LYRIC DIVE: most kingz

I first heard this Jay-Z rap in Coldplay's Lost+ (off their Prospekt's March EP). These are some good lyrics! If you're feeling downcast, beaten, or forsaken, just listen to this song. It may motivate you to get up and get that dirt off your shoulders. Check 'em out:

"MOST KINGZ"  -  JAY-Z

With the same sword they knight you they gon' goodnight you with,

Shit! that's only half if they like you;

That ain't even half what they might do,

Don't believe me ask Michael.

See Martin, see Malcom,

See Biggy, see Pac,

See success and its outcome;

See Jesus, see Judus,

see Ceasar, see Brutus,

See success is like suicide

Suicide, it's a suicide!

If you succeed prepared to be crucified.

Media meddles, niggas sue you, you settle;

Every step you take they remind you you ghetto.

So it's tough being Bobby Brown,

To Bobby then, you have to be Bobby now,

And the question is,

"Is to have had and lost, better than not having at all?"



LYRIC DIVE: I bleed

art by TINA BERNING

"I BLEED" - PIXIES

As loud as hell, a ringing bell;

Behind my smile it shakes my teeth

And all the while as vampires feed ... I bleed.

Prithee, my dear, why are we here?

Nobody knows, we go to sleep

As breathing flows, my mind secedes ... I bleed.

There's a place in the buried west in a cave

With a house in it, in the clay
The holes of hands, you can place a hand in hand ... I bleed.

LYRIC DIVE: run from the gun

"RUN FROM THE GUN" - DEAD CONFEDERATE

I got mad at history,

Picked it up and fell in love with everything.

Men and pen and paper,

Like the wind you let 'em in now they'll never leave.

Run from the gun, don't be afraid.

Run from the gun, where the dead lay.

Run from the gun, don't be afraid.

Run from the gun.

You were sweet as poison,

Dried my mouth, took me out, and left me glad.
You did me no favors.

It was dumb and the last one that I ever had.

Run from the gun, don't be afraid.

Run from the gun, where the dead lay.

Run from the gun, don't be afraid.

Run from the gun.

Run from the gun, don't be afraid.

Run from the gun, where the dead lay.

Run from the gun, don't be afraid.

Run from the gun.

It was loaded with the pressure;

Too much pressure to be measured.

I was holding off the wrong and right.

I got let down gently,

Never even knew the end was on the way.

Then I made my peace there,

Opened my eyes and to my surprise it was a waste.

Run from the gun, don't be afraid.

Run from the gun, where the dead lay.

Run from the gun, don't be afraid.

Run from the gun.

 

LYRIC DIVE: the world at large

Good News for People Who Love Bad News was the first cd I ever bought. I was a freshman in high school and it was around the time when the Modest Mouse videos "float on" and "ocean breathes salty" were televised on mtv, vh1, and fuse. It must have been the year 2005. I was deeply in love with those two songs, so I decided to purchase the album with my own money... well money that I earned for being born. And I've always been a frugal-spender so buying a cd was a monumental thing. I recall my friend telling me as we sat chatting on the gym bleachers, "wow! you must really love that band for spending ten whole dollars on their cd!" She knew my frugal ways. But in reality, I was clueless about who Modest Mouse was. I just new I loved "float on." Buying Good News was probably one of the best ways I've ever spent my money. This album instantly became one of my all-time favorites. I know I'm only twenty-something and still have a lot to live, but seriously, this album contains every ounce of musical pleasure needed to satisfy my hungry ears. The sound and lyrics are intriguing. The opening song "the world at large," has some honest lyrics basically about feeling out of place. It's a song that consoles me on my lonely days. And the bass drum that comes in around 1:01 seconds is as if your heart suddenly walked up from your chest to your brain. Simply amazing...

THE WORLD AT LARGE

Ice-age heat wave, can't complain.

If the world's at large, why should I remain?

Walked away to another plan.

Gonna find another place, maybe one I can stand.

I move on to another day, to a whole new town with a whole new way.

When to the porch to have a thought.

Got to the door and again, I couldn't stop.

You don't know where and you don't know when.

But you still got your words and you got your friends.

Walk along to another day.

Work a little harder, work another way.

Well uh-uh baby I ain't got no plan.

We'll float on maybe would you understand?

Gonna float on maybe would you understand?

Well float on maybe would you understand?

The days get shorter and the nights get cold.

I like the autumn but this place is getting old.

I pack up my belongings and I head for the coast.

It might not be a lot but I feel like I'm making the most.

The days get longer and the nights smell green.

I guess it's not surprising but it's spring and I should leave.

I like songs about drifters- books about the same.

They both seem to make me feel a little less insane.

Walked on off to another spot.

I still haven't got anywhere that I want.

Did I want love? Did I need to know?

Why does it always feel like I'm caught in an undertow?

The moths beat themselves to death against the lights.

Adding their breeze to the summer nights.

Outside, water like air was great.

I didn't know what I had that day.

Walk a little farther to another plan.

You said that you did, but you didn't understand.

I know that starting over is not what life's about.

But my thoughts were so loud I couldn't hear my mouth.

My thoughts were so loud I couldn't hear my mouth.

My thoughts were so loud.

LYRIC DIVE: may seem macabre

The first time I heard this song it didn't really appeal to me. And then I heard it live and it was the best thing ever. The room was bouncing with energy as soon as the bass reverberated off the walls. Later I listened to the lyrics and loved the song even more. In a few words, its about the beauty at a funeral. In this song we see the dead man's perspective of his funeral. He's talking to his fellow dead partner/lover. And he's looking at the bright-side. Hence the name of the song... "may seem macabre, but its beautiful."

VIDEO OF THE DAY + LYRIC DIVE: name in stone



If you have not seen this video or heard this tune then you should.

Simple song, simple video, great lyrics, transcendental. Check it:

NAME IN STONE

Ooh ooh ooh
Your name in stone.
We come here all alone,
And all that’s left is your name in stone.

I raise my flag up into your heart,
And you let the winds come tear it apart.

We walk through the stones,
Through the stones,
To your name in stone.
And we walk through this stone,
To your name in stone,
To your name in stone.

I raise my flag up into your heart,
And you let the winds come tear it apart.

In the end we’ll make a home;
A name in stone,
A name in stone.
In the end we’ll make our home;
A name in stone,
Your name in stone.

I raise my flag up into your heart,
And you let the winds come tear it apart.

I raise my flag up into your heart,
And you let the winds come tear it apart.
 

Winds come tear it apart;
The winds come tear it apart.

 

"Name in Stone" reminds me of Emily Dickinson's "Success is counted sweetest." I think its the whole flag raising part. I can imagine the speaker in "name in stone" feeling like the speaker in Dickinson's poem. Both deal with un-reciprocated love, despair, defeat, and desire.

Success is counted sweetest

By those who ne'er succeed.

To comprehend a nectar

Requires sorest need.

Not one of all the purple host

Who took the flag to-day

Can tell the definition,

So clear, of victory,

As he, defeated, dying,

On whose forbidden ear

The distant strains of triumph

Break, agonized and clear.

LYRIC DIVE: every teardrop is a waterfall

Cheesy song... maybe. But it sure is catchy.

I turn the music up, I got my records on
I shut the world outside until the lights come on

Maybe the streets alight, maybe the trees are gone

I feel my heart start beating to my favorite song

And all the kids they dance, and all the kids all night

Until Monday morning feels another life

I turn the music up

I'm on a roll this time

And heaven is in sight

I turn the music up, I got my records on

From underneath the rubble sing a rebel song

Don't want to see another generation drop

I'd rather be a comma than a full stop

Maybe I'm in the black, maybe I'm on my knees

Maybe I'm in the gap between the two trapezes

But my heart is beating and my pulses start

Cathedrals in my heart

And we saw oh this light I swear you, emerge blinking into to tell me it's alright

As we soar walls, every siren is a symphony and every tear's a waterfall

Is a waterfall, oh

Is a waterfall, oh oh oh

Is a is a waterfall

Every tear is a waterfall, oh oh oh

So you can hurt, hurt me bad

But still I'll raise the flag

It was a wa- wa- wa- wa- wa-aterfall

A wa- wa- wa -wa -wa-aterfall 

Every tear, every tear, every teardrop is a waterfall

Every tear, every tear, every teardrop is a waterfall

LYRIC DIVE: two against one

"The mirror is a trigger and your mouth's a gun"

What is this Rome people are talking about? It is a collaboration album by the respected Italian composer Daniele Luppi (of Rome) and Danger Mouse (known for his work with Gnarls Barkley, Broken Bells, and Black Keys). The album was just released yesterday, May 16th, and it has already gained a lot of praise. There is no film to match the album but it certainly has that haunted-aged film vibe to it.  One of the better songs on the album is titled "two against one," featuring Jack White on vocals. Check out the song and interesting lyrics below...

Make no mistake I don't do anything for free

I keep my enemies closer than my mirror ever gets to me 

And if you think that there is shelter in this attitude

Wait 'til you feel the warmth of my gratitude

One... I get the feeling that it's two against one

I'm already fighting me so what's another one?

The mirror is a trigger and your mouth's a gun 

Lucky for me I'm not the only one

And if it looks to me like you and your reflection

Plan to edge on fire to this dimension

Then tell it that this ain't no free for all to see 

There's only three

It's just you and me against me

One... I get the feeling that it's two against one

I'm already fighting me so what's another one?

The mirror is a trigger and your mouth's a gun

Lucky for me I'm not the only one

And if your foot soldiers, sycophants, and yes man

For them to break into the middle of this little plan

Then they should plan to hear me say that I wont play around

But wait anyway I planned a plan to drown them

One...I get the feeling that it's two against one

I'm already fighting me so what's another one?

The mirror is a trigger and your mouth's a gun

Lucky for me I'm not the only one

LYRIC DIVE: sim sala bim

"all the loose ends would surround me again in the shape of your face"

 ^a piece of the album art

Lately I have been posting a lot about Fleet Foxes, reason being, their second full length came out May 3 and so I've been dwelling in the awesomeness of Helplessness Blues. Track 3, "sim sala bim," has some interesting lyrics. The song features a few references to withcraft/black magic. So anyways, I've typed the "sim sala bim" lyrics below and have added links of images of what I picture when I listen to this song. The speaker is quite poetic.



he was so kind such a gentleman tied to the oceanside

lighting a match on the suitcase's latch in the fading of night

ruffled the fur of the collie 'neath the table

ran out the door through the dark

carved out his initials in the bark

then the earth shook 

that was all that it took for the dream to break

all the loose ends would surround me again in the shape of your ... face

what makes me love you despite the reservations?

what do I see in your eyes

besides my reflection hanging high?

are you off somewhere reciting incantations?

sim sala bim on your tongue

carving off the hair of someone's young

remember when you had me cut your hair

call me Delilah then I wouldn't care

LYRIC DIVE: lover of mine & fade into you

Comparing Beach House's line "we parted our lips and we reached from inside" to Mazzy Star's "I want to hold the hand inside you"

Both these lines speak about knowing a person to the core. It's about getting to know someone's soul. If for example two people are physically attracted to each other and already understand each other's personalities what they would desire next is to know each others souls. Soul? The part of us that tells us where to look, what to think, what to say. That ghostly thing within us that activates our thoughts and body.

Both these lines speak about  knowing a person inside out to form a spiritual bond. I like the way that both songs paint it as if we have invisible hands that are able to travel through the body and grasp someone else's soul. It's all about connecting with someone as if two were one. Perhaps, Beach House's line has more to do with speaking sincerely from the heart so as to "reach" into each others souls when communicating. Or "parted our lips" could also be about kissing but I like to think of it as speaking. Do with it what you may. Is it a bit of a cheesy concept? Yes; well maybe not if you're in love OR feeling like a romantic.

Beach House "lover of mine"
Beach House - Lover Of Mine by musicmule
Mazzy Star "fade into you"
Mazzy Star / Fade Into You by ShornStarMan