I love the Neil Young track "For the Turnstiles." It's a great performance of a great song. I walk around the house singing it, annoying my wife and frightening my children. But I've got to come to grips with the fact that I can't quite decipher whatever the literal meaning of the lyrics might be. Can you help me? [more inside]
posted by e.e. coli on Dec 19, 2009 - 11 answers

What songs have sampled the philosopher Alan Watts? [more inside]
posted by benzenedream on Dec 14, 2009 - 4 answers

The song Gimme Sympathy by Metric has a line: "After all of this is gone, who'd you rather be; the Beatles or the Rolling Stones." What would you interpret that to mean? [more inside]
posted by Lorc on Dec 5, 2009 - 26 answers

Argh! Please help me figure out this song fragment stuck in my head based on a clue or two. [more inside]
posted by Solon and Thanks on Nov 24, 2009 - 7 answers

What songs are about St. Louis? Is there a list somewhere? [more inside]
posted by AgentRocket on Sep 18, 2009 - 18 answers

What is the earliest known use of "baby" to address or refer to a lover in American song lyrics? [more inside]
posted by Joe Beese on Sep 4, 2009 - 10 answers

What's the name of this possibly 1970s adult contemporary FM radio hit? [more inside]
posted by judomadonna on Jul 18, 2009 - 5 answers

60s song filter: We are trying to find the song from the 60s (?) that is about a car/motorcycle crash. The song has singing and a narrative part if memory serves. At one point the girl screams: "Lookout! Lookout! Lookout! Lookout!"
posted by Drasher on Jul 12, 2009 - 16 answers

Country Song-ID help: very little to go on. A friend was in a bar in Nashville last weekend, and wants to ID a song she heard (DJ, not live music). The only lyric she remembers is "stay off my hit list". Not much to go on, I know. I assume it's a recent song, but can't guarantee that. Googling hasn't helped. Thanks for any help you can give! Hmm..posting at 7:30 on July 3rd might not be the best idea. Oh well.
posted by inigo2 on Jul 3, 2009 - 2 answers

What are those Bulgarian women singing about? I love listening to Bulgarian women's choir music, such as this piece here. However, I haven't been able to find lyrics or even descriptions of what they're singing about (in general, not just this particular song). Anyone have a clue?
posted by zachawry on Jun 30, 2009 - 4 answers

I'm trying to find a song I heard a couple of years ago on public radio. All I remember is that it was maybe folk/bluegrass, and it was a guy singing about the red-headed woman that he loved, but in the end he revealed that she was a red-head from all the blood pouring over her blond hair. [more inside]
posted by ictow on Jun 29, 2009 - 8 answers

Just a fun one (though I am serious in asking it): What one question would you ask Elvis Costello? I'll see him at a thing on Monday, want to ask a great question. I like him a lot, have some ideers, but surely the Hive Mind can come up with at least one question that's Beyond Belief.
posted by ambient2 on Jun 21, 2009 - 42 answers

My wife has become infatuated with a learned pig from long ago, and now wants to play a historical song from 1785 honoring it on the piano, but we have only a fragment of the full song. Where might I find the full score? [more inside]
posted by benzenedream on Jun 12, 2009 - 12 answers

Ethiopia/Amharic Filter: I created a vacation video of my trip to Ethiopia and used the song, Mekeyershin Salawq by the famous Ethiopian singer Alemayehu Eshete. What is the song about? (Link to song inside) [more inside]
posted by cptspalding on May 25, 2009 - 1 answer

What are the lyrics to the vocoder chorus in Cut Copy's Feel the love? [more inside]
posted by yourcelf on May 17, 2009 - 3 answers

OldSongFilter: Help me find a song from my childhood! [more inside]
posted by Spyder's Game on Apr 23, 2009 - 9 answers

Name-That-Tune Filter: uptempo pop/rock, female vocalist, and the hook contains the lyric "I just wanna know, where did she go?" Or something like it… [more inside]
posted by Metroid Baby on Apr 8, 2009 - 7 answers

Name-this-song-filter: Soft, acoustic, Augustana-esque song with vague descriptions of lyrics. [more inside]
posted by Phire on Mar 30, 2009 - 3 answers

In "Thunder Road", the lyric "Roy Orbison singing for the lonely, hey that's me and I want you only, don't turn me home again, I just can't face myself alone again" can be interpreted differently depending on where you break the line, before or after the word "only". Is there a name for this particular poetic device? Do you know of other examples? [more inside]
posted by griffey on Mar 7, 2009 - 8 answers

What is the name of this song we used to sing in music class? [more inside]
posted by aquariangirl06 on Mar 3, 2009 - 4 answers

I'm looking for a specific country music song that I don't know where I heard. [more inside]
posted by flyingcowofdoom on Feb 6, 2009 - 3 answers

[Name-that-tune-Filter] Looking for the name and/or general translation of a Danish song my mother learned from friends as a child. [more inside]
posted by blueberry on Feb 6, 2009 - 5 answers

What modern song lyrics contain the best -- the cleverest, filthiest, most sustained -- sexual innuendo? [more inside]
posted by Clyde Mnestra on Feb 5, 2009 - 90 answers

I'm trying to track down a song I remember hearing on the local college station about 10 years ago (WDBM in East Lansing, MI). I think some of the lyrics were along the lines of "Consider / all the carrots you've been fed / and now they're your ______ ______ / And consider"....etc. I'm 95% sure it was a guy singing, and I think the song had something to do with being led through life by "carrots" of dubious merit. Google hasn't yielded the answer - thanks!
posted by splendid animal on Feb 3, 2009 - 16 answers

JayZFilter: In the beginning of "Roc Boys," exactly what do the boys in blue put before the badge? [more inside]
posted by ecmendenhall on Jan 14, 2009 - 15 answers

Is there a name for what Poe did in The Raven where there's lots of long, vowel sounds? And is there anybody in music writing lyrics in a similar fashion? [more inside]
posted by low affect on Dec 28, 2008 - 8 answers

I am interested in hearing more music with multiple vocals going on at once, with an effect like singing "Row, row, row, your boat" in the round except not with the "in the round" structure. Two examples are within. [more inside]
posted by TheOnlyCoolTim on Dec 23, 2008 - 57 answers

Is there some sort of an explanation for Fink's seemingly super creepy lyrics that seem to cross into stalking/rape territory? [more inside]
posted by cashman on Dec 20, 2008 - 9 answers

I rarely pay attention to lyrics in a song - when I do, it's usually because of strong imagery or a really twisted message. I'd love to find songs now based on lyric recommendations - what are your favorites? Powerful, or hidden, or just especially memorable. And not limited to any particular genre nor subject, either. I just want songs that will make me pause and think over what I heard, rather than go "Ahh, pretty sounds!"
posted by Bakuun on Dec 18, 2008 - 79 answers

I guess the planets are aligned today: I have another song ID request. This is a chill song with only synth and drums, about 90-100 bpm, with a lazy, plainsong female vocalist singing something like "mix-ing a cake", "it won't bake". And an unintelligible recurring rhythmic sprechstimme lyric which I'll represent here as "drop the doctor for may". Any ideas? Google's giving me cake recipes.
posted by aliasless on Sep 24, 2008 - 5 answers

I am looking for songs that describe a mappable journey (ideally together with the map). For example here is a map of the destinations mentioned in "Route 66" and here is the wild journey described at the end of Tom Waits' "Don't Go into that Barn!".
posted by rongorongo on Aug 8, 2008 - 20 answers

Help me find this indie pop duet that includes lyrics like "I'm gonna stick with you... stick like glue." [more inside]
posted by overglow on Jul 27, 2008 - 8 answers

Help me find songs that use THE SAME WORD to make a "rhyme". [more inside]
posted by flapjax at midnite on Jul 20, 2008 - 66 answers

Where the streets have no name. A horse with no name. What I really want to say, I can't define. What other songs try to evoke the wordless and undefinable?
posted by Tlogmer on Jul 17, 2008 - 25 answers

Name of rap song that imagines if other genres of music had beef like hip hop? [more inside]
posted by swiffa on Jun 13, 2008 - 2 answers

Song in my head for days, sounds very nineties. Singer is female, chorus something like "Do you know/do you know how it feels to be lonely? Do you know/do you know how it feels to be (small?)" No luck with Google. Help?
posted by juniper on Jun 6, 2008 - 11 answers

I'm trying to put together a list of the happiest sounding songs with the saddest lyrics... can you help? [more inside]
posted by twiggy on Apr 18, 2008 - 106 answers

How do I take a song off a regular cd, add viewable lyrics (and whatever else is necessary) and turn it into a karaoke disc that I can hand to the kj at a karaoke joint? I already have evil lyrics and some other audio software, but I can only find reference to working with songs that are already on a cdg ... no references in my audio programs to exactly how to make one myself. [more inside]
posted by thewhynotgirl on Mar 27, 2008 - 3 answers

Is the ability to write good lyrics to music something one can learn or pick up, or is it something you have to be born with? If it is the former, can you give me some tips, or at the very least direct me to some books or websites that might be of use? [more inside]
posted by Effigy2000 on Feb 28, 2008 - 17 answers

What does Billy Joel mean when he sings, “the most she will do is throw shadows at you”? [more inside]
posted by dreamphone on Feb 15, 2008 - 31 answers

Heard a great song at a US H&M...help me identify the name of it and the band who plays it. [more inside]
posted by mintchip on Jan 30, 2008 - 3 answers

My mother used to sing a song to me as a child: "It's a rainy day / and we have to stay inside. / The rain is falling down / and we can't go out to play. / Why does it have to rain / anyway?" She swears it's from Sesame Street, but Google seems never to have heard of it. Who composed this song? Where could she have heard it from? Is it indeed Sesame Street?
posted by RobotHeart on Jan 30, 2008 - 7 answers

What language is Cirque du Soleil's "Rivage" in? [more inside]
posted by wanderingmind on Dec 29, 2007 - 1 answer

I'm considering making a mixtape (okay, not on actual tape, but "mixCD" just doesn't roll off the tongue) consisting of songs with one word or phrase only repeated in the lyrics. [more inside]
posted by captnkurt on Dec 18, 2007 - 65 answers

I once heard a song that started something like "Maria, Maria es mi sol, es mi sueno dolor" (with appropriate spanish accent marks). Any idea what this is?
posted by Malad on Nov 27, 2007 - 6 answers

What are the lyrics to the song "Brown Water" by the band 'Harvey Milk'?
posted by geos on Nov 22, 2007 - 1 answer

I'd like to find a translation for an Israeli song sung in Tigrinya called Siyaishaya Ingoma. [more inside]
posted by alona on Nov 19, 2007 - 4 answers

Is there a name for the literary device used in this song? [more inside]
posted by chocolate_butch on Nov 14, 2007 - 9 answers

Song Filter: All I remember from this song is the lyric in the chorus "nobody's baby, just a tom boy", from about 15 years ago, google showed me nothing, anyone?
posted by Cosine on Nov 12, 2007 - 3 answers

What widely-recognized lyrics could I imply in a calendar application tutorial video? I've found this previous AskMe, but I'm more interested in recognizable lyrics than titles. [more inside]
posted by scottreynen on Nov 9, 2007 - 14 answers