost her father to a heart attack and her mother to cancer both in the space of a year. That left her to look after her older sister who had mental health problems. A few months later she found out that she too had the same strain of cancer as her mother and had only a few months to live. We struck up a relationship (platonic) and I used to spend a lot of time with her. One day I bought Then there were three and as we listened to Undertow it took on real meaning for us. It was winter and the illness meant she couldn't sleep but one evening she said she wasn't frightened anymore. We'd said that when she was better we go out and visit different places with each other and then realised at the back at our minds there would be no tomorrow. The end of this story is told in the last two verses | |
| Steely Dan – My Old School Lyrics | 11 years ago |
| I know this is a bit late (nearly 3 years late) but why do I know the name G. Gordon Liddy?. I have Watergate in mind but I'm not sure why. | |
| The Small Faces – Lazy Sunday Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| The words "Gore Blimey" or "Gor Blimey" is a phrase originally used by Londoners, generally in the East End and is a contraction of the phrase "God blind me" which is an oath. As an example "God blind me if I'm telling a lie." I also thought the lyrics were "'ow's your Bert's lumbago?" I must admit that no matter how often I heard that song when playing pool in my mis-spent youth during the '70s, I didn't realise it said "To sing in ya Karzi." | |
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