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Post by Q3 on Jun 3, 2012 10:57:10 GMT -5
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Post by lambo on Jun 3, 2012 12:52:19 GMT -5
LOVE the voice here. Adam's most "restrained" vocal ever!
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Post by Deleted on Jun 4, 2012 15:31:25 GMT -5
I'm bringing this over from the main thread, it was written by Nikki:
"Adam is making everybody werk lately - execute intricate choreographies to his songs, get that mothef*cker NCOE onto the radio and now decipher lyrics. Slavedriver. God, I love him .
By the rules
Adam here is referring to a love affair that is "fated", or "karmic". Fated by the laws of nature and of astrology in particular. His "playing by the rules" refers to surrendering to a force that is greater than you, that is irresistible, undeniable and compelling, where you, in fact, seem to have no "choice".
You are my lava
My lava flow
Burn like no other
Right thru the core
The image is volcanic. It is an explosion of attraction. Hot and magnetic. A chain reaction that cannot be stopped once set in motion, it erupts, of itself, when the time is right. The heat of his lover, the glow of his fire, is searing - searching and finding the very core of his being. One cannot live without the other, or so it seems.
Just like the constellations, we shine
No wreck or ruin our Planets Align
The tide and the moon we are
You pull like the sea
In waves I can feel ya
You're my ecstasy
In astrology, the natal charts of two people can be analysed as a "synastry", or combined relationship chart that shows the relationship as a dynamic between all the planets and houses in both charts. For lovers, there are key planetary relationships that are particularly significant, e.g. between the sun and the moon, venus and mars etc. This "alignment" is what "pulls" two people together.
The imagery is so very beautiful. In the song opening, it is all about fire, very physically exciting and satisfying. Here the references are to water - to their feelings, their emotional connection, which is equally as strong, and ecstatic.
The lamb and the lion we lay down in peace
Like air to the fire
I need you to breathe
By the rules I play x 3
Let nature have its way
Predator and prey
That's the way we're made
So, by the rules, by the rules, by the rules
But this relationship is a case of opposites attracting - the very seed of what attracts each to the other also carries the energy that will destroy it. Lions and lambs are not naturally compatible. So once the force of what draws them together has been explored, they find that they are in reality "enemies", their energy starts to repel rather than attract. One starts destroying the other.
Adam is an Aquarius, and it's opposite sign is Leo, or the Lion. He could be identifying this person as either Leo sun or moon.
After the thunder must come the rain
After our beautiful karma must come the pain
Just like the constellations, we fade
As blades of sunlight send night away
Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. The laws are inexorable and unyielding. Fire burns without any compassion towards what it is destroying. And so, the end is as inevitable as the beginning, as day follows night. The cycle is fulfilled, completed. "
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Post by Deleted on Jun 4, 2012 15:42:52 GMT -5
Bringing this over: Made by the talented Nationalglampoon :D  |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 4, 2012 15:46:03 GMT -5
These are my first impressions upon hearing the song: By The Rules? Oh, my !!! LOVEITLOVEITLOVEIT!!!!! All I hear is Adam, all I feel is connection with his mojo. Sweet summer days, syrupy thick as molasses, hot nights at the beach clubs, tanned bodies smelling of the sea and the body creams swaying to the beat, flirtations, flings, hormones going wild..  The best times of my life EVER! And apparently Adam's had them as well:) Lots of it. Bob Marley groove with the raspiness of Sting's voice, but unmistakably Adam in the feel of it and the sexiness of it. By The Rules is probably not on Trespassing because it doesn't fit in the general storyline of the album, but, boy, am I glad he made this song! It simply makes me feel great, reminds me of some really good times of my life, it makes me identify with Adam even more deeply and it leaves me proud of his diversity. There's not a thing he can't do, is there, not a sound/ groove/ beat he cannot pull. If BTR made the basic version of the album, it would be even more difficult to define it. Funk, electro, pop, dubstep, whatnot and now REGGAE??? I just love it and I love him more for it |
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Post by lambo on Jun 4, 2012 16:21:21 GMT -5
Made by the talented Nationalglampoon :D Oh you  Love your thoughts on the song, I get a similar vibe from it, makes me feel really good and chilled out. It has such a gorgeous musical "backdrop" too that envokes really nice imagery. Sad that this song isn't getting more love :( |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 4, 2012 16:31:55 GMT -5
And since I have 'cojones' big enough, I'm just going to spill this out: Having been thoroughly disgusted by the EW review of Trespassing, where 'Chokehold' was wrongfully interpreted as a BDSM song ( what a blasphemy of intergalactic proportions!!!) , I find it a little difficult to say that I find BY THE RULES to be a song about dominance and submission. It's about a very passionate, all-consuming relationship, hot as lava itself :D But it's the truth, so... C'mon: The lamb and the lion ? ( Twilight much?  Predator and prey? And finally, by the rules I play! It's obvious from these lines that one partner is dominant and the other submissive. Which has nothing to do with one being weaker and the other stronger, of course. And D/s couples always have a set of RULES so that they could have a functioning relationship. I.e., they play by the rules  I think Adam wouldn't comment on the song, which can be seen from his reply to NoAngel's tweet, for this reason: many would assume that he indulges himself in such kind of a relationship and that simply isn't true. Especially knowing that there are people who perceive it as 'sinful' or 'wrong' ... ( One Million Moms much?) He's just going to let us enjoy a fine song, thank you very much and not let the pearl-clutchers spoil it with their close-mindedness. Not that there's anything wrong about it, it's just not Adam's thing, imho. He just made a great, sexy, cool, ambience song about it. I think it has nothing to do with Adam's love life and I don't find a single submissive streak in neither Sauli nor Brad, imho On the contrary: remember Adam's words about what Sauli would say if Adam tried to rescue him from the fire: "I can do zat myzelf , Adam!" Lol, he is a firecracker! My point being the song has nothing to do with Adam's relationship(s), past or present. In a more informed and accepting world, he would have been able to comment on the song, but I don't think he will. Nevermind. Meanwhile, I plan to enjoy this fabulous song. I'm so happy he made it! ETA But, but... Nationalglampoon, your emoticon is hugging itself! J/k, bb, I'm hugging you right back! Come and save my sorry ass when someone reads this post, will you :-/ |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 4, 2012 16:49:48 GMT -5
Written by Midwifespal:
" Today at 9:31am, Nikki wrote:
I'm late, as usual, and sorry if the conversation has moved on, but I just wanted to join in thanking Nikki for her careful interpretation, which seems pretty spot on to me.
I don't know, of course, about Sauli vs Brad vs other unknown, and I suspect the song is really more about a generic combination of lovers. But I wanted to add a shade of difference to the reading of the lyrics that makes it gentler, and more applicable to Sauli (or a current, happy love affair).
People have commented that the vibe of the song suggests a steamy nighttime (beachy) rendevous. All the images in the song are cyclical ones--the constellations, the tides--this cycle is the rule of nature that Adam must play by. But the biggest, almost unspoken cycle that controls the song and its narrative is simply the night-day cycle. All relationships, good ones as well as bad ones, have a cyclical energy, which ebbs and swells. And since this song is all sexy-sexy , the energy swells in it happen at night, of course. The parting pain--the thing that makes the lovers, like the constellations, fade a little dimmer--may just be the rising sun, as is stated in the final line of the verse "as blades of sunlight send night away." Hardly, by the way, the gloomiest note for a song about love to end on.
Sometimes lovers get all shady-sexy in the depths of night, and sometimes, in the light of the day, their passion dims a little. But listening to Adam talk about everything that he's particularly enjoyed about this last "normal" year and a half, I suspect he likes that laid-back, less glamorous daytime energy just as much. (By the way, how frickin well does this them fit with the Light/Dark concept of the album?!) One thing I really about the imagery in this song is that the Natural world that rules the song is not just a fierce wilderness. Sometimes the lion and the lamb lay down in it peacefully. Sometimes nature lulls with the gentle rhythm of the waves.
By the way, I just noticed this, but it's interesting to lay the lyrics of By The Rules side by side with those of Nirvana, especially as we are wondering if the former could be about Sauli, and know that the latter is. There's a lot of overlap in the images. Nirvana begins: "When the stars are too cold/ frozen over the glow/ on the edge of the night/ we can be their light" ...and continues in the second verse "Through the dark there's a way/ there's a love there's a place/ Where we don't have to hide/ we can dream all night./ So follow me through the sky/ And watch the oceans collide/ Just keep holding my hand/ as we're taking off/ I know where we'll land."
Sounds in a way like the calmer flip side to the ebb-and-flow love affair of BTR. Nirvana being, I guess, the place where a relationship goes when it rises above that tide-like natural cycle. But it could also just be that quiet space "on the edge of the night" where, after a night of passion, lovers faced with the cooler, faded light of the morning find warmth and calmer comfort in each others arms. "
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Post by lambo on Jun 4, 2012 17:42:14 GMT -5
ETA But, but... Nationalglampoon, your emoticon is hugging itself! J/k, bb, I'm hugging you right back! Come and save my sorry ass when someone reads this post, will you :-/ Hehe! I'll come and save you, your interpretation is along the lines of how I interpreted it, and why I said I got a Chokehold-ish vibe from it. |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 6, 2012 12:22:40 GMT -5
funkNNsoul þ@funkNNsoul 4music What was the inspiration behind "BY THE RULES" and when did you write this song? #ETAADAM @adamlambert 22s 4Music þ@4Music @funknnsoul I wrote the song and recorded it in LOndon actually! the Inspiration is a secret! |
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The best times of my life EVER! And apparently Adam's had them as well:) Lots of it.