When Winter Ends by bright eyes

Great song by Bright Eyes,
To me winter is a metaphor in the song. The dead and eternal snow is the emptiness and the sadness that you get so bogged down in with depression. You can't see anything past it. The perfect spring is the other end, the light that people keep saying is at the end of this tunnel.

"Just take me there and lie to me and say it's going to be alright"

I believe in symmetry

Great song by bright eyes. It has a lot of meaning in it. I think that Conor is really only saying one thing in this song. In my opinion it's not about free will versus determinism, it's about how both of them mesh together to make our lives. Our fates are determined already. Nothing is left up to chance, nothing is random, nothing happens by accident. Every second of the day is already planned out. Everything is inevitable, including death. The free will is how you choose to interpret this and whether or not you accept it. I think he's saying more that our thoughts and conclusions about fate are free will, not fate itself. Whether it's because of Science or some higher-being, what will happen will happen. You just have to choose whether or not to accept it.

If you go off of this, he's also sort of saying that as long as you've chosen something to believe in, you're correct. Whether you want to believe in God or not, or maybe you've simply decided to devote your life to Science. It doesn't really matter what you choose, your fate is determined either way.

Woodstock

Woodstock is acknowledged by most people as just a huge drug sex music fest. It was actually originally supposed to be a big money making venture. 2 guys from New York inherited a huge pharmaceutical fortune and wanted to use it to make even more money. So they put an ad in the paper asking for if anyone had an idea for a lucrative money making venture. They met with 2 other men who wanted to start a record company in the old town where Bob Dylan grew up. They decided to make a music festival to raise more funds for the venture. As we know the event went wildly out of control and initially lost a ton of money, but I went down in history as one of the greatest music festivals of all time.

You never give me your money

We listened to the Beatles song "You never give me your money" in class, and I was blown away. It had probably the greatest melody I have ever heard in my life. Since I enjoy delving into the meaning of lyrics in music, I decided to do some research into the meaning behind this song. I think this song is about Brian Epstein. As we mentioned in class, he was their manager and friend before he sadly died of a drug overdose. This song could possibly represents how they felt after he died. the lyrics like "out of college, money spent." is about Brian Episteins early years. he was very rich but wanted to build his life on his own terms not just take over his fathers business. so he opened a record store and went into music. This song being part of their "finale", I think they wanted to give him credit for all he did for them.
Great song, great melody!

Letting Off Happiness

This is another great album by Bright Eyes. It is the second album Conor Oberst has written (it was released when he was 17, my age). The lyrical concept is very interesting, it begins with "If Winter Ends", my favorite song on the album. Each quarter of the album reflects a different season and the emotions that go with each. This gives the album as a whole a very interesting dynamic. While the production values are low, it is a great showcase of Conor Oberst's writing as a teen and has some wonderful lyrics.
Enjoy!