Heavy metal has produced no shortage of songs about the Devil, about dragons, about the end of the world. “Master of Puppets” is about something far more frightening and aContinue readingThe Meaning of “Master of Puppets” by Metallica
Song Meanings
The Meaning of “Kalyani” by ARJN
Every few years a song escapes its home turf and goes around the world without bothering to translate itself. “Kalyani” is the latest. It is a Malayalam-language track, written andContinue readingThe Meaning of “Kalyani” by ARJN
The Meaning of “Unwritten” by Natasha Bedingfield
There are pop songs that tell you what to feel and pop songs that tell you what to do. “Unwritten” does both, and does it so cheerfully that you hardlyContinue readingThe Meaning of “Unwritten” by Natasha Bedingfield
The Meaning of “Clocks” by Coldplay
Some songs arrive with a riff so perfectly formed that you would swear it had always existed, floating about in the ether until somebody caught it in a jar. “Clocks”Continue readingThe Meaning of “Clocks” by Coldplay
The Meaning of “About You” by The 1975
Most break-up songs are about the moment someone leaves. “About You” is about something sneakier and sadder: the long afterwards, when you can no longer remember what drew you toContinue readingThe Meaning of “About You” by The 1975
The Meaning of Song “6-7”
Somewhere in the last two years, a song about very little in particular became the most baffling piece of language on the planet. Adults heard two numbers bellowed by childrenContinue readingThe Meaning of Song “6-7”
The Meaning of “Little Red Corvette” by Prince
In 1983 a slight, purple-clad genius from Minneapolis finally did what the radio had been telling him he couldn’t, and strolled straight through the front door of mainstream pop. “LittleContinue readingThe Meaning of “Little Red Corvette” by Prince
The Meaning of “Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary” (English Nursery Rhyme)
Here is a rhyme that three-year-olds chant while skipping and grown-up historians argue about over dinner. “Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary” is barely thirty words long, it involves a garden, someContinue readingThe Meaning of “Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary” (English Nursery Rhyme)
The Meaning of “505” by Arctic Monkeys
Picture a man bolting through an airport with his heart in his mouth, a bad conscience in his pocket and one overwhelming desire: to be somewhere else, with somebody else,Continue readingThe Meaning of “505” by Arctic Monkeys
The Meaning of “Birds of a Feather” by Billie Eilish
Every so often a pop song turns up sounding as though it has been loitering in the cultural furniture for decades, waiting politely for the rest of us to notice.Continue readingThe Meaning of “Birds of a Feather” by Billie Eilish