Lyrics for Grey Machine as interpreted by Mopnugget

Grey Machine Lyrics
lie lie lie blinded

on the left side
a parking attendant sleeps
selling space and time

on the right side
a parking attendant sleeps
selling space and time

they have grasped the concept of property
understand that lengths of time can be twisted into
someone's monetary advantage

they have grasped the concept of property
understand that lengths of time can be twisted into
someone's monetary adventage.

but, i can see myself
in the building that stands across from me
reflecting in the sky
you can see yourself
swim along the giant whales down the street
reflecting in the sky

on sunny days
the people on the beach like ants in my food
they must have closed the mall

here comes whitey to exploit
the simple pleasures nature gave me
then try to tax them all

but, i can see yourself
in the building that stands across from me
reflecting in the sky
you can see yourself
swim along the giant whales down the street
reflecting in the sky

i can see yourself
in the building that stands across from me
reflecting in the sky
you can see yourself
swim along the giant whales down the street
reflecting in the sky

i can see myself (i can see myself)
in the building that stands across from me (i can see myself)
reflecting in the sky (it's me in herd)
you can see yourself (you can see yourself)
swim along the giant whales down the street. (you can see yourself)
reflecting in the sky. (hey, look, it's you)

i'm letting go
it's scaring me
i'm letting go
it's scaring me
i'm letting go
it's scaring me

lay in the yard
curled in a ball
nails in your mouth
keys still in the car door
face in the dirt
smells more than clean
synapses tapped
you're well out

on the side of the house
it's burned in the ground
that secret code
that signal go
there's a stain on the grass
that's calling us home
you lie inside
for the transistor send

my heart skips a beat
my heart skips a beat

on the side of the house
it's burned in the ground
that secret code
that signal go
there's a stain on the grass
that's calling us home
you lie inside
for the transistor send

lie lie lie blinded
lie lie lie blinded

out of reach
out of touch
out of ink
out of kindness (lie lie lie blinded)
never hazing new guys
out of teeth
out of thought
out of time
out of life (lie lie lie blinded)
like cattle grazing
your mind

on the way to the car
on the head of the stone
on the edge of the lake
on the end of the joke
on the crack of the floor
on the slab of the day
on the dent of the face
on the mind of the cop
on the scar of the rat
on the last of the calls
on the rest of the doc
on the smile of the kid

on the underside i'm letting go
they know we're on to them
we know to avoid their snare
they're pulling us back
we run for cover
escape is far
i'm letting go
it's scaring me
break
i'm gonna break

pick me up
take me home
get me out of here
please

get me out of here
please

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  • 35 Comments
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bottekott
06-25-2004

Rated 0 
I love this song sooo much, but cant figure out what its about.. any ideas?

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aje742
11-14-2004

Rated 0 
What does this song mean to me?

I don't think I could put it in words. But to keep it simple, I'll just say this:

Everything.

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dmomo2
11-23-2004

Rated 0 
it is THE song...it's about me, it's about you. it is the essence of life

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Spineshanked
11-25-2004

Rated 0 
Dmomo is close, i'll add alittle more to it though. It's about life, but the restraints we're brought up in our society depress the natural freedom we are all born with, but never trully have. The lyric "i can see yourself
in the building that stands across from me reflecting in the sky you can see yourself" the mundaneness of life to put it nicely. But then again this is just a song and you can interpret it as you wish to. To me the band is pointing out restraint and how we supress our natural animalistic urges and the fear of letting such urges out.

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Synapse2Synapse
11-25-2004

Rated 0 
I agree with both of you. I keep imagining in the end, a guy whose trapped in a subway station with people trying to get him to conform. And how he just wants to get out of there.

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PuNkS*r*Us
12-01-2004

Rated 0 
i think this song is about society and government and the restraints and control that it all has over our lives. like spineshanked said. we started off being a free counrty but how free are we really? we are forced to go to work and live a life to satisfy the government and be able to pay the taxes they set upon us. nothing is free, we cant be able to enjoy nature without having to be taxed to have someone maintain and reserve it for us. this lyric is a perfect example "here comes whitey to exploit
the simple pleasures nature gave me
then try to tax them all ".... this is my take on this song however

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bottekott
01-09-2005

Rated 0 
wow. reading this makes this song make more sence too me.
im probably gonna spend all night listening to it now :p like ive done other times.

I really like thought of that guy trapped in the subway station....

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distro
01-11-2005

Rated 0 
the way i see it you guys got it twisted. look, why'd he say "i can see myself/yourself in the building that stands across from me "? i definitely think this is suicide-allusive, the guy's standing on the top of some building facing one other building. then he let's go ("i'm letting go, it's scaring me ") and dies ("face in the dirt smells more than clean. synapses tapped, you're well out ") and it goes on as his heart skips a beat, then another and then
"out of teeth, out of thought, out of time, out of life"
i don't know. i think it makes sense. i've been thinking about it and it seems he's quite unwilling to get along in such a meaningless life.

anyway, let's talk about this.

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prof_buddy_love
03-10-2005

Rated 0 
The line "you can see yourself , swim along the giant whales down the street" refers to a mural by the conservationist/muralist Wyland of giant gray whales in downtown San Diego (Pinback's origins) . The verse, I think, describes the longing to set oneself free of the drudgery and monotony of life by imagining to swim along freely with giant whales. The question is how is this accomplished? The answer is what distro alludes to above with a man free-falling from a building and in turn, "swimming" with the whales on the mural as he descends and plummets ultimately to his death. As enchanting and melodic as the song is, it does have references to falling from a building, "there's a stain on the grass that's calling us home" and "pick me up, take me home, get me out of here". That is the beauty of this Pinback song; very hypnotic with an almost subliminal message of despair.

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slintway
01-22-2006

Rated 0 
the message of despair seems to be more blatant than subliminal and is one of the most beautiful songs i think ive ever heard.

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fourfourtime
01-25-2006

Rated 0 
I think the message is prtty constant throughout the song; it kind of slows down the thought process to life and put it in a Rob Crow point perspective anyway.

Beautiful.

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bucky1337
05-23-2006

Rated 0 
This song is about how people try to make money off of everything. Even off of things we should be taking for granted. The first few lines make it clear. People make money off of selling space and time. We are paying for our existence. It's about how terrible capitalism is. He's depressed about it, so am I. We all should be.
We are having to pay, to be taxed for everything until we have nothing left. Life tax. I'm depressed about it . . .

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FireEatingNinja
06-16-2006

Rated 0 
True bucky1337, it is partyly about how people try to make money off of everything in life (parking spaces every-which way, then taxes). But that's only one part of the big picture. I agree this song is completely about suicide.

I liked the idea of the person in the song actually being on top of a roof looking at a building across the street, contemplating his leap. I had always thought about a guy in his boring job, about to crack.

In retrospect, I see that when he talks about going crazy over the failure that he sees in our country/culture.

He talks about being curled in a ball in the yard in the grass with his car running, like he ran into the house for something and on the way out he finally cracked. The directly after he says "there's a stain on the grass that's calling us home" which calls us back to the blood on the grass from jumping off the building. In the end, I see this person trying to tell us that he is either going to go crazy or kill himself (or both).

Then in the end, there is 2 possibilities that I see.
1. He is either blabbering out random things because he's crazy, then says "im letting go" maybe letting go of his mind.
2. Then this list of "On The/Out Of -location/item here-". It could all be a riddle that Pinback want us to figure out.

Lastly, does anyone else hear it saying "on your grave" repeatedly? WHY ISN'T IT ON THE LYRICS?!?!

This song makes me glad I have a strong mind.

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shanalee88
07-10-2006

Rated 0 
suicide. its sad. but like all of pinbacks other songs... they can make anything sound beautiful.
i love it. cant get it out of my head.

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x9x9x9x9x9
10-10-2006

Rated 0 
I gonna go with everyones idea but make my own out of it. i think its about a suicidal revelation of how everything is in repeat but is not always the exact same and that that freedom isnt really free. and a euphoric feeling is rushing through this guy while he notices all this and when he gets home his dreams of death become a reality by haveing a stroke in his front yard after work.

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Weaslemulberry
02-26-2007

Rated 0 
Best song Pinback ever did!!!

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Weaslemulberry
02-26-2007

Rated 0 
Best song Pinback ever did!!!

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Hraesvelg
02-16-2008

Rated 0 
Ten days and it would have been a year until someone else commented on this song.

My favorite Pinback song. Some kind of machine Pinback built which would produce greater music than anything else they had ever or will ever produce.

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HC_MOS
04-09-2008

Rated 0 
I have to say i agree with all of you BUT i don't think this song is about a specific person losing it and killing himself although it is obviously in that category. An earlier post by Spinesshanked said something about the restricting of natural urges we get as people living in a society with 'freedom' got me thinking and sometimes when shit isn't what it should be in this world i can see myself jumping off a building as well . I think thats what the song means. Its about noticing how things just don't seem to be right. The selling of time and space and getting taxed for nothing yet we still seem to be inculcated by society which uses its crafty propaganda to have us' lie, lie, lie blinded' There's a part that i find absolutely mystifying which occurs around the second chorus. This is where the background singer sings ' I can see my self, I can see myself, Its me in herd. You can see your self, you can see yourself, hey look it you'. That part of the song says so much to me because he's so apathetical about how he expresses that 'hey look its you' part. And I don't think he says 'see' in a literal sense rather in a very scary very vivid pictures which occur during total absentmindedness.
The end of this song is prepossessing in every way. My personal favorite part is when he says ' On the smile of the kid' To me this line wraps everything up with the ONE thing that is important which is happiness. Basically This song is for anyone who's ever felt like they're gonna snap because the world around them seems completely oblivious to the unprincipled, nefarious ways of the bullshit world around them. 'Pick me up, take me home, get me out of here please...'
I have to say this conclusion i have come up with would never have came to be if it wasn't for your guys ideas it the first place and in no way am i undermining any of your opinions. On the contrary, I suspect that you guys are my kind of thinkers;)

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HC_MOS
04-09-2008

Rated 0 
I have to say i agree with all of you BUT i don't think this song is about a specific person losing it and killing himself although it is obviously in that category. An earlier post by Spinesshanked said something about the restricting of natural urges we get as people living in a society with 'freedom' got me thinking and sometimes when shit isn't what it should be in this world i can see myself jumping off a building as well . I think thats what the song means. Its about noticing how things just don't seem to be right. The selling of time and space and getting taxed for nothing yet we still seem to be inculcated by society which uses its crafty propaganda to have us' lie, lie, lie blinded' There's a part that i find absolutely mystifying which occurs around the second chorus. This is where the background singer sings ' I can see my self, I can see myself, Its me in herd. You can see your self, you can see yourself, hey look it you'. That part of the song says so much to me because he's so apathetical about how he expresses that 'hey look its you' part. And I don't think he says 'see' in a literal sense rather in a very scary very vivid pictures which occur during total absentmindedness.
The end of this song is prepossessing in every way. My personal favorite part is when he says ' On the smile of the kid' To me this line wraps everything up with the ONE thing that is important which is happiness. Basically This song is for anyone who's ever felt like they're gonna snap because the world around them seems completely oblivious to the unprincipled, nefarious ways of the bullshit world around them. 'Pick me up, take me home, get me out of here please...'
I have to say this conclusion i have come up with would never have came to be if it wasn't for your guys ideas it the first place and in no way am i undermining any of your opinions. On the contrary, I suspect that you guys are my kind of thinkers;)

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HC_MOS
04-09-2008

Rated 0 
I forgot to say how much i love this song along with the rest of what this band has to offer. in my opinion this song is nothing short of a musical masterpiece and this band is revolutionary.

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blaze1157
04-20-2008

Rated 0 
A robotic brain or something similar comes to mind

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blaze1157
04-20-2008

Rated 0 
A robotic brain or something similar comes to mind

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alovelyfadeout
05-27-2008

Rated 0 
"like cattle grazing your mind"

...think about that line and the whole song makes sense.

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MountedTigerHead
09-16-2008

Rated 0 
Yeah, I'm sort of a one-trick pony with the "they're from San Diego" comments, but:
I agree with Prof Buddy Love:
"The line 'you can see yourself , swim along the giant whales down the street' refers to a mural by the conservationist/muralist Wyland of giant gray whales in downtown San Diego (Pinback's origins) ."
Also, the whole first verse about parking lots on each side is reminiscent of downtown S.D., which over-priced parking lots all over the place (probably pretty standard in any downtown area, though).

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