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General Category => New Model Army => Topic started by: Amandistan on April 24, 2015, 02:48:20 PM
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I don't know if this has been done before but...
What topic appeals to you most in NMA lyrics? Is it nature, personal stories, anger, passion, politics, love,lust, wanderlust,not running with the pack etc?
All of these seem to be fairly common topics in NMA songs and JS does a perfect job at creating those images and emotions.
For me I love nature and the songs about trees, the sea, hills, mountains and sunlight appeal to me very much.
I also find the topics or feeling unsettled or restless very relatable as well as being an individual and feeling alone.
Also how some of the songs focus on human weakness and it's not very masculine, apathetic and emotionless lyrics. I also very much related to songs about not fitting in with your family and how cruel people can be.
Some of the political songs do it for me as well but it's not comparable to songs such as High that use nature as reassurance. and Dawn about a personal battle and failed suicide. I will be open and say I relate to that very well.
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How do you know DAWN is alluding to that ?
Have took a very different view from that song ?
TXP
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http://www.ne-ne.de/nmasongs/annotations/de.html#takes ;)
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Thanks for posting. That makes sense but for me it means something totally different.
I've always took it as a night-owl would, kicking his heels and waiting for the dawn to break. Renewal, a baptism, a new start whatever you wanna call it.
I'm glad the person didn't go through with it.
TXP
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Mostly I like the socio economic political based lyrics. Songs such as "Higher Wall" are very thought provoking. "The hunt" practically a full story from beginning to end, full of energy and passion which you can see in Justin's face when he sings it live. "Angry Planet" for the same reasons.
Other than that, I really do not mind. In my opinion, the greatest lyricist around. Even when on occasion I do not really understand or connect with the full lyrics of a song, there are always parts that make you think or feel something. Most of all, I like how some of the songs can mean completely different things to different people which shows the depth of the lyrics.
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I'm with Amanda.
The socio-political songs are what got me into NMA back in the 80s. However, I think if they were still writing songs like Vengeance, The Hunt or 51st State I would have started to lose interest in them by now. And don't get me wrong I love those songs but as I get older a lot of my thought processes are mirrored by the lyrics of the last 4 or 5 albums. And it is those albums that I listen to most often these days.
Purity has always been a key song in that respect. To me it was a turning point from the angry accusing songs of the 80s to the realisation that things aren't ever as black and white as we would like them to be. JS continues to amaze me with his ability to put words to things I can barely describe. So to me the more philosophical songs such as Someone Like Jesus, Ghosts or Happy To Be Here are really what I listen to most.
I guess that means that I'm getting old.
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As much as I love the aggression in the earlier lyrics I'm also very taken with the themes of the beauty found in everyday life that crop up from time to time.
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I like the way JS can lyricise 'events'. Cant really explain that but Im thinking Red Earth, Another Imperial Day but equally High, Dawn or Sunset. Two commentaries on world events/life and three that come over as reflections on personal events. Like a life commentary I guess.
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I feel now especially as i get a tiny bit older its not so much the content of the song that's important its much more about the arrangement and the lyrics. Of the six new songs on bwab the two i liked best were angry planet and sunrise ( though guessing live version i doing for me just now) now these songs were probably the polar opposite of each other ,a despairing look at the world today v a real song of hope.
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What are the best NMA subjects? The songs that spoke to us about our daily lives.
"This is our town, this is Friday night
Dressed in our rags and our rage and our best....."
That entire song is us!
And it didn't matter back then if the songs were us, they also wrote songs about people we knew. I knew the people in "Frightened," I hung out with the people in "Young, Gifted, and Skint," I live in BIG town USA but I know the people in "Smalltown England"...
But now we get songs about horsemen and Evel Knievel.
What happened?
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What do you mean ' what happened ? '?
Lazy, lazy post my friend.
Knievel is a distant cousin of frightened !
Horsemen is a complex song lyrically and musically.
Songwriters evolve even when they don't live in the Big Apple.
He wrote songs about Black Angels in the early 80's... Astound me with your wisdom on that topic?
As a small town Englander I need help from a mind residing amongst a metropolis!
For the above read : RED EARTH ... By the way he wasn't writing about a tomato coloured planet, the themes were a little deeper / darker.
I await your genius ...
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Here we go again...
Justin could write a song about having a full English breakfast (with slightly disappointing bacon) and make it heartfelt and incisive...
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Seems a bit dramatic but New Model Army got me through some real tough and genuinely horrible times when i was growing up.
Putting the direction of their music and if i like a song or not to one side, i owe them.
Personally, i believe they saved my life. I will be forever in debt.
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OK... this might be a bit controversial, but the music always comes first for me... the clash / unity of the instruments is what grabs me by both ears... THEN I get into what the song is about.
I can think of plenty of tunes where I love the music but the lyrics don't strike a personal chord with me (although Justins voice ALWAYS does...)
But getting back to the point of this thread... it's always the ones about family or friends or people you've lost touch with. Political stuff comes and goes and is too related, IMO, to the listeners background. The people you care about... that stuff never gets old.
???
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He wrote songs about Black Angels in the early 80's... Astound me with your wisdom on that topic?
The Black Angels. ;D
A bunch of girly lads riding on pink Vespas that their mommies bought them, driving around safe farmlands wishing they were in a real motorcycle gang like The Hell's Angels.
Now go watch the film GIMME SHELTER to see the difference between Black Angels and The Hell's Angels.
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And of course the music comes first -- it's called music, not lyrics.
If you care more about words you'd be buying poetry books, not music CDs.
Good question here would be is there an NMA song that you love the lyrics, but don't care for the music?
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How do you know DAWN is alluding to that ?
Have took a very different view from that song ?
TXP
I only know because Justin said it in an interview. It then made perfect sense.
Me too Ruckedout but not as a kid for me. More as a young adult. I discovered them at at 19 or 20. It got my through some very hard times. I was reclusive for years. I spent most of my time confined in a bedroom. I listen to a lot of music there and found NMA. I then eventually got myself out more starting at about 22, then into my early 24th year, I went across the Atlantic to see this band that meant a lot to me all alone. I blame them for pushing me out of the door and thank them for it. Now, I have experienced more in 4 years than many do in 20. This is a very life changing band.
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"Shadows of shadows passing. It is now 1831, and as always, I am absorbed with a delicate thought.
It is how poetry has indefinite sensations, to which end music is an essential, since the comprehension of sweet sound is our most indefinite conception.
Music, when combined with a pleasurable idea, is poetry; music, without the idea, is simply music.
Without music, or an intriguing idea, color becomes pallor, man becomes carcass, home becomes catacomb, and the dead are, but for a moment, motionless..."
(orson welles on: tales of mystery and imaginaton, by alan parsons project)
NMA music is poetry.
It was the lyrics which got me deeper into it. There were alway some tunes on every album i liked immediately, but there are always songs i don't get into at once. It is when the lyrics and the music, when i begin to understand (and this can take years), when the lyrics and the song melt to become one, then i get to love songs which at first i didn't like so much. That is what attracts me the most about nma.
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There are a number of songs that I got to love because of the lyrics rather than the actual music. I Need More Time is a recent example. Modern Times is another.
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Space - oh for a minute inside your noggin.
I'll pass on the film but keep up the recommendations!
Have you seen 'one flew over the cuckoos nest'?
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Here we go again...
I hope not. This topic and the other - why NMA called Political band, both interesting topics, - actually about the band, on the bands forum
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He wrote songs about Black Angels in the early 80's... Astound me with your wisdom on that topic?
The Black Angels. ;D
A bunch of girly lads riding on pink Vespas that their mommies bought them, driving around safe farmlands wishing they were in a real motorcycle gang like The Hell's Angels.
Now go watch the film GIMME SHELTER to see the difference between Black Angels and The Hell's Angels.
The song is called Sex (The Black Angel), and if you read the lyrics: it`s about Man, Woman, Desire (and perhaps love) - and not about Black or Hell Angels :)
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How do you know DAWN is alluding to that ?
Have took a very different view from that song ?
TXP
I only know because Justin said it in an interview. It then made perfect sense.
Interview JS last year (sorry, a german mag):
Dawn ist mein liebster NMA_Song aller Zeiten. Zumindest im Moment. Es gibt eine merkwürdige Geschichte über einen Freund in den Achtzigern. Er hatte eine schlimme Scheidung hinter sich und durfte seine Kinder nicht sehen. Er entschied sich, allem ein Ende zu setzen. Er schluckte genügend Medikamente, um sich umzubringen. Dann ging er hinaus in den Peark, um zu sterben. Im letzten Moment dachte er: Ich möchte doch nicht sterben. Nun, er rief um Hilfe und hat es überlebt. Er hat mir diese Geschichte erzählt und ich hatte sie immer im Hinterkopf. Aber ich brauchte 15, 20 Jahre, um diesen Song zu schreiben. ......
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Oh for google translate ? Can anyone help ?
Dawn, regardless of the true allegory is a classic !
I love it ...
TXP
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Google translate says.
Dawn is my favorite NMA_Song of all time. At least at the moment. There is a strange story about a friend in the eighties. He had a nasty divorce behind him and was not allowed to see his children. He decided to put an end to everything. He swallowed enough drugs to kill himself. Then he went out into the Peark to die. At the last moment he thought: I do not want to die yet. Well, he called for help and survived it. He told me this story and I always had in mind. But I needed 15, 20 years to write this song. ......
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Thanks Mark,
I run to this song a lot.
No matter how much my day has entangled or frustrated me this song releases me back to where I need to be.
It's a true redemption song in its simplest form.
I'm glad it took him that long to perfect it.
Justin is a master of songwriting and this is his shining example.
I'm glad his friend turned back from the brink, there is a message in this for us all.
TXP
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This is a hard one to answer, and I could happily mull it over time and again.
I broadly share NMA's political standpoint, so I enjoy their political songs. I also enjoy their social commentary/observational songs. But I also enjoy the songs which are personal, either to the band or indeed to the listener. I find many NMA songs are written in such a way they can mean many things to many listeners. I think Knievel is a very good and recent example of what I think I'm trying to get at. The main thing is the passion with which the songs are delivered. I think that is what moves me the most.
Ultimately, there are so many great songs they have written, I think there is something for everyone there.
All the best,
Johnny
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Justin could write a song about having a full English breakfast (with slightly disappointing bacon)
I expect in that he would wax lyrical about improving that sad bacon with the wonders of Red Sauce :)
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Interesting thread.
I tend to dig more the intimate songs than the "socio economic", political songs...sometimes (often?) i don't understand all the meaning(s) of Justin's lyrics but that's not really a problem, because i can feel these words ...melancholy moods or full of life moods...and i can picture these feelings, like if i was watching an intimate, indie or big budget movie (i would LOVE that someday some directors would use NMA songs in their movies!).
Songs of loneliness, life being so fragile and short, love and loss are what i tend to prefer in NMA's oeuvre, i think, and these songs are the most touching parts of their works..."Nothing touches", "Drummy B", "Marry the sea","High", Family Life", "Marrakesh", "the Price", 225", "Green and grey", "Family", Prison", "Headlights", "Orange tree roads", "One bullet", "Rivers", "Into the wind", "Pull the sun", "Devil's bargain"...and i don't forget Mr Sullivan's definitive masterpiece, the album summarizing the most the melancholy side of his music: "Navigating by the stars"!! ;)
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So to me the more philosophical songs such as Someone Like Jesus, or Happy To Be Here are really what I listen to most.
These are stunning songs...for you what/which is/are the subject(s) of these tracks?
"Someone Like Jesus" i think is one of NMA's most fascinating songs, a bit unsettling.."There's always something in the corner of our lives that we cannot quite see", that's a great line...like if the lead character of the song was "insane" right from his childhood ("there were visits to the doctor, but you can"t remember what for..") but didn't know it...creepy, eerie song!
OK... this might be a bit controversial, but the music always comes first for me... the clash / unity of the instruments is what grabs me by both ears...
For me it is and it has always been Justin's voice.
Even if i like more or less some songs Justin's voice never ceases to move me.
Warm, expressive, evocative voice.
Justin could write a song about having a full English breakfast (with slightly disappointing bacon) and make it heartfelt and incisive...
What would you think of Dario Argento or Michael Mann using NMA's songs for their movies? ;) :)
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So to me the more philosophical songs such as Someone Like Jesus, or Happy To Be Here are really what I listen to most.
These are stunning songs...for you what/which is/are the subject(s) of these tracks?
"Someone Like Jesus" i think is one of NMA's most fascinating song, a bit unsettling.."There's always something in the corner of our lives that we cannot quite see", that a great line...like if the lead character of the song was "insane" right from his childhood but didn't know it...creepy, eerie song!
Justin could write a song about having a full English breakfast (with slightly disappointing bacon) and make it heartfelt and incisive...
What would you think of Dario Argento or Michael Mann using NMA's songs for their movies? ;) :)
Can't see Argento putting an NMA song on his films (not nearly Goblin-y enough), much less a US-centric director like Mr Mann... Shane Meadows, on the other hand...
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NMA's music would certainly not fit Argento's world for sure! ha ha
But Mann, there's an idea...his films tend to be melancholic and moody and like Justin he LOVES the sea landscape! :):)
The people you care about... that stuff never gets old.
yes, timeless stuff...Samuel Fuller and John Carpenter said that feelings were everything in (their) movies, "love, hate"...there's nothing else.
The same can be said about lyrics in music and especially NMA!
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Great question Amandistan! Let's see...
In no particular order...
Fragility, Sorrow, Love, Lust, Light, Sex, Death, 'GOD', Faith, Religion(s), Wind, Rain, Night, Roads, Sun, Moon, Stars, Water, Women, Emotions, Passions, the World, History, People, Culture(s), Longing, Devotion, Seasons, Trees, Relationships, Fire, Vessels, Ghosts, Devils, Scents, Wolves, Salvation, Air and yes,... Monkeys! 8)
Could do without songs of spite, anger, vengeance and hate, though... sorry. :-[
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The band have begun writing material for the next NMA record, so I thought I'd revisit this thread to add a few more topics / words to my previous post. Again, in no particular order...
Continent(s), Rock(s), Fell(s), Hill(s), Mountain(s), River(s), Sea(s), Ocean(s), Pressure, Tension, Heat, Ice, Snow, Distance, Dew, Innocence, Sleep, Fever, Dream(s), Spark(s), Taste, Sin, Drink, Kisses, Skin, Tongue, Touching, Silver, Soul(s), Spirit, Shadow(s), Mirrors, Walls, Halls, Rooms, Windows, Glass, Crystal, Sand, Dust, Twilight, Dusk, Dawn, Fear, Family, Weather, Woods, Statue(s), Weakness, Strength, Hope, Dignity, Despair, Loneliness, Ache(s), Pain, Card(s), Teeth, Sea Creature(s), and... Dogs.
HEY, wait a second!! :D Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think Mr. Sullivan has ever written anything directly referencing any type of cat, be it a domestic or wild one. 8) This is actually a bit odd, as JS has been around cats most of his adult life, I believe. I love cats! :)
I wonder if JS loves / likes / appreciates / sees any worth (or value) in the following subjects (or words), enough to find use for them in future songs? all kinds of intimacy, meadows, streams, lakes, bush, brush, marsh, swamps, different insects, other types of birds / colours / plants / flowers, hunger (=when you need it), appetite (=when you want it), fruit, friction, fluid, contrast, opposites, all types of other wants and needs ?
Whatever they're working on, I hope it turns into a long, juicy album! Just like NMA live gigs, they seem to always be over in the blink of an eye. Can never get enough. I don't think it's obsession, it's more of an intense kind of love / passion for and of their life's work. NMA/JS have never let me down. Love NMA/JS and every single one of their songs! I can't say that about any other band, really. These guys haven't made a crap song, ever! Even the early demos that were added to the "Vengeance" re-issue are fcukin' fantastic! Hmmm, I think I love them SO much because they've covered so many different musical styles. That said, there are SO many more musical styles that NMA/JS have yet to touch upon, but I'll leave that for another thread, another time. YEA-ahh!! I'm SO excited! Can't wait for the new record! :D :D :D :D :D
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