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.

    

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.

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.

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!

Rainbow Fans Are Rising

You guys may have figured out that I'm a bit of a Tumblr nut and a massive Rainbow fan. Well, my Rainbow love inspired a new Tumblr blog which I'm trying to use to help the band gain some recognition. There isn't enough about them on the web so the blog is here to just bring more Rainbow into your lives and to help introduce some new people to their music, which is so underrated. The blog URL is http://rainbowfansrising.tumblr.com. Even if you don't use Tumblr I recommend you go check it out because it's got lots of cool stuff on it.
It's also an interactive blog, at least that's what I'm calling it because I want people who visit the blog to help it roll. We ask a lot of questions, we give surveys and links to surveys, we answer all Rainbow related questions and we love submissions. Most of all, the blog has multiple authors. We're looking for as many people as we can to sign up as authors and to help make posts, to make this blog as big and versatile as possible. So if this sounds like it might interest you, get on Tumblr and contact me,cause I'd be honored to sign you up! Or if you want more info more directly feel free to kik ilovesnakesabo.

The possible true meaning of Led Zeppelin's Carouselambra

     For legal reasons I have to say the possible true meaning, as I have no certified proof that this is the actual meaning of the song. I am absolutely dead sure, however, that I have finally came across the song's meaning.

     It just hit me one night when I was listening to the In Through The Out Door album. Prior to recording the album, Robert Plant's five year old son Karac died from a mystery virus, and many of the songs on the album deal with the way Robert was feeling during the aftermath of the tragedy, and all the things that happened because of it, including a change in the way Robert felt towards those close to him. In The Evening was about the stress of being a musician, and it also served as a reminder that self pity is never the answer. I'm Gonna Crawl and All My Love were both Robert's tributes to Karac. (Another song Robert wrote for him was called I Believe, and it can be found on his solo album Fate of Nations, possibly his best post-Zeppelin album.)

     Caroselambra seems to be the enigma of Led Zeppelin's career. At ten and a half minutes long, it is their second longest song (In My Time Of Dying being their longest) and musically, John Paul Jones dominates with a danceable bass line and a childlike, catchy synthethizer riff. The song is anything but lighthearted though. Carouselambra tells the story of Led Zeppelin's demise: first, it talks about the glory days. Led Zeppelin were the kings of the world, with everything working in their favor, loving all and loved by all.

"In times of brightness no intruder dared come on
To jeopardize the course, upset the run,
And all was joy and hands were raised toward the Sun 
And love in the halls of plenty overrun."

     But then, just out of the blue, in a second, everything changed for the band forever. Robert received the news of his son's death, and his whole life was turned upside down. Grief stricken, he returned home, to spend the next couple of years out of the limelight, with his wife and daughter.

"How keen the storied hunter's eye prevails upon the land 
To seek the unsuspecting and the weak; 
And powerless the fabled sat, too smug to lift a hand 
Toward the foe that threatened from the deep. 
Who cares to dry the cheeks of those who saddened stand 
Adrift upon a sea of futile speech? 
And to fall to fate and make the 'status plan' 
Where was your word, where did you go? 
Where was your helping, where was your bow? Bow. 
Dull is the armor, cold is the day. 
Hard was the journey, dark was the way. Way. 
I heard the word; I couldn't stay."

     This serves as the set up for the main theme of the song, which was Robert's shaky relationship with Jimmy Page and Peter Grant at the time. When Karac died, the band had been taking a brief break from touring in the States. Richard Cole, their road manager, John Bonham, and Robert had went to New Orleans, where they received the news. They both went back to England with Robert, and were there to support him the whole time. They showed up to Karac's funeral, which is more that can be said for John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page and Peter Grant, who all stayed behind in the States. I cannot offer any excuses for their actions. They truly let Robert down when he needed them the most, which only added to his devastation. I don't know how much heroin Jimmy must have been doing to make him not think that he would hurt Robert even more.

Robert's feelings are shown most plainly and simply in the one line:

"Where was your word, where did you go?"

I cannot imagine the kind of pain all this put Robert through. I know his relationship with those three band members has improved since then, but you can never really forget it when your closest friends do something like that you to you. I know I wouldn't.

From all this, I suppose there are some lessons to be learnt about friendship (and about good songwriting) and you really got to hand it to them- they turned a tragedy into a masterpiece. They just don't make bands like that anymore.

Why Hair Metal is Better than Thrash Metal

Don't get me wrong, not all hair metal is good music and not all thrash is bad music. I'm a fan of both genres, thrash metal is still newer to me but I love it. And what this article means to say is not really to express a personal opinion stating that hair metal is better than thrash metal, because I do not feel that way, I just wanted to supply some counter-arguments to the belief that hair metal sucks and that thrash should be acclaimed. Cause I hear that too much, hair metal gets too much unnecessary hate, and some thrash metal gets inexplicably high amounts of love in comparison, so I wanted to offer some points that would even out the score a little bit.

     First of all, hair metal songs are much more song oriented and individual songs do a better job of maintaining song individuality and recognizability. For example, if you hear a hair metal song on the radio, most likely the name of the song and band will come to mind instantly if it is a song you are even somewhat familiar with. Thrash metal songs individually are much less distinctive. Listening to a thrash metal album, you may not even be aware when a song ends and when a new one beings. You hear a thrash song on the radio and you may be able to identify the genre or maybe the band if their musicianship is distinctive enough, but the songs don't have a particular sense of individual identity. With the low growling vocals and long guitar solos and lack of any catchy choruses or vocal melodies, it can be hard for any people, music experts to amateurs, to tell the difference. 

     Hair metal generally is also a lot more positive. It tends to focus on the happy, good things in life, it says that life is a nice big fun party and you should go enjoy it to it's maximum. Maybe it preaches some irresponsibility as we'll, but overall it is a kind of music which celebrates the fun and joy of life. It brings out better moods and more optimistic feelings than thrash metal does. Let's face it- thrash metal is not something you would play at a wedding or at a good natured party. Its main themes include death, violence, and pure negativity. That definitely has it's time and place, as anything does, but good feelings are generally a lot healthier than bad ones and that is a major difference between the two bands.

     And now let's get superficial. Visually, hair metal was maybe the greatest genre of music that ever lived. Taking influences from Shock Rock and the early 70s glam rock, hair metal produced a look that was fun, colorful, and exciting. I'm not the only person out there who could watch hair metal videos all day long and not get tired! The musicians were mostly pretty gorgeous and I love the hair- admit it, you do too. The image of these long haired and happy looking musicians making videos that make you laugh and entertain you and being out such positive vibes, the idea of these lucky Californian boys living the dream life, it really is great. It's a great music scene visually, the visual aspect is probably greater than the music, and let's face it, the image does take a large role in a band's success and fan appeal. The whole image of thrash metal was much darker and less inviting. Hair metal said "Come party with us, we'll have a great time," while thrash metal said "Get out of here, we don't care about you." Which reception do you prefer?

      I shall remind you again that in this argument I am neutral and take no side, I love thrash and hair metal, but hearing so much about how hair metal bands are garbage and so much praise for thrash is starting to bug me and I wanted to make sure some good counter arguments on the topic were made. But both genres were great and should be loved. And really, I still don't understand how music as positive as hair metal can be so hated, and as negative as thrash can be so loved. So ironic...