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Talking like a jerk
Except you are an actual jerk
And living proof that sometimes friends are mean LCD Soundsystem – Dance Yrself Clean

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Again, two meanings:

Murphy is bashing the content/meaning of most of the music we see on the top 100. Songs about sex, money and drugs–artists make themselves seem like jerks (they may actually be jerks).
People act a certain way in order to fit in but eventually the acting becomes a real persona. These friends may act differently under different circumstances and it eventually reveals what that friend is really like…

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11 months

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3 years

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5 years

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473

5 years

The people who launch themselves at Murphy might often start the conversation with some iteration of “Hey I don’t mean to be rude but oh my god I love your music, how are you, spend this moment with me because I’m entitled to it.” And Murphy is saying, “Yeah, you are rude.” These people treat Murphy like he’s a friend, and Murphy is throwing that back in their faces, saying that they’re mean and they’re not self-aware enough to recognize that.

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5 years

This line could be about Tim Goldsworthy, because he left NYC for the UK around the time This Is Happening was being recorded –

Tim Goldsworthy parts with DFA? — Resident Advisor

The British producer has returned to the UK after eight years of work at one of the '00s most influential labels. British producer Tim Goldsworthy has reportedly left DFA Records and returned to the United Kingdom. Goldsworthy ran DFA with James Murphy and Jonathan Galkin since 2002, and was especially involved in producing early records by The Rapture and The Juan MacLean.

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6 years

This song isn’t about the music industry.

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6 years

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7 years

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8 years

There’s nothing wrong with singing about sex, money or drugs. These are facts of life. James has written about all three. I doubt that was his intention. This song seems pretty personal, not like some sort of wide social commentary.

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Holocene Bon Iver – Holocene

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Regarding “Holocene”, Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon told NPR:

Holocene is a bar in Portland, Ore., but it’s also the name of a geologic era, an epoch if you will. It’s a good example of how all the songs are all meant to come together as this idea that places are times and people are places and times are… people? [Laughs.] They can all be different and the same at the same time. Most of our lives feel like these epochs. That’s kind of what that song’s about. “Once I knew I was not magnificent.” Our lives feel like these epochs, but really we are dust in the wind. But I think there’s a significance in that insignificance that I was trying to look at in that song.

Nerdwriter created a video titled “Holocene: How Bon Iver Creates A Mood” in which he analyzes the nuances of how Justin Vernon (producer) layers instrumentation to create tension, as well as exploring other themes and techniques that resonate throughout the song.

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Regarding "Holocene", Bon Iver's Justin Vernon [told NPR](https://www.npr.org/sections/allsongs/2011/06/23/137328981/bon-ivers-justin-vernon-talks-about-his-bands-new-album):

> Holocene is a bar in Portland, Ore., but it's also the name of a geologic era, an epoch if you will. It's a good example of how all the songs are all meant to come together as this idea that places are times and people are places and times are... people? [Laughs.] They can all be different and the same at the same time. Most of our lives feel like these epochs. That's kind of what that song's about. "Once I knew I was not magnificent." Our lives feel like these epochs, but really we are dust in the wind. But I think there's a significance in that insignificance that I was trying to look at in that song.

http://images.rapgenius.com/4bb67df6d12a4753b4a6d0536d41d189.608x608x1.jpg

Nerdwriter created a video titled "*Holocene: How Bon Iver Creates A Mood*" in which he analyzes the nuances of how Justin Vernon (producer) layers instrumentation to create tension, as well as exploring other themes and techniques that resonate throughout the song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lncVHzsc_QA

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3 years

I think its also important to note that holocene is the interglacial epoch we are currently in. An interglacial period is a period between two ice ages. Maybe mr. Vernon felt like an ice age had just passed but felt like one was also coming again.

I don’t really know, pure speculation….

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Sawbuck (New Smoker's Anthem) Kembe X – Sawbuck (New Smoker's Anthem)

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Backed by a woozy and soothing soul sample, budding Chi-Town MC Kembe X candidly verbalizes a tale of young lust, strife between teenagers and their parents, and how we self-medicate to cope with our problems.

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Throw your soul through every open door (Ooh woah, oh) Adele – Rolling in the Deep

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Continuing with the theme of spilling her secrets, she encourages him to tell everyone their past together but warns him that he would essentially be selling his soul.

Another interpretation: She is assuming that he will start to sleep with other women, to get back at her, but she knows that the benefits from that would never match the benefits of their relationship.

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Punctured bicycle on a hillside desolate
Will nature make a man of me yet? The Smiths – This Charming Man

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The narrator is out on a bicycle ride in the country, and one of his tires gets punctured. Not being prepared for this, he dramatically (and facetiously) ponders his fate—“will Nature make a man of me yet?” is like him exclaiming, “will I make it out of here in this wilderness!?”.

The accident becomes the setup for the subsequent events of the narrative, prompting his chance encounter with the “charming man”. The phrase "Will Nature make a man of me yet?” perhaps also alludes to the narrator’s conflicts surrounding his sexuality, in that same-sex attraction is sometimes referred to as “unnatural”, and homosexual/bisexual men are often viewed as dandies or “not real men”. So when Morrissey asks “Will nature make a man of me yet?” he is really imploring Nature to turn him straight. This, of course, is ironic, given the nature of the encounter with the “charming man” in question.

More figuratively, Morrissey feels like the punctured bicycle. Deflated, broken, lonely. When he asks if nature will make a man of him, he’s asking whether society will force him to grow up, for good or for bad. Morrissey is still not considered a “man” by societal convention – he is a virgin. This is foreshadowing for the subject of sexuality in the rest of the song.

In 2013’s Autobiography, Morrissey relates appearing as an extra on television’s Coronation Street as a young boy in 1973 Manchester. Just before hitting the set for his brief, non-speaking role, his “shagpile moptop is shorn to the bone without my consultation.” When filming begins, he is “ordered to cycle through a conventional industrial scene of the frozen north” – a setting which he then summarizes as, “a punctured bicycle on a hillside desolate.”

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The narrator is out on a bicycle ride in the country, and one of his tires gets punctured. Not being prepared for this, he dramatically (and facetiously) ponders his fate---"will Nature make a man of me yet?" is like him exclaiming, "will I make it out of here in this wilderness!?".

The accident becomes the setup for the subsequent events of the narrative, prompting his chance encounter with the "charming man”. The phrase "Will Nature make a man of me yet?" perhaps also alludes to the narrator's conflicts surrounding his sexuality, in that same-sex attraction  is sometimes referred to as "unnatural", and homosexual/bisexual men are often viewed as dandies or "not real men".  So when Morrissey asks "Will nature make a man of me yet?" he is really imploring Nature to turn him straight. This, of course, is ironic, given the nature of the encounter with the "charming man" in question.

More figuratively, Morrissey feels like the punctured bicycle. Deflated, broken, lonely. When he asks if nature will make a man of him, he's asking whether society will force him to grow up, for good or for bad. Morrissey is still not considered a "man" by societal convention - he is a virgin. This is foreshadowing for the subject of sexuality in the rest of the song.

In 2013's *Autobiography*, Morrissey relates appearing as an extra on television's *Coronation Street* as a young boy in 1973 Manchester. Just before hitting the set for his brief, non-speaking role, his "shagpile moptop is shorn to the bone without my consultation." When filming begins, he is "ordered to cycle through a conventional industrial scene of the frozen north" -- a setting which he then summarizes as, "a punctured bicycle on a hillside desolate."

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10 months

“Will nature make a man of me yet?” could also mean for the narrator, that he is convinced about his sexuality, but society is making him doubt about it for being a virgin or not having any relationship with a woman yet.

The way the song starts, could imply that the narrator was running (well, biking) away from his family or friends for such reason, and then, in this state of confusion, meeting this “charming man” that tries to convince the narrator to be with him

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107

2 years

here we see, as is typical, actual Smiths lyrics are indistinguishable from fabricated Smiths lyrics; they are the band impossible to make fun of as there’s nowhere to go with it

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193

3 years

In the barren outdoors, with a fucked bike, Moz gets approached by an older homosexual who offers him a lift. “Why pamper life’s complexities when the leather runs smooth on the passenger seat?” is the older man enticing a virginal Moz into his vehicle for a sexual liaison, urging him to forget about the hassles incurred by the bike puncture and have a comfortable seat in the car…and more.

The way the man speaks implies wealth and erudition, not being a rendition of colloquial Manchester dialect. Moz saying “Will nature make a man of me yet” is an ironic precursor of him getting approached and seduced and fucked by the older man in the car – he literally has a man made of him just after musing on when it is going to happen. As Moz said in an interview he lost his virginity outdoors at 13(!) and his sex life was “all downhill after that,” you can draw your own conclusions about this part of the song at least. To me, that is. Might well be wrong. Hardly matters. Shrug.

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38,547

3 years

That is some absolutely perfect lyrical minimalism in that first line.

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419

4 years

The line about nature making a man out of Morrissey represents his passiveness, which is later expanded upon via the metaphor of the passenger seat. He feels out of control in his life, and is waiting for nature to take charge and change him rather than acting on his own.

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Remember when you were young
You shone like the Sun Pink Floyd – Shine On You Crazy Diamond, Pts. 1-5

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This verse is spoken rhetorically to Syd Barrett. Before he was lost to LSD, he truly did shine like the sun. He wrote most of Pink Floyd’s landmark debut album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn and appeared on their second album, A Saucerful of Secrets.

Notice the use of astronomical terms: He’s “shining like the sun,” his eyes are “like black holes in the sky.”

There’s also a contrast with later lyrics. He shines like the sun (he’s the sun) while he cries for the moon. He wants what he isn’t, implying a loss of identity. (Many believe Syd Barrett suffered from multiple personality disorder.)

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1 year

The narrative around Barrett is more in dispute than most stories let on. Even the other band members agree that Barrett never wanted to be a rock star as badly as Gilmour and Waters. He was definitely mentally ill, but its debatable whether he was an acid casualty, or was just reclusive and shied away from fame.

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555

2 years

Syd going on quaaludes screwed him up more than acid did. He probably did some STP and that would’ve done it too. LSD is so tolerance building, I’m sure he liked the idea of a 3 day trip.

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Kabe L.

3 years

Syd actually suffered from schizophrenia and- according to Waters- using acid.

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6 years

Pretty much floats through the stuff. See being a star.

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Jeremy D.

7 years

In regards to the previously proposed edit, it is debated whether Syd Barrett’s problems were just LSD or if there was an existing mental illness that emerged because of it. At any rate, I feel that mental illness should be left in.

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Baby, I have no story to be told
But I've heard one on you, now I'm gonna make your head burn Adele – Rolling in the Deep

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Adele knows a few bad things about her ex-lover, and now she’s going to throw them back in his face (as well as tell the 22 million people who bought the 21 LP.)

In fact, her album was so successful that she still refuses to say her ex’s name.

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You don't have to say
What you did
I already know
I found out from him Justin Timberlake – Cry Me A River

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The “other guy” is Wade J. Robson, a long time friend and collaborator of both Justin and Britney. Wade probably told JT before Britney because they were “good friends”.

The lyric was later interpolated in 2018 by Halsey on her song “Without Me”:

You don’t have to say just what you did (What you did)
I already know (I know)
I had to go and find out from them (Oh-woah)

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And I tread a troubled track
My odds are stacked, Amy Winehouse – Back to Black

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She has a lot of demons she has to overcome and deal with. Since most of Amy’s music, or at least the music she writes, is autobiographical, we can assume this means her insecurities which leads to her eating disorder, her drinking, and her drug use.

In “I tread my troubled track” she uses alliteration by repeating the sounds ‘tr…’ as a sonic representation of her path of recurring steps that lead her back to him.

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3 years

Regarding suggested improvements – track doesn’t refer to heroin-usage. Amy did not do hard drugs (especially not heroin) until after she married Blake in summer 2007. She wrote this song in Spring 2006. It’s important not to retroactively assign heroin abuse to her songs. She says it herself in this song – she likes puff (weed), nothing harder than that.

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247

6 years

Her odds are stacked, an expression meaning the future looks bleak for her. This pessimism further shows her depression and foreshadows an unfortunate future ahead of her.

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You went back to what you knew
So far removed from all that we went through Amy Winehouse – Back to Black

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As in the first line, he went back to his life before Amy, either in his lifestyle or his old girlfriend. He seems to have acclimatized very easily to it, having forgotten everything he and Amy had been through, which after a fresh breakup, is a very devastating prospect; when you’re not really over the guy, and he’s over you, or makes it seem like you never even existed.

Being “far removed” could also be a reference to the effect drugs have on his system and his relationships, given that there are a lot of drug references throughout the song.

In the first three lines, Amy referred to her lover as “he;” however, now she addresses him directly as “you,” taking on an accusational tone.

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