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Last Goodbye Jeff Buckley – Last Goodbye
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“Last Goodbye” was the second single from Grace. It details a man ending a relationship with a woman who both love each other, but both come to terms with the fact that they are truly not for each other, just before the relationship turns sour.

This song was originally titled “Unforgiven”; as stated on his official website by his mother, Buckley went through a metamorphosis with many of his songs, and it is evident when one hears early versions of “Unforgiven”, one of which can be heard on Live at Sin-é (Legacy Edition), and the final version of the song heard on Grace.

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This is our last goodbye
I hate to feel the love between us die
But it's over, just hear this and then I'll go
You gave me more to live for, more than you'll ever know Jeff Buckley – Last Goodbye
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The opening verse refers to a man who’s in love with a woman and breaks things off, because the love between them has died, and the relationship is bound to end.

This is not a song of heartbreak, he is not trying to make the relationship last. He acknowledges that it is over, and is mourning for the love which has been lost. He breaks things off so she can get the good things that she deserves, and he will still miss her and cherish their memories together, thanking her for all the things that she gave him in the relationship, and for making his life worth living for a while.

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What Ever Happened? The Strokes – What Ever Happened?
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As the opening track on their second album, Room On Fire, “What Ever Happened?” kicks off the album’s themes of the band gaining newfound fame and relationships.

The title refers to a topic in journalism and show business, in which they ask this question - or a simplified version of it, such as ‘where are they now?’ – about a formerly relevant person, trend, artist or celebrity that has since dropped in popularity or tabloid appearances. This topic has some similarities with the Latin phrase Ubi Sunt, meaning, “where are they?” This might also be a reference to a 1960 novel by Henry Farrell, called What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? The fact that this is the first song in the album may be a kind of anticipation to all the hate they knew the album would receive when it saw the light; or their inevitable spiral back to anonymity.

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Longview Green Day – Longview
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“Longview” describes intense boredom, with a title taken from a Washington town where it was first played. Lyrically, the song is about a day spent sitting around the house, doing absolutely nothing of importance, masturbating, and smoking marijuana until the days are no longer fun.

The song captured the attention of many youths at the time with its overt allusions to masturbation. Bassist Mike Dirnt has stated that the famous bass line intro to this song was written one night while he was high on LSD, and what remains on the album is what he and lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong could recall in the morning.

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A6e91fcd38fb7b0af009d3c44836775c

518

9 years

Also, it’s a about Billie Joe’s problem with agoraphobia (fear of public places) in the 90s.

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Good Vibrations The Beach Boys – Good Vibrations
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The Beach Boys' Brian Wilson recounted the genesis of the title “Good Vibrations” in his 1995 biopic, I Just Wasn’t Made for These Times, and at other times. When he was a child, his mother told him that dogs could pick up “vibrations” from people, so that the dog would bark at “bad vibrations”. Wilson turned this into the general idea of vibrations (and Mike Love putting “good” in front of vibrations), and developed the idea of people being able to do the same with emotions.

This song is revolutionary in a couple of ways. Firstly, the song is a for the time unusual form:
A B A' B C D B E
There is a lot of new material (C, D and E), where most previous songs only had A’s and B’s and sometimes a bridge. Furthermore, these new parts are not in obvious ways musically connected to previous parts.
Second, there is a ton of instruments that were completely new to this type of music, most notably an Electro-Theremin. This song and the album Pet Sounds in general greatly influenced the Beatles, which resulted in Sgt. Pepper.

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Default_avatar_100

157

6 years

It should be noted that sound is essentially vibration of air (or another medium), so music, consisting of sounds pleasant to the human ear, can be called “good vibrations”. This leads to a third possible way of interpreting the lyrics: it could not only be about love (“she” = beloved girl) or drug experiences (“she” = drugs), but also about the very song itself or music in general (“she” = this song / music). It’s somewhat speculative, but it works quite well with the lyrics (sound vibrations excite your ear, concentrating on music is easier with closed eyes etc.).

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C2e15ce10f5d308479aab74053a93d0a

115

3 years

You should put “the single was number 1 in USA and UK, and top 10 in many countries” too.

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Golden Light Twin Shadow – Golden Light
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Golden Light is the first track from Twin Shadow’s second studio album, Confess.

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You know that they say that some things are better left unsaid
And it wasn't like you only talked to him and you know it
Don't act like you don't know it
And all of these things people told me keep messin' with my head (Messin' with my head) Justin Timberlake – Cry Me A River
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Timberlake wishes he never heard about the cheating from other people – some things are better left unsaid, he thinks. Also, he knows that Britney didn’t just talk to another guy; she got physical with him.

Timberlake could also be insinuating that she cheated with multiple people when he says, ‘it wasn’t like you only talked to him.’

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3 years

line 4: Suggests that it was common knowledge and that everyone knew but him

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6 years

You know that they say *that

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Paranoid Android Radiohead – Paranoid Android
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“Paranoid Android,” the first single from OK Computer, is characterized by three distinct moods written in what Thom Yorke referred to as three different states of mind. The song’s lyrics tie in with a number of themes common in OK Computer, including insanity, violence, slogans, and political objection to capitalism.

Yorke’s lyrics were based on an unpleasant experience at a Los Angeles bar during which he was surrounded by strangers high on cocaine. In particular, Yorke was frightened by a woman who became violent after someone spilled a drink on her.

The woman inspired the line “kicking squealing Gucci little piggy” in the song’s second section. Yorke described her as “inhuman”, and said

[…]there was a look in this woman’s eyes that I’d never seen before anywhere… Couldn’t sleep that night because of it.

In an issue of Rolling Stone, the band has compared the song to other multi-part rock pieces by famous artists, and tackled the often-raised comparison with progressive rock. Thom Yorke:

It was 50 percent “Bohemian rhapsody,” if I could ever get that many vocals together, and 50 percent “Happiness Is a Warm Gun.”

Ed O'Brien:

To me, the song sounded like Queen meets the Pixies. […] People thought it was prog, but prog always took itself so seriously. And “Paranoid Android,” there’s a kind of serious message in there, but it’s kind of cartoon-like.

Jonny Greenwood:

There’s a Mellotron on it. I remember hearing a Genesis record and thinking the Mellotron sounded amazing, so I stole it. It was either “Nursery Cryme or ”Selling England by the Pound“. It didn’t sound like any other keyboard. Instead there was a choir, and a weird, fucked-up sort of choir. I love the fact that the notes run out after a few seconds. Some relative of the inventor was trying to remake them and had a few. They came with the tapes in and it turned out they all belonged to Tangerine Dream, which is getting into prog territory.

The song was also used as the ending theme for the anime series Ergo Proxy.

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Default_avatar_100

501

8 years

While the “unborn chicken voices” should be taken very literally for one, they’re also your dying ideas and faded, repressed conscience; the outside noise only makes the voices in the head louder.

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A5fa66e2c45b381e4b8f37484ea85ac6

186

8 years

“Paranoid android” is a phrase used in Douglas Adams’s 1979 book “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”. It is used to describe a personality-enhanced robot named Marvin who’s severely depressed.

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17de26abc9925919d7ccc5790d66fa9e

1,266

7 years

This song was used for the Outro of Ergo Proxy, the anime.
Makes a lot of sense when you think about it.

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7 years

Also, the song takes a little bit of imagination to understand. Talking ‘imaginatedly’, the song is about something that is really paranoid. It can be whatever thing you want, although the name says it’s an android, but it’s main characteristic is that it needs to be paranoid. This song really describes a really paranoid thing and can explain you a little bit about what a paranoid person thinks about.

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6 years

I came here after reading the first page of chapter 19 in The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. Like EagleEyes05 said (good eye, EagleEyes), the robot with a depressed human personality is referred to by Zaphod as the “paranoid android.” I’m thinking there’s a good chance the name of the song came from the book. If you agree, be sure and upvote EagleEyes05 for being spot on.

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Default_avatar_100

44

4 years

love this

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sehsah
3 years

I think this song is about rebellion, isn’t it?

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March to the Sea Baroness – March to the Sea
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7656044892a3d50e3bb235433f750ab8

1,855

7 years

This song deals with the slippery slope of drug use into addiction. The title is a reference to General Sherman’s “March to the Sea,” during which he and his troops destroyed everything between Atlanta and Savannah, Georgia, similar to how addiction leaves a path of destruction.

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Wish You Were Here Pink Floyd – Wish You Were Here
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“Wish You Were Here” is the title track on Pink Floyd’s 1975 album. The song’s lyrics encompass writer Roger Waters‘ feelings of alienation from other people, drawing particular inspiration from his old friend Syd Barrett, the founder of Pink Floyd who left the band due to mental health issues. The song forms part of a concept album focusing on absence and disenchantment with the music industry. The song “Shine on you Crazy Diamond (Parts 1-9)” was already an homage to Syd, while this one also grieves his absence. The other two songs on the album (“Welcome to the Machine” and “Have a Cigar”) express the band’s newfound distaste for the pressures of the music industry, pressures that they feel helped cause Syd to crack, thus tying the album together as a coherent piece. David Gilmour and Roger Waters collaborated to write the music.

This was a rare case of the Pink Floyd primary songwriters Roger Waters and David Gilmour mutually collaborating on a song – they rarely wrote together. Gilmour had the opening riff written and was playing it in the studio at a fast pace when Roger Waters heard it and asked him to play it slower. The song built from there, with the pair writing the music for the chorus and verses together, and Waters adding the lyrics.

The song reflected the feeling of the band while they were recording the album. Waters felt they were not putting a full effort into the recording sessions.

When this song starts, it sounds like it is coming from an AM radio somewhere in the distance. It represents the distance between the listener and the music.

At 42 seconds, you can also hear Richard Wright cough. When he heard the song later, it inspired him to quit smoking.

While not a single upon release, it earned this status with a version recorded on the live album Pulse, where the cover depicted two lost souls staring into fish bowls.

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A5895da1c6a46ccee897b9a94176e8e7

288

9 years

I believe that what he is saying in this song is not what most people interpret it to be. Many think he talking about how he misses a girl. I think he is talking about how we go threw life and we lose a part of ourselves. We come out of this world a different person. Why he refers to “how i wish you were here” he misses the old him when life was easy & you couldn’t see the bad of the world.

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Default_avatar_100

10

9 years

Wish you were here is written to Syd. It addresses him directly, in my opnion, though not by name. This is a song written for Sid, explaining how Roger feels about him and about his absence. The above interpretation is wrong, yet stated as fact, which annoys me.

Interpretations are subjective, of course. Everybody is allowed to take whatever meaning they like from things. Even the songwriter has no ownership of meaning; they often say things like, “I dunno … I was thinking of x … I don’t know what it means, if anything.”

Sometimes it just sounds good, so for me, like, that somehow gives me this sense that deep meaning is being imparted. Just because I like the music.

In this case though, there’s no ambiguity. It’s straightforward.

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Default_avatar_100

8

9 years

While I’ve always loved the meaning of this song, what strikes me most is the nuanced imagery and word choice…smile/veil, green field/cold steel rail. Simple, but genius.

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Conor Weir
8 years

I always understood the song as a social commentary on the change from the counter-culture revolutionary times of the late 1960’s transitioning into the corporate culture of greed which was taking off in the mid 1970’s and reached a crescendo in the 1980’s. “Did you exchange a walk on part in the war, for a lead role in the cage?” Many of the would-be revolutionaries of the 1960’s went on to “sell-out” and instead of being small actors in the revolution, took on big roles at corporations.

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Default_avatar_100

3,913

8 years

From a fish’s perspective looking out from a fishbowl, the curve of the bowl distorts reality. Drugs also distort your perception of reality just like the fishbowl.

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Brenda McKinney
8 years

I thought it referenced the Vietnam war. Hero’s for ghosts = so many died. Hot ashes for trees = they went in with napalm and fire throwers burning everything to the ground. A walk in part in the war for a lead role in a cage = if you did not go to war when you were drafted you were thrown in jail. Do you think you can tell heaven from hell blue skies from pain = once a person has experienced war their perception of things is forever changed. Can you tell a green field from a cold steel rail = Lying on a cold steel rail as a pow imagining being back home in a green field. It seemed to fit everything that was going on at the time. Never the less its geneious

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63debf32683005eafffbf461656e8f9e

221

7 years

Sorry gang, but having just listened to co-author David Gilmour explain the specific intent and feeling they were trying to convey to the listener, this song really isn’t open to interpretation. Well not in any meaningful or helpful way to those seeking the truth behind the words and music.

It is indeed (as noted in the main description or explanation) about Syd Barrett’s mental breakdown and the song is liberally spiced with both Gilmour’s and Roger Waters' distaste for the music industry. Specifically the hypocrisy of the top executives.

The executives public ‘persona’ was one which spoke of ‘respecting the work, artistry and soul’ of music, when in reality the focus was just like any other corporation; revenue and profit guide their decisions with complete disregard for the artists – especially for the artists well-being. Those at the top would do whatever it took to squeeze every penny they could from the music artists – then cast them aside when they were done.

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63debf32683005eafffbf461656e8f9e

221

7 years

To properly understand the point I’m going to (attempt to) make, I highly suggest you first watch Pink Floyd’s Induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Specifically their performance of this song with Billy Corgan (Smashing Pumpkins).

After hearing (and performing) this literally thousands of times, I was suddenly struck by how focused David Gilmour was as he posed the questions to the audience.He’s looking them in the eye and (I’ve no doubt) not asking, he’s CHALLENGING them. He’s saying you’ve no idea what it’s like. Maybe you can deal with Music Executives demands for revenue, but the millions of fans depending on you? That’s a mental meat-grinder and something’s gotta give!!

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5 years

Actually Gilmour once said that the intro with the radio was supposed to be a scene where someone is listening to a song, and picks up a guitar and solos over it

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34c427898c5265a395e673b7352fbca2

100

5 years

In this world there is a fine line that everyone and anyone abides by. We are all subconsciously aware of the good side and evil side of this world. Can you tell the difference? Are so sure you can tell the difference? If you can’t then you may not be so subconsciously strong enough to handle what I’m even saying. Everyday in this world we are exposed to good and evil individuals. Can you tell the difference? Truly good and evil individuals are almost the same. They both welcome you with open arms. Give you security and comfort. The only difference is the evil individual does not side with you. They want something in return for what they have given. They want you to trade something for what has been done to you. What has been done to you can mean a variety of different gestures. For example, I’m in need of financial security. I can obtain that money like any other person but it would take years. However, I could just rob someone but I’d be throwing my morals out the window as I obtain my newly possessions. I traded a subconscious thought for physical gain. I am an evil individual. What has been done to me? Everything has been done to me subconsciously. I’m okay with robbing someone of the security, comfort, possessions and if I have to their life for mine. Just trade if you think about it’s not much.

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C52be972d5a40b64dccce22c48645dc6

106

5 years

I find it myself and take every word in every phrase as Roger asking the questions that he’ll never get an answer to from Syd, while also expressing his feelings in metaphors about how he doesn’t understand Syd giving his life up and choosing acid over his very existence.
He starts by questioning Syd, saying “So you think you can tell Heaven from Hell.” Stating that Syd thinks Heaven as being in an acid trip and hell being the real world and everything that it comes with. Which obviously Syd got wrong.
“Can you tell a Green field from a cold steel rail?” is him asking why Syd would trade the beauty of being alive out in this beautiful world for a life confined inside and alone. Comparing his distance and confinement to a prison cell and it’s steel rails.
“A smile from veil?” is maybe Syd being trapped in this prison he created and not being able to be happy and living life .
“Did they get you to trade your heros for ghosts?” is the drugs being “They” and having control over Syd and keeping him from a great life with his “Heros”, being the important people in his life who he cares about and who cares about him, who have now become “Ghosts” to him and non-existent.
“Hot ashes for trees?” is one I’ve never been able to interpret myself but I think I do now from a home video I just watched a couple days ago, which shows Roger and Syd outside. Syd being in an acid trip and ends up setting a fire to some brush and trees. It could be Roger talking about how Syd wasn’t the same person and that the drugs are making him do things that don’t made sense. I could be way wrong but it makes sense to me now.
“Hot air for a cool breeze?” I think is again about Syd trading the outside world its fresh air we breath for a life trapped and confined in the stale air of wherever he was wasting away at.
“Cold comfort for change?” I can only interpret as Syd giving up the comfort of being a person and changing everything he had for the acid.
“….exchange a walk on part in the war?” The war being the constant Grind of reality and the hard work and the time it takes to become successful. And, “For a lead roll in a cage?” is Syd giving in to the fake really of acid and trading the pressures and stresses of life for a numb and lonely existence inside his own self.
I believe the last verse is Roger stating that they were both going through the same stresses and pressures and fears, and expressing how Syd would have been able to make it through just fine and didn’t have to gave up. It ends with Rogers last words to Syd being a wish that he didn’t make the choice that he made and wanting him to be there with them.
I could be 100% wrong about the song being a big metaphor about Syds bad choices, but that’s what makes this such a beautiful song with very powerful but also touching words. I get goosebumps and chills every time I listen to it, and it wouldn’t at all be the same to me if it wasn’t a song entirely about Syd.

SHINE ON YOU CRAAAAZZZZY DIAMOND!!?

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C52be972d5a40b64dccce22c48645dc6

106

5 years

I wish I could edit my previous post. I stated that the word “They” in the verse “Did THEY get you to trade your heros for ghost” was the acid, but I think I think “They” is more so the pressure from both the music industry and any other person, including fans, that put such negatively effecting and unneeded pressure on them. I believe Roger is calling them all out as well as Syd’s decision to weakly cave in from it.

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