la la holds inside of her
the horrible dream of being somebody
thinking about her dream makes her feel
like it’s stupid
a dream whose coming true
is a must a must
it would be so much easier
if she was a real girl
the preschool students ask her
what she is
she thinks i don’t know
she says what do you think
listen to on fire and pretend someone could love you
listen to lady day and dream they knew the half of it
listen to birthday and pretend someone could love you
listen to nick drake and dream they knew the half of it



Lyrics submitted by robot_rock

Track duration: 03:54


Dr. Troll song meanings
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16 Comments

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  • +1
    General Comment:this song is about gender dysphoria. it has been a constant companion and reassurance that i am not alone in this, even when the feelings grow impossible to bear. that's what xiu xiu's all about, right?
    Flag arighoston November 03, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:if you haven't heard the acoustic version of this song off fag patrol....YOU NEED TO..........no word can describe how beautiful it is.
    Flag lagwagon182on December 09, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:;_;
    Flag HWOntoFireon May 16, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:;_;
    Flag redpepper_rumon June 05, 2008   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:I think the On Fire is most likely referring to the album "Prayers on Fire" by The Birthday Party seeing as he mentioens them a couple of lines before.

    They're also mentioned in the song Luber on the same album
    Flag Yer_Maon May 29, 2008   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:The high frequency ear drum-bursting noise is the most beautiful part, though.
    Flag viciousadventon December 01, 2007   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:This song fucking hurts my ears.

    I love it, but it would be better without the high frequency ear drum bursting noise that occurs randomly through out it.
    Flag Redpingon March 29, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:First, "birthday" and "lady day" should be reversed.
    Next, "on fire" may be a reference to an album by the Celtic punk band Black 47. This seems plausible because The Pogues, another Celtic punk band, is mentioned in Hives Hives and to me that strikes a trend.
    Flag goodluckstevesieon October 09, 2006   Link
  • +2
    General Comment:Venues: Tell me why some of the songs are told in a perspective of a woman?
    Jamie: It’s just because they’re about a woman.
    Venues: I thought maybe you wanted to be a woman.
    Jamie: There’s actually a song about that on Knife Play called “Dr. Troll.” I went through a really long period of [pauses] “gender confusion” or something like that. I had been considering a sex change for a long time and was really considering if that was the right thing or not. It was just something I was thinking a lot at one point in my life.
    Flag mechanicalbirdon March 30, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Nick Drake died from an anti-depressant overdose. Billie Holiday was a heroin addict. Not sure about the other two.
    Flag Drealothon April 18, 2005   Link

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