Lyrics Discussion Thread: Childhood Dreams

[Maca (Mod)]

Originally Posted by Qwerty

You say, you're identical to none
but you're identical to some, who wants to be a some? Not Me

can someone dissect that for me....

Originally Posted by Icescape

I don't think those two thinks make a whole, I find the last question to be inspired by the beginning but together those things aren't that tightly fitting. So basically, in the first too "lines" it's OneTrick Pony, the single-dimensional person thinking he/she is so unique, even when she is not, and she is identical "to some", not one of a kind that is. And to me "who wants to be a some?Not me" is just, who wants to be just a some, a random person who means nothing special to somebody, or who isn't uniqua and real and all that to be called by their name, instead of the anonymous "some". Or that's what I think, I may be wrong too.

My thoughts exactly. It's like Nelly exposing or making fun of someone that thinks very highly of herself/himself and that they're very original, and they can't even see they're really not. Like someone that regards himself as a trend-setter but is still very commonplace and mainstream. What do you think Querty?

One of the really interesting things is that Nelly has had an issue with the mainstream thing, that she seems to have overcome with Loose. She's talked about that and it's evident in songs like SOTR, One-Trick Pony and Powerless. She definitely was dealing with that while making Folklore and it will be interesting to tackle this when we talk about Powerless.

Originally Posted by Icescape

Hehe, I see "she's coming undone" as the OTP laying out all she is, getting emptier, so that soon there is nothing left, whereas with a "real" person you could never reach the bottom, you could never "come undone".

Ohh, I see what you mean... That's so cool, I had never thought of this, it actually invokes a pretty clear image in my head. It makes total sense. And as you say:

Originally Posted by Icescape

you're not even aiming at the "correct" interpretation (mainly because reaching it is considered pretty impossible), but giving a well backed-up interpration, so all those interpretations that put the pieces together in a way that makes sense considering the whole of a poem, or an artwork in general, are actually correct.

This is why I like to discuss lyrics. To me there's two sides to it: first you try to understand what the artist meant with his/her lyrics, where they came from. You get the idea of the song, but some things thrown in there make you wonder why the lines are written a certain way, if they're referencing something particular in their lives that you don't know, etc.

And then in the other hand you won't get to know what they meant exactly with every line, so you get to assign a meaning to it, your own interpretation. To me this song invokes an internal struggle, and to you it invokes an image of someone that is "the pony" and is being exposed.

Nelly's lyrics are cool because the lines are difficult to understand (at least I have a hard time, lol), especially the Whoa, Nelly! ones. Those are really poetic and invoke lots of things that leave you wondering what she meant.

Originally Posted by Icescape

About that kind of structure you meant, I like it that Nelly uses more complicated structures than the boring usual one, for example in TOTL when there is that long "myself" part in the end, and the few speak parts, and Saturdays, ah I love that song. So even in it there is that repetition I was talking about, everything is said twice from a point forwards, that guy Jarvis Church repeats every line Nelly already said.

Ahh, OK, I get it now. My favorite usage of that is in SOTR when she's saying "bring me down down down down low" as backgrounds to the "myself myself" repetitions.

These discussions have made me realize that I have a whole thing with background vocals, but that's because I like things that are not evident at first sight, and with backgrounds you get to listen more carefully to figure them out, and I love that Nelly uses them a lot, especially in One-Trick Pony.

[kat_4eva2]

i agree with what you guys are saying about the structure of nelly's songs
its so great that she will put something a bit different in her songs, even in Loose, she hasnt lost it, and hopefully never will

some of nellys lyrics that i really love are:
'the smile is bigger than the atlantic sea
it happens to bring out the atlantis in me'
i love those, they really make me smile, and im not sure why, i dont totally get what its on about except that his smile makes her smile i guess, but i wonder whether theres something deeper ??

and does anyone make anything of the lyrics in All Good Things:
'The dogs were barking at the new moon
Whistling a new tune
Hoping it would come soon
So that they could die'
Again, i really like those lines, even they dont really make sense, how do you guys interpret those lyrics?

[Maca (Mod)]

Cool, let's see:

ISLAND OF WONDER

Originally Posted by kat_4eva2

'the smile is bigger than the atlantic sea, it happens to bring out the atlantis in me'

i love those, they really make me smile, and im not sure why, i dont totally get what its on about except that his smile makes her smile i guess, but i wonder whether theres something deeper ??

This song is all about Nelly's roots in the Azores islands, which is where her parents and grandparents come from. Her family is from there, her language is from there, her whole history is from there, but she didn't grow up there, so this is a song about making sense out of that and how visiting that place makes her feel. This is the official description of the song:

At one point I'd just come off the road and wasn't feeling very inspired. I was talking to my mum on the phone. She said, "What do you mean you're not inspired?" I said, "I guess I just don't know what to write about anymore". That summer my family and I had taken one of our trips to The Azores [the island chain off the coast of Portugal where Furtado's parents were born]. She said, "Why don't you write a song called 'Island Of Wonder'?" Right then it hit me: it was the most absurd idea, but I knew that song would be on my album. Our DJ, Lil' Jaz, had started producing stuff, and I collaborated with him on this. He worked up this sample from Caetano Veloso, from the song "Tonada De Luna Llena", from his album Fina Estampa. He is my musical idol. And then Caetano ended up singing a new vocal for the song! It's pretty cool that his sample is on it and he's singing as well. I still can't believe it.

I think that in order to understand those lines you need the previous ones:

The man wrinkles his face, but it's already worn, the coffee is sour and the shirt is torn, but the smile is bigger than the Atlantic sea, it happens to bring out the Atlantis in me

She said that a big inspiration for Folklore were things she saw in the Azores: men walking around with rubber boots and pitchforks and wearing Coca-Cola t-shirts, modern things meeting traditional things; and how different life in the Azores is from her life in Canada.

So in those verses I guess she's describing how striking it is to see this old guy, all wrinkled and worn from an entire life of hard work, but still he offers her a kind, happy smile, despite how difficult his life has been, and she recognises her ancestors there, the culture that has been passed on, and that triggers a sense of understanding that "brings out the Atlantis" in her.

And I love how the Atlantis reference works there: Atlantis is the lost continent, the culture that sank to the depths of the sea, so it invokes this great feeling of her finding something inside her, something that has always been there and has been awoken by a sense of understanding who her ancestors are, who she is and where she comes from, and this is brought on because of her visiting the island where her parents were born and interacting with people there.

She's recognizing her family and herself in their fellow Azoreans which must be a very cool feeling, to find a home away from home, a place where you belong even if you've never been there before.

[jax1511]

Originally Posted by Maca

And I love how the Atlantis reference works there: Atlantis is the lost continent, the culture that sank to the depths of the sea, so it invokes this great feeling of her finding something inside her, something that has always been there and has been awoken by a sense of understanding who her ancestors are, who she is and where she comes from by visiting the island where her parents were born and interacting with people there.

Maca, brilliant point. The Atlantis reference was something I was curious about when I had first heard the song. The fact that you were able to reference that past interview of Nelly lacking inspiration really solidifies this point.

[Maca (Mod)]

ALL GOOD THINGS

Originally Posted by kat_4eva2

and does anyone make anything of the lyrics in All Good Things:

'The dogs were barking at the new moon
Whistling a new tune
Hoping it would come soon
So that they could die'

Again, i really like those lines, even they dont really make sense, how do you guys interpret those lyrics?

All Good Things is so sad and haunting, it used to really bring me down. And that's because to me, more than a song about things ending, it's about how you're left feeling when things end: when you break up with someone, when a friendship ends, when you graduate, stuff like that, eras that are gone and won't really come back. It's about the effect these things have on you.

And the song doesn't really talk about being left in a state of sadness or grief, you're left feeling stuck, being disconnected from life, lost and numb, that's the really scary part:

Honestly, what will become of me? I don't like reality, it's way too clear to me

We miss everything daydreaming

I want to pull away when the dream dies, the pain sets in and I don't cry, I only feel gravity and I wonder why

That must be terrible, being so shaken and overcome with a feeling that you're left living in survival mode, not feeling anything, just lost and stuck. So to me, that's the mood of the song: being all numb and hopeless.

When I first listened to it I thought the part about the dogs is about embracing change:

The dogs were barking at the new moon, whistling a new tune, hoping it would come soon

I like how she uses the new moon, not the full moon, which is what you would imagine dogs or wolves howling to. I first thought that the new moon represented possibility, the start of a new phase, I thought the dogs where whistling happily, imploring that the new moon would bring a new era soon. I thought this part was about getting ready for things changing and being up to the challenge of that change.

Until the "so that they could die" part sank in. LOL. Now I think that verse is all about hopelessness. In the new moon phase there's no moon, you can't see it, the sky is dark. So the dogs are barking so that the moon returns, they're feeling lost without it and they don't know if it will come back, and if so, when will it come back.

So they're just waiting for the moon to reappear so that they can die? That's so depressing... If that's true then it means that the dogs have given up and they're calling the moon back so they can finally die. Dark, dark stuff.

That's as far as I can get. If anybody could explain to me the "so that they could die" stuff I'd appreciate it

[jax1511]

^ you know, I've been thinking and thinking, but I really can't come up with anything for the "so that they could die" line. I really don't understand it.

[Maca (Mod)]

Yeah, I think that's one of the hardest lines ever I think. It would be cool if there was an interview or something with Nelly and Chris Martin talking about the song.

The "featuring Chris Martin" version of AGT is pretty cool. The album version is much better, but it features them talking in the studio before and after the song, it's very interesting, a behind-the-scenes kind of thing.

[jax1511]

If only we brought this question up MONTHS ago. That would've been the perfect thing to ask her when I met her at the Virgin Megastore signing. Granted, she wouldn't have had nearly enough time to answer it.. but still. haha! I think whomever gets to meet Nelly needs to be prepared to ask this question.

[Maca (Mod)]

You met her?? Oh man... Green with envy now.

OK, well, next person to see her just tackle her, sit on her back and don't let her go until she answers, deal?

[taylor]

i think i have read/heard her talk about the lyrics to this song before, because they are so hard to understand lol, and even she said she doesnt know herself the full meaning of AGT...

i kind of always thought that "The dogs were barking at the new moon, whistling a new tune, hoping it would come soon" represented hope and possibility for growth like Maca said before... after all is said and done, it is time to move on. i view it more in a positive way. then the line "so that they could die" comes, haha... this may seem kind of out there but i thought it could be like some kind of reincarnation/rebirth thing. i just chose to see the song in not really a happy way, but not absolutely depressing either, basically all good things come to an end, but there is still hope and you can grow and continue on in life even if it seems hard or scary.