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Post by scarecrow on Jul 15, 2003 6:33:30 GMT -5
Can anyone tell me what Tim says just before the end line "oh, this looks curly to me"?
Ive never been able to work it out and its severely pissing me off!
Thanx ;D
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Post by Geoff on Jul 15, 2003 11:49:00 GMT -5
AAaw you swore  It's kinda trails of at the end it's something like? The Preacher looked out on this wintery day And he said "Oh, this looks curly to me" |
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Post by scarecrow on Jul 15, 2003 12:02:16 GMT -5
Yeh I though Id get censored but apparently not! cheers i will listen to the song tonight to see if it fits. and cheers for the cd by the way  |
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Post by Johnny Yen on Jul 15, 2003 12:02:22 GMT -5
In a bid to establish myself as the geeky James Fan here's the last verse!!
But you cling to the part like a shark clings to its prey
The preacher looked out on this wintery day
And he said "Oh this looks curly to me."
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Post by scarecrow on Jul 15, 2003 12:05:02 GMT -5
Another great example of Tim Booth coming up with a pile of nonsense for lyrics and by the way think youll be hard pressed to establish yourself as the geeky one but good luck trying!
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Post by Poster Saint on Jul 27, 2003 12:08:47 GMT -5
Another great example of Tim Booth coming up with a pile of nonsense for lyrics and by the way think youll be hard pressed to establish yourself as the geeky one but good luck trying! I love how different people can interpret lyrics and apply them to their own personal thoughts and experiences. That's the mark of a true lyricist. If one were to take everything Tim says at face value, ignoring what he means, then I could see why people might not like James. I've been told I "read too much" into Tim's lyrics, but how can that be the case? It's the words themselves that convey to me what I get from them because they're phrased as they are. Of course the possibility does exist that I do read too much between the lines. As to "Just Hip" specifically I think it's mood music. The songs are little stories but inspired by a certain feeling or mood. To me it's much more human than "music" about being a gangster or how well one's records are selling. |
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Post by scarecrow on Jul 27, 2003 12:38:11 GMT -5
Poster Saint, wasnt knocking Tims lyrics I think that hes an amazing lyric writer and am an absolutely massive James fan although I did join pretty late in their career  But I do think some of his lyrics are not meant to be read into and just come from nothing. But then again only he knows the real meanings! Like the @hanging on through late december' lyric being about him quitting the band! |
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Post by Poster Saint on Jul 27, 2003 12:57:42 GMT -5
Poster Saint, wasnt knocking Tims lyrics I think that hes an amazing lyric writer and am an absolutely massive James fan although I did join pretty late in their career But I do think some of his lyrics are not meant to be read into and just come from nothing. But then again only he knows the real meanings! Like the @hanging on through late december' lyric being about him quitting the band! Sorry if my post implied that you were knocking the lyrics. I thought you were making just a general statement, which I certainly understand. Personally I don't think "Just Hip" was intended to be a life-altering song. What I meant by the post was that in cases such as these, where there seems to be less substance to the lyrics, that there's often a consistency with the "nonsense". Like how Tim would write a song like this and entitle it "Just Hip". Whatever is hip or cool depends entirely on what one considers cool. There's also a comment in the Songs section of oneofthethree that suggests Tim got most of the lyrics from articles in NME. I think if that's the case that this song is a dig at what was saturating the radio waves during the 80s; It wasn't music, it was "just hip at the time". But yeah, I can tell you're a massive fan and I swear I didn't mean any offense by my post. I got onto the bandwagon WAY late in their career and personally I haven't been able to convert any offline people into James so I find it very refreshing to discuss them in here. So the last thing I want to do is suggest you attacked Tim's lyrics. But to reiterate what I meant to say, and I agree with this, a lot of Tim's lyrics if taken at face value, make little to no sense at all. Just as the band compose musical landscapes and don't loop the same clip dozens of times within a song, I think Tim does a similar thing with his lyrics. You can't read them like a book but you can mesh them together like a poem and have one entity. About the line "hanging on through late December" I think it does mean both him sticking it through when perhaps he was bored of touring with James, but I prefer to think it means trudging forward when you know something better lies ahead. Metaphorically a year and its seasons can be a life, in that Spring is birth and Winter is death. You don't have to take them in such extreme terms, but within a part of our life, because our lives do occur in phases, we're always ending and starting new chapters. I think the Winter of one phase of our lives leads to the Spring of a new one. The title of the song to me is just bursting with confidence and self-trust because it's like saying "I'm not going to give up because I know and believe that better things are ahead". It's the only way to justify why were suffer at times. Because a bad time just means that a good one is ahead. When I look back on the bad experiences I've had, I have learned a lot from them, which has allowed me to move forward with knew knowledge and insight into the world and who I am as a person. That's why I love "I Know What I'm Here For" so much. No way would I ever suggest there was quite as much to "Just Hip", but it's still a cool song that I love hearing when in the right mood. I'm sure you feel the same way. And once again I apologize if my post came across the wrong way. |
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Post by saysomething on Jul 27, 2003 13:33:51 GMT -5
I've got to disagree here. It was obvious to me what "hanging on through late December meant" when I first heard it. Things hadn't been good between the band for a while and there was pretty palpable tension.
Although, actually thinking about it, apart from the June 98 Oxford show (which was where I heard it in the soundcheck and the show), it was actually already December when they played it first.
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Post by scarecrow on Jul 27, 2003 13:39:28 GMT -5
Well, to be fair youre much more likely to get it than us bacause of who you are! And Poster Saint, you didnt have to apologise! It was my mistake, I read the post a different way so sorry! James obviously mean an awful lot to you which I can completely understand cos its the same for most people on these boards!  |
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Post by Poster Saint on Jul 28, 2003 12:26:42 GMT -5
I've got to disagree here. It was obvious to me what "hanging on through late December meant" when I first heard it. Things hadn't been good between the band for a while and there was pretty palpable tension. Although, actually thinking about it, apart from the June 98 Oxford show (which was where I heard it in the soundcheck and the show), it was actually already December when they played it first. I'm sure you're right, but if our interpretations were limited to what Tim intended then I don't think I would have the connection to the music that I do. It is quite an obvious statement when you read it, but I like to think of it as a metaphor for everything I said above. James seem like really cool guys to know, but to me it's about the music and how it helps me personally. If I played that song and thought "that makes me think of when the band were having internal issues," I would never play it because those aren't comforting thoughts. |
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Post by Poster Saint on Jul 28, 2003 12:35:43 GMT -5
Well, to be fair youre much more likely to get it than us bacause of who you are! And Poster Saint, you didnt have to apologise! It was my mistake, I read the post a different way so sorry! James obviously mean an awful lot to you which I can completely understand cos its the same for most people on these boards! I don't think my post was as clear as I thought when I submitted it, because re-reading it I can completely see how you interpreted it the way you did. The last thing I wanted to do was suggest you weren't a fan because why else would you be here if you didn't love James? I completely agree, I think we can all relate to one another because we all have a connection to the music. I really enjoy reading what others consider their favourite songs because there may be a few tracks that I haven't really given the right amount of attention to and I think talking with others that appreciate them really helps me to better understand the music. For the record, I think you and everyone else on this board have amazing taste. I don't know how many fans live near you but I've just been itching for people to discuss James with. |
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Post by Johnny Yen on Jul 28, 2003 14:07:51 GMT -5
My two pence worth!!!
Whilst I hear what your saying about how the lyrics to I know what I'm here for where intended to be Tim's swan song during a period of unhappiness. It was five years befor late December bacame the reality that the song predicted and i'm sure even Tim isn't psychic.
In my view! (Great you all say) I'm almost sure that if you were to sit with Tim booth, or any other great lyricist, and tell them your interpretation of their lyrics, i am certain that the depth of some of them would astound the writer
I almost think that sometimes, knowing the true meaning of the song, or at least the songwriters intention, destroys the song.
This is the reason James mean SO much to all of us. We can all personally interpret the lyrics to suit our moments.
To be fair, I haven't posted much lately so I suppose this was a bit of a purge!!!
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Post by Poster Saint on Jul 30, 2003 11:38:11 GMT -5
Johnny Yen,
I think you're absolutely right. I've read many different interviews with many different lyricists that have penned phrases that wound up giving me a lot of clarity and insight into my own life, but oftentimes these same lines have very little significance to their author. It depends on the example of course.
That's the beauty of real music, how much depth can be contained within a few short minutes of audio stimulus. I bet Tim read way too much into Patti Smith lyrics when he was a teenager. It's human.
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