The meaning of song lyrics

Wibble

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I was discussing this with the missus the other night and it occurs to me that half the time we don't know what the lyrics of a song mean or are meant to mean through misunderstanding, laziness or because the lyric is downright obscure and open to interpretation.

The two I remember were

Lightning Crashes by Live. The lyrics, especially when you have seen the video, strongly suggest that the song is about a troubled girl dying while giving birth but it was apparently about a friend of the band who was killed and many of her organs were transplanted.

The other one is Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen which is thought of a hymn like song about spirituality whereas it is in fact a deeply subversive song about sexuality in the main and Cohen although the original version by Cohen had more biblical references which were removed later to make the sexual intent a bit clearer.

Others?

My mum thought that it was lovely the Frankie Goes To Hollywood wanted everyone to de-stress and relax. I didn't have the heart to tell her what it was really about.
 
Champagne Supernova - great song but I dont have a clue what they're on about.
 
From wikipedia

The song is considered a fan-favourite, and has received widespread critical acclaim. Noel Gallagher claimed, in a 2005 interview, that he has still not made up his mind as to what the song actually is about, though he thinks it might be about reincarnation.[citation needed]

In a 2009 interview, Noel told the following anecdote:

This writer, he was going on about the lyrics to "Champagne Supernova", and he actually said to me: ‘You know, the one thing that’s stopping it being a classic is the ridiculous lyrics.’ And I went: ‘What do you mean by that?’ And he said: ‘Well, Slowly walking down the hall, faster than a cannonball — what’s that mean?’ And I went: ‘I don’t fecking know. But are you telling me, when you’ve got 60,000 people singing it, they don’t know what it means? It means something different to every one of them.’[2]
 
I remember seeing an interview (think it was with Michael Stipe) a few years ago where he said he didn't explain any of his lyrics so that they could mean whatever people wanted them to mean to themselves, I think thats a good philosophy.
 
Eyepopper said:
I remember seeing an interview (think it was with Michael Stipe) a few years ago where he said he didn't explain any of his lyrics so that they could mean whatever people wanted them to mean to themselves, I think thats a good philosophy.
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What's that one about leaving a cake out in the rain.

Anyone who understands what all that's about is a genius.

MacArthur Park, that's the one.
 
Thankfully, most of the band's lyrics that I listen to, don't require a great deal of interpretation.
 
.... as black as night and as plain as day,
nothing that you see will remain.
The road beneath your feet will turn to dust,
the steel of your will will start to rust.

~Eyepopper, 2006

:D
 
Lance Uppercut said:
Why don't you make like a tree, and piss off.
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:lol:

Why dont you make like a hotel, and abscond to a relatively distant part of the planet, where you may chance upon a rabid dingo, slavering for your sugarlumps.

What sort of stuff do you listen to? (apart from the sound of your foes bones cracking beneath your feet?)
 
Scholesgoals said:
:lol:

Why dont you make like a hotel, and abscond to a relatively distant part of the planet, where you may chance upon a rabid dingo, slavering for your sugarlumps.

What sort of stuff do you listen to? (apart from the sound of your foes bones cracking beneath your feet?)
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I listen to Swedish metal, for the most part. Bands like At the Gates, The Haunted, The Crown, One Man Army..., Face Down, Dark Tranquillity, Witchery, Entombed, etc.

I also like more traditional thrash bands like Testament, Municipal Waste, Skeletonwitch, Warpath, etc.

Then there are the "classic" metal bands like Iron Maiden, older Metallica material, Megadeth, etc.

Non metal, I like Dire Straits, Alan Is Morrisette, Crowded House, Split Enz, Powderfinger, The Dixie Chicks (yeah, I said it, feck YOU), and the Bee Gees.

I trust that satisfies your inquisitive nature.
 
I always wondered what I Am The Walrus was all about
 
Scholesgoals said:
Now i see what you mean!

I know its a bit poppy, but i bought myself Death Cult Armageddon by Dimmu, i think they were being mean, but i wasnt sure
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I much prefer the previous album, Puritanical Misanthropic Euphoria. I am not a big fan of the Black Metal genre, but I found that album to be surprisingly listenable.
 
mexos said:
I always wondered what I Am The Walrus was all about
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I've always thought its real purpose was lyrical experimentation with alliteration and quasi-repetitive sound.

Mr. City P'liceman, sitting pretty little p'licemen in a row

Expert textpert choking smokers, don't you thing the joker laughs at you?

That or just a whack of good drugs and a pen and paper.
 
Wasn't I Am The Walrus written after John Lennon read about a teacher giving lessons on the meanings of Beatles songs? He then wrote I Am The Walrus and said "let's see the feckers work that one out", or so I've been told.
 
Wikipedia

Lennon composed the avant-garde song by combining three songs he had been working on. When he learned that a teacher at his old primary school was having his students analyze Beatles' lyrics, he added a verse of nonsense words.[3]

The walrus is a reference to the walrus in Lewis Carroll's "The Walrus and the Carpenter" (from the book Through the Looking-Glass). Lennon expressed dismay upon learning that the walrus was a villain in the poem.
 
Eyepopper said:
I remember seeing an interview (think it was with Michael Stipe) a few years ago where he said he didn't explain any of his lyrics so that they could mean whatever people wanted them to mean to themselves, I think thats a good philosophy.
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Although they do comment from time to time about lyrics e.g. Losing My Religion being about unrequited love and The One I Love not being a love song etc.
 
Wibble said:
Although they do comment from time to time about lyrics e.g. Losing My Religion being about unrequited love and The One I Love not being a love song etc.
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Yeah well Michael Stipe is a bit of an arsehole so I'm sure he does, still like the sentiment though...

I'm writing a song about the whole clerical child sex abuse scandal at the moment, nice and light hearted like....

Lines drawn through shifting sands,
Gentle hearts, held so tight in wicked hands.
With empty mouths, and tired eyes
We see no evil, hear no screams and tell no lies

~ Eyepopper 2008 :D
 
REM are brilliant so they can affird a little bit of inconsistency. Even their more recent stuff has the odd gem e.g. Leaving New York
 
Love their early stuff, right up to New Adventures in HiFi, dont have much time for what went after that. Stipe has turned into a right arsehole, great vocalist though.
 
Eyepopper said:
Yeah well Michael Stipe is a bit of an arsehole so I'm sure he does, still like the sentiment though...

I'm writing a song about the whole clerical child sex abuse scandal at the moment, nice and light hearted like....

Lines drawn through shifting sands,
Gentle hearts, held so tight in wicked hands.
With empty mouths, and tired eyes
We see no evil, hear no screams and tell no lies

~ Eyepopper 2008 :D
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A summer singalong classic no doubt.
 
Eyepopper said:
Love their early stuff, right up to New Adventures in HiFi, dont have much time for what went after that. Stipe has turned into a right arsehole, great vocalist though.
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I am the same. New Adventures in HiFi had some great songs. Not much time for them after that, although Imitation of Life is a pretty groovy pop song.
 
Eyepopper said:
Yeah well Michael Stipe is a bit of an arsehole so I'm sure he does, still like the sentiment though...

I'm writing a song about the whole clerical child sex abuse scandal at the moment, nice and light hearted like....

Lines drawn through shifting sands,
Gentle hearts, held so tight in wicked hands.
With empty mouths, and tired eyes
We see no evil, hear no screams and tell no lies

~ Eyepopper 2008 :D
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Drop that "so" and it would scan better.

~ Pogue Mahone 2009 :cool:
 
Pogue Mahone said:
Drop that "so" and it would scan better.

~ Pogue Mahone 2009 :cool:
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I know yeah, I've been trying to come up with something other than 'so', cant leave it out, it fecks up the melody.

Oh and it should be 'Eyepopper 2009' I forgot what year it was there for a couple of hours :lol:
 
i think

"we see no evil, hear no evil and fuzzy wuzzy was a woman?"

would work better as a last line.
 
mehro said:
I've decided I'm going to use Champagne Supernova as an expression. I'm going to make it famous.

I'm off to tell Smashed now that I could Champagne Supernova him.
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I used to turn popular songs into funny messages on my answering machine in the days before voicemail.

My ultimate goal was a 7:28 version of Champagne Supernova, which I managed to write but never record.

My personal favourite was Tom Jones' It's Not Unusual.
 
My mate told me that AC/DC's "Givin' the Dog a Bone" wasn't about feeding your pet, so now I'm all turned around.
 
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