Up To Interpretation

[Kyle86]

I thought I'd try something a little different. Here's what's gonna happen... the person above is going to write a MG(B) song title and it is up to you write down your (serious) interpretation of the song.

 

Then when you're done, add a new song (feel free to repeat song titles) for the next person to fiddle with.

 

Remember, art can mean something different to each and everyone of us... so let's see what we come up with.

 

I'll start:

 

Suburbia

[heyrabbit]

This song makes me think about of that specific period of adolescence when you're in transition. I think about those those summers -- maybe the last couple summers of highschool-- when you've hit a fork in the road and you know everything is going to change soon.I think about the confusing and conflicting feelings of anxiety you have about the future and the melancholy and nostalgia in the air about your highschool years, knowing that it will be over soon. The time of your life that's supposed to be " the time of your life" which you know you'll one day look back on and remember. For me, particularily, those things were amplified by the grunge attitude of my adolescence, the rebellious despondency of my youth. listening to nirvana, offspring, silverchair, greenday etc, being too jaded to care about being jaded.

I think about being inbetween school and work, when there's absolutely nothing to do where you live, and all you do is bum around with your friends philosophizing about life, wondering what the future holds for you and all your friends. I picture kids getting drunk in hydro fields at night -- because that's what we did -- those long fields underneath neverending rows of power cables which supply us with our precious electricity. It's almost symbol of a generation, our post-war manufactured livelihoods in the suburbs, rows of cheap housing, convenience stores, and those obligatory patches of grass amongst all the asphalt-- which is supposed give add the natural touch-- but seem to only remind us of the artificiality of it all. our lives designed by the american dream in the pursuit of happiness that are actually as artificial and empty as their surroundings. "you can be art when we melt "

 

I think about feeling trapped in the suburbs, wondering if you'll ever get out and if there's a life waiting for you somehwere else. And those conversations you have with yourself and your friends about all of this.

 

I've basically just described the movie "suburbia" which came out in '96, American pie and Dazed and confused. Those are all awsome movies, though.

 

I'll stay with BM: running for home

[sockcrotch]

Suicide. Being tired of life that feels not worth living.

 

 

change of season

[betterbutterfly]

it has always seemed to me to be a song about loving someone who just doesn't see you, and doesn't love you back. the desperation that inevitably leads to anger and bitterness. it's a sad song.

 

The Inescapable Us

[RicardoObviouso]

this is a good fucking thread idea.

 

 

that being said... pass.

[mrs jesus]

this is a good fucking thread idea.

 

 

that being said... pass.

hahahahahha

 

seriously, that was the best post yet.

[Prometheon]

Inescapable Us:

 

I find the best way to do these things is to dissect the lyrics, but this song is fucking hard. My interpretaion is one of a ton of other possible ones. But here it goes:

 

He seems to be alluding to the fact that we are all dying at a constant rate. This is seen best in the line "we are smaller than what we can't get around" and in the allusions created in killing what you came to keep alive and the imagery of decay. The song isn't depressing though, as the entire theme seems to be getting over the fact that you're dying and just enjoying the fucking trip, even if the destination isn't pleasant. It's a love song that isn't overly flowery.

 

"Baby, we won't be together forever, but I'm happy to even have this short lifetime. Or even this one encounter."

 

You can see this in the whole song, but it is very well illustrated in the themes of the decay letting him bend the day he met her, and the notion of him laughing at what he shouldn't (which is the notion that he's gonna die. And so is the person he loves, but he doesn't care.)

 

Also, even though they are butterflies, and are meek and loving etc, they don't inherit the earth, they only inherit the same thing everyone else does: a plot in the ground. But hey, that's just fate. It steals away your sparkling spot, but hey, it was the one that gave it to you in the first place. It just hasn't caught on to the fact that you don't care.

 

So, in summary, we're all gonna die, and there may not be anything after that. But it's ok. There is still goodness even in our short and often painful lives. We should stop bitching about what fate takes away, and start feeling lucky for what it gives.

 

My choice for the next person: Under the Influence (this should be easier.)

[Kyle86]

I'm pretty sure Under the Influence reflects back as a metaphor on life and our inner-child. Ha, whenever I didn't know the answer in english class, it'd always be a metaphor for life... you'd be surprise how often you can B.S. that with anything.

 

Seriously though, to me, Under the Influence is about someone looking back to the carefree days of his youth. The person recalls past drug induced trips and the times when nothing else really matters. Time has forced him to move on and give that lifestyle up, but part of him still yearns for it.

 

Next: Oh Be Joyful

[betterbutterfly]

dude. . . cause that shit spreads.

 

it's a happy song. in a world where things aren't often going well, and being miserable is more the norm that being happy. . . just be happy.

 

While We Were Hunting Rabbits

[Ryan44]

fishing. on a boat, or ship

 

 

BORN TO KILL

Edited May 2, 2006 by KiPpEr

[Prometheon]

fishing. on a boat, or ship

 

 

BORN TO KILL

Dude, that's a bit of a cop out don't you think?

[Kyle86]

Everyone can interpret things differently, however, when I hear While We Were Hunting Rabbits I think of the end of Matthew Good Band.

 

"Buy in, we'll shut you up" ... sort of like how the other members of the band were creatively going in a different direction than Matt himself.

 

I think ultimately the song reflects Matt's struggle to produce quality work, without selling out. "Til now I was a soldier"

 

As things got going for him, inevitably he had to give in to what the majority wanted and acted as a somewhat of a puppet. "And I dance, and I sing and I'm a monkey in a long line of kings".

 

I remember when Matt played a college show in Victoria (i think) last year, he blogged about "Higher Education Strikes Again" when the school's president threatened not to pay him if he did not give an undeserving audience an encore he said something along the lines of "...being the performing monkey that I am..."

 

I think he felt like he was constantly a performing monkey when he was tied down to MGB. As for the long line of kings... the music industry is chalked full of talent and competition.

 

"I'm just a boat on the ocean... ship lost at sea" In the end he doesn't know any better than you or I. He's doing the best he can with what is given to him. I think the overall impression of the song is he's trying to find comfort in that.

 

I think many of us can adapt the meaning of the song to our own personal experiences as well.

 

 

...it could mean this, or fishing on a boat or ship.

 

Since i skipped Born to kill, i'll pass it to the next person.

Edited May 2, 2006 by Kyle86

[Prometheon]

Born to Kill is such an interesting song because the lyrics are rather minimalist.

 

The beginning is implying that his TV is a magician that is the antidote. It cures him by injecting him with all of the bullshit of mass media.

 

The second verse implies that we are beginning to sympathise with the devil. We are beginning to realise that not everything is polarized and black and white. There's two sides to very coin.

 

The chorus, I don't really know. I interpret it as being born vulnerable, into this world we created that has now become bigger and more relentless than us.

 

Let's try....Fated

[Kyle86]

The beginning is implying that his TV is a magician that is the antidote. It cures him by injecting him with all of the bullshit of mass media.

that was really good. never put those two together.

 

nice job.

 

I'll pass.

 

Still looking for fated.

[Selina]

To me, Fated is about the influence of the media on your mind, leading to a wild imagination, and paranoia, and desperately wanting to be free from those influences.

 

Next song: Truffle Pigs

[Kyle86]

Partnership. Companionship. Caring. Love. Conquering anything... together.

 

It was Matt's song for Jenny.

 

 

Next: Omission of the Omen

[Guest jsunC]

I think this song starts out referring to depression and insecurity, and then goes in to describe the fears of our society.

In a way its a pessimists interpretation of society

 

Going all the way

[gordonfreeman12345]

i dont like to interpret i just listen...

[Kyle86]

Apparently you also like to spam the bored ;)

[Guest jsunC]

WOOODEEEDOOOOO

[Hoverball]

Going All The Way:

 

Wow this was a tough one, but I'll give it my best.

 

I think the subject realizes that their life is the best it's gonna get (nothing left to die for/our beauty is just decay/dreams of sea caught way inland) and it's not what they pictured (monomania) and they don't want to go on (go out going all the way/cut our losses). The "missile men" is just a shot at the government for filler.

 

flip a coin: The Rat or Invasion 1

[AnOceanPearl]

I'll go with Rat.

 

I think it's a song about being on the outside looking in, watching something collapse, fall apart, unable to do anything about it, because no matter what you do, it's not enough. I think it's about being down on your luck but still finding something, but that "the end", whatever it might be, is unavoidable no matter what.

 

Flight Recorder from Viking 7

[Hoverball]

FRFTV7 - Well there's 2 sides to this, but the outcome is about the same:

 

A) The easy way - An astronaut in space and is gf back on Earth describing their feelings

 

B) The semi-easy way - A guy & girl who are split up several years later and are both wondering what the other is up to and what could've been

 

next: Invasion 1

[hucklel3erry]

Invasion 1... hmmm

 

 

I don't usually spend too much time thinking about these types of things but Invasion lyrics I wasn't really familiar with so what the hell...

 

I believe he's refering to the loss of a personal life when fame comes knocking. He idolizes people/things who did the seemingly impossible and just disappeared out of the spotlight.

 

Next up, The Workers Sing a Song of Mass Production

Edited June 6, 2006 by hucklel3erry

[Kyle86]

i always wondered if invasion one had anything to do with breaking out as artists in the states (since canadian artists tend to be "underdogs" in the american music scene).

 

Anyways, still on workers sing a song of mass production