OK- I love The Bangles. One of my favourite bands when I was growing up. I was stoked when they reformed a couple years ago, and even more stoked when they put out a new album. I have been scratching my head wondering what the title song of that album -"Doll Revolution" is about. Here is the lyrics:

Who drys your eyes when you cry real tears?
Who knows or cares what an imitation is?
(Only you do)
You can paint his nails
Make him wear high heels
Why waste time altering the hemline?
(Only you do)

Tear off your own head
Tear off your own head
It's a doll revolution

You can bat your lashes
You can cut your strings
Pull out his hair with your moveable fingers
(It looks so real)
But one won't do it so collect the set
Dress him up in pink ribbons
Put him in a kitchenette
(How does this feel?)

Tear off your own head
Tear off your own head
It's a doll revolution

What's that sound?
It'll turn you around
It's a doll revolution
They're taking over
And they're tearing it down
It's a doll revolution
It's a doll revolution

Brilliant song though. BTW- feel free to post other song lyrics that have had you scratching your head.

My guess is that it's about a transvestite. It might also have to do with emasculating men. Not necessarily literally, but figuratively. As a matter of fact, I'd say the latter is the better interpretation.

np - Enchanted - Stevie Nicks

"It's all one song." - Neil Young

It's a possibility. I'm not 100% convinced though. But I am certainly pleased you tried Benn! I just can't see the bangles doing a song about turning men into transvestites- just doesn't sound like a song of theirs.

I don't necessarily mean turning men into transvestites. I mean men being pu$$y whipped.

Could it be a reaction against objectification of women; a feeling that women are sometimes treated like real-life Barbie dolls? Saying to men, "How would you like it?"

Oooooooooh Sophie- I think you might be on to something there! I think you may have hit upon the right track there!

One song whose lyrics have always puzzled me is "Miss Gradenko" from the Police's Synchronicity album:

Don't tell the director I said so
But are you safe Miss Gradenko?
We were at a policy meeting
They were planning new ways of cheating
I didn't want to rock your boat
But you sent this dangerous note
You've been letting your feelings show
Are you safe Miss Gradenko?
Miss Gradenko are you safe?
Is anybody alive in here?
Is anybody at all in here?
Nobody but us
Your uniform doesn't seem to fit
You're much too alive in it
You've been letting your feelings show
Are you safe Miss Gradenko?
Miss Gradenko are you safe?
Is anybody alive in here?
Is anybody at all in here?
Nobody but us in here
Nobody but us

Although the lyrics of Synchronicity are almost all thought-provoking, this is one I don't really have an interpretation for. So what is this song about? Who is Miss Gradenko, and what is the situation being described?

For what it's worth Todd, according to this website, http://www.inthe80s.com/coldwar.shtml

it's a Cold War song about "repression in the Soviet Union ('Don't tell the Director I said so/but are you safe, Miss Gradenko?')" Me, I'm not so sure it should be taken so literally. Then again, whoever is the author of that page insists on spelling the first name of Pink Floyd's bass player as "Rodger Waters".

"The Sounds of Silence" is a Cold War song?!

np - Concrete Corner - various artists (It's one of several free promo compilations I've gotten over the years. I rarely play them and have just decided to give my freebie compilations some play.)

"It's all one song." - Neil Young

BTW, Sophie, I like your interpretation of that Bangles much better than mine. By far.

"It's all one song." - Neil Young

Thanks, Benn.

For a song that is about turning a man into a transvestite, there's "Molly" by Carrie. It features forced crossdressing and foot licking and anal rape of a man by a woman.

This made it into the UK charts and was being regularly played by Radio 1 during the daytime a few years ago.

I can only assume that they didn't listen to the words...

Thanks for the link, Benn. I'd noted that the song was written by Stewart Copeland, and since he was the son of a big CIA operative, I thought that it might have something to do with the CIA.

Here's another obtuse song lyric for us to dissect, Genesis' "One For The Vine". This one's really interesting and should provide fertile field for discussion.

Fifty thousand men were sent to do the will of one.
His claim was phrased quite simply, though he never voiced it loud,
I am he, the chosen one.
In his name they could slaughter, for his name they could die.
Many there were believed in him,
still more were sure he lied,
But they'll fight the battle on.
Then one whose faith had died
Fled back up the mountainside,
But before the top was made,
A misplaced footfall made him stray
From the path prepared for him.
Off of the mountain,
On to a wilderness of ice.
This unexpected vision made him stand and shake with fear,
But nothing was his fright compared with those who saw him appear.
Terror filled their minds with awe.
Simple were the folk who lived
Upon this frozen wave.
So not surprising was their thought,
This is he, God's chosen one,
Who's come to save us from
All our oppressors.
We shall be kings on this world.
Follow me!
I give you strength inside you,
Courage to win your battles -
No, no, no, this can't go on,
This will be all that I fled from.
Let me rest for a while.
He walked into a valley,
All alone.
There he talked with water and then with the vine.
They leave me no choice.
I must lead them to glory or most likely to death.
They travelled cross the plateau of ice, up to its edge.
Then they crossed a mountain range and saw the final plain.
Still he urged the people on.
Then, on a distant slope,
He observed one without hope
Flee back up the mountainside.
He thought he recognized him by his walk,
And by the way he fell,
and by the way he
Stood up, and vanished into air.

Okay, so what is THIS song about?

Man, that makes Laurie Anderson (the performance artist) seem lucid!
Actually, I kind of followed the "narrative" until the end there. I haven't a clue at this point.

OH! I just got it! The main character is a part of an army being led by some messianic figure, but he loses faith in the leader and runs away. After getting lost in a mountain range, he stumbles onto a batch of primative people who promptly declare him to be their messiah. The main character begins to be taken in my their adulation, but he remembers that the only reason he's there is because he ran away from a figgure just like what he was becoming. The main character then runs off into the wilderness and lives as a recluse untill realizing that those people are going to believe in him no matter what he does, so he settles into the role of messiah and actually becomes the very leader he ran away from in the first place. I'm pretty sure that the ending him watching HIMSELF run away from HIMSELF and somehow vanish into the past, where he becomes the messiah figure.

Man, that's pretty cool! Confusing though, they should have made a book out of it or something.

In some ways, that description sounds a bit like Nietzsche's Thus Spake Zarathustra. At least the early part of the book.

"It's all one song." - Neil Young

This one confuses me a bit, though the video explains a lot:

Der Wahnsinn
ist nur eine schmale Brücke
die Ufer sind Vernunft und Trieb
ich steig dir nach
das Sonnenlicht den Geist verwirrt
ein blindes Kind das vorwärts kriecht
weil es seine Mutter riecht

Ich finde dich

Die Spur ist frisch und auf die Brücke
tropft dein Schweiß dein warmes Blut
ich seh dich nicht
ich riech dich nur Ich spüre Dich
ein Raubtier das vor Hunger schreit
wittere ich dich meilenweit

Du riechst so gut
du riechst so gut
ich geh dir hinterher
du riechst so gut
ich finde dich
- so gut
ich steig dir nach
du riechst so gut
gleich hab ich dich

Jetzt hab ich dich

Ich warte bis es dunkel ist
dann fass ich an die nasse Haut
verrate mich nicht
oh siehst du nicht die Brücke brennt
hör auf zu schreien und wehre dich nicht
weil sie sonst auseinander bricht

Du riechst so gut
du riechst so gut
ich geh dir hinterher
du riechst so gut
ich finde dich
- so gut
ich steig dir nach
du riechst so gut
gleich hab ich dich

Du riechst so gut
du riechst so gut
ich geh dir hinterher
du riechst so gut
ich finde Dich
- so gut
ich fass dich an
du riechst so gut
jetzt hab ich dich

Du riechst so gut
du riechst so gut
ich geh dir hinterher

This is just a wild guess, but do you think that it might have something to do with Germany?

Very astute.

Thank you

Wow, you're right, that is confusing.
Guess I should have learned to speak German in my youth... Do you think watching the video will help me?

http://www.herzeleid.com/en/lyrics/herzeleid/translation#6

Pink Floyd, "Bike"

I've got a bike. You can ride it if you like.
It's got a basket, a bell that rings and
Things to make it look good.
I'd give it to you if I could, but I borrowed it.
You're the kind of girl that fits in with my world.
I'll give you anything, ev'rything if you want things.
I've got a cloak. It's a bit of a joke.
There's a tear up the front. It's red and black.
I've had it for months.
If you think it could look good, then I guess it should.
You're the kind of girl that fits in with my world.
I'll give you anything, ev'rything if you want things.
I know a mouse, and he hasn't got a house.
I don't know why. I call him Gerald.
He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.
You're the kind of girl that fits in with my world.
I'll give you anything, ev'rything if you want things.
I've got a clan of gingerbread men.
Here a man, there a man, lots of gingerbread men.
Take a couple if you wish. They're on the dish.
You're the kind of girl that fits in with my world.
I'll give you anything, ev'rything if you want things.
I know a room of musical tunes.
Some rhyme, some ching. Most of them are clockwork.
Let's go into the other room and make them work.

And...?

It doesn't have to, like, mean anything, man. It's just, like, a reflection of Syd Barrett's state of mind and his longing for childhood. It's groovy, man... Groovy.

Seriously, that's a close to a "meaning" as this sort of song can get.

n.p. - The Singles Collection - The Zombies

True. I was thrown by the fact that Floyd songs usually have some deeper meaning.

And Blitz, were you blitzed when you wrote that?


Rather like Barrett when he wrote for the Floyd...

"Tear off your own head" aka "It's a Doll Revolution" was written by Elvis Costello and originally appeared on his 2002 record, "When I Was Cruel." The Bangles are a great band but you definitely owe it to yourself to check out Elvis' version.

And knowing it's Costello should let you know you approach the interpretation of the lyric at your peril, but I'd bet the "emasculation" angle was pretty much way off.

Analyses of Tull's "Thick as a Brick," anyone?

I never knew what Sheena Easton was singing about in "Sugarwalls"...was it some sort of candy?

Yes.

np - Bloodletting - Concrete Blonde

Music is a world within itself/And a language we all understand." - Stevie Wonder

Hmmm.. I'm a little confused over these lyrics- I have been listening to this song for years- in fact it's one of my favourites. The Sweet's "Fox On The Run"..

I - don't wanna know your name
'Cause you don't look the same
The way you did before
O.K. - you think you got a pretty face
But the rest of you is out of place
You looked allright before

Fox on the run
You scream and everybody comes a running
Take a run and hide yourself away
Foxy is on the run
F - foxy
Fox on the run
And hide away

You - you talk about just every band
But the names you drop are second hand
I've heard it all before
I - don't wanna know your name
'Cause you don't look the same
The way you did before

Fox on the run
You scream and everybody comes a running
Take a run and hide yourself away
Foxy is on the run
F - foxy
Fox on the run
And hide away

F - foxy
Fox on the run
You scream and everybody comes a running
Take a run and hide yourself away
Foxy is on the run
F - foxy
Fox on the run
And hide away
Fox on the run
Fox on the run
Fox on the run
Fox on the run...

So what exactly is this guy saying? Is he saying that he's dumping the girl because she looks different and she drops boring band names?? Why then call her a fox??? And the chorus?? WHOA!!

Fox On The Run [ok- so far so good]
You scream and everybody comes a-runnin' [seems pretty natural]
Take a run and hide yourself away [huh? Why should she scream and then hide away when everybody comes running? And what does that have to do with dropping band names and lookign different???]

Ugh... I have a headache now... I got too much, I got too much...

NGen wrote:

"I never knew what Sheena Easton was singing about in "Sugarwalls"...was it some sort of candy?"

Well, since this is a family board, let's just say that Ms. Easton was referring to a particular part of the female anatomy.

Use your imagination!

Sheena was refering to a part of the female anatomy? Try Prince. He wrote the song (under the pseudonym "Alexander Nevermind".)