Candy says I’ve come to hate my body/
And all that it requires in this world.

Velvet Underground’s “Candy Says” is about a woman who hates her body. Before knowing the story behind the song it sounds like it could be a story about any young woman uncomfortable with her body. This song was specifically written about a transsexual named Candy and it is sung from her perspective.

Candy feels tied to her body and would like to know what others feel like in theirs. Specifically, she feels tied to her worldly body and envies those who were born with the ‘right’ body. She envisions a time when she is older when perhaps this situation can be rectified: if she could turn into the person she really is. This clearly has a psychological effect on Candy. Her mind runs wild and she doesn’t like to be in quiet places alone with her thoughts.

Velvet Underground gives a very sympathetic interpretation to Candy’s story, which is ahead of its time really. The gentle vocals speak of a delicate subject. Also, Velvet Underground Candy as a person disconnected from her body. Again, it just seems ahead of its time. Even today trans-gendered are not fully understood but Velvet Underground attempts to tell a sympathetic story some fifty years ago.

Candy Says Lyrics

Candy says, “I’ve come to hate my body,
And all that it requires in this world.”
Candy says, “I’d like to know completely,
What others so discretely talk about.”

I’m gonna watch the blue birds fly over my shoulder,
I’m gonna watch them pass me by.
Maybe when I’m older,
What do you think I’d see,
If I could walk away from me.

Candy says, “I hate the quiet places,
That cause the smallest taste of what will be.”
Candy says, “I hate the big decisions,
That cause endless revisions in my mind.”

I’m gonna watch the blue birds fly over my shoulder,
I’m gonna watch them pass me by.
Maybe when I’m older,
What do you think I’d see,
If I could walk away from me.

Songwriters: Lewis Allen Reed / Lou Reed

I used to rule the world…
Now in the morning, I sleep alone.

Coldplay’s “Viva La Vida” is a riches-to-rags story. The narrator is on top of the world and it comes crashing down on him. We don’t know why—there is no special event. What Chris Martin is most interested in is the juxtaposition between being on top and being on bottom. Once he ruled the world and he was so powerful it was almost as if the seas would rise at his command. Now, he sweeps the streets that he used to own.

A lot of the imagery from the song is about an actual king, but the song can have just as much impact if you take it figuratively. That is, a person who had it all but who lost it.

“Viva La Vida’s” melody and strings drive the song, but the riches-to-rags message makes the song special. Some songs we can sing the words but we have no idea what we are singing about. This song it is clear it is about someone who fell from grace. A song is usually much more impactful when you know what it is about.

Interestingly, there is no lesson,  moral or observation that Martin attempts to provide about his fall. It really is just a story. Some sort of message about the difference between life on the top versus life on the bottom might have been appropriate. It works nonetheless.

Viva La Vida Lyrics

I used to rule the world
Seas would rise when I gave the word
Now in the morning, I sleep alone
Sweep the streets I used to own

I used to roll the dice
Feel the fear in my enemy’s eyes
Listen as the crowd would sing
Now the old king is dead! Long live the king!

One minute I held the key
Next the walls were closed on me
And I discovered that my castles stand
Upon pillars of salt and pillars of sand

I hear Jerusalem bells are ringing
Roman Cavalry choirs are singing
Be my mirror, my sword and shield
My missionaries in a foreign field
For some reason I can’t explain
Once you go there was never, never an honest word
And that was when I ruled the world

It was a wicked and wild wind
Blew down the doors to let me in
Shattered windows and the sound of drums
People couldn’t believe what I’d become

Revolutionaries wait
For my head on a silver plate
Just a puppet on a lonely string
Oh, who would ever want to be king?

I hear Jerusalem bells are ringing
Roman Calvary choirs are singing
Be my mirror, my sword and shield
My missionaries in a foreign field
For some reason I can’t explain
I know Saint Peter won’t call my name
Never an honest word
But that was when I ruled the world

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh

I hear Jerusalem bells are ringing
Roman Calvary choirs are singing
Be my mirror, my sword and shield
My missionaries in a foreign field
For some reason I can’t explain
I know Saint Peter won’t call my name
Never an honest word
But that was when I ruled the world

Songwriters: Christopher A. J. Martin / Guy Rupert Berryman / Jonathan Mark Buckland / William Champion

But my dreams
They aren’t as empty/
As my conscience seems to be.

Who is The Who’s  “Man Behind Blue Eyes”? And what do we know about him? He isn’t well liked—at all—but it seems there is a part of him that doesn’t understand why and wants to change that. Maybe. One of the main themes of this song is that he does feel misunderstood. He does not come across as a sympathetic character.

He claims that he is fated to telling only lies. Who is fated to telling only lies? I can’t imagine many circumstances where this would literally be true. It sounds more like a persecution complex. He also believes that no one suffers as much as he does. He holds so much in; you will never know. But again he seems to want to change. That is what he tells us anyways.

The bridge does not go with the rest of the song (musically it sounds like a completely different song), but we have seen this in some of the psychedelic rock in the late 60s. That seems to be one of its features. Though I don’t put The Who into the psychedelic rock genre, this song came out at the height of that period and it was possible Townsend was inspired by it. Great chorus and an underrated bass performance.

Behind Blue Eyes Lyrics

No one knows what it’s like
To be the bad man
To be the sad man
Behind blue eyes
And no one knows what it’s like
To be hated
To be faded to telling only lies

But my dreams they aren’t as empty
As my conscience seems to be
I have hours, only lonely
My love is vengeance
That’s never free

No one knows what its like
To feel these feelings
Like I do
And I blame you
No one bites back as hard
On their anger
None of my pain and woe
Can show through

But my dreams they aren’t as empty
As my conscience seems to be
I have hours, only lonely
My love is vengeance
That’s never free

No one knows what its like
To be mistreated, to be defeated
Behind blue eyes
An no one know how to say
That they’re sorry and don’t worry
I’m not telling lies

But my dreams they aren’t as empty
As my conscience seems to be
I have hours, only lonely
My love is vengeance
That’s never free

No one knows what its like
To be the bad man
To be the sad man
Behind blue eyes

Songwriters: Pete Townshend