Monday 24 February 2014

Don't Look Back In Anger by Oasis - Song Interpretation

     First of all, I must start by explaining that this is only a personal interpretation of the meaning of the song's lyrics. Noel Gallagher, who wrote the song himself, stated it was not about anything. He wrote it while under the influence and the character "Sally" is not a real person, and that the line "So Sally can wait" was conceived when Noel was just goofing around and his brother Liam thought he was singing those words. They thought it sounded good and so they turned it into a song. For the full story, I refer you to Wikipedia.

     I guess the song isn't deep then, or wasn't intended to be, but nevertheless it is an amazing piece of poetry from which much meaning can be derived.

     So my personal interpretation of the song. The true meaning of the song is to say that everybody goes through bad breakups and that the best thing to do us just to move on, continue with your life while learning from your mistakes and just letting the bad times go. The specific story in Don't Look Back In Anger is about a breakup between the singer and his ex girlfriend Sally. In the song, the character Sally is anger and bitter. She wants to get back together with the singer, or she wants to make him burn to make up for what he did to her. The singer's attitude is relaxed. He feels like it's mostly the fault of the rock and roll lifestyle he leads, and wants to just forget the whole thing and move on. The two had obviously been a close couple until things went bad between them, and the singer- we'll call him our male protagonist- called it off. His tone is forgiving though- he doesn't really care anymore about what happened between himself and Sally, he's done and moved on, and the purpose of the song is that he is telling her to do the same thing. 

     The song opens with what is to me a clear drug reference:


Slip inside the eye of your mind

Don't you know you might find

A better place to play


     Most likely a reference to hallucinogens, this line is the singer telling Sally to go to a different part of her mind, and to think about things a different way, using drugs if she needs to. The next line


You said that you'd never been 

All the things that you've seen 

Will slowly fade away


     Is Sally stating that she has never done drugs before- we're probably talking about acid tripping here. Then the singer encourages her some more, telling her that all the bad things that have happened between the two of them will fade from her mind and she will be able to not think about it for a little while, which would benefit her.

     

Gonna start a revolution from my bed

Cause you said the brains I had went to my head


     This line here is a John Lennon reference. Lennon actually said almost these exact words himself once in an interview, and Gallagher tossed the lines in as an homage to his hero. The words almost certainly refer to Lennon's bed-ins in the late 60s. Beatles influences and references can be commonly heard in several Oasis songs, and the opening piano chords in this song are strongly reminiscent of "Imagine."


Step outside the summertime's in bloom


     In this line our singer tells Sally that everything is okay, and that she just needs to open her eyes and see that everything really is alright.


Stand up beside the fireplace

Take that look from off your face

You ain't never gonna burn my heart out


     Here he tells Sally to stop wasting her time. She is putting to much effort into trying to hurt him and to get back at him. He thinks she is taking the situation too seriously, and he's telling her to stop, because he's never going to feel bad about what happened.

     

     The second verse begins with what might be another drug reference-


Take me to the place where you go

Where nobody knows

If it's night or day


     He may again be implying that they should use drugs to alter their mental state so they can either cool down and look at their situation a different way, or just to relax and forget about their lives for a while. 


Don't put your life in the hands

Of a rock and roll band

Who will throw it all away


     This is the saddest and most humane part of the song. Here the singer accepts much responsibility for what happened between him and Sally. He admits that his profession caused him to do things in their relationship he may not have done otherwise- maybe seeing other girls while touring, or spending much time away from the house, or partying excessively, all common habits of rock and roll bands which greatly hurt the ones- particularly the women- they love. He tells her here that a relationship with a musician like this will only do her harm, and he begs her next time to choose a more stable partner, not to put all her heart into a musician who won't treat her as well as she deserves.


     Then the chorus:


And so Sally can wait

She knows it's too late as she's walking on by

Her soul slips away

But don't look back in anger I heard you say


     Here he says that Sally knows in her heart that things have gone bad between them and that they are never going to be together again. As they pass each other in silence, with no feelings from him for her anymore, her spirits fade because she realizes there is no hope left. He simply tells her that she should not look back in anger at what happened between them- the "you" would be the conscience of the main character- and to move on.


    At the end of the song, the chorus ends with;


But don't look back in anger

At least not today


     What is meant by this line in the song is that maybe one day the time will be right to look back on the situation and feel angry about it, but that time is not now, and until then, she should forget it and be happy with life. It isn't a situation to be worried about now. Maybe in the future, things will be bad and you can think about this angrily, but right now, all is well. Right now, Sally, don't worry about it. Put it behind you and move on, and please don't look back in anger.


    

Wednesday 12 February 2014

Metalhead prejudice still an issue

     I don't mean to sound like yet another teenage metal fan who is convinced the world disrespects them because they are young, listen to heavy metal and wear a lot of black, by saying that adults in the world do not understand us and think we're a problem when we're really not, but well, it's true- the world does have a terribly unfair paradigm of metalheads as being bad news, and I'm really sick of it.
     I fall victim to this kind of prejudice every day. When I go out with my parents, they tell me to look respectable and to act well behaved and like a good girl. Especially when meeting people for the first time, they always yell at me to take my makeup off before we leave the house. The makeup in question here is not even heavy black eye makeup, but fun and goofy stuff like say, silver or gold eyeliner. Harmless. Yet even my own parents think that the way I appear on the outside and come across superficially is more important than my right to express myself and my individuality by the way I dress.
     Sorry for the rant here, but after all, this blog is called Rock and Roll Ramblings, and was named that for a reason! And this is hardly a personal rant either because I know a lot of people go through the same thing. I am far from being alone. 
     Beyond my parents, the teachers hate it too. As can be expected from people who have such little life experience and brain power as teachers, they're practically afraid of anything that moves, and the idea of an independently thinking individual human being in the public school system is enough to positively drive them up the wall. One of my teachers laughs outright at my outfits when she passes me in the halls, she marks my papers with an air of contempt, and tries to cut me down whenever she can- all her efforts are wasted because she never got to my head, and all her behaviour is made even more senseless because I am the top student in her class, and my grade is so much higher than everybody else's that I'm keeping the whole class average way up. She raises her eyebrows at the Mötley Crüe shirts and holds it against me, even though I am not a troublemaker, and I never started the problems in her classroom. She just always looks at me first when things go wrong.
     So why is everybody so fast to point their fingers at the kid who listens to metal when things go wrong? Do kids who listen to metal and dress and act the part actually burn down buildings, or worship Satan? Do people honestly still believe that musicians sell their souls for talent and that rock and roll is the devil's music? Can you give me some good examples of times when heavy metal music pursuaded people to do horrible, nasty things? This and so many other questions unanswered are the reason why I'm not asleep right now even though I really ought to be.
     I'm not a bad person. I'm a very, very good person. People who look past my exterior and my lifestyle and who know ME, not my taste in pop culture, well, know that I'm a loyal, happy person who will do anything for a friend and whom has helped out many people in need in her seventeen short years on the planet. People who are able to ignore my love for heavy metal love me. Everybody who actually knows me loves me. But too many people won't have anything to so with me because they find the idea of somebody who listens to metal too intimidating, and they think I'm dangerous. All those people who don't get to know people for being metalheads are truly depriving themselves of wonderful experiences and friendships, because I know what I'm talking about when I say that metalheads are among the best people you'll ever meet in your life, and if you don't believe me, it's your problem, your loss, and not ours.

Sunday 9 February 2014

Reviewed: "Low" by David Bowie (1977)

     As can be said about all Bowie albums preceding this one, Low is a very unique album and is unlike all albums released before by the Thin White Duke. Largely instrumental and with tones varying from cheerful and optimistic, to dark and brooding, and sometimes sinister and mysterious, there is not a hit single to be found on the whole record. With the possible exception of Be My Wife, the songs are as non commercial and single unfriendly as can be. It is truly an album which must be listened to as a whole, instead of broken down into its components- it is great proof that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The overall effect of the whole album is spacey and distant, like the soundtrack to a science fiction movie, a space rock opera. There is not a single catchy chorus or guitar riff to be heard, the whole thing is heavily synthesizer driven, featuring songs containing no structure. It is not a collection of songs the way his earlier albums are, the whole thing melts into one epic piece. I wouldn't recommend it to diehard fans of Bowie's glam era because they would be disappointed- this work is from a different artist altogether than the man who made Aladin Sane. It stands out to me in my mind as one of the most unusual and interesting albums ever released, and a true classic in its own sense, even if Ziggy Stardust 'tis not.


Saturday 8 February 2014

Hair metal blog on the rise as well!

Due to my success of my latest project, the Rainbow fan blog on Tumblr (check that out at http://rainbowfansrising.tumblr.com) I've launched a second blog, similar in plot, only this one is all about hair metal! My goal on this one was to help share fun posts about the popular hair metal bands we all know and love, like Guns n' Roses, Poison, Skid Row and Motley Crue, and also to talk about some of the lesser known and more obscure bands as well, to help them gain some recognition and to help more people find out about their music. Also like the Rainbow blog, this blog can have multiple authors and administrators, so anybody who wants to become involved and help make posts themselves is more than welcome to! Just inbox me on the hair metal blog on Tumblr or in my main account http://zeppelin-is-the-answer.tumblr.com. It's an interactive blog too so we hope to involve all its followers by asking questions, creating polls, and welcoming submissions. Hope to see you all there! It's well on it's way to being amazing!


To help set the mood, here's two of the most blond and most beautiful hair metal stars, the awesome Jani Lane and th fabulous Bret Michaels!