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But I like watching you live
You'd like to captain a capsized ship
But I like watching you live Fiona Apple – Jonathan
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Jonathan might like to take care of someone who is “capsized” – sunk, wrecked, or sinking.
But Fiona has stated that she simply enjoys seeing what he is up to- “watching him live”.
It might also mean that she thinks he wants to help or take care of her, something she has complained of in the past. For example in “Limp” she is angry with a lover, saying:
You wanna lick my wounds, Don’t you, baby?
You want the badge of honor when you save my hide
In keeping with the theme of a ‘capsized ship’ being a ‘sunk, wrecked, or sinking’ person - Fiona may be describing herself as a capsized ship. He wants to help her out – she is floundering. She is saying “no, I’m a lost cause – I’m going under – I want you to go on and live – that will make me happy.”
And anyone you have done
Has gotta be alright with me
If she's part of the reason
You are how you are
She's alright with me Fiona Apple – Jonathan
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Emotions are like a sea – sometimes peaceful and tranquil, but sometime love sprouts up like a volcano.
If in the first verse she compares her lover’s attacks to those of a werewolf and a shark, but then admits to having 50% of the blame for their fights, here she is actually blaming herself the most.
She is the lava that shot up (notice how she emphasizes) HOT from under the sea. He is the water of the ocean that actually cooled her down. He was able to stabilize her and create something out of her emotional mess by simply isolating her into an island and moving on away from her.
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The man of Apple’s desire changed from being good to bad the second he met her.
The word “whiff” also ties back to the previous verse of Apple comparing her man to sharks and werewolves – sharks and werewolves track down their prey with their strong sense of smell.
Nothing wrong when a song ends in a minor key Fiona Apple – Werewolf
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“In the Aeroplane Over the Sea” is widely considered to be written about Anne Frank due to lyrics seemingly alluding to her, such as lines referring to her birth and death dates. Though the group has never officially stated that the album is indeed about Frank, it is a popular theory among fans, and Jeff Mangum has mentioned the influence her diary, The Diary of a Young Girl, has made on his craft and outright referred to “Holland, 1945” being about her while performing live.
Weather changes moods
Spring is here again
Reproductive glands Nirvana – In Bloom
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“Sell the kids for food” brings to mind a state of extreme famine. If the crop was bad in summer you might starve in winter. “Weather changes moods”, shows that the time of famine is over. When spring comes, it’s time for harvest and there’s usually celebration.
“Spring is here again / reproductive glands” is a straightforward reference to how the prettiest part of springtime – blooming flowers – is really just a bunch of plants exposing their reproductive glands.
Alternately, This verse is possibly a comment on Cobain’s tough upbringing. He believed his parents didn’t care about him (“sell the kids for food”).
Additionally, Kurt’s mother has changed her loyalties as in ‘weather changes moods’. Suddenly she’s ‘young’ again, and Kurt exposes the falseness of this with the ironic lines ‘bruises on the fruit’, ‘tender age in bloom’. Finally, the conflict between his mother as his loving parent and her concealed identity as a sexual being is crystallized in the lyric ‘reproductive glands’.
Kurt also uses a technique called CUT-UP… copied from the author of the lunch naked William Burroughs.
Sell the kids for food [Verse 1]
We can have some more [Verse 2]
Weather changes moods [Verse 1]
Nature is a whore [Verse 2]
Spring is here again [Verse 1]
Bruises on the fruit [Verse 2]
Reproductive glands [Verse 1]
Tender age in bloom [Verse 2]
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“Gimme Shelter” is the opening track of the Rolling Stones’s 1969 album Let It Bleed (where it was actually spelled “Gimmie Shelter”, but the more accurate spelling was adopted afterwards).
It paints a bleak world view inspired by the Vietnam war, as put by Mick Jagger:
However, the song’s inspiration was not Vietnam or social unrest, but Keith Richards seeing people scurrying for shelter from a sudden London rainstorm.
“I had been sitting by the window of my friend Robert Fraser’s apartment on Mount Street in London with an acoustic guitar when suddenly the sky went completely black and an incredible monsoon came down. It was just people running about looking for shelter — that was the germ of the idea. We went further into it until it became, you know, rape and murder are ‘just a shot away’.”
The female vocals were sung by session singer Merry Clayton. Jagger explained in the 2003 book According To… The Rolling Stones:
On the 1969, 1972 and 1975 U.S. tours as a straight ahead hard rock song without female accompaniment, it didn’t return to the setlist until 1989 when Clayton’s vocal turn usually went to Lisa Fischer. The 50th anniversary tour had some special appearances by Lady Gaga (New Jersey), Florence Welch (London) and Mary J. Blige (also London). Grace Potter also had the honors in 2015.
U.S. President Barack Obama told Rolling Stone in an interview while campaigning for his first term that the Stones were one of his musical heroes (along with Stevie Wonder) and “Gimme Shelter” was his favourite Stones song.
Gimme Shelter* is also the title to the Maysles brothers' 1970 documentary film of the Stones' 1969 U.S. tour climaxing with the infamous Altamont concert near San Francisco.
This is their Opus. Greil Marcus, writing in Rolling Stone magazine at the time of its release, said of it, “The Stones have never done anything better.”
A remarkable masterpiece. If music is about moving your heart mind body and soul, then this is their greatest song. That’s really saying something considering who were talking about. Gives me chills just thinking about it. You know, for guys who were supposedly fucked up all the time in those days, they were pumping out a lot material, and it wasn’t exactly junk……
110
A furious Keith wrote ‘Gimme Shelter’ in 20 minutes when it was clear that Mick and Anita Pallenberg was not just acting in the ‘Performance’ sex scene. The sequence has been released as a soft porno movie in Holland.
110
As I, and many with me, most certainly loves the live of versions of the song with Lisa Fisher as backup singer
110
That someone was Meredith Hunter, a black man who pulled up a revolver, don’t seen in the live video, but afterwards when they play the recording in slowmotion and the black revolver becomes very visible against Meredith Hunter’s light green costume.
Hells Angels got their fair share of abuse from the authorities and they were not pleased, it was rumored that they were going to get Mick pay for that, ain’t talking about any cash payment.
236
IMHO, the first minute is the greatest song instrumental intro of all-time. it sure sets the mood, both for the song and the entire album.
205
This is such a timeless masterpiece that it fits 2020 perfect.
108
Definitely the best Rolling Stones song, immortal story in humanity unfortunately.