Puzzling Lyrics

[sodascouts]

I was playing the lyrics game and a new topic occurred to me.

Have you ever found some of the lyrics of the Eagles, be it as a group or in their solo work, that puzzled you a bit? I have. Here's some of mine:


"I can't give a reason why I should ever wanna die"
- Twenty-one, Eagles

This always seemed an odd line to me. The only people who have reasons who want to die are suicidal, and what does being suicidal have to do with the vibrant youthfulness of the song? "I'm 21, so I'm not suicidal!" Seems like that's a given. I guess it could be a dark, ironic commentary that if you live long enough, you inevitably want to die....


"You’re not like your mothers"
- Teenage Jail, Eagles

The plural here is such an odd choice. We've suddenly switched from an assumed "you" singular to a "you" plural - I guess to make it rhyme with "others" in the next line - I always wondered why they did that, as it's a bit jarring.


"Because she knows deep in her heart that he'll be back someday"
- The Girl from Yesterday, Eagles

Traditionally, in literature, knowing something "deep in your heart" means you know the truth despite appearances. For instance, "He told everyone they would be together forever, but he knew deep in his heart it wasn't going to last." In this case, it's not the truth at all - he's never coming back. I guess this is supposed to be indicative of the depth of her self-delusion? Still, an odd choice.


"You can lay your head back on the ground, and let your hair fall all around me"
- End of the Innocence, Don Henley

This doesn't seem to be physically possible. If her head is back on the ground, wouldn't her hair be flat on the ground as well? When I listen to the song, I just pretend like the first part of the line doesn't exist and picture the woman on top, her long hair cascading around the face of the guy beneath her as they kiss.


"Somehow I knew you would understand: I did it for your love"
- I Did It for your Love, Glenn Frey

In this song, the girl has dumped the guy. So... guess she didn't understand after all!


Those are just a few off the top of my head.

[Prettymaid]

Soda, whatever you do, don't ask Don about any of these lyrics! lol! He would tear you to pieces with your literal interpretations!

[Troubadour]

LOL! I'd like to hear him explain, in great detail, the End Of The Innocence lyric though.

Great topic, Soda. I'll have a think - I'm sure there are a few I've wondered about.

[sodascouts]

Soda, whatever you do, don't ask Don about any of these lyrics! lol! He would tear you to pieces with your literal interpretations!

Well, he could try, but I didn't get a PhD in literary criticism without knowing the difference between a sophisticated ironic metaphor (the "spirit" of wine in Hotel California being a false spirit) and a clumsy word picture where we have a woman's hair simultaneously on the ground and hanging down.

That said, I would never be so rude to point out such a thing to his face in an interview! How tacky to embarrass someone like that. Plus, the song End of the Innocence is so magnificent overall - that's just my only one small quibble with it. Henley is a masterful songwriter and poet, but nobody's perfect. Hopefully he would have enough self-awareness to realize that and not be hyper-defensive.

[Prettymaid]

Well, in End of the Innocence he says they are sitting watching the clouds go by....maybe at some point they lay down, top of head to top of head, and then her hair would fall all around him...

[sodascouts]

You mean like this?



Still not seeing the hair thing working.

[Prettymaid]

Yes, exactly! She'd have to have really long hair and it would have to be billowing...

[ticky]

maybe he's standing in a hole? or sitting or laying...



None the less, while it's fun to examine this stuff, I think the feeling behind the song and the feelings the lyrics invoke are more important then the literal meaning of the words. Chalk it up to artistic license.

[sodascouts]

Hmm, PM, I can picture that, actually....

But I just got the feeling at that point in the song that they were preparing to become intimate - she was about to lose her innocence - and as a result, I assumed that they were touching a bit more than head to head at that moment.

Ticky - I agree that it's not what's most important about the song. I just thought it would be fun to discuss.

[Prettymaid]

I guess if her hair was really long and billowy they could be laying face to face and it could possibly fall all around him (that's some really long hair though).