Deftones 'Knife Party'
This is about going to a shooting gallery - a place where people go to inject themselves with drugs. In the first line they say "My knife is sharp and chrome." A chrome knife is another name for a syringe used for injecting drugs into your bloodstream. "Come see inside my bones" is probably talking about injecting himself. "I can float here forever" is describing getting high. The other lines in the song all work with the same theme as well. The album title is a reference to high grade cocaine.
UnderOath 'Writing On The Wall'
This song is about a family that is broken apart (step dad, dad, mom, son and step sister). The step dad is abusive and the real dad tries to stop him from abusing the daughter. The step dad and dad get in a fight and the step dad ends up killing the dad.
Rise Agaisnt 'Ready to Fall'
This song deals with pollution and its effects on the environment. The video shows how animals suffer from the actions of man. Rise Against is active with PETA, and are all vegans.
Story of the Year 'Swallow the Knife'
This song about cutting yourself and how much it bleeds. They said that it's mostly about someone who is depressed and feels like that person wants to killed himself or how much it bleeds.
Nirvana 'Pennyroyal Tea'
This song is about making a tough decision, the difficult choices around it, and the guilt following it. The reference to laxatives and cherry-flavored antacids implies the song is about heroin addiction. Many junkies have laxatives around to combat the chronic constipation that opiates bring. The lyrics could be Kurt thinking he's a lazy, weak figurehead who is depressed and sad and wants a new life. Some lyric analysis:"I'm on my time with everyone" - He was usually late for interviews."I have very bad posture" - Childhood Scoliosis made him appear hunched over."Sit and drink pennyroyal tea" - This could be a drug he took to calm his stomach pains, but it is also a play on words with penny royalty, meaning a cheap figure head."Distill the life that's inside of me" - He wants to cleanse his life and start fresh. The line, "I'm on warm milk and laxatives." could be about Cobain's dependence on DXM, scientifically known as dextromethorphan, which is available in most drug stores. As a result of consuming so much DXM (in the form of Robotussin), he developed stomach pains. One of the long term affects from this is the deterioration of the kidney and liver. The pain that you get from this physically addicting drug is unimaginable. It drove him to do heroine, which didn't last long so he used other remedies to cure his stomach pain.
Thursday 'Autumn Leaves Revisited'
This song is about a young boy or girl who loses their father in the war. The line, "Did you hear the trumpets play the day your father died?" suggests a military funeral; "Did the drums in the street make the people dance, or fall to their knees as the sound" compares it to a leaf falling from a tree in the summer (tree = family tree). The child wishes it could be summer forever: "there must be somewhere... and the leaves don't abandon their trees to the light where the skies are clear and the summer never ends" because if summer didn't end no one would fall from life as leaves. However, the father will still be there when the child dies, the message being, don't fear death.
Bad Religion 'American Jesus'
This was written in response to US President George H. W. Bush's comment that the US would win the Gulf War (the first one) because God is on their side. It's pretty much a satirical view on the general American thought that the United States is the most powerful nation in the world because it is "One nation under God."
John Lennon 'I Found Out'
In this angry and bitter song Lennon attacks a number of falsehoods such as the idolatry of the Beatles and how he is the focus for many of those involved in the peace movement. This song includes the line: "The freaks on the phone won't leave me alone, so don't give me that brother, brother." Lennon explained the lyric to the January edition of Rolling Stone. He said: "I'm sick of all these aggressive hippies or whatever they are, the "Now Generation," being very up-tight with me. Either on the street or anywhere, or on the phone, demanding my attention, as if I owed them something." Ringo Starr played drums on this track. After the break-up of the Beatles, Lennon continued to have a good relationship with Ringo. He explained why to Rolling Stone: "In spite of all the things, the Beatles could really play music together when they weren't uptight, and if I get a thing going, Ringo knows where to go, just like that, and he does well. We've played together so long, that it fits. That's the only thing I sometimes miss is just being able to sort of blink or make a certain noise and I know they'll all know where we are going on an ad lib thing. But I don't miss it that much."
Gaslight Anthem 'The '59 Sound'
The line "I hope we don't hear Marley's Chains we forged in life" is a reference to the ghost of Jacob Marley from Dickens' A Christmas Carol. This is one of many quotes and references from novels, films and songs on The '59 Sound. Singer guitarist Brian Fallon explained to
Jam! Music: "I look at our music as a soundtrack and I look at the lyrics like a movie script. And I try and write them so that people are watching the images go by in their head as they're hearing the lyrics. And when I reference another song it's because it's playing during a scene in that movie. At least, that's how I see it in my head."
Taking Back Sunday 'You Know How I do'
This is a song about a guy and his girlfriend who both lead a life of partying, drinking and drugs. The guy says he's had enough of it, but his girlfriend hasn't so it's either give it up or he's going to dump her. The song title came from the movie Made starring Vince Vaughn and Jon Faverau. Vaughn's character, Ricky Slade, says, "You know how I do" throughout the film.
