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alexptrans
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16 Feb 2011, 3:24 am

There are some songs I can understand, but others I find completely obscure and incomprehensible. As an example, here's the lyrics for a song called The Flood:

Standing on the edge of forever
at the start of whatever
shouting love at the World.
Back then we were like cavemen
but we met the moon and the stars
then we forgave them.

We will meet you where the lights are
the defenders of the faith we are
where the thunder turns around
they'll run so hard we'll tear the ground away.

You know no-one dies in these love drowned eyes
through our love drowned eyes
we'll watch you sleep tonight.

Although no-one understood
we were holding back the flood
learning how to dance the rain.
We were holding back the flood
they said we'd never dance again.

Breathin' (Bleeding) but none of us leavin'
wash your mouth son or you'll find yourself floatin' home
Here we come now on a dark star
seeing demons not what we are
tiny minds and eager hands will try to strike
but now we'll last the day.

There's progress now where there once was not (none)
where there once was not (none)
then everything came along.

Although no-one understood
we were holding back the flood
learning how to dance the rain.
There was more of them than us
now they'll never dance again.
Although no-one understood
there was more of them than us
learning how to dance the rain.
We were holding back the flood
they said we'd never dance again.

We will meet you where the lights are
the defenders of the faith we are
when the thunder turns around
they'll run so hard we'll tear the ground away.

Although no-one understood
there was more of them than us
learning how to dance the rain.
There was more of them than us
now they'll never dance again
now we'll never dance again.


I understand individual lines when taken separately, but the meaning as a whole escapes me. The flood is probably a metaphor for something, but for what? And why did no one understood they were holding it back? And that part about meeting the moon and stars and forgiving them - what the heck does that supposed to mean? Either it really is a collection of random sentences cobbled together, or there is a deeper meaning there somewhere hidden behind opaque figurative language. I'm not even sure it has to do with being AS, unless NTs find this perfectly clear.



ediself
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16 Feb 2011, 3:54 am

I think there are two possibilities: either you have to know the writer personally to understand this song, or it was written while high. I also understand only the sentences but can gather no storyline out of them.



CockneyRebel
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16 Feb 2011, 4:01 am

I understand lyrics pretty well.


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dunbots
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16 Feb 2011, 4:06 am

That song makes a lot more sense than this song, Alive:

Essence, divergence, freedom, dependence
where to belong to, I'm longing, belongings
what to relate to, our nations try, my
patience dry, relations lie that
This is our essence, there's no way behind the
back wall of us all, and there's no way round the
side walls of mind halls, hide behind the curtains
thick folds and grow old, never know for certain

how things would be if you were to be free
and how high you could fly if you'd really try

Go tell the world we're coming, just a matter
of belief and space and time
Till were gonna ride the wind of changes, sail
the seas of this immense millennium
Now sharpen your old axes, shine your
armours and your sword of sight and sound
My warriors, let's go down together, time will
tell us whether we will do or die
Our destiny is calling, calling, falling
Falling off the world and down we're hurled
you know the word
There's no use in hiding, destiny will find you
Running or fighting, it's always right behind you

how things would be if you were to be free
and how high you could fly if you'd really try

Many songs I don't understand, and poems. Always taking things literally means I can't understand hidden meaning and other stuff in songs and poems. :oops:



agent_cooper
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16 Feb 2011, 4:23 am

I understand lyrics very well, never had a problem with that... yet the overall meaning of this song escapes me too.

One thing to remember is that not all lyrics actually make sense, so sometimes even 'normal' people wouldn't get them... like these, I suspect.



KBerg
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16 Feb 2011, 4:49 am

Hah, ok the Týr song I can explain. It's in part about society and sometimes family holding you back, that we don't get pushed/allowed to be our best "how things could be if you were to be free and how high you could fly if you really try". Then the song calls to for it's audience to push itself, it's a 'go forth and claim your place, you're stronger/better than you think you are' kind of vibe as seen in "go tell the world we're coming" and "My warriors, lets go down together, time will tell us whether we will do or die". Also remember Tyr write from a Viking perspective, so it can also be seen as an ode to the individualistic nature of those times and how nations, larger kingdoms were starting to form and the struggle many Vikings had against what they saw as oppressive authority that would not allow them to be all they were capable of. The general call of this song is very individualistic.

The vibe I'm getting off the other song, The Flood, is somewhat similar in nature in terms of struggle, but with a difference. It's a young man's love song, there's a theme in struggle against others, others who are telling the singer what he can and can't do and perceiving even as evil. "they said we'd never dance again" "although no-one understood" and "seeing demons not what we are". Sounds a lot like how adults sometimes talk to a teenager doesn't it? The more primal aspect to the singer are mentioned in that first verb, comparing himself to cavemen, undeveloped yet.

Ok, this next part is a stretch but if you accept the metaphors of edge of forever as referring to time and start of whatever as beginning your life then you could interpret the moon and the stars as the parents. The singer forgives them for not understanding him. The second theme is love, the reason they're not understood is love. "You know no-one dies in these love drowned eyes" is the promise of eternal love, the rest "through our love drowned eyes we'll watch you sleep tonight" is a promise to protect the object of their love. From whom? Presumably those who don't understand and wish to tear them from one another. The use of the phrase drowned coupled with love leads me to believe the flood is the singer's emotions of love, he holds it back because he's 'learning to dance the rain', which might be learning to express that love better as he gets older. The people telling the singer he would never dance again is the people who tell him he'll never feel that love again (like how people sometimes say the first love is the true one and nothing else ever comes close).

It feels very idealistic to me, like that of a teenager who isn't yet corrupted by what he sees as the evils of the world, "defenders of the faith we are", several references to love. It's a very innocent view of the world but at the same time a view that wants to be taken seriously, that knows it's right and knows it love is coming back to it. It also speaks of defeating in some way those who don't understand, that there's more of those who do love and this again is something you see with songs that are more about a teenage point of view - a sort of drive that here is something that the singer and those like him will change.

Of course this is all just a theory and I could be full of it. I did always get good grades in my literature 'lets find the true meaning of something completely superficial' classes.



KBerg
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16 Feb 2011, 5:03 am

Oh and um, yeah, I guess I find most lyrics and even films pretty easy to find the meaning in. I had some good courses on deciphering that in my college lit class and my native language teacher was always stressing using metaphors - and she'd use examples and explain those examples unlike a lot of other teachers. So I got used to it. Some still baffle me though, I mean lets be honest, some artists were on waaaaay too many drugs when they wrote some of their songs for there to even be any hidden meaning in there other than 'whoa, like, drugs'.



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16 Feb 2011, 7:16 am

Not really. Pretty much every single love song ever made I don't understand, because I've never experienced true love myself. I love the lyrics in Iron Maiden's songs though. Barely any love, just lots of war, history and ancient religion. :D

On a completely different note, try and decipher this one. :D

I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together.
See how they run like pigs from a gun, see how they fly.
I'm crying.

Sitting on a cornflake, waiting for the van to come.
Corporation tee-shirt, stupid bloody Tuesday.
Man, you been a naughty boy, you let your face grow long.
I am the eggman, they are the eggmen.
I am the walrus, goo goo g'joob.

Mister City Policeman sitting
Pretty little policemen in a row.
See how they fly like Lucy in the Sky, see how they run.
I'm crying, I'm crying.
I'm crying, I'm crying.

Yellow matter custard, dripping from a dead dog's eye.
Crabalocker fishwife, pornographic priestess,
Boy, you been a naughty girl you let your knickers down.
I am the eggman, they are the eggmen.
I am the walrus, goo goo g'joob.

Sitting in an English garden waiting for the sun.
If the sun don't come, you get a tan
From standing in the English rain.
I am the eggman, they are the eggmen.
I am the walrus, goo goo g'joob g'goo goo g'joob.

Expert textpert choking smokers,
Don't you thing the joker laughs at you?
See how they smile like pigs in a sty,
See how they snied.
I'm crying.

Semolina pilchard, climbing up the Eiffel Tower.
Elementary penguin singing Hari Krishna.
Man, you should have seen them kicking Edgar Allan Poe.
I am the eggman, they are the eggmen.
I am the walrus, goo goo g'joob g'goo goo g'joob.
Goo goo g'joob g'goo goo g'joob g'goo... (etc.)



alone
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16 Feb 2011, 8:01 am

This topic... :lol: :lol: :lol:

I have such a hard time with figuring out lyrics. I've had a couple of relationships lately that I'd get emails of song links...requesting I check out the songs to understand how they feel.
:? :? OMG just say how you feel... Even the simpliest lyrics I struggle with...is the message they love me or they love me and are leaving or they love me and don't think I love them...duh...dunno... I feel immediate anxiety and rush out to songmeanings.net to figure it out. I would be embarrassed to tell you the simple songs I've plugged into that site. I've told them I'm the easiest person in the world...tell me...I won't figure it out.

humm Tourniquet, by Evanescence

soooo you are sad, depressed??? rejected??? wanna die???? dying???? am I hearing you??????

It is hard to admit this, something about 'suggestive', language makes me anxious. Even more funny is I have an English degree.

:oops:



rmgh
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16 Feb 2011, 8:17 am

They're often like poems. Random strings of nonsense :lol: Hated studying poems at school.



KBerg
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16 Feb 2011, 8:20 am

Simonono wrote:
Not really. Pretty much every single love song ever made I don't understand, because I've never experienced true love myself. I love the lyrics in Iron Maiden's songs though. Barely any love, just lots of war, history and ancient religion. :D

On a completely different note, try and decipher this one. :D

:lol: Not a chance I'm even trying that one man! Once the Beatles got that into um 'recreational substances' I'm not sure anyone can decipher their lyrics. Heck, if anyone could imagine how scary that would be? Finding someone able to understand how Lennon's mind on worked on that stuff and translate that into something intelligible! 8O

I do agree on the love songs. I'm sure the fact that I've never been in love is probably a part of why I prefer metal as it usually don't have all the lovey-dovey lyrics. Songs with lyrics are sooo over saturated with love songs, and if it isn't love songs it's 'I'm all broke up inside cuz she left me' post-love songs.



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16 Feb 2011, 8:29 am

Like the lyrics to that awful "Hey Soul Sister" that's too popular right now. They do NOT make a bit o' sense.

Really, that song needs to die.



alexptrans
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16 Feb 2011, 8:31 am

KBerg wrote:
:lol: Not a chance I'm even trying that one man! Once the Beatles got that into um 'recreational substances' I'm not sure anyone can decipher their lyrics. Heck, if anyone could imagine how scary that would be? Finding someone able to understand how Lennon's mind on worked on that stuff and translate that into something intelligible! 8O

I do agree on the love songs. I'm sure the fact that I've never been in love is probably a part of why I prefer metal as it usually don't have all the lovey-dovey lyrics. Songs with lyrics are sooo over saturated with love songs, and if it isn't love songs it's 'I'm all broke up inside cuz she left me' post-love songs.


On the upside, that makes love songs easy to understand, because most of them are pretty much the same.



alexptrans
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16 Feb 2011, 8:34 am

chaotik_lord wrote:
Like the lyrics to that awful "Hey Soul Sister" that's too popular right now. They do NOT make a bit o' sense.

Really, that song needs to die.


I like songs that tell a story in a meaningful way.



nemorosa
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16 Feb 2011, 9:21 am

I'd always assumed that everyone found their own meaning in song lyrics. It doesn't matter to me if it is not what the writer intended.

Even if the thing as a whole doesn't make any sense, bits or fragments will start me thinking about something.



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16 Feb 2011, 9:29 am

I thought the thread was going to be about misinterpreting heard song lyrics. I do that all the time because many singers don't enunciate enough for my ear. Anyway, maybe one does have to go through love, breakups, heartbreak, and that pain before getting all the love songs. Idk because I understand them.

The one song I misinterpreted until last year was Britney Spears' "...Baby One More Time". I couldn't understand how everyone loved a song about a girl asking to be physically abused again... And then I figured out (finally) that it was an emotional punch she meant, the internal pain that comes from loving someone who does one wrong. She's saying that she loves him so much she'll accept that pain again if she gets him back. My friends in hs couldn't explain it to me even though I knew those emotions. They didn't understand how and why I didn't get it.