Sup y'all,its been a while but I'm back and badder than ever,so here it is straight from Ears to the Speakers headquarters listen now.We all listen to music some listen to pop others rock,indie metal,hell i know a guy that actually likes Opera music?WTF I hear you gasp,I know but lets not go on about him the point I am trying to make is we all listen to music but do we really ever hear the true meaning of the song?I mean I listen to some music that people would consider to be,and I quote,shit.I can accept it might not be to everyone's taste but please listen to the lyrics hear the words fuck look at the emotion the guy puts in during the performance.The "guy" I just mentioned is the alternative rock god Eddy Vedder,for those of you still hung up on Nirvana listen closely because Nirvana where over-hyped and really rather shit compared to the excellent Pearl Jam(Vedder's band).From there debut album "ten" released back in 1991(not really catching on till 1992)right through to there latest album "Backspacer"(due later this year)Pearl Jam have kept consistent with there lyrics about homelessness,depression and abuse.An example I hear you say OK take "Jeremy,the third single released from "Ten".Inspired by a newspaper article read by a young Vedder about a young boy who killed himself in front of his classmates,the video gained notoriety for graphic scenes,lyrics include the line: "Daddy didn't give attention oh to the fact that mommy didn't care King Jeremy the wicked oh ruled the whole world."
It is pretty deep but to merely hear the song is not enough you need to see Pearl Jam unplugged "Jeremy",Eddy shakes on stage and he puts his heart into the performance its really heartfelt too.
Another band who seem to put a lot of there own personal experiences in there lyrics and yet do not receive the proper recognition they deserve are a Glasgow band named "Glasvegas".The singer James Allen,spills his guts when he sings on songs like Daddy's gone(singing about how his father walked out on him and his mother when he was a child the lyrics go:
"All I wanted was a-kick a-bout in the park for you to race me home when it was nearly getting dark I could have been yours and you been mine it could have been me and you until the end of time do what you want,when you want be as fuckin' insincere as you can what kind of way is that to treat your wife to see your son on Saturdays what kind of way is that to live your life?"
Another song by Glasvegas is "Stabbed",which is really a poem simply read over Beethoven's "Moonlight" Sonata.The poem is written about gang and knife culture in Glasgow.
Now the meaning of those songs are rather obvious and that is fair enough but what about the songs that you really need to think about the songs that make you go wtf?We have all heard and listened to a song and at the end of it thought what the hell was he singing about and yet it could be a really serious song,take Sum 41 for example there first album was full of cheesy skater songs all not really taking anything to seriously but the follow up does this look infected had alot of serious underlinings,one of the songs from the album "The Hell Song" is one of those.To hear it you would think just a song about some guy who has a few problems to see the video you would think its a joke but the song is actually wrote about a friend of the band who had contracted HIV,yet to hear the song or see the video you would never know this lyrics go:
"Everybody's got their problems (problems).Everybody says the same thing to you.It's just a matter of how you solve them (solve them),And knowing how to change the things you've been through.I feel I've come to realize How fast life can be compromised.Step back to see what's going on.I can't believe this happened to you...This happened to you..."
Personally I don't actually know if the story is true,but I heard it from a very reliable source.Another rather obscure song is Flowers and Football tops by the aforementioned Glasvegas.The song was wrote about a young boy who was kidnapped and killed in Glasgow(rumoured to be about a teenager called Kris Donald who was killed by a group of Asians,but when this question was put to the singer he said it is about the situation in general because he didn't want to disrespect the teenagers memory).The title comes from the tradition of placing Flowers and Football tops at the scene of the incident,originally started in Glasgow it has since spread to other parts of the country.At the end of the song James sings you are my sunshine.
