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Like a cloud his fingers explode
On the typewriter ribbon, the shadow grows
His hearts in a bowl behind the bank
And every evening when he get home
To make his supper and eat it alone
His black shirt cries
While his shoes get cold
It's just a dream he keeps having
And it doesn't seem to mean anything
And it doesn't seem to mean anything
One summer, a suicide
Another autumn, a travelers guide
He hits snooze twice before he dies
And every evening when he get home
To make his supper and eat it alone
His black shirt cries
While his shoes get cold
It's just a dream he keeps having
And it doesn't seem to mean anything
It's just a dream he keeps having
He feels lucky to have you here
In his kitchen, in your chair
Sometimes he forgets that you're even there
It's just a dream he keeps having
And it doesn't seem to mean anything
It's just a dream he keeps having
It's just a dream
And it doesn't seem to mean anything
On the typewriter ribbon, the shadow grows
His hearts in a bowl behind the bank
And every evening when he get home
To make his supper and eat it alone
His black shirt cries
While his shoes get cold
It's just a dream he keeps having
And it doesn't seem to mean anything
And it doesn't seem to mean anything
One summer, a suicide
Another autumn, a travelers guide
He hits snooze twice before he dies
And every evening when he get home
To make his supper and eat it alone
His black shirt cries
While his shoes get cold
It's just a dream he keeps having
And it doesn't seem to mean anything
It's just a dream he keeps having
He feels lucky to have you here
In his kitchen, in your chair
Sometimes he forgets that you're even there
It's just a dream he keeps having
And it doesn't seem to mean anything
It's just a dream he keeps having
It's just a dream
And it doesn't seem to mean anything
Lyrics submitted by OwnPersonalDemon
Track duration: 03:21
"Summer Teeth" as written by Jeffrey Scott/bennett Tweedy
Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., BUG MUSIC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Though when I first herd it I thought that this line...
"He feels lucky to have you here
In his kitchen, in your chair
Sometimes he forgets that you're even there"
...was addressing the writers audience. He's happy that he has readers or fans.(He writes in HIS kitchen, and you read it in YOUR chair) But now that he writes for money instead of a personal meaning he forgets that he even has fans or meaning to his work.
It's about an aspiring writer who's unhappy with his life. He doesn't enjoy his job, but has to do it because he's in debt. At the beginning of the song he's single and lonely. Later in the song he's no longer single, but still not happy with his life.
Here's what I think some of the lines mean:
"Like a cloud his fingers explode
On the typewriter ribbon, the shadow grows" -- this shows he's passionate about writing
"His hearts in a bowl behind the bank" -- he doesn't feel alive because of his debts
"And every evening when he get home
To make his supper and eat it alone" -- comes home from work and eats dinner alone
"It's just a dream he keeps having
And it doesn't seem to mean anything" -- His dreams for his life have lost meaning because they seem unattainable
"One summer, a suicide
Another autumn, a travelers guide" -- either things he writes about, or just distractions from his meaningless life
"He hits snooze twice before he dies" -- his job makes him miserable
"He feels lucky to have you here
In his kitchen, in your chair
Sometimes he forgets that you're even there" -- has a girlfriend/wife who he's grateful for, but isn't in love with
As for the song, I like all of the comments so far. Really helped me appreciate the song more. Originally I my interpretation was pretty close - the lonely struggling writer - but now I can say that I have a solid opinion of the song.
"Like a cloud his fingers explode/On the typewriter ribbon, the shadow grows" - He is sitting there writing but as time passes the product is less than meaningful.
"His hearts in a bowl behind the bank" - Too much of his energy is going to into earning money
"And every evening when he gets home/To make his supper and eat it alone/His black shirt cries/While his shoes get cold" - He is sweating trying to nourish himself when he should be walking around looking for help.
"It's just a dream he keeps having/And it doesn't seem to mean anything" - He is struggling to find meaning in life and the dream he keeps having is a unrecognized reminder
"One summer, a suicide/Another autumn, a travelers guide" - He likes to write about suicide novels, but is forced to write for traveler's guides to make money, which means he is not as successful as he wants to be.
"He hits snooze twice before he dies" - He is more alive when asleep
"He feels lucky to have you here/ In his kitchen, in your chair/ Sometimes he forgets that you're even there" - He says that he feels like lucky, but he really doesn't appreciate the company.
Expanding on the idea of the "meaningless existence" of daily life, the chorus
"It's just a dream he keeps having
And it doesn't seem to mean anything
And it doesn't seem to mean anything"
can also be taken to be a reference to life itself as a meaningless dream. Tweedy repeats this a lot and this was my first impression upon listening to the song.
I think that there's gotta be a lot of significance that it's told in third person... I think it's about a guy who loses his partner in some sort of freak accident (or a sudden unexpected death) and then kills himself (hits snooze twice before he dies) and then ends up in some afterlife with her and is really happy to be there together, but then as torture for being so selfish, it's like when Orpheus was in the underworld... he looks at her once and then she's gone... and he still has to go and make his dinner alone... I think the verses are out of order though. maybe. just an idea.
One last thing: It's really cool how the chirpy music covers up the dark lyrics.