Song Meanings Thread

[Meats Lab]

How about a music thread focusing on songs without easily recognizable meanings. Such as this one from Stephen Stills - “Do for the others”. When David Crosby lost his fiancee Christine Hinton in a tragic car accident in 1969, he went into deep depression and increased drug usage. Song was meant to be a wakeup call for Croz.





'Round, 'round, up and down
All along the lonely town
See him sinkin' low
Doesn't see the joy there is to know
And he cries from the misery
And he lies singing harmony
She is gone, there is no tomorrow
It is done, so now he must borrow
The life of his brothers
And living in sorrow must do for the others
A chill wind hits his face
Was that a tear I thought I saw a trace?
Loving people everywhere
Where is she? She is not there
And he cries from the misery
And he lies singing harmony
She is gone, there is no tomorrow
It is done, so now he must borrow
The life of his brothers
And living in sorrow must do for the others

 

[Grant Green]

How about a music thread focusing on songs without easily recognizable meanings. Such as this one from Stephen Stills - “Do for the others”. When David Crosby lost his fiancee Christine Hinton in a tragic car accident in 1969, he went into deep depression and increased drug usage. Song was meant to be a wakeup call for Croz.





'Round, 'round, up and down
All along the lonely town
See him sinkin' low
Doesn't see the joy there is to know
And he cries from the misery
And he lies singing harmony
She is gone, there is no tomorrow
It is done, so now he must borrow
The life of his brothers
And living in sorrow must do for the others
A chill wind hits his face
Was that a tear I thought I saw a trace?
Loving people everywhere
Where is she? She is not there
And he cries from the misery
And he lies singing harmony
She is gone, there is no tomorrow
It is done, so now he must borrow
The life of his brothers
And living in sorrow must do for the others

Sticking with Stills. Most people think that "For What It's Worth" was anti Vietnam war song. It was actually about 1966 curfew riots on the Sunset Strip in LA.

 

[Steve JG]

Sticking with Stills. Most people think that "For What It's Worth" was anti Vietnam war song. It was actually about 1966 curfew riots on the Sunset Strip in LA.

and another version..........

 

[Steve JG]

How about a music thread focusing on songs without easily recognizable meanings. Such as this one from Stephen Stills - “Do for the others”. When David Crosby lost his fiancee Christine Hinton in a tragic car accident in 1969, he went into deep depression and increased drug usage. Song was meant to be a wakeup call for Croz.





'Round, 'round, up and down
All along the lonely town
See him sinkin' low
Doesn't see the joy there is to know
And he cries from the misery
And he lies singing harmony
She is gone, there is no tomorrow
It is done, so now he must borrow
The life of his brothers
And living in sorrow must do for the others
A chill wind hits his face
Was that a tear I thought I saw a trace?
Loving people everywhere
Where is she? She is not there
And he cries from the misery
And he lies singing harmony
She is gone, there is no tomorrow
It is done, so now he must borrow
The life of his brothers
And living in sorrow must do for the others

The song is about front man Anthony Kiedis and the period in his life when he walked around Los Angeles sad and very alone, finding solace in the streets and hills and the wind…. thinking about his dead friend and Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Hillel Slovak, and the heroin overdose that claimed him. They both had smack habits and used to score – and sometimes shoot up – “under a traffic bridge” in a seedy part of the city.

Originally a poem by Anthony Kiedis, this was written during a time when Anthony felt that his sobriety was distancing him from the rest of the band. He arrived at rehearsal during one of his sober periods and found Flea and John smoking pot. When John first joined the band, he and Anthony were inseparable, but in this period, he knew they weren’t even really friends anymore. He wrote these lyrics as a poem while driving home from rehearsal on LA’s 101 freeway.

 

[laKavosiey-st lion]

I ponder of something terrifying
'Cause this time there's no sound to hide behind
I find over the course of our human existence
One thing consists of consistence
And it's that we're all battling fear
Oh dear, I don't know if we know why we're here
Oh my, too deep, please stop thinking
I liked it better when my car had sound
There are things we can do
But from the things that work there are only two
And from the two that we choose to do
Peace will win and fear will lose
And there's faith and there's sleep
We need to pick one please because
Faith is to be awake and to be awake is for us to think
And for us to think is to be alive
And I will try with every rhyme
To come across like I am dying
To let you know you need to try to think

 

[bbrown]

IIRC this song was about an elderly couple with Alzheimer's. I think they ended up lost in Joshua Tree CA.

 

[fairgambit]

My Back Pages​

Written by: Bob Dylan

Crimson flames tied through my ears
Rollin’ high and mighty traps
Pounced with fire on flaming roads
Using ideas as my maps
“We’ll meet on edges, soon,” said I
Proud ’neath heated brow
Ah, but I was so much older then
I’m younger than that'll now

Half-wracked prejudice leaped forth
“Rip down all hate,” I screamed
Lies that life is black and white
Spoke from my skull. I dreamed
Romantic facts of musketeers
Foundationed deep, somehow
Ah, but I was so much older then
I’m younger than that now

Girls’ faces formed the forward path
From phony jealousy
To memorizing politics
Of ancient history
Flung down by corpse evangelists
Unthought of, though, somehow
Ah, but I was so much older then
I’m younger than that now

A self-ordained professor’s tongue
Too serious to fool
Spouted out that liberty
Is just equality in school
“Equality,” I spoke the word
As if a wedding vow
Ah, but I was so much older then
I’m younger than that now

In a soldier’s stance, I aimed my hand
At the mongrel dogs who teach
Fearing not that I’d become my enemy
In the instant that I preach
My pathway led by confusion boats
Mutiny from stern to bow
Ah, but I was so much older then
I’m younger than that now

Yes, my guard stood hard when abstract threats
Too noble to neglect
Deceived me into thinking
I had something to protect
Good and bad, I define these terms
Quite clear, no doubt, somehow
Ah, but I was so much older then
I’m younger than that now.



My god, what talent....on stage together....a group for the ages.
Roger McGuinn
Tom Petty
Neil Young
Eric Clapton
Bob Dylan
George Harrison

 

[Bkmtnittany1]

Ton Loc…. Funky Cold Medina! Sheena was a man!!!

 

[VicVaselino]

Papa was a rolling stone, dad gummit.

The Temptations wanted to be old west cowboys.

 

[Bkmtnittany1]

Bob Seger…. “I wish I didn’t know now what I didn’t know then.” Truer words have never been spoken

 

[LionJim]

Bob Seger…. “I wish I didn’t know now what I didn’t know then.” Truer words have never been spoken

Mott the Hoople: “I wish I’d never wanted then what I want now twice as much.”

 

[MtNittany]

"American Pie"

Don McLean said the song meant he'd never have to work again.

 

[LionJim]

Delete.

 

[Woodpecker]

Delete.

ffs?

 

[s1uggo72]

many you Pa boys might be able to relate...about underground coal mining, maybe tobacco farming might be better, but it werent.
the sun comes up about 10 am, in Ky the Hollers are deeper and closed together, the sun doesnt shine in some of them until noon...

 

[MtNittany]

Most people think Jimmy Webb wrote Galveston about the Vietnam War given it's time of release, but in fact he wrote it about the Spanish-American War.

 

[Grant Green]

My Back Pages​

Written by: Bob Dylan

Crimson flames tied through my ears
Rollin’ high and mighty traps
Pounced with fire on flaming roads
Using ideas as my maps
“We’ll meet on edges, soon,” said I
Proud ’neath heated brow
Ah, but I was so much older then
I’m younger than that'll now

Half-wracked prejudice leaped forth
“Rip down all hate,” I screamed
Lies that life is black and white
Spoke from my skull. I dreamed
Romantic facts of musketeers
Foundationed deep, somehow
Ah, but I was so much older then
I’m younger than that now

Girls’ faces formed the forward path
From phony jealousy
To memorizing politics
Of ancient history
Flung down by corpse evangelists
Unthought of, though, somehow
Ah, but I was so much older then
I’m younger than that now

A self-ordained professor’s tongue
Too serious to fool
Spouted out that liberty
Is just equality in school
“Equality,” I spoke the word
As if a wedding vow
Ah, but I was so much older then
I’m younger than that now

In a soldier’s stance, I aimed my hand
At the mongrel dogs who teach
Fearing not that I’d become my enemy
In the instant that I preach
My pathway led by confusion boats
Mutiny from stern to bow
Ah, but I was so much older then
I’m younger than that now

Yes, my guard stood hard when abstract threats
Too noble to neglect
Deceived me into thinking
I had something to protect
Good and bad, I define these terms
Quite clear, no doubt, somehow
Ah, but I was so much older then
I’m younger than that now.



My god, what talent....on stage together....a group for the ages.
Roger McGuinn
Tom Petty
Neil Young
Eric Clapton
Bob Dylan
George Harrison

Ok, but what is the song meaning?

 

[Grant Green]

Free Man in Paris is about David Geffen, who managed Joanie, amongst many others. Written after they went on a vacation to Paris and how good it felt for him to be away from the pressure of the music industry for a bit.

And what a band - Metheny, Brecker, Jaco, Mays....

 

[psuro]

The song Athena was written by Pete Townshend of The Who met actress Theresa Russell who was engaged at the time. He was smitten with her (drugs and alcohol helped). So, the song is about his crush on her and how he fancied her.

He changed the name of the song from Theresa to Athena because he did not want to endanger his marriage at the time.

 

[Still in State Colllege]

guy just really liked Jimmy Carter

 

[fairgambit]

Ok, but what is the song meaning?

The answers to life's problems, and questions, are not as easy, or obvious, as they seem.

 

[psuro]

The answers to life's problems, and questions, are not as easy, or obvious, as they seem.

Sure they are. Just Fire Franklin!

 

[Grant Green]

The answers to life's problems, and questions, are not as easy, or obvious, as they seem.

From my cursory investigation, it seems likely that the song was about Dylan questioning his previous protest song phase and his political preaching.

 

[Nitt1300]

 

[fairgambit]

From my cursory investigation, it seems likely that the song was about Dylan questioning his previous protest song phase and his political preaching.

I don't disagree, and I think that squares with my response.

 

[Steve JG]

How about a music thread focusing on songs without easily recognizable meanings. Such as this one from Stephen Stills - “Do for the others”. When David Crosby lost his fiancee Christine Hinton in a tragic car accident in 1969, he went into deep depression and increased drug usage. Song was meant to be a wakeup call for Croz.





'Round, 'round, up and down
All along the lonely town
See him sinkin' low
Doesn't see the joy there is to know
And he cries from the misery
And he lies singing harmony
She is gone, there is no tomorrow
It is done, so now he must borrow
The life of his brothers
And living in sorrow must do for the others
A chill wind hits his face
Was that a tear I thought I saw a trace?
Loving people everywhere
Where is she? She is not there
And he cries from the misery
And he lies singing harmony
She is gone, there is no tomorrow
It is done, so now he must borrow
The life of his brothers
And living in sorrow must do for the others

(Surprised this one not posted yet). so this about either Anthony Quinn being upset at how loud the grateful dead were partying in room next door to him in hotel, a party Bob Dylan attended; generally about Anthony Quinn in the movie "The Savage Innocents"; or about Bob Dylan favorite drug dealer.........cause when Quinn the Eskimo gets here everybody gunna want a dose..........

 

[Connorpozlee]

Written about Three Mile Island.

 

[SW-Lion]

Every song on that album speaks, but Natalie Merchant really sings it about child abuse.

 

[rudedude]

many you Pa boys might be able to relate...about underground coal mining, maybe tobacco farming might be better, but it werent.
the sun comes up about 10 am, in Ky the Hollers are deeper and closed together, the sun doesnt shine in some of them until noon...

NEPA band, The Buoys song, Timothy. Was Timothy a goat or maybe a guy? A cannibalistic song? Written by Rupert Holmes of Pina Colada fame.

 

[rudedude]

it’s not about Japan, that’s for sure!

 

[psuro]

Kid Charlamagne by Steely Dan was about Owsley Stanley, a manufacturer and purveyor of LSD in the 1960s; his meteoric rise, and then the downfall. Steely Dan, of course, got their name from William S. Burrough's A Naked Lunch.

The Grateful Dead Song, Truckin' was about Stanley getting busted by the cops.

 

[LionJim]

Kid Charlamagne by Steely Dan was about Owsley Stanley, a manufacturer and purveyor of LSD in the 1960s; his meteoric rise, and then the downfall. Steely Dan, of course, got their name from William S. Burrough's A Naked Lunch.

The Grateful Dead Song, Truckin' was about Stanley getting busted by the cops.

Oswley Stanley has quite the Wikipedia page. From what I could tell, he was a certified genius. Wow.

 

[psuro]

Oswley Stanley has quite the Wikipedia page. From what I could tell, he was a certified genius. Wow.

Oh yeah.

 

[Grant Green]

Kid Charlamagne by Steely Dan was about Owsley Stanley, a manufacturer and purveyor of LSD in the 1960s; his meteoric rise, and then the downfall. Steely Dan, of course, got their name from William S. Burrough's A Naked Lunch.

The Grateful Dead Song, Truckin' was about Stanley getting busted by the cops.

Riffin off this.
"She Said She Said" by the Beatles was about an LSD experience in LA that was dampened by Peter Fonda who kept talking about his near death experience as a kid.

"Cassidy" by the Dead was of course about Neal Cassady, frequent subject of Jack Kerouac (and friend of Burroughs).

Also, by coincidence, Owsley Stanley made it into lyrics for a song that I am currently writing (metaphorically named "the night owl").

 

[psuro]

Riffin off this.
"She Said She Said" by the Beatles was about an LSD experience in LA that was dampened by Peter Fonda who kept talking about his near death experience as a kid.

"Cassidy" by the Dead was of course about Neal Cassady, frequent subject of Jack Kerouac (and friend of Burroughs).

Also, by coincidence, Owsley Stanley made it into lyrics for a song that I am currently writing (metaphorically named "the night owl").

Owsley Stanley is to lyrics what Genghis Khan was to the human population.

 

[laKavosiey-st lion]

it’s kot about Japan, that’s for sure!

That album is so fantastic

 

[LionJim]

Owsley Stanley is to lyrics what Genghis Khan was to the human population.

So “genius” didn’t apply to his songwriting ability. Got it. Still, he was probably a lot of fun to hang out with, in moderation.

 

[psuro]

So “genius” didn’t apply to his songwriting ability. Got it. Still, he was probably a lot of fun to hang out with, in moderation.

Stanley was probably a certified genius. He is, however, the subject matter of a few rock songs - i.e. he was influential for the spread of rock music, as Genghis Khan was influential of the spread of, and destruction of, the human population.

 

[LionJim]

Stanley was probably a certified genius. He is, however, the subject matter of a few rock songs - i.e. he was influential for the spread of rock music, as Genghis Khan was influential of the spread of, and destruction of, the human population.

Deaf in one ear. Apparently this directly lead to the Dead’s rehearsals being taped, a treasure trove. (He needed to listen closely.) We deaf are good adapters.

 

[s1uggo72]

NEPA band, The Buoys song, Timothy. Was Timothy a goat or maybe a guy? A cannibalistic song? Written by Rupert Holmes of Pina Colada fame.

I always thought about the Shepton mine disaster I still remember their names mostly from the old joke, one Fell in, and the was thrown. louis Balba (sp?) they never did find, was he Timothy? .