Thoughts on the Songs for Sorrow EP?

[Kata]

Thank you for apologizing for "attacking" my "sacred cow".

 

It makes sense how you think it would sound better if it was different. Thank you for understanding that some of us like the way it sounds just the way it is and feel that it would be lacking some of its power if it was changed.

 

(I don't know if "sacred cow" is used anywhere but in the states. It's a reference to the fact that cows are considered sacred in some countries and how that fact is considered silly in the states. So, if someone takes and idea/value seriously and someone else thinks it is ridiculous, that idea/value might be referred to as a "sacred cow".)

 

I think you can actually use the sacred cow expression in Danish, but it's only done in clever newspaper articles about politics

I think what I have to learn with the sacred cows is to only bump into them when they are seriously blocking the road, instead of aiming for them when they are standing on the pavement, however silly they may look there

[Kata]

Aww, Kata.

 

I think it also has to do with the fact that you have a sense of wit, rhyme, meaning and meter that Mika could only dream of having. I'm sure with a few changes you could make the lyrics to Lady Jane as genius as Toy Boy.

 

Nah I seriously doubt that, Toy Boy is a hell of a lot better than anything I could ever do And I don't think I could make anything anywhere near Lady Jane unless I find some funny mushrooms first

[suzie]

The lyric "lonely, is so lonely, alone" really hit home for me at a certain point in 2007, on a very personal level. So it makes perfect sense to me.

 

Just to throw it into the mix....I have always loved the line "lonely is so lonely alone" I love the way it feels when I sing it, like I'm really aware of my tongue. A lovely example of alliteration don't you think?

 

I love that line, too. In fact, I am melting when he sings it (does that makes sense?)

 

Anyaway, it is not alliteration. Alliteration would be Lazy Lonely Lads Lurking or anything similar:naughty:

[kaatje066]

There are lyrics on LICM that don't make sense to anyone except Mika. And I'm simply guessing that they make sense to Mika and aren't utter nonsense. I don't dislike all these lyrics, they just don't have any meaning to me because I have no idea WTF he's talking about and neither does anyone else from what I've read on MFC the past 2.5 years.

 

I just want to say that I love reading the conversation here, which I think makes a lot more sense that Mika's lyrics

 

Just randomly quoting Christine as an example . I agree with Kata, it's very interesting and entertaining to read all thoughts about Mika's lyrics. As English isn't my first language I used to take it for granted that I didn't understand half of the lyrics. Even when I read the lyrics that came with the LICM-cd.

Sometimes I notice that the lyrics aren’t very well constructed and sometimes I don’t. With lines like Lonely is so lonely alone I do notice (mostly because I have to really translate them instead of instantly “knowing” what the meaning is.) but to me it doesn’t always matter. For me it’s hard to separate the feeling a song gives me from the lyrics. And especially that line touches me.

 

btw, I always interpret no need to fantasise since I was in my braces as a way of saying “no more daydreaming, I’m too skinny for them”

[Kata]

That might be true in the states as well.

 

I have a bad habit of picking up phrases I like, forgetting which context I first heard them in, and using them whenever I feel like it. As a result, the thing I hear most frequently is, "Honey, NOBODY talks that way!" Well, I do! (And don't call me Honey )

 

That might be one of the reasons that Mika makes so much sense to me. Nothing he does sounds out of place to me. If he's doing something like I do, it would definitely contribute to people not understanding him because they certainly don't understand me. That's pure speculation, of course.

 

(I do mean this in reference to lyrics rather than interviews simply because I know next to nothing about his interviews. Interviews exist solely for promotional purposes and he doesn't need to be promoted to me because I already love his work.)

 

Well yes that might be what he does. He might also draw random words out of a hat to construct those sentences, we can't really know that I personally don't like to use words I don't know the exact meaning of, even though I sometimes do construct weird sentences because I translate things directly from Danish

Anyway I don't actually mind not completely understanding lyrics, there are lots of lyrics in the world I don't understand and love anyway - I think it's just the awkwardness of these lyrics that sometimes puts me off... and the fact that it comes across like he just didn't bother. Like the last verse of Billy Brown, it seems to me like he was pretty sure what he wanted to say, but he couldn't really fit it into the right lines, so he switched them around and turned it into complete nonsense instead - that really bothers me

[Naectegale]

Hag is also an ugly word but the character is meant to be ugly. Constantly referring to Lady Jane as a fish is sort of repulsive and I wouldn't think that's meant to be the idea.

 

 

As a fully paid up Pisces, I can understand that there are two sides to every story, and that opposing opinions may be valid

 

BUT

 

:aah:It's very mean of you to say fish are repulsive

 

 

 

Sorry - had to get that out of my system.

[Marilyn Mastin]

Aww, Kata.

 

I think it also has to do with the fact that you have a sense of wit, rhyme, meaning and meter that Mika could only dream of having. I'm sure with a few changes you could make the lyrics to Lady Jane as genius as Toy Boy.

I think Mika's LJ lyrics are pure genius! With Mika's songs we can always find something that touches us and that we understand. Someone else interprets it differently but just as meaningful. The man is such an absolute genius imo.

[Suzy]

"Here's another reason why you shouldn't eat fish" - I don't like.

 

"No need to fantasize since I was in my braces" - I don't like.

 

"Lonely is so lonely alone" - I like. A lot.

It's like Edgar Allan Poe writing "A Dream Within A Dream".

 

But we all know "art" is subjective. Many mothers feel their kids can paint like Jackson Pollock. And even with a classic song like Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen, I never understood the part "Sacaramouch,Scaramouche, will you do the Fandango?" - but I still love belting it out loud.

Edited May 13, 2009 by Suzy

[suzie]

But we all know "art" is subjective. Many mothers feel their kids can paint like Jackson Pollock. And even with a classic song like Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen, I never understood the part "Sacaramouch,Scaramouche, will you do the Fandango?" - but I still love belting it out loud.

 

He is basically talking to the demons inside of him after having come to terms with his real self...

 

.. that's my take on it . I don't think many people get it - just like the lyrics of LJ

 

Edited May 13, 2009 by suzie

[Gatagordinha]

That is an example of a lame lyric. "Lonely is so lonely alone" is about as awkward as they come and no matter how many hundreds of times I hear this line I still cringe.

 

"Here's another reason why you shouldn't eat fish" could just about top it, except that it at least makes sense.

 

One thing I would say that is an improvement with the lyrics of all the new songs is that they make sense. There is some stuff on LICM that I still don't understand on any level.

 

I agree on 'lonely is so lonely alone' It will never grow on me any more than will the cringey children's choir in AOW. It's been too long now! Tbh I always skip it on LICM now .

 

"Here's another reason why you shouldn't eat fish" as a line it itself doesn't really annoy me; I interpret it as a rather oddball comic interlude in an otherwise serious song. What bothers me is the way the preceding line doesn't fit grammatically with it.

 

"Now be sure when you listen to this: here's another reason why you shouldn't eat fish" is grammatically clumsy and bugs me. I'm not saying lyrics always have to be grammatically correct, of course not, I believe in poetic licence, but these two lines in juxtaposition just jar with me.

 

As I have said before though, I do like Lady Jane, and despite my picky little criticisms I find the lyric as a whole emotionally affecting and the melody really lovely.

[sienna]

The lyric "lonely, is so lonely, alone" really hit home for me at a certain point in 2007, on a very personal level. So it makes perfect sense to me.

 

:wub2:

 

I know exactly what you’re talking about…been there, done that, have the T-shirt!

[FREDDIESDOUBLE]

Loving Toy Boy and Blue Eyes

[sienna]

I am speaking about literal meanings, not how the songs affect anyone emotionally. People are so confused about some literal meanings that we haven't been able to agree on what the lyrics actually are in some cases. That's why there are so many pleas to Mika to publish the lyrics with the album this time.

 

Let's take the line "no need to fantasize since I was in my braces."

 

WTF does that mean???

 

"Fork out my daylight." Eh?

 

"You make me dizzy when you play me like a kid with a crown."

 

(maybe this one is just me, I don't get the reference if there is one)

 

I do it like this:

 

 

After asking and asking, probably to the extent of exhausting my fellow MFCers:naughty: I resign with the fact that there are no answers!

When not even the people who are native English speakers and far more intelligent and used to interpret text than I am, can make the lines makes sense in the traditional way, I can't do anything but just give up, can I?!

 

And now the fun part starts….I just let my own imagination flow free…it’s a wonderful thing!

 

The lines above are example of that!

Edited May 13, 2009 by sienna

[sienna]

Thank you for apologizing for "attacking" my "sacred cow".

 

It makes sense how you think it would sound better if it was different. Thank you for understanding that some of us like the way it sounds just the way it is and feel that it would be lacking some of its power if it was changed.

 

(I don't know if "sacred cow" is used anywhere but in the states. It's a reference to the fact that cows are considered sacred in some countries and how that fact is considered silly in the states. So, if someone takes and idea/value seriously and someone else thinks it is ridiculous, that idea/value might be referred to as a "sacred cow".)

 

We happen to use it the exact same way in the Swedish!

[sariflor]

 

Anyway I don't actually mind not completely understanding lyrics, there are lots of lyrics in the world I don't understand and love anyway - I think it's just the awkwardness of these lyrics that sometimes puts me off...

 

Yes, that is how it is for me. I am not a major lyrics freak, at all, and I will happily love a song that I haven't dissected for its ulterior and deepest meaning, but it just has to "sound right" when I listen to it. That not eating fish line just doesn't do it for me . But then again, neither does the whole Big Girl for example I mean wtf is this about?? "walks into the room, feels like a big balloon" ???

[dilek]

how come the whole 4 of the original tracks leaked on net:boxed:

 

i thought they were from the LA gig and listened them.

 

 

and changed my mind i totally looove BE now:wub2:

 

but still it spoiled the surprise:thumbdown: couldn't they wait till the EP was sold out!

Edited May 13, 2009 by dilek

[suzie]

how come the whole 4 of the original tracks leaked on net:boxed:

 

:shocked:

WHAT WHAT?????

*runs and checks*

[melgo]

:shocked:

WHAT WHAT?????

*runs and checks*

 

Yep, they're already on youtube.

[FREDDIESDOUBLE]

I deleted the links last night , please dont post the links

[dcdeb]

how come the whole 4 of the original tracks leaked on net:boxed:

 

i thought they were from the LA gig and listened them.

 

and changed my mind i totally looove BE now:wub2:

 

but still it spoiled the surprise:thumbdown: couldn't they wait till the EP was sold out!

 

Well, we can't help what other people do -- it's a shame, but that's the

way the internet goes, isn't it?

 

I will say, though, to all the MFC -- please don't post the mp3's or the

links to any of the illegally obtained songs, because we *will* delete

them, as we are trying to not violate any copyrights as much as

possible. (see item #5 in our MFC Guidelines, link in my sig below.)

[suzie]

I deleted the links last night , please dont post the links

 

OK, I won't.. But I have to say somewhere that I love the orchestration.. It really is nothing like in AOW.. He should keep the person responsible for that ( perhaps Owen Pallett?)

 

I have to add, though, that he should also release the piano (+ xilophone)version - perhaps as B side.. but he must do it

[sariflor]

how come the whole 4 of the original tracks leaked on net:boxed:

 

i thought they were from the LA gig and listened them.

 

 

and changed my mind i totally looove BE now

 

but still it spoiled the surprise:thumbdown: couldn't they wait till the EP was sold out!

 

Yep, same as me, exactly the same situation. I love it now and it's one of my favs!!

Even better than the recorded TB to be honest.

And re these idiots who post that stuff, I wish that universal would bug THEM instead of going after our innocent fan videos. Ha .

 

 

 

 

OK, I won't.. But I have to say somewhere that I love the orchestration.. It really is nothing like in AOW.. He should keep the person responsible for that ( perhaps Owen Pallett?)

 

I have to add, though, that he should also release the piano (+ xilophone)version - perhaps as B side.. but he must do it

 

Yes, me too. I can't not hear a proper recorded version of TB with the same simplicity that we had in LA, and hopefully it will regain some of the passion that the "proper" track seems to lack IMO.

I much preferred his version from The Roxy, which I fell in love with, because it had so much more soul in it .

[dilek]

That is so AWESOME!

This is why I don't look up music on the internet. I'll still be surprised when the EP comes out. I have no clue what's on the album, so it will be like Christmas when I finally get it and listen to it for the first time

 

I have seen videos of concerts he did for LICM, but I didn't look them up until AFTER I had the album and the official DVD and no chance of making it to a show myself. It doesn't take much self-control for me because I like surprises.

 

I also have enough other interests that I'm plenty entertained until stuff is officially announced and officially released.

 

i wasn't looking up music. i was searching "songs for sorrow" to find if there are new articles or reviews or any kind of news.

 

there was a link to songs under one of the blogs. i clicked then realised it was the recorded version and i was shocked:aah:

 

but failed to turn it off of course:blink:

now i wish i didn't listen to them all.it spoiled the surprise really.

 

but still i can't wait to get my physical copy:wub2:

[guylainem123]

Well, we can't help what other people do -- it's a shame, but that's the

way the internet goes, isn't it?

 

I will say, though, to all the MFC -- please don't post the mp3's or the

links to any of the illegally obtained songs, because we *will* delete

them, as we are trying to not violate any copyrights as much as

possible. (see item #5 in our MFC Guidelines, link in my sig below.)

 

bump-a-tee bump!

[RAK1]

I just want to say that I love reading the conversation here, which I think makes a lot more sense that Mika's lyrics

No really, just realized, when reading what Rose said, how rude I actually sound when I "attack" the lyrics and I'm actually sorry about that I think I sometimes forget that we don't all have the same way of approaching things and that we don't find the same things important

Anyway I think I would just like to clarify that when I bang my head into the wall over a lyric, then it's because lyrics are very important to me, I like clever play with words, I look at how the sentence is constructed and so on But that doesn't mean that I don't know for a fact that lonely is so lonely alone, it really is - just can't help thinking it would have sounded a hell of a lot better to say that human is so lonely alone, in fact I would have found that incredibly poetic and beautiful rather than eh...

 

 

Yours words touched me Kata, you are quite a softy at heart aren't you:wink2: