37
votes
Accepted
Is the double negative in 'we don't need no education' intentional?
This is quite certainly intentional. While the double negative used as an intensified negative is considered ungrammatical in "standard" English, it is very common in many English dialects, ...
- 15.4k
16
votes
Is the double negative in 'we don't need no education' intentional?
I've been unable to find any comments directly from Roger Waters (writer of the music and lyrics of the song) on the meaning of those lines. Looking at the lyrics on Genius.com, the annotation for the ...
- 4,325
16
votes
Accepted
Du Hast - You Have or You Hate?
It's an intentional play on words.
When we hear the opening lyrics:
Du
Du hast
Du hast mich
It's unclear if they're saying "Du hast mich" ("You have me") or "Du hasst mich" ("You hate me").
It's ...
- 1,990
12
votes
Accepted
What is meant by "Grandma Plays the Numbers"?
The "numbers" were indeed the lottery, but this was back before the government decided to get in on the action, so it was an illegal lottery run by gangsters.
Basically, it was a common, but ...
- 15.4k
11
votes
Was the radio talk in "Right Here, Right Now" real or created for the song?
It was real. The station, WBCN in Boston was an alt-rock station that was HUGE in the 90's but was shuttered in 2009, though it lives on online. Bradley Jay was a DJ and is currently a talk-radio host ...
- 111
11
votes
Accepted
In the Beatles' "I'm So Tired", why is Sir Walter Raleigh "such a stupid git"?
Sir Walter Raleigh is credited as the one who introduced tobacco to the UK from the (then) colony of Virginia. So the reference is to the cigarette in the lyrics, and the love-hate relationship with ...
- 4,242
10
votes
Accepted
Who is Hozier's goddess?
It's to refer to his lover. The whole section is actually:
If I'm a pagan of the good times
My lover's the sunlight
To keep the Goddess on my side
She demands a sacrifice
It can be ...
Dom♦
- 4,191
10
votes
What is meant by "Run me like a river"?
After asking this question, it was pointed out to me that "running a river" is a way to refer to travelling down a turbulent river, usually on a raft, kayak, or canoe.
So, I think I was reading that ...
- 495
10
votes
Accepted
What kind of bird are you if you can't swim?
Prokofiev referred to the bird in Peter and the Wolf as simply 'the little bird'.
"Of course we shall have the flute as a little bird." [†Schlifstein, p.450.]
Although parakeets are smallish - ...
- 271
9
votes
Accepted
NOFX's song "Linoleum" - what's the meaning of this song?
As always, genius is a good source for analyzing of song meanings. This particular song has been extensively analyzed by multiple users. Having said this, most of the time a song's meaning is subject ...
- 1,163
8
votes
Accepted
Rock song with lyric "walking in your shoes", gruff voice singer like Linkin Park
You might be thinking of another Linkin Park song, "Numb". Looking at the lyrics, it has a few lines very close to the ones you remembered from it (emphasis mine), but it's missing "something I am not ...
- 4,325
8
votes
What is meant by the chorus of "I Am the Highway" by Audioslave
This is one of my favorite songs, it means so much to me.
The meaning is this:
It has to do with being neglected, mistreated, overlooked and taken for granted by people you care about. They might ...
- 81
8
votes
Accepted
"Ex's and Oh's" by Elle King- What is "Oh's"?
There are multiple possible interpretations according to contributors on Genius:
The metaphorical x’s (hugs) and o’s (kisses) of the relationships
haunt her, symbolizing her running away from ...
- 2,854
8
votes
Accepted
Lyrics confusion in Queen's "I Want to Break Free"
The annotations for these lines on Genius.com suggests a few potential explanations.
Annotation for "I've fallen in love/I've fallen in love for the first time".
The narrator says that he ...
- 4,325
8
votes
What does "I'm a loser, baby, so why don't you kill me?" mean?
It's a hard song to understand unless you remember the ironic-nihilist, slacker culture of the times. At the time, Gen-X teenagers and young adults were dismissed by their elders as aimless, apathetic,...
- 15.4k
8
votes
What do the lyrics in "Master of Puppets" mean?
The song is about the effects of drugs. According to the website Story of Song,
“Master of Puppets” was written by all members of Metallica and is a song about the eventual side effects drugs will ...
- 3,855
7
votes
Accepted
60s/70s song, lyrics "Sweet my little baby", possibly Led Zeppelin
"Sweet little baby" is a recurrent lyric in Led Zeppelin's song "Dazed and Confused" song from their 1969 Album "Led Zeppelin".
That's about as far as I can get to identify the song you are looking ...
- 126
7
votes
Accepted
"I wanna know have you ever seen the rain?" What did the singer really want to express?
The song you are referring to is Have You Ever Seen the Rain? (Wikipedia) by the band Creedence Clearwater Revival, written by the singer and guitarist John Fogerty.
According to Wikipedia, the ...
- 1,163
7
votes
Accepted
What's the name of this french song by Dalida?
The English version of this song is best known as "Those Were the Days." It was a huge hit in 1968 for Mary Hopkins. The French version is called "Le Temps des Fleurs," ("...
- 15.4k
7
votes
What is the exact meaning of the song "Hotel California" & its album cover image?
Like a lot of great songs, which stick in people's heads, it was written to suggest a lot of things, rather than have a specific meaning.
The public statements by various band members about the song ...
- 4,242
7
votes
Accepted
Deuce - The One, homophobic?
I think you have it exactly backwards. I think the song is about a person who is on the receiving of homophobia. The song seems to be about a homosexual/bisexual male who is upset that he is not ...
- 789
7
votes
Meaning of "Blowing in the Wind"?
I think the interpretation of these lyrics is still somewhat open and that's partly why people like this song so much. I think they can be taken in the context of the time period, the 60s. Using this ...
- 429
7
votes
Accepted
Get Up, Stand Up: Almighty God is a living man
I think you're right; it's almost certainly a reference to Haile Selassie.
Here we see that Marley once said in an interview:
I would say to the people, Be still, and know that His Imperial
Majesty, ...
- 1,990
6
votes
Accepted
What is the significance behind so many uses of the word "murder" in old school reggae lyrics?
Murder means "serious business". A reggae performer of that era once explained it like that in a radio interview on a London radio station back then. So not literally murder, but a colourful word for "...
- 4,242
6
votes
Accepted
What does "Fortune fame mirror vain" mean in Metallica's The Memory Remains?
Sachi speculates:
The first two lines probably go together in a sentence as “Fortune,
fame mirror vain” and can translate to “both fortune and fame mirror
what is vain.” So this basically says ...
- 2,854
6
votes
What is Robyn singing in the music video for Royksopp's Monument?
According to YouTube user "Rob RIN" in his comment here, the lyrics are as follows, with the inaudible in parentheses:
Make a space, (please let us love)
For my body, (so that I have enough)...
- 146
6
votes
Accepted
What is the source of the "That boy needs therapy" song from Frontier Psychiatrist?
It's from the comedy sketch “Frontier Psychiatrist” by Johnny Wayne and Frank Shuster.
Source
And the mp3
- 226
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible