It was on the rotating eyes
It was all on the same postcard
It was all on the same damn shirt
Said to sleep in the same Sear's camp house
It was all in the great state parks
It was all on the same Greyhound
It was all so many miles
Beneath the dirty brown dirt
Twenty miles down the islands
The biggest mall on Earth
It was all in the same rest stop
It was wall on the same damn shirt
It was all on the same Greyhound
Sunspots
In the house of the late scapegoat
Be aware the paint's still peeling
All muscle cars made of lead
I got myself a fine, fine, fine, fine friend
It was all in the next gray ghost
It was all in the same damn place
The parts to pound attractive
Your feeling you owe on your size is bleeding
Sunspots



Lyrics submitted by numb

Track duration: 02:43


Sunspots in the House of the Late Scapegoat song meanings
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26 Comments

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  • 0
    General Comment:Not only is human influence prevalent everywhere, but traces of individual humans as well. His line about the Greyhound reminds of this time I was on the Amtrak coming from San Francisco and I wrote a something that came to mind on a small sheet of paper and slipped it in a old book that was left in the net catching behind the seat in front of me.

    My actions caused me to inadvertedly (sp?) come into contact with whoever owned the book previously.
    And whoever reads my note will be in contact with both of us.

    The fine friend is those people you come into contact with.
    The scapegoat is the medium that we use to create some type of fantasy bond with. (eg. my note, the book, the sunspots). The peeling paint is your own life, you come into contact with all of these people and you forget to contact yourself from time to time.
    Whatever- I don't know if that works.
    Flag Unadaptedon December 18, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:He could be talking about the those spots you see when you stare at the sun or any light and then blink. and it stays on your eyes when you blink and you look at things and you see the spots on everything. It was on the rotating eyes and it was all over everything. Could just be about Isaac looking at things, writing down what he sees as he passes things by. That's a perfect formula for writing songs that people would probably never understand because it's your own experience that no one else could ever duplicate because of how fast the world changes. It does remind me of novacain stain lyric-wise pertaining to the world changing and staying the same.
    Flag jmangoon June 12, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:"the parts repelled and retracted"
    Flag stareatwhiteon May 21, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I think this song is about the way modern society attacks the indiviudual through social norms developed by advertising and such:
    "The parts to pound attractive
    Your feeling you owe on your size is bleeding"
    This seems to be implying that the individual is abused in order to be made attractive in the eyes of everyone else.
    Flag holdenredcapon May 07, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:This song is about "It," as something, not one tangible item.
    It is about life being largely influenced by mass media, and mass trends, generally things that consume our attention as a whole.
    Sunspots can also be defined as: spots that appear due to dizziness.
    Example: if you do a cartwheel you'll often get sunspots.
    Flag littlelordfauntleyon January 09, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Shortly said, this song is about how we are still in the process of ruining Earth and beauty with our own forms of attractiveness that really just hurt us all in the end.
    Flag CoughDownOurSleeveson November 22, 2007   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:I think this song is about traveling

    The first line until "Beneath the Dirty Brown Dirt" is when he is taking in the new sights and like...just marveling in the new adventures. He's in the middle of the wilderness, then after he gets "twenty miles down the islands" he finds a big mall, it kind of ruins the illusion, and he realizes that everything is just corporation run and there's no such thing as "natural" anymore because humans invaded it all. There is speculation that sunspots are caused by the lead expelled from Earth's atmosphere along with other human caused things...and a scapegoat is someone who gets blamed. so he is saying the sunspots of the earth are the human interaction, and in our houses, the paint is still peeling, meaning expelling lead and ruining our environment. The muscle cars, made of lead are also ruining it. He realizes his best friend (I've got a fine fine friend) is just like everyone else, (it was all in the same gray ghost) that when we die we arent unique, we're just all leading to the same universal cause of destroying and encroaching nature.

    "The parts to pound attractive
    Your feeling you owe on your size is bleeding"

    We think we're making the earth more attractive by developing it, but he realizes we are just making it smaller and hurting ourselves by delving all our resources.

    In short, this song is about humanity, traveling, nature and developement, a lot like Novacain Stain and kinda the same feel to it.
    Flag CoughDownOurSleeveson November 22, 2007   Link
  • -1
    General Comment:It's obviously about the bitch he did last night.
    I hate all of you, because I like modest mouse more than you. 6th grade homos, now I'm in college. You bitches were still sucking your thumbs.

    It's about modern days influence on people, the environment and the author of the song. Includes but not limited to things such as advertising, malls, media etc.
    Flag littlelordfauntleyon August 27, 2007   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:I have been throughly listening to nothing but Modest Mouse for about 2 years now-and I am not sick of any of it. I overplay them everyday-and it just enlightens me everytime.

    I've been teaching myself to play the guitar for about 2 years-and having listened to nothing but Isaac Brock related material-thats how Ive learned to play.

    I learned this song just recently thanks to the grace of Guitar Pro. I always loved the song becuase the band makes it beautiful in its abstract suave style. So simple, yet the lyrics will have you dazed for eternity.

    The feeling and emotion that Modest Mouse instills in me-is so eery to me. They make me feel different than any drug or other band could. I am under hypnosis.
    Flag Entropy21on June 23, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I've got two things about this song.

    First of all, I think he says "All the muscle cars move to lead", not "All the muscle cars made of lead".

    Secondly, I think this song is about how he had a friend who got him out of a lot of things, who is long gone now and that is why the paint is peeling and there are sunspots in that person's house.

    That's my opinion.
    Flag lukeelferson June 17, 2007   Link

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