lizziebix Posted August 2, 2013 Share Posted August 2, 2013 Ohhh nice thought. Falls in the same vein as Restless Heart Syndrome. And, with the storyline of the musical, Last Night on Earth. Thanks. I just keep thinking about his struggles with addiction and that most of the trilogy songs were written during that time and started wondering if they were his mistress instead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laurie_black Posted August 3, 2013 Share Posted August 3, 2013 Here are two quotes from Nylon magazine last year which I feel are relevant to the discussion: “Writing so quickly, he [billie Joe] didn’t have time to filter himself at all”, says Cool. “And he wasn’t writing through characters, like on the last two albums. He was writing through his own self and his own background and his own surroundings and imagination and heart, and putting all that in into the songs.” The brown-skinned girl drinking Olde English in an Oakland warehouse in the song “Sweet 16” is not one of the “imaginary ex-girlfriends” Armstrong says he sometimes conjures to write songs. The key word is “imaginary”, I think. The first quote in particular shows how the events don’t have to really have happened to its writer to make it a genuine, heartfelt song. You can take a specific emotion or feeling from the past or present and build a story around it with the help of your own imagination or things you see in your surroundings, but that doesn’t mean it's not somehow a personal song. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hermione Posted August 4, 2013 Share Posted August 4, 2013 Here are two quotes from Nylon magazine last year which I feel are relevant to the discussion: “Writing so quickly, he [billie Joe] didn’t have time to filter himself at all”, says Cool. “And he wasn’t writing through characters, like on the last two albums. He was writing through his own self and his own background and his own surroundings and imagination and heart, and putting all that in into the songs.” The brown-skinned girl drinking Olde English in an Oakland warehouse in the song “Sweet 16” is not one of the “imaginary ex-girlfriends” Armstrong says he sometimes conjures to write songs. The key word is “imaginary”, I think. The first quote in particular shows how the events don’t have to really have happened to its writer to make it a genuine, heartfelt song. You can take a specific emotion or feeling from the past or present and build a story around it with the help of your own imagination or things you see in your surroundings, but that doesn’t mean it's not somehow a personal song. Ahh yes "imaginary ex-girlfriends" was what I was trying to think of! Totally agree with what you've written, and that quote illustrates the point perfectly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarcasm Posted August 4, 2013 Share Posted August 4, 2013 Ahh yes "imaginary ex-girlfriends" was what I was trying to think of! Totally agree with what you've written, and that quote illustrates the point perfectly.I have plenty of imaginary ex girl and boyfriends. Perhaps I should put some music to the poems I wrote all of them.I have to agree, Itsmenic nailed it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solongfromthestars Posted September 25, 2013 Share Posted September 25, 2013 I found Mike's Radio One interview when clearing out my computer today, and I think this is the only time the band have ever talked about this song specifically, so I thought it was quite interesting."I think this song carries through to that feeling of longing that is running through our band at this point of our lives. Well it's also longing but driving yourself insane at the same time. There's always that person you put on a pedestal and they can pull at your heartstrings all they want." From that I don't think it's an addiction metaphor or an imaginary person. Could easily be about the past though, or mentally "cheating" by wanting to be with someone so much. I guess we really don't know or have any business knowing until Billie shares the meaning with us himself. My personal interpretation (not related to Billie) is more that the narrator is embracing his stray heart and lamenting how it has to be, rather than apologising for it. He wants to be with someone to the point they'll "never part", but he can't truly have them because he belongs to someone else. His heart that's now stray went to them a long time ago, but he's dreaming of the forbidden person. Again I'm not saying by any means that Billie feels that way or that he cheated on anyone, but that's how I personally interpret it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhiteTim Posted September 25, 2013 Share Posted September 25, 2013 I found Mike's Radio One interview when clearing out my computer today, and I think this is the only time the band have ever talked about this song specifically, so I thought it was quite interesting."I think this song carries through to that feeling of longing that is running through our band at this point of our lives. Well it's also longing but driving yourself insane at the same time. There's always that person you put on a pedestal and they can pull at your heartstrings all they want." From that I don't think it's an addiction metaphor or an imaginary person. Could easily be about the past though, or mentally "cheating" by wanting to be with someone so much. I guess we really don't know or have any business knowing until Billie shares the meaning with us himself. My personal interpretation (not related to Billie) is more that the narrator is embracing his stray heart and lamenting how it has to be, rather than apologising for it. He wants to be with someone to the point they'll "never part", but he can't truly have them because he belongs to someone else. His heart that's now stray went to them a long time ago, but he's dreaming of the forbidden person. Again I'm not saying by any means that Billie feels that way or that he cheated on anyone, but that's how I personally interpret it. No you are without a doubt saying Billie cheated I'm pretty sure of it Lol jk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solongfromthestars Posted September 25, 2013 Share Posted September 25, 2013 No you are without a doubt saying Billie cheated I'm pretty sure of it Lol jk Damn, you guessed I suppose it was obvious with me only saying "personal interpretation" about four times... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burnout_blast Posted September 25, 2013 Share Posted September 25, 2013 Why is it bad to think he cheated? He must of known when releasing a song called 'Stray Heart' people are gunna think he did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarcasm Posted September 25, 2013 Share Posted September 25, 2013 Why is it bad to think he cheated? He must of known when releasing a song called 'Stray Heart' people are gunna think he did.it's mostly because we don't like poking around personal life here, especially with the amount of stuff they've published anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burnout_blast Posted September 25, 2013 Share Posted September 25, 2013 it's mostly because we don't like poking around personal life here, especially with the amount of stuff they've published anyway. Ahh ok That makes sense Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laurie_black Posted September 25, 2013 Share Posted September 25, 2013 I found Mike's Radio One interview when clearing out my computer today, and I think this is the only time the band have ever talked about this song specifically, so I thought it was quite interesting."I think this song carries through to that feeling of longing that is running through our band at this point of our lives. Well it's also longing but driving yourself insane at the same time. There's always that person you put on a pedestal and they can pull at your heartstrings all they want." Thank you, that is very interesting indeed. At first, that quote confused me a bit because I hadn’t thought of Stray Heart as a song about longing, but rather as a song about regret and reassurance, i. e. the effects of longing for something you shouldn’t. But it gave me a few new ideas: If the core idea of the song is longing for someone and driving yourself insane over that, I don’t really see how the beginning of the song fits into that, supposing it’s about cheating this someone. The only part where this element of longing for someone becomes really obvious is in the chorus: “Everything that I want, I want from you, but I just can’t have you.” I understand longing as wanting something you don’t have or you don’t think you’ll ever have. But the verses imply that’s not the case. In the verses, it seems that the narrator has hurt the person he loves and doesn’t want to lose her, thus reassuring her it won’t happen again. So whereas the chorus describes longing for someone you want to be with, the verses show someone trying to keep what he’s already had. I don’t necessarily see any longing in the latter, it’s more like regret and hope for a second chance. Therefore I think, there are a few slightly contradicting lines in the verses as opposed to the chorus. This contradiction could be solved if the “you” in verses and the chorus is not the same person. The second part of Mike’s quote about the person you put on a pedestal seems to turn everything upside down. I took that to mean that Mike thinks there is such a person (who you put on a pedestal and who pulls at your heartstrings all she wants) for the narrator in Stray Heart as well, i. e. someone who the narrator thinks is perfect and who can disappoint him as much as she wants, he’ll never stop loving her. That’s kind of weird because it seems to be the other way around, it seems like the narrator was the one who disappointed his loved one rather than the one who got disappointed. All of this leads me to think that maybe the verses should be put into inverted commas. Maybe the verse and chorus are from different perspectives. In the verses, the perspective of the beloved person is taken. The narrator tells in direct speech what she told him: That she strayed from him and that she’s still only dreaming of him and that it won’t happen again. And then in the chorus, the narrator basically says that he wants to believe her because he loves her, because he would forgive her anything, because all he wants/needs he wants/needs from her. But then again, he’s also aware that he’ll never really have her because she will go and break his heart again. The other person answers him and tries to reassure him in the next verse that things will be fine, but he repeats that he knows it can’t happen no matter how much he longs for it to be otherwise. That’s what I took Mike’s quote to mean: that the narrator has put this person on a pedestal, whatever she does to him and his heart, he’ll try to overlook it. No one will ever compare to her, he can’t give her up, he’s longing to be with her, but it drives him insane that he just can’t because of what she does to him again and again. Well, yeah, that’s the interpretation I came up with thinking about Mike’s quote, I don’t remember reading something like that before, so I thought I’d share it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhiteTim Posted September 25, 2013 Share Posted September 25, 2013 Damn, you guessed I suppose it was obvious with me only saying "personal interpretation" about four times... Lol I was just making a joke I liked the interpretation Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hermione Posted September 25, 2013 Share Posted September 25, 2013 Why is it bad to think he cheated? He must of known when releasing a song called 'Stray Heart' people are gunna think he did. Maybe he has a higher opinion of fans' intelligence than to think they'd just take the lyrics literally. That's such a one dimensional and dull way of looking at them. But the main thing is it's simply pointless to speculate about someone's personal life when you have no way of knowing if any of the speculation is correct or not. And when speculation is both pointless and can lead to misinformation and rumours being spread there's really no need for it. Please use the standard text size in your posts (as explained in the forum guidelines). Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PigSniffingGlue Posted September 25, 2013 Share Posted September 25, 2013 When I heard that song for the first time, I also had this question in my mind. I don't think I can find the exact quote, but I think it's been said several times in interviews that the trilogy was pretty much the first time where Billie started writing from someone else's point of view, and that some themes are taken from his imagination, which is a bit different from how Billie usually writes. One time when he was asked if he was going to write an autobiography, he said that he already did - in his songs, and we know that in a lot of times, his songs are at least somewhat autobiographic. So I guess in the trilogy he decided to write some songs that aren't necessarily about his own experiences. So, I personally, like other people said, think this song could be about feelings he had in the past, or just thoughts or images he had in his mind. If we thought that every song that Billie wrote was about an experience that he was going through recently, how can we then explain songs like Fell for you? or Angel blue? I just think he decided to write in a different manner this time, or just write about feelings he once had. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solongfromthestars Posted September 25, 2013 Share Posted September 25, 2013 Why wouldn't Fell for You or Angel Blue be about recent experiences? I always thought the songs were connected and probably about the same person/experience, whatever that is. Lol I was just making a joke I liked the interpretation Oh no sorry I realised that. I was trying to be funny too but I'm obviously not very good at it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hermione Posted September 25, 2013 Share Posted September 25, 2013 I think his writing is always and always has been inspired by recent experiences, past experiences, recent thoughts/ideas/feelings, past thoughts/ideas/feelings, from looking at himself, other people, and the world around him. Thing is you never know exactly what combination of those things helped inspire a song unless he tells us! Fell For You sounds like someone who's far away from home missing the person they love so I definitely wouldn't be surprised if it was inspired by recent experiences, brings the image of him in a hotel room on tour feeling frustrated about it and trying to pass the time to my mind . Who knows though, could be past feelings inspiring it as well. It actually reminds me a lot of 2000 Light Years Away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DookieLukie Posted September 25, 2013 Share Posted September 25, 2013 I always saw Stray Heart as less of a "I fell for another woman" but instead a "I fell for drugs/alcohol and it hurt our love". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PigSniffingGlue Posted September 25, 2013 Share Posted September 25, 2013 I think his writing is always and always has been inspired by recent experiences, past experiences, recent thoughts/ideas/feelings, past thoughts/ideas/feelings, from looking at himself, other people, and the world around him. Thing is you never know exactly what combination of those things helped inspire a song unless he tells us! Fell For You sounds like someone who's far away from home missing the person they love so I definitely wouldn't be surprised if it was inspired by recent experiences, brings the image of him in a hotel room on tour feeling frustrated about it and trying to pass the time to my mind . Who knows though, could be past feelings inspiring it as well. It actually reminds me a lot of 2000 Light Years Away. oh I see. It's just that when I listen to Fell for you, I imagine the young 39 smooth-kerplunk-ish Billie, I see it as a song about this new love that has just started, that he isn't even fully ready to admit to himself ("I'll spend the night living in denial"), so I've always imagined that it's a song he wrote about feelings from the past. But it could also be about missing someone you've been in a relationship with for a long time, I haven't thought of that actually, it's a good point. Why wouldn't Fell for You or Angel Blue be about recent experiences? I always thought the songs were connected and probably about the same person/experience, whatever that is. they could be, I just always thought of those two songs as songs from the 39 smooth era, or as songs about the feelings he had then. I remember reading your review of the trilogy, and I really like your interpretation of the songs. I like the idea that the trilogy also has a vague story line. It's just that I don't think that every song is necessarily about a thing that happened to him recently/at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hermione Posted September 25, 2013 Share Posted September 25, 2013 oh I see. It's just that when I listen to Fell for you, I imagine the young 39 smooth-kerplunk-ish Billie, I see it as a song about this new love that has just started, that he isn't even fully ready to admit to himself ("I'll spend the night living in denial"), so I've always imagined that it's a song he wrote about feelings from the past. But it could also be about missing someone you've been in a relationship with for a long time, I haven't thought of that actually, it's a good point. Yeah I can see both things in it, I can imagine it now but it does remind me of a song like 2000 Light Years Away about a newer/younger relationship too. I like how it can be seen both ways. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spike Posted September 25, 2013 Share Posted September 25, 2013 I agree with Cracked's theory that it's about Lady Cobra, who is Green Day's Yoko Ono. http://www.cracked.com/quick-fixes/does-green-day-have-yoko-ono-problem/ Or, not. We're never going to know really, are we? It's interesting to think about though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burnout_blast Posted October 1, 2013 Share Posted October 1, 2013 Maybe he has a higher opinion of fans' intelligence than to think they'd just take the lyrics literally. That's such a one dimensional and dull way of looking at them. But the main thing is it's simply pointless to speculate about someone's personal life when you have no way of knowing if any of the speculation is correct or not. And when speculation is both pointless and can lead to misinformation and rumours being spread there's really no need for it. Please use the standard text size in your posts (as explained in the forum guidelines). Thanks Isn't it speculating to discuss this at all then. What if the songs ARE about a real person he loves. IMO its disrespectful the same to assume they are not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhiteTim Posted October 1, 2013 Share Posted October 1, 2013 Isn't it speculating to discuss this at all then. What if the songs ARE about a real person he loves. IMO its disrespectful the same to assume they are not. Not all songs are personal tho sometimes a aong is simply a song Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hermione Posted October 1, 2013 Share Posted October 1, 2013 Isn't it speculating to discuss this at all then. What if the songs ARE about a real person he loves. IMO its disrespectful the same to assume they are not.I wouldn't assume they're not either, they might often be. I just wouldn't assume anything about real life from lyrics without knowing either way if it's true, whether it's assuming they're based on a real event or assuming they're entirely made up. Billie himself has said that the lyrics about having flings etc on the album are just fantasy though, so I'm not assuming there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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