Miranda. I don't get it.
 

Miranda..wow, very depressing song. I keep reading people say they think this song is about prostitution??? I don't see it. Elaborate please.

I think it's about Ann Heche, at least in part. I don't really know, though. But I love it.

Celestia, Celestia!

I'm not sure what it's about (I rarely am) but I do love it, and it's my favorite Lindsey song on SYW. :wavey:

It's one of his best crafted songs. Everything's in place, compact yet moody. And the lyrics are wonderful. I don't get it either, but that's what i love about it. I'm totally not interested in the meaning of the lyrics, so sorry, can't help you. I'm satisfied with the answer: It's about miranda, who's taking the stars down.

I don't know that it's about prostitution, per se. Miranda seems to be a bit of a star****er, though. She's a woman who was deeply scarred by the sexual abuse she experienced at the hands of her father, to the point that she is unable to bear being in a loving relationship. Instead, she represses her emotional and sexual issues by entering into high-profile sexual relationships with celebrities. Or she may be a celebrity herself, and she uses that celebrity to repress her pain and convince herself that she's part of something bigger, something meaningful. That actually may be more likely. In the end, though, of course, Miranda is always alone.

That's how I interpret it, anyway. It's a dark and achingly beautiful song, with some of Lindsey's most wonderfully evocative lyrics ever. "She sticks the camera right into her arm" - just perfect. That's like a line in a Sylvia Plath poem.

(By the way, why aren't the Say You Will lyrics in the Penguin lyric archive?)

(Didn't the Ledge have a Lyrics Interpretation forum back in the day?)

Which brings us back around to Anne Heche. :laugh:

I figured! I can't say that I read her memoir or know anything about her personal life beyond the fact that she dated Lindsey. I do seem to remember reading somewhere that she has a history of abuse, is that right?

It is easily for me one of the best songs on SYW. It is the perfect combination of LB's masterful production and La Nicks' clever harmonies.

I say the same for Murrow.

I'll jump in on this one coz Miranda is one of my favorite songs of Lindsey's. I think it is about Anne Heche coz doesn't she seem kind of flighty to you? She had a nervous breakdown finally. I think the song is about a chick who was abused as a kid (she sees her father holding her down) and then as an adult, she *hates to be loved but she loves to be seen*. So I think Miranda (Anne) loved the spotlight and the publicity but she couldn't make a real commitment to anybody. I get the feeling she was plastic. I really do like this song and I could actually be more of a fan of Lindsey if he did more songs like this. I love *she sticks the camera right into her arm* and it's one of the best lines ever and I didn't know it was from a poem.

Oh, it's not, I just meant it seems like a line that could be in a Plath poem, that kind of really jarring imagery that just smashes two different concepts together (in this case, drug use and celebrity) and manages to evoke so much more than the two concepts alone ever could.

Not that Lindsey doesn't have a penchant for stealing lines from American female poets...

I thought you meant it was from a poem. He thought of that line? Usually I can't stand Lindsey's words but Miranda is one of the best things he ever did. I looked up all the words on google. He wrote these? Or did somebody else and he wrote the music? Coz these really are good and they make sense to me. Somebody who is messed up in the head, can't bear the daylight, loves the nightlife and being seen and being celebrity and is totally not able to *be* with anybody in a real way. I'm not a celebrity but I can relate to this song and how I used to be but without the money and fame. I think *the lion* is her demons and her father (something I relate to) and that's why she's always alone. She's still ruled by them. The camera is her choice of drug (something else I can relate to but I resorted to good old fashion cocaine). They're all just escapes. Good song. Here are the words:

At the end of the day
The end of the light
She keeps the remains of all of her foes
Miranda is dying with all of her might
She never comes
She always goes

She sticks the camera right into her arm
Anything to forget what the trouble's about
It causes her pain,
That's part of the charm
She's down for the count then finally out

Miranda is taking the stars down
A little something to call her own
But the lion still rules Miranda
And Miranda is always alone

She sees her face in another magazine
And the walls all close in as the fancy takes flight
Can't stand to be loved,
But she loves to be seen
She slips down headlong into the night

Miranda is taking the stars down
A little something to call her own
But the lion still rules Miranda
And Miranda is always alone

And then all at once the sun starts to rise
She sees her father holding her down
All the daylight is poison to her eyes
She slips down the shade and lets herself drown

Miranda is taking the stars down
A little something to call her own
But the lion still rules Miranda
And Miranda is always alone

The lights shine down the marina
All across her safety zone
But loneliness follows Miranda
And Miranda is always alone
Miranda is always alone
Miranda is always alone

It's a fantastic song, I'm never tired of it. The music structure is a travel in itself, the lyrics are touching and sharp, and stevie vocals brilliantly unbalanced it, and made it show even more all the deep feelings that contains. I have no idea what's about, many things probably, a personal drama used as a mirror to describe how hypocritical and cannibalistic show business can be.

Romy

I was always under the assumption that MIRANDA was about a porn actress...

"Come" was certainly about Ellen's and LB's ex, though...

rbs

I immediately thought it was about the Miranda in the Tempest; however, I didn't read his lyrics before, and now I see that reference as unlikely. I *did* think it was odd that Lindsey would make reference to a Shakespeare play.

I used to study lyrics much more carefully when they were printed on LP sleeves. :o

i read it...all told two pages...her treatment of lindsey i abhor

Yes, that was it!! Not prostitution. It was the porno reference I didn't get :confused:

Yikes! As much as I love Lindsey, and he's the reason I got into the Mac...I really dislike the song, lyrically and the way he sings it. The only redeeming quality is those loopy guitar parts at the end.

What is it you don't like about the lyrics?

Um...I dont like the lyrics...I dont like the way its written at all.

I'm not so inclined to try to understand what any Fleetwood Mac song is about. Outside of Christine, whose lyrics are very straight forward (for better or worse), Stevie's and Lindsey's songs always seem to draw upon a number of different influences. To tie one particular subject/person to a lyric seems a futile effort...even when the writers themselves try to explain it! (Did anyone happen to notice that in Storytellers, more often than not, Stevie spoke of the circumstances surrounding the songs, but didn't get too deep into the emotional inspiration for them?)

Still. I'm in the camp that thinks Miranda is one Lindsey's better songs on Say You Will. Would have been great live. But, of course, that's why they didn't perform it! :shrug:

I dont get that. I think Murrow, Come, Bleed to Love Her, Red Rover, Say Goodbye and Whats the World Coming To are all vastly better than Miranda. Oh well.

Great, thanks.

Why are so many people around here completely averse to actual discussion?

No, "Oh Well" was on Then Play On, not Say You Will.

HAHA! nO I meant, oh well as in.......ah nevermind.

You want a conversation about it? "She sticks the camera right into her arm" " "But the lion rules Miranda"........."The lights shine down the marina all across her safety zone"...........

These lyrics just urk me. Dont know why, I just dont like the vibe of the song, nor the way he actually sings it. Then again you take a song like "Come"......which I dont particularly like all that much either. I really dislike his vocal on that too, but the guitar part at the end is so frenetic I have to like it.

[QUOTE=mylittledemon]HAHA! nO I meant, oh well as in.......ah nevermind.

Nevermind? No, not nirvana :rolleyes: :] :angel: :D

[QUOTE=Lindsey Jr.]
You guys are killing me. Softly.

Some are not. but i'm averse to discussion with the inflexible. That's my false humbleness.

That's great, buddy. You keep it up with that selective reading, sarcastic underdog thing. That's always a fun card to play.

i love you.



it's a fun song to sing, i don't read too much into it. i definitely get the anne heche vibe. but at the same time, isn't mrs. buckingham a photographer? who used cameras in her former life? maybe she stuck a few right into her arm? i don't know.

I never understood why people thought the line "she sees her father holding her down" implied sexual abuse. If you interpret that line differently, the song goes in a completely other direction. I always took that line to mean someones father is holding her back, keeping her down, preventing her from hurting herself. Perhaps she even wants to kill herself at the loss of her fame and her father prevents her from doing so? So, instead, she just lays in her bed and lets herself drown, be miserable. That line does not have to mean sexual abuse and Lindsey has never implied that it does so. It could be about Anne, it could be about starlets in general. However, the main reason people started thinking this song was about AH was because they interpreted that one line to be about sexual abuse. At that time in her career, AH was on the rise. Her career was just starting. She certainly would not have been sitting home, looking at her face in an OLD magazine, reminiscing about what she used to have. (1992/93) AH would have been dreaming about what was to come, what she was working towards.
IMHO, the song is more about fame in general. How when someone depends on their fame for complete fulfillment and then they lose that fame, they really are left with nothing tangible.

You're right, it doesn't necessarily have to mean sexual abuse; it could also just be physical abuse. But I'm not sure the idea of her father simply metaphorically "holding her down" really holds up in the context of the rest of the song. The idea of her father as her protector just seems out of place. Miranda doesn't have any protectors - she's "always alone."

Also, a lot of the imagery revolves around the juxtaposition of light and dark - with Miranda using darkness as one way to hide from and forget about her problems (as when "she slips down the shade / and lets herself drown"). The image of her father, however, is associated with the light - she sees the image of her father only after "the sun starts to rise." But "the daylight" which heightens that image "is poison to her eyes." So in the context of the verse and the rest of the song, it really doesn't seem that her father is assuming the role of protector.

I don't really see it as her father being a protector...more that her father complicates things for her. "the light shines down the marina, all across the safety zone"..sort of implies that the protection was there for her, she just didn't see it, or take advantage of it.
I dunno, it is an interesting discussion though. I just have a different interpretation of Miranda than most people it seems.

Nothing wrong with different interpretations, as it does make for interesting discussion!

As far as the line you quoted, I interpret it as another instance of the light/dark dichotomy, with the light once again laying bare all of the problems and issues Miranda is trying to hide from herself ("her safety zone" being the darkness in which she tries to forget those problems).

We definitely both agree that her father "complicates things for her," anyway...

That sounds alot better than false humbleness.

By the way, don't you think I was saying very nice things about you and you only picked out some critical feedback?

I think every part of Miranda screams Anne Heche. It's "right on the nose" equivalant would be if he wrote a song called "Lady Wearing Black Singing Next To Me". The line "She sticks the camera right into her arm" I agree is very powerful, and I think purposely so. That line thrust forward all the "media whore" concepts in the song. When someone brings up Anne Heche what comes to mind? "The crazy lady who wouldn't stop talking about how crazy she is" and "The lady who started banging a chick to get ahead" (actress might go in there somewhere). Someone mentioned about the magazine thing, but prior to meeting Buckingham she began her soap career so she would indeed have been on/in some magazines. So I guess that's my take on it, that I really can't see anything in that song that isn't Anne Heche. On a side note, as of lately it seems Celestia's universe has been quite calm and quiet. I think having her child probably took care of alot of demons for her, and I'm glad she's found some peace :)

That depends. Do you think you picked out small parts of my posts to take issue with while ignoring others?

I asked first

I thought it was about drug/heroin addiction...