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Post by Luckita on Aug 8, 2003 11:35:13 GMT -5
[glow=red,2,300] I'd like to know your interpretations of the song Purple People... I couldnt find any, and it's such an amazin song... ;D
Well, hope u reply  [/glow] |
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Post by Koalapupu on Aug 8, 2003 16:42:28 GMT -5
Here are the lyrics (just to help me remember them, hehe)
*Purple People*
well hey do you do judo when they surround you
a little mental yoga will they disappear
it's grim but never dubious as motives go
no matter what it takes she promises a show
thunder wishes it could be the snow
wishes it could be as loved as she can be
these gifts are here for her, for you, for me
i watch me be this other thing, i never know
if i'm marooned or where the purple people go
then lily white matricide from vicious words
it doesn't leave a scratch so therefore no one's hurt
thunder wishes it could be the show
wishes it could be as loved as she can be
these gifts are here for her, for you, for me
and on and on the nurses make it clear
just when you escape you have yourself to fear
a restaurant that never has to close
breakfast every hour it could save the world
so hey do you do judo in your finery
an angel's face is tricky to wear constantly
thunder wishes it could be the snow
wishes it could be as loved as she can be
these gifts are here for her, for you for me
la...hey yeah
for her for her..mmmhmmm..
I'll give it a go. I always focused on the 'wishing or trying to be someone else' in this song. "Thunder wishes it could be the snow... I watch me being this other thing...An angel's face is tricky to wear constantly." You might want to be like someone who is loved, popular, but while doing that you know you're fooling yourself because that is not what you really are.
"Hey do you do judo" could mean that this person is trying to fend off all the people she is being compared to
When the 'matricide' line comes along the song could also be interpreted as being sung by someone whose mother wishes this person to behave in a certain way, to behave like a good girl or be like the 'good' girls, but she is not like those people and can' be like that. And although this is not physical violence towards this person, she still hurts. I think the line "It doesn't leave a scratch so therefore now one's hurt" is just irony, to point out how silly it is to think that words can't hurt.
I don't know if that makes any sense, but that's how I always looked at this song. I'll be glad to hear some other interpretations, I bet Purple People evokes various kinds of feelings from different people.
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Post by Luckita on Aug 8, 2003 17:23:06 GMT -5
[glow=purple,2,300] your interpretation is wonderful, i mean it i'm so happy now  thanx thanx[/glow] |
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Post by Koalapupu on Aug 8, 2003 18:57:46 GMT -5
Is it your favorite song (I somehow remember you saying that somewhere)? I like it a lot as well. If you come up with more comments on that song, I'd be interested to hear them!
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Post by Luckita on Aug 8, 2003 22:56:07 GMT -5
[glow=purple,2,300]excuse me... were u asking me?? (hmmm i'm not sure, but anyway...) yes, yes, yes, it is my very very favorite song !!! the kinda song that u say "nooo, this cant be true" when u listen to it n have to play it again and again... it's been driving me crazy since i first listened to it, centuries ago  [/glow] |
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Post by persephone on Sept 6, 2003 12:20:26 GMT -5
I love this song so much. I used to work night shift at a Waffle House, and lots of times crazy homeless people would come and sit in therew for a really long time. I think some of them just wanted to get warm or have human contact. Anyway, that's what I think this song is about. I know this is morbid, but I think the Purple People are dead people. Maybe homeless people who froze. The main person in the song obviously doesn't fit in to society and who doesn't fit in more so than crazy homeless people? I think it's a sad song.#nosmileys Oh yeah, and I think the Christmas in space thing is alluding to people who spend Christmas nowhere. You know, cause homeless people are kind of nowheere.#nosmileys
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Post by Luckita on Sept 6, 2003 14:27:50 GMT -5
I really like your interpretation. Yes, its a bit morbid, but it makes sense...
I'm glad u love the song too!
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Post by lemonmerchant on Sept 6, 2003 22:39:20 GMT -5
This song always makes me think of that old song that goes, "One eyed, one horned flying purple people eater..." I know it has nothing to do with it but I am just a freak!  |
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Post by miceL on Sept 8, 2003 15:32:55 GMT -5
that song is about Barney |
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Post by lemonmerchant on Sept 8, 2003 20:17:35 GMT -5
that song is about Barney LOL! |
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Post by yexx on Oct 11, 2003 19:15:26 GMT -5
Hi eryone,
I'm new here and I'm dutch,so I don't know all your language secrets,but.....
I do have an opinion about the purple people lyrics.
Like Tori i've lost my baby too(at 7 months)It was a baby-boy and his name was Davy(like David)(this was 9 years ago,don't be sad)
He died before he was born...
He is a little angel now.
When he was born he wasn't pink,but ..you guess...he was a bit purple...but lovely..
Now,the lyrics...
I hear her sing...hey do you do judo in your finery(a little kicking in the tumtum)
thunder wishes it could be snow....the august(thunder)child was born(early) in winter(snow)
In this perspective you can decifre the rest
I never know where the purple people go
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Post by Koalapupu on Oct 12, 2003 11:33:04 GMT -5
Hi and welcome to the forum!
And interesting interpretation - meaning, a good one! I'll look into the song more now after this because I'll have a whole new way of looking at it!
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Post by veela on Oct 16, 2003 14:16:57 GMT -5
what usually happens with me when i listen to a song is that it doesn't always take on an immediate meaning to me and then something will happen in my life and all of a sudden a song that before made no sense will make perfect sense. that is what happened with purple people.
i was going through a bad time emotionally and a recent, bad break-up and it led to a fight with a mutual friend of my boy and i (we fought at a bar and he said terrible things to me and i hit him and got kicked out. very funny now). things were bad everywhere but all of a sudden i found that i understood purple people (at least in my own personal way) perfectly and could not stop listening to it.
here's what it is to me, by line:
"well hey do you do judo when they surround you? a little mental yoga will they disappear? it's grim but never dubious as motives go. no matter what it takes she promises a show"
- i felt surrounded in a sense and reacted by lashing out. maybe a little 'mental yoga' would have helped. just trying to be calm and rational. i did put on a show though!
"thunder wishes it could be the snow, wishes it could be as loved as she can be..."
- i was the thunder, the fighter. i didn't want to be that way, i wanted to be like snow, soft and pure. also, i felt very hated afterwards by both this friend and others
"i watched me be this other thing and never know if i'm marooned or where the purple people go"
- i was completely out of character and it really put a strain on more than one important relationship in my life and i felt like a freak, a "purple person" and just wanted to hide somewhere on an island where nobody knew me with the rest of the freaks
"then lily white matricide from vicious words, it doesn't leave a scratch so therefore no one's hurt"
- my friend said terrible things to me and hurt me so deeply yet because it wasn't physical he appeared the one hurt more while i just looked crazy, though he had really killed me in a sense
"just when you escape you have yourself to fear"
- i was my own worst enemy at that point
"a restaurant that never has to close. breakfast every hour, it could save the world"
- i just really love this line and the way she sings it. it's like this sweet little naive innocence making it all better
"an angel's face is tricky to wear constantly"
- it got hard being the good girl and the cool girl and another side of me finally came out
so there you have how purple people relates to me or how i relate to her. probably more than you wanted as i tend to be quite long-winded but hope it helps!
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Post by ♥Mary♥ on Oct 16, 2003 14:20:48 GMT -5
Hey, veela, that was very insightful. And I know what you mean about relating a song to an experience you've had, and taking meaning from it that way. Many of Tori's songs have been like that for me, too.  Thanks for sharing that. |
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Post by veela on Oct 16, 2003 14:46:02 GMT -5
no problem. i think part of the reason so many people can relate to tori so well is that she really leaves things SO open to interpretation. her songs can be almost anything to anyone.
"pancake" is a good example for me. i heard it's about sexual abuse in the church but to me it's so different. maybe i'll do a thread dedicated to my interpretation of it.
i think she's purposefully ambiguous sometimes. plus, her metaphors can be so obscure that they can mean almost anything too!
i love tori... la la la ...
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Post by LipGlossArsonist on Nov 12, 2003 11:43:24 GMT -5
I don't really have an interp for this song. I imagine I'd need to listen to it.. and think long and hard about what I felt it was about. However, I do want to note that nearly everyone misquotes the lyrics to this song. In Tori's lyrics book (or at least I'm 99% positive it is... it's been awhile since I've looked) the line is not "If I'm marooned or where the Purple People go" as in one or the other, but "If I'm marooned o'er where the Purple People go" as in OVER where the purple people go.
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Chilly
Sweet Molasses
made my own pretty hate machine
Posts: 55
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Post by Chilly on Nov 17, 2003 11:02:07 GMT -5
well.... I actually cried the first time i heard this song... which is strange because i don't cry (one day i decided not to, so i don't... i keep it all inside and i'll probably explode some day...LOL)... and i didn't cry beacause of the lyrics cause when you listen to the song (any song) for the first time you're not focused on the lyrics that much..or are you?... well, i'm not... anyways, i cried because of the melody (i think), beautiful, slow, warm melody... i don't know... it had some strange effect on me... am i making any sense here? all in all, this is my FAVORITE song! no matter what it takes she promises a show i always thought it goes: "One thing she'll always promise, promise is a show" ?? well.. it has the same meaning so nevermind... anyway i think that part can also be put among these things: "Thunder wishes it could be the snow... I watch me being this other thing...An angel's face is tricky to wear constantly." You might want to be like someone who is loved, popular, but while doing that you know you're fooling yourself because that is not what you really are. she puts the show for other people so that she can be the way they want her to be and not the way she really is... you know? |
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Post by veela on Nov 17, 2003 11:29:23 GMT -5
the original lyrics, i believe, are "no matter what it takes she promises a show" but live (or at least on the still orbiting version) she does it "one thing she always promise, promises a show" so you're both right! ;D
oh and chilly, sweetie - let yourself cry!! i love crying. well, i don't love it but when i am sad getting it out makes me feel so much better. sometimes i'll put a song on that i know makes me sad just so i can cry and not feel as silly! lol. but a good cry can be yummy...
i do know what you mean about the melody and the way a song is sung having almost more meaning and affect than the lyrics. some of her lines, even if not that "deep" or poignant or what have you, have the effect they do because of the way they are sung. like in "cloud on my tongue" when she just says "circles and circles and circles again..." it always gets me. oh, or even more so, in "hey jupiter" with the "wwwhhhooooooo, wwhhhoooooooohhhooo..." aaaahhhh, that is so beautifully sad and just kills me!
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Chilly
Sweet Molasses
made my own pretty hate machine
Posts: 55
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Post by Chilly on Nov 19, 2003 13:46:06 GMT -5
i do know what you mean about the melody and the way a song is sung having almost more meaning and affect than the lyrics. some of her lines, even if not that "deep" or poignant or what have you, have the effect they do because of the way they are sung. like in "cloud on my tongue" when she just says "circles and circles and circles again..." it always gets me. oh, or even more so, in "hey jupiter" with the "wwwhhhooooooo, wwhhhoooooooohhhooo..." aaaahhhh, that is so beautifully sad and just kills me! yeah i totally agree... ;D P.S. ummm ... maybe i should try crying again but never with people around! i'll think about it (beacause of it's yumminess)...lol |
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Post by Koalapupu on Nov 19, 2003 14:12:35 GMT -5
she puts the show for other people so that she can be the way they want her to be and not the way she really is... you know? Yeah that seems to fit it all! |
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Thanks for sharing that.
