Lyrics for Turn a Square as interpreted by doobeydoobeydude

Turn a Square Lyrics
She shone up bright like a knife
Wearing tennis shorts made of stripes
Hand in hand
To the grass we got it right (got it right right right)
Just a glimpse of an ankle and I
react like it's 1805
Swim to the poles just to find the right satellite
It'll take all my strength to give up
But you all know I've tried
So forget about it girl
My head's like a kite
When such a creature I sight

To town!
Where your feet leave not prints on the ground
Have I left my home just to whine in this microphone?
It gets worse every time that we talk
Can't afford to be just one in a flock
But that's your lot
When you're after such a well made lock
Who was classically trained to give up

And my friends know I've tried
So forget about it girl
Even I don't know why
I can't just stay the course
Keep my hands on the wheel
Our detractors were right
My head's like a kite
All my thoughts run astray
and I'm a walking cliché
When such a creature I sight

I can't just stay the course
Keep my hands on the wheel
Our detractors were right
My head's like a kite


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  • 33 Comments
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elodie
06-24-2004

Rated 0 
aw this is one of my favorite songs on here. it's so sweet. the ankle/1805 thing is so cute. i can't believe i just said cute and sweet... ew. death to me.

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strunkthedrunk
10-08-2004

Rated 0 
haha, its not really all that cute, the guy cant stay with his girlfriend cause he cheats on her too much. but its a good song.

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subterranean_summer
11-09-2004

Rated 0 
I LOVE THIS SONG. yeah. what strunky said.

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criminaleyes
01-05-2005

Rated 0 
It's cute to an extent.

Everyone has known that perfect girl...who unfortunetly plays every guy out there. No guy wants to be a part of the group of boys chasing her around.

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indignity
01-23-2005

Rated 0 
i always thought this was about a girl who takes his breath away whenever he sees her. but meh.. i'm not sure. i always thought it was cute.

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acidpus
02-11-2005

Rated 0 
well, w/e but this song is teh awesome.

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larah
02-21-2005

Rated 0 
I never realised it could be about a guy cheating on his girlfriend? i always thought it was about liking that perfect girl who he can't have..

Can someone explain?

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ramones83
03-06-2005

Rated 0 
I think it's about a guy cheating...he's trying to hide it and he even tries to tell her, but it's too hard. Awesome tune, going to see them in Chicago, 4/14!!!

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evapor8ed
03-08-2005

Rated 0 
It's actually got it nice nice nice, not right. I love this song, even if it is about cheating. I love the imagery of a girl who is classically trained to give up. I actually would love to name a band that. I've known one too many girls who have been trained to give up. :)

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thehoguester
04-06-2005

Rated 0 
I don't know if this song is about a guy cheating. It seems like it's about a guy that is so crazy about a girl that he notices everything about her, i.e. tennis shorts with stripes and everything about her drives him crazy, "a glimpse of her ankle and I react like its 1805".

The song is very groovy in an Austin Powers sort of way. I can almost see the shagadelic girls dancing in the background while Austin does his thing to the amazing guitar riffs.

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hempfandango
05-23-2005

Rated 0 
I'm with the guy cheating on his girlfriend crowd. After all, the lines "I can't just stay stay the course, keep my hands on the wheel" and "our detractors were right, my head's like a kite" seem to point that way. I don't see what else they could really mean. I'd say the girl at the very beginning is one of the ones he cheats with, especially with the bright "like a knife."
Any thoughts on what "swim to the poles just to find the right satellite" means?

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PJamfan90
01-04-2006

Rated 0 
i always thought this song was about this guy who asks this girl out then she says no then a while later the girl asks the guy out or confesses her love to him but the guy already moved on "It'll take all my strength to give up, But you all know I've tried, So forget about it girl, My head's like a kite, When such a creature I sight."

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Sunquai
02-15-2006

Rated 0 
"I can't just stay the course
Keep my hands on the wheel" the word stay is meant to be steer, and it's (nice, nice, nice). Secondly this song has to be about being hopeless when it comes to being faithful.look. "It'll take all my strength to give up
But you all know I've tried
So forget about it girl" is like saying "it will will be difficult to stop cheating, I've tried. You better leave I'm only going to keep doing it."

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nickvb
02-15-2006

Rated 0 
great catchy song in a typical shins manner. to be honest i have no clue what it means but i just play it and sing along

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bakismaki
03-20-2006

Rated 0 
Cool song. I think Mercer was trying to say that it's very hard for men to cheat because it is against are human nature and "wiring" to be monogamous.

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bakismaki
03-20-2006

Rated 0 
*^ Correction, I meant to say it's hard for men not to cheat.

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_maria_
03-25-2006

Rated 0 
boil it down, and it's this:
starts out playful, almost flirtacious. "she shown up bright like a knife"
and turns conflicted, confused, and begginf for a way out:
"i can't just stay stay the course, keep my hands on the wheel"
he wonders how hard it can be to get away with a bad deed:
"where your feet leave not prints on the ground"
and returns again to being infatuated with "her"
and finally it ends on "my head's like a kite" perhaps he's talking about getting high??? (i don't know.) but clearly he doesn't feel nothing for her, he has his doubts
"and i'm a walking cliche"

hmm now i'm more confused than when i started typing.

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odiddlydee
04-09-2006

Rated 0 
i got a completely different meaning.
i think this song is about a guy who is absolutely obsessed with this girl he hooked up with a few times, but nothing serious. he likes her so much, but she's one of those no-commitment girls ("a well-made lock who was classically trained to give up" -- aka. she'd rather give up & break things off with guys rather than work out problems in the relationship). even so, he can't get her out of his head & he wants to have something more serious with her ("it gets worse every time that we talk/can't afford to be just one in a flock"). he knows that it's an impossible task so he tries to get over her ("it'll take all my strength to give up/but you all know I've tried/so forget about it girl"). HOWEVER, as much as he tries, he CAN'T get over this girl (1. "even I don't know why/I can't just stay the course/keep my hands on the wheel" -- the course being that of getting over her. 2. "my head's like a kite/All my thoughts run astray/and I'm a walking cliche/when such a creature I sight" -- he constantly thinks about her, so his head is in the clouds (he's distracted) & he gets really corny whenever he sees her).

the only lines i don't understand are: "swim to the poles just to find the right satellite" & "to town! where your feet leave not prints on the ground". the only explanations i can come up with are that he'll go to great lengths to be with her & that he's stalking her, but can't find her (aka. can't follow her footprints).

also, i think it's really interesting that they named the song, "turning a square". that, of course, implies that something is being forced. like in the days when they hadn't invented the wheel yet & used jagged rocks to transport goods instead.

OKAY! THAT'S MY ANALYSIS! i love this song :D

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Ray Chilllll
05-28-2006

Rated 0 
"All my thoughts run astray
and I'm a walking cliche"


I love that part.
Its adorable.
I think its about how a guy is totally in loev with this girl.And when he's with her, he has no idea what to do, because he is nervous or whatever. Then, all the cute things he does, he feels like there sos "cliche". And he thinks about her all the time.
This song is so cute.

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quincy_88
09-10-2006

Rated 0 
I disagree with all of these cheating theories. I think this song is simply about a guy really infatuated by one of those 'perfect' girls. When he is around her he gets nervous and giddy because of this, "my heads like a kite." He also knows that to get what he really wants from her that he "can't afford to be one in a flock," or just the same as all those other guys in his positon (infatuated to the point of being a nervous wreck). He wants to get her attention despreately but can't keep in control when he sees her, i.e. he can't keep his "hands on the wheel." He becomes the "walking cliche" of the guy who becomes the nervous wreck around "that" universal girl.

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panxman
10-24-2006

Rated 0 
No really guys, this song is just about cheating. The first verse starts ou when the two meet, everything is great. But then he has bad habits that are hard to give up like getting excited by every girl that comes around.
"Just a glimpse of an ankle and I
react like it's 1805"
"It'll take all my strength to give up"
His head is "like a kite" because it wonders and never settles on one girl.

So then he's on tour and she's at home:
"To town!
Where your feet leave not prints on the ground
Have I left my home just to whine in this microphone?"

But when they talk on the phone, she says "I cant be just one of the flock" and he says, "well that's what you have to be if you want to be with me". Because we all know he's tried. So his detractors are right, they can never last. He is a cliche of the rocker who can't keep it in his pants.

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let uss be free
01-08-2007

Rated 0 
it's hard to decide, at least for me.
odiddlydee made a few really good points, a lot of the things he//she ? said made sense.
but then what panxman said makes sense too.

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Mad Slanted Powers
01-21-2007

Rated 0 
I have a different take on it. Since the song is called "Turn a Square", maybe it is from the perspective of a "square". Maybe he has intimacy issues, maybe he's a virgin. When it gets to the point of the relationship where things might get physical, he has trouble.

Part of the confusion is in the early part of the song he says it will take all of his strength to give up. Later in the song, he is referring to someone who was classically trained to give up. If he has trouble "giving up", then he must be referring to her as being the one that is the well made lock that was trained to give up. So, maybe this is a metaphor for women being a mystery that he is unable to unlock.

If none if that is right, then I'm inclined to agree more with odiddlydee than with the cheating theory.

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GreenLips
02-19-2007

Rated 0 
I get a completely different meaning. I see it as a guy who is completely in lust after this beautiful girl. But all they have is physical attraction. There is no depth to their relationship, but he can't help himself because he is so awestruck by her. Although, he doesn't like feeling like one of many other guys drawn by her to help her to decide (by chance) who she wants to be with. She is looking for the perfect guy (the well-made lock) but perfect doesn't exist (who was classically trained to give up) . He finally just gives up because he can't be one of many. He wants to be the only one. Although there were red flags along the way(Our detractors were right), he ignored them because he was so intrigued by her(And my friends know I tried). Basically, his heart is conflicted with his mind.

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Neady
02-27-2007

Rated 0 
Every line in this song is important to understanding what it means and is directly trying to, so instead of ranting on about every line this is basically what I think this song is trying to say.

There is a guy who is desperate for a beautiful girl. She isn't the type of girl to get involved seriously in a relationship and he knows this, so he tries to get over her but it is impossible for him.

Obvious lines:
"Can't stand to be just one in a flock" (He wants to be the only one for her)

"I can't just stay the course
Keep my hands on the wheel
Our detractors were right
My head's like a kite"
(He can't keep his thoughts straight because they keep leading back to her. He has no control over his thoughts, basically.

The cutest bit of these lyrics is "Just a glimpse of an ankle and I
react like it's 1805".. But I won't go into what that means. =)

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