smoke was pulled like ribbons
from the windows of the car.
I followed the flash of silver from your teeth
above the tarmac the lights were icy-green......
Buried in patterns in your chest.
a quiet shimmering:
little dipper, tiara-shine, song bird shivery, thin thin dime

chorus: smoke like ribbons

songs were pulled like ribbons
from the window of the car... lost
along the shoulders of the highway.
the cake walk
dancers unwind from their spin
singing "lawty lawty loved him."
stark don't give a flat fuck

chorus



Lyrics submitted by mahargrepooc13

Track duration: 05:15


Smoke Like Ribbons song meanings
Add your thoughts

29 Comments

sort form View by:
  • 0
    General Comment:beautiful.
    Flag fuckenonon November 15, 2012   Link
  • 0
    Lyric Correction:i definitely feel likes he's saying FLYING fuck instead of "flat" fuck.
    Flag ruislerezon November 09, 2012   Link
  • 0
    My Interpretation:I'm pretty sure that the line, "Lawty, Lawty loved him. But Starke don't give a flat fuck." means that whoever the song is about had a better time living or staying in the city of Lawty than he did living or staying in Starke.

    Also, This song is not about Isaac Brock because he did not write any of the lyrics for his Ugly Casanova side project, nor did any of the other modest mouse band members. They received the music from a fan who, out of chance, played his music for them one night at a show. The band was touched by the depressing expression on the man's face after he played his songs and therefore, Ugly Casanova was created.

    Other than that, I think most people in this comment thread interpreted everything else pretty accurately.
    Flag whoisreeson October 16, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:i'm pretty sure the last lines go:

    lordy, lordy, loved him
    stars don't give a flat fuck

    i think it's saying that the universe is uncaring about his or the cake walk dancers broken hearts.

    from reading the lyrics, the song appears to be about a man who has said goodbye to someone he cares about who is leaving on an airplane.

    and he stops at a bar or strip club on the way home.
    Flag 37715on July 19, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:So, I think I finally figure this out. The lyric is:

    Lawtey Lawtey loved him
    Starke don't give a flat fuck

    John Orth (along with his band Holopaw) lives in Gainesville, Fl. For a while, Isaac Brock lived here too, and he saw Holopaw play a bunch of times. They got to know eachother, and Isaac Brock asked John Orth to work on Ugly Casanova with him, which he did.

    Point is, Starke and Lawtey are both neighboring cities. And Gainesville's a small town, so they're not a long way away (Starke also has a major prison that Gainesville feeds into). Even after I moved to Gainesville, I didn't really think about it until I saw both names on a road sign and made the connection to this song. (Holopaw itself is named after a city in Florida, which makes this seem even more likely.)
    Flag midnitevultureson August 03, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Well, all I can say about this song is that my friend showed me Modest Mouse's side project, Ugly Casanova, and we were looking at the life of the lead singer, Isaac Brock. And the town we live in, Starke, is home to the state prison, where he was held for a short time, because he lived here in Florida. And it just so happens, that the neighboring town to us, is called Lawtey.

    Is that a coincidence? I'm not really sure. But the line in the song doesn't make much sense when you think of it as referring to the two towns. That's all I got out of it.
    Flag ZzylendawkinsSon July 12, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:stark don't give a flat fuck. they drive around doing meth on endless road trips. stark could be referencing the monotony of it. or the desolate nature of an empty road. or the madness in it all. or each of these. but he doesn't give a fuck because he's comfortable in the trap of repetition.
    Flag mahargrepooc13on March 24, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I think you're exactly right Gillvan.

    above the tarmac the lights were icy-green
    Buried in patterns in your chest.
    a quiet shimmering

    This is describing the feeling of being under the influence of some kind of stimulant, perhaps accompanied by someone else and driving. Everything is so filled with kinetic energy, quietly shimmering and wonderful, buried and pounding in your chest. Icy-green.
    Flag kidmehon August 18, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Maybe it's just me, but I feel like this song is more about drugs (specifically meth) than love. I mean the first verse is about smoking, and being high, and then the second verse is about the comedown, "unwind from their spin", and during the comedown, he loses interest whoever it is that he had spent that trip with. I don't feel like their songs are ever literal, you know, and I'm bummed, because I wish I could really understand what he's saying. If I was going to take a stab at it, I would guess the gist of the song is that, well I guess that when your on a good one, everything is beautiful; the stars, the people your with. But then on the comedown, like songs being lost along the highway, it fades and your back to not giving a fuck about anything. That could be terribly wrong, but that's what I gather. As a side note though, I always thought he was saying, like some other people, the stars don't give a flying fuck, but when I started to look it up, most lyrics that you find all say stark don't give a flat fuck. But I also thought lawty was lordie, which doesn't make sense in context, but it does sound like that's what he's singing, and lawty is technically the phonetic spelling of the southern way of saying lordie (and it's a very "country-esk" sounding song). Plus, I have never heard of anyone's name being Lawty, however I also haven't heard the name Stark before (but then again, I have never seen rebel without a cause). Now, this may be really far fetched, but it seems like there is a lot of question on what he's actually saying, so is it possible that he has dualing lyrics? You know, like two points in one line, written one way, but is sung in a way that it might sound like something else? Again, might be a really stupid idea. My big question is, though, the part "buried patterns in your chest", what does that mean..?
    Flag Gillivanon May 10, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I like what everybody's been saying about driving around with people they love and smoking. I also thought the "stark" line was a reference to something, vinyl static might be right that it's a Rebel Without A Cause reference. Sucks that they got ripped off, but looks like that "thin thin dime" went a long way since Isaac got this unbelievable song and an invaluable experience out of it :)
    Flag captainloveon October 26, 2008   Link

Add your thoughts

Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.

Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!

Back to top
explain