| Andrew Bird – Simple X Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| Not just an old song, but a song from WWII. Possibly Andrew Bird, as a history buff, was also thinking of an even longer tradition (which informs the WWII song): "The cliffs have great symbolic value for Britain because they face towards Continental Europe across the narrowest part of the English Channel, where invasions have historically threatened and against which the cliffs form a symbolic guard." (from Wikipedia). | |
| Andrew Bird – Heretics Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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Excerpted from an interview at gothamist.com: "What about “Thank God it’s fatal, not shy”? AB: You know, that song is going along and talking about the damage we do to ourselves and whether we’re going to get credit for it in the end. The chorus takes it one step further… I don’t know exactly what I was getting at with that but it’s something to do with seeing how you’re going to go. Are you going to torture yourself or are you going to go the extra mile and do it ‘til it kills you. It’s just trying to understand why we push ourselves." |
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| Andrew Bird – Heretics Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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akindabird - the printed lyrics say "we'll sew a doll about it," and it sounds enough like that to me to believe it's intentional. By the way, I definitely agree with you about the tone, which is why I agree with the above comment about it poking fun at people who in a sense "cry wolf" for attention. Also by the way, postnatal could be crybabyish, infantile, which could tie in with your remarks. |
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| Andrew Bird – MX Missiles Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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In an interview, Mr Bird himself says: "The song MX Missiles is about how, when I was 19 or 20, my hometown was filled with bizarre, almost ritualistic suicides. I remember every week my mom would have another story, like "Remember so-and-so? He poured gasoline on himself and went up in flames.' It's kind of about how people seem very two-dimensional till they kill themselves and then suicide makes them really seem alive." Isn't it great how people can sense that through such beautiful obstrucity? (Certainly clears up the inspiration for "conflagration.") |
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| Andrew Bird – Spare-Ohs Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| Is it just too obvious, or why has no one commented on the pun of something "getting in your hair" as an idiom for an annoyance? As JasonBunting points out elsewhere in the lyrics to "This Is Not A Song About A Train," this song contains elements of those lyrics - the idea of dead bodies as smoke getting into things, and even a call to the EPA. But here the expression is both literal and metaphorical, taken a little further. I like the way that reinforces the environmental slippery slope idea, how an annoyance grows more serious through inattention. | |
| Andrew Bird – Scythian Empire Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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Or maybe he's just talking about raincoats. Wait, would that be too easy? ;) |
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| Andrew Bird – Gotholympians Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| VoltanEchoes' comment on Heretics (relating to suicide as an excuse to get attention) reminded me of this song, and I was surprised to not find it posted here. The lyrics don't read as humorous as they sound when sung. | |
| Andrew Bird – Fake Palindromes Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| In Trepanation, he talks about singles ads being used as a sort of shortcut to getting to know someone. At the end he talks about the Trepanation Singles Club of America, for people who want to "meet nice people with cranial holes/and touch upon the truth that lies inside." So there trepanation seems more of a grisly over-the-top metaphor for 'artificial' (for lack of a better word) ways of socializing, ways of looking into someone's head bypassing traditional interaction. In this song it certainly has a more sinister feeling, what with monsters, death kits, etc. | |
| Andrew Bird – Self Torture Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| These first two verses appear in slightly different form in the song Trepanation (no official release). | |
| Aphex Twin – We Are The Music Makers Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| Gene/Willy was in turn quoting a 19th century poem by Arthur O'Shaughnessy. | |
| Andrew Bird – Sick of Elephants Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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(The elephants are obviously the Republican Party.) The Wars of the Roses were a series of civil wars (in 15th century England). I love the way "...fish smell like roses" combines "smelling fishy" and "smelling like a rose." Pleated pants! |
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| Andrew Bird – Scythian Empire Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| Aside from its obvious literal meaning, does anyone else think that "Scotch Guard Macintosh" is a pun on the fact that Macintosh is a Scottish name/invention? (I'm not used to hearing Americans use the term "Macintosh," at least not in the Northeast where I live.) | |
| Andrew Bird – Cataracts Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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I find these words especially beautiful to the ear and evocative in imagery and feeling. Without being tied to any specific persons or events, I think they express some standard Bird themes. In the opening stanza, he evokes a fallen state where "we" have lost our voice to others, where we are isolated from loved ones, and where we are offered a false good. I love the "light-filled eye" image, and while it's beautiful in itself, it evokes a sense of grace or knowledge attained (presumably by rejecting the sour milk). In the second stanza, he conjures up what I think of as the "shadowy forces" he referred to somewhere when speaking about a vague narrative thread running through The Mysterious Production of Eggs. "They" are associated with stealth (entering from the back), violence (spears), power (secepters), and restraint/control (sacks). They're vague and not fully formed, and the "scribs and tangles" in their heads evoke confused or messed-up thinking. The third stanza evokes passage through shadowy, prickly growth into a fold. I can see this as either the above "they" leading the "us" of the first stanza into captivity; or I can also see it as the "us" passing through danger into safety (which I prefer). |
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| Andrew Bird – Armchairs Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| abzechi - the interesting thing about the violin bow idea is that when playing the violin you're essentially running strings across strings at a right angle, which is what you do when weaving. And physicists often speak of the 'fabric' of space-time. I assume a crooked bow is undesirable and leads to bad pitch or something of the sort, but I really have no idea. I doubt that this was actually intended as part of the song, but it often amazes me how densely interwoven (forgive the pun) Mr Bird's imagery can be. | |
| Stereolab – Lo Boob Oscillator Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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My French is sketchy, and I have not been able to find any authoritative version of the lyrics even in French, but I believe the lyrics above have many minor errors. I have no idea why cold_war makes the above comments about "elements." As for "symbolic systems," the lyrics "Transitoire, unique, symbolique de quelques visions imaginaires" would be something like "Transitory, unique, symbolic of (some) imaginary visions." The The moon is free, I believe, That shines above you. The moon is free, More free than one would believe, It fluctuates between this and that, The parts that one does not see, It's not important, it will return And when it is plunged Into cold obscurity Gives the impression that it darkens It quickly gets back on its feet With its unstable appearances Which create doubt More faithful than one would believe The moon is free This has been my favorite Stereolab song since it first appeared. If anyone knows the accurate french, please post. Does anyone with a musical background know if the opening "la" she sings is the "la" of "do re mi fa so la ti do?" "Sugar/ oh, honey, honey/ you are my candy girl/ and you got me wanting you." |
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| Low – Hatchet Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| I think the intended hatchet-burying metaphor IS between the two groups. Not that the groups themselves ever fought, but they have a legendary opposition as the defining camps of Pop/Rock. Just google Beatles vs Stones and you'll find dozens of references. | |
| Low – Silver Rider Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| Circuitry - yes, but surely you realize the Silver Surfer is a barely-disguised Christ figure? | |
| King Crimson – I Talk To The Wind Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| A comedy team generally has a "straight man," who behaves conventionally, and a "funny man," who makes the jokes. I take the opening lines as a sort of zen joke (here there and in between tells you nothing in a conventional sense, but have a zen flair). I take "talking to the wind" to mean not that the speaker is speaking to no one, but that his words go unheard by others. He's looking at society, but he's not really part of it, and from the tone (both musical and lyrical) he seems to have achieved some sort of peace. | |
| King Crimson – The Great Deceiver Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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I'm surprised no one has mentioned that "Cigarettes, ice cream, figurines of the Virgin Mary" is the only King Crimson lyric that Robert Fripp wrote. It was allegedly inspired by souvenirs at Vatican City. The Great Deceiver is a common name for the devil (as King Crimson is a less common name for the same). |
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| Andrew Bird – Fiery Crash Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| eisey: I think that's a brilliant comment you made about time passing while being unaware. I used to hear that and simply think about (literally) falling asleep and waking up in an airport lounge, but something about the way you put it tied in with the song's larger theme of not connecting, of passing through life without really paying attention. | |
| Andrew Bird – A Nervous Tic Motion of the Head to the Left Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| I always thought this was about the fragile miracle of life, as suggested by many above, and that the events are linked by theme (eg, collision, chance) but not by narrative. I think of the "nervous tic" as a (metaphorical) nervous looking-over-the-shoulder for death creeping up. I've always wondered if "undelivered" has spiritual connotations intended. Like most of his songs about the fragility of good things, I don't see them as depressing so much as poignant. | |
| Andrew Bird – Heretics Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| VoltanEchoes: That is extremely cogent. Boy do I feel stupid. | |
| Andrew Bird – Spare-Ohs Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| It's probably just me, but when he talks about eyes and teeth and fairness so close together, I think of "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth." In environmental terms, he could be saying that we've made a mess of the planet - birds being a stand-in for nature - and disastrous consequences follow. I think the slippery slope idea could easily apply to the environment. | |
| Andrew Bird – Sick of Elephants Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| (iTunes exclusive, at least for the moment - they force you to buy the whole album) | |
| Andrew Bird – Darkmatter Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| On second or third thought, mbritten's point is pretty spot-on in this age of scientific aspirations to immortality, and it still maintains the mysterious nature of who/what we are at the bottom of it all. Good thought. | |
| Andrew Bird – Armchairs Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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Some thoughts, in case anyone finds them useful: "armchair something" - eg, an armchair quarterback - refers to someone removed from the actual action. Webster's puts it really well: "remote from direct dealing with problems." There's a lot of passivity/inaction in this song. "a cosmonaut of the space between our chairs" conjures up not simply the great distance between them, but a cosmonaut is also free of gravity (more on gravity below). Cartographers not only deal with distances, but they deal with them at an analytic/conceptual remove (ie, maps are only representations of what they represent). No one's mentioned it and it may be obvious, but looms, weaving, and cut strands are classic references to the Greek Fates. Even if the "incandescent hands" are the hands of a clock, they also tie in the to the weaving, which amazes me. When he talks about pulling yourself up until "gravity...lets you go," it could refer to simply pulling yourself out of an armchair, out of a depression, or, if you link it to the cosmonaut idea, pulling yourself out of yourself and towards someone else. Gravity here could also imply a grave mood, an overseriousness. In this respect, the song reminds me as well of Weather Systems, as mentioned above. "You didn't write/You didn't call...You didn't feel a thing at all" could be the speaker yelling at himself for not having done anything, for his own "awkward pause/fatal flaw," and then for sitting through an emotional storm (waves, squall) in a state of numbness/inaction. More armchair passivity, and regret. I love the above thoughts on time as a tensed and dangerous bow (and also the implication of a single shot, a single chance). It's also occurred to me that the mathematical/scientific symbol for infinity resembles a crooked bow, but I don't think the idea of infinity adds much here, unless you want to invoke time just dragging on. I think that's all for now, except to add that I am greatly amused by the fact of Google ads for actual armchairs appearing to the right of these lyrics. |
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| Andrew Bird – Heretics Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| It's occurred to me that even though this song probably applies to dissenters in a general way, there are a lot of things that resonate with the Irag war and the current Administration, if you allow for floating pronouns. The "Heretics" title could refer to the religious aspect of the (Holy) War, as well as the administration characterizing dissenters as "unpatriotic"; the opening/closing lines refer directly to torture, and indirectly to (peaceful) dissent; the lines about "credit" could refer to the adminsitration's actions both in the war and in terms of domestic policy; the pratfall/encore line could easily refer to the two terms of office; "Thank god it's fatal" could be seen as either the cry of a suicide bomber, or despair at the ongoing situation; the 'door' could be an exit strategy; the signs could be protesters; the "heard this before" could refer to the administration's first term, or to Vietnam. In a weird way, "post-natal" could refer to post-partum depression as regret for what's been done. "We'll be back" could be a weird way of referring to the "4 more years" chant. I don't think it all adds up nicely, but maybe there's something to it. | |
| Andrew Bird – Darkmatter Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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Now that you mention it, that makes perfect sense. However, the end - shooting through the noose with dark matter - still implies a victory, not a postponement. (Or if you take it literally as shooting x-rays or scans, it's actually ineffective, just informative.) I'm never sure if this song should be taken as a fantasy of power/wish-fulfillment, as a sincere belief in some non-material existence, or as (what I think it is) an open-ended dramatization of the questions of identity and bodily existence. The album version sounds so triumphant. "The thought of tongues that taste you back" has forever changed my attitude towards kissing. |
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| Andrew Bird – Weather Systems Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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I think of people's "mental weather:" moods, etc. The woman has intuition, but the man is ruminating. "and every time you turn the soil/ another cloud begins to boil" suggests that when you think too much ("dig too deep") you stir up trouble. It goes perfectly with the theme of quieting down. He's turned away from her into himself, and she's attempting to bring him back. I like the above comment about the wine. Wine has ceremonial or sacred connotations, so it's not like spilling (for instance) beer. |
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| Andrew Bird – Sick of Elephants Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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In a blog, someone said Andrew Bird introduced this song live: "Bird explained that he wrote it the day after the last national elections and said he'd been travelling around the country on tour, through red states and blue states and ended up "the night of the election in a blinking red state, Ohio" and the next day he wrote this song. |
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| Andrew Bird – Self Torture Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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Any corrections would be welcome. The violin theme on this song was also released as an instrumental on Fingerlings 3 as "The Water-Jet Cilice." |
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| Andrew Bird – Armchairs Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| The truly strange thing about 'fifty-five and three-eighths' is that he uses it in reference to years, and then at the end he says 'you're fifty-five and three-eighths tall,' which really makes no sense at all (though for some reason it makes me think of feeling incomplete or short of something). Interesting that he uses it to refer to both time and space, perhaps, but I suspect it's an arbitrary number with a good sound. Maybe a jab at the urge to quantify? | |
| Andrew Bird – Measuring Cups Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| There is an actual (legendary) Hand of Glory - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hand_of_Glory - which is literally grim and gory. Knowing this doesn't help me at all. Although it does appear in Harry Potter - I haven't read Harry Potter, but maybe he's using that as an example of "declawed" stories, as compared to Bros Grimm et al? | |
| Andrew Bird – Spare-Ohs Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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For what it's worth, in comments at NewCityChicago.com he says, "`Spare-Ohs' deals with the remains of animals or humans, and that getting into your food or skin or hair. Themes of mortality." Is crespice a real word? Maybe it's a blend of 'crest' and 'precipice?' I appreciate what I see as a bit of self-mockery when he uses an archaic spelling for "abstruse." |
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| Andrew Bird – Armchairs Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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"incandescent hands" = luminous hands of a clock? (Time) The line about waves is actually "waves of a.m. squall." A squall is a sudden wind, so this could be a storm at sea. A squall is also a sort of scream, and waves could be airwaves, so it could also a.m. radio. Hmm. |
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| Andrew Bird – Spare-Ohs Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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"But their yolk isn't easy / in fact it's a drag" In Matthew 11:28, Jesus (who dragged a cross) says, "For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." |
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| Andrew Bird – Masterfade Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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Look at this! http://www.mahjongg.com/invcomp.htm "You may notice that the winds shown in the compass are reversed. If you have and are wondering why, it is because Mah Jongg is a ritual Game that reflects Chinese philosophical principles, for example, there is a ritual of building The Wall - which mirrors the boundaries of an ancient Chinese city, with the four sides of the Wall given the name of the four winds. However the winds are named in reversed order because they do not reflect terrestrial directions but rather represent a celestial map, that is, the winds are shown in the directions that you would expect to see if you were looking from a heavenly perspective rather than an earthly one. You can visualize this by looking up to the sky, work out where East and West are and realise then that they are reversed." |
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| Andrew Bird – Heretics Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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More to chew: "don't you think we might have heard that before?" has added meaning in light of the reincarnation angle. The opening/closing lines imply torture (boring, placing under water?, confession, and thumb-clamping) - but for two of those, the response is creative - singing, sewing a doll. I have no idea what sewing a doll is about, except that sewing requires thumbs and creating a doll is kind of like a birth. One of the things I admire about his lyrics is the richness of suggestion within a theme while remaining enigmatic. (Can you tell I've had this CD on repeat for a very long time?) |
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| Andrew Bird – Darkmatter Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| I agree with the above comments about this song being open to different ideas, the wonder(ing) being more important than the answer, etc, but I also find it interesting that he uses Dark Matter - (the unknown or unknowable) - as a weapon against death. This suggests a sort of Faith which he rarely alludes to. | |
| Andrew Bird – Heretics Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| The more I think about it/listen to it, the less convinced I am of my previous thoughts. The song has a "we" and a "you," and it's the "you" that thanks god its's fatal. I'm particularly puzzled by the pratfalls/encore line. Maybe it's about an attempted suicide? | |
| Andrew Bird – Plasticities Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| I'd say this continues the theme of The Individual vs. Media/Government/Society/WhatHaveYou. I like the wordplay of "neural walls and plasticities." I see it as both "walls and cities" and as a reference to neuroplasticity; it addresses both the individual brain/mind and the social/physical environment. | |
| Andrew Bird – Simple X Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| The thing I find odd about this song is that low levels of serotonin are associated with depression, so "before your trace serotonin rises" would seem to mean "before your mood is pleasant," which doesn't fit with the other lines. Am I missing something here? | |
| Andrew Bird – Imitosis Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| I find this to be perhaps the most elegant summation of our society's obsession with explaining everything about human behavior through "selfish genes." | |
| Andrew Bird – Scythian Empire Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| For those of you without the very beautiful CD packaging, the lyric sheet says, "routed by Sarmations." Also, the first lines are "...black tar rains and hellfire/while handpicked handler's kid gloves tear at the inseams." | |
| Andrew Bird – Heretics Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| On the other hand, "Dark Matter" seems to make a case for escaping before they kick out the ladder... | |
| Andrew Bird – Heretics Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| When I said I think the song "embraces death," I should have said I think the song embraces the finality of death. "thank god it's fatal" is saying, "thank god it's over." Not wanting to read a sign saying "We'll be back" speaks for itself. I definitely agree with vinylskirt about the door as a symbol of passage to another life - a sound "we don't want to hear." As for the irony, I think there's an irony in using the phrase "thank god" as an expression of happiness and/or gratitude if one is a heretic. I'd also like to say that I don't think he's really morbid about it - are we not having fun? And shouldn't that be enough? | |
| Andrew Bird – Heretics Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| It's not "sound of a draw," it's "sound of a door." Here's something: "heretics" are nonbelievers, the song embraces death, and it ends by saying "We'll be back? What a crack." Maybe it's about the absence of an afterlife, in which case "thank god it's fatal" is pretty ironic. | |
| Andrew Bird – Armchairs Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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I agree that his lyrics tend to avoid the specific, but I can't help thinking that "Time's arrow" is a famous reference to entropy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrow_of_time |
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