Say what you want and leave your shyness home
Do what you want and write a little poem
Leave it for her and live another day
Leave it for her, the girl around the way

Write down a list of things you want to do
Leave it in work because you've got to live a little
Pick up the girl in someone's borrowed Mini
Take her to dinner, use her boyfriend's money

Listen lady, put your phone down
Cancel all operations
Tell your friends to cool it
Your cover's blown
I want to see you alone
Cancel all operations
Tell your friends to cool it
Your cover's blown

Planning a break is such a tricky thing
Because you move to the country, she comes back again
And then you move to the city but she goes abroad
Is she telling you something, is she getting bored?

I'll make a rough plan to sleep around, I'm in a rut
I need a change, I'm a lazy rat if I am honest
My bold change of tact will fade out with the summer
I've got no appetite and all the girls are bummers

My baby doesn't look at me
The way I want her to
She doesn't comprend

My baby's got it going on
She's got a friend hid in every street in this town
I want to go out but there's nobody home
I'll go on my own

Thus starts the lonely walking
There's always too much talking
I should have stayed home
She starts her cool caressing
The kid, she starts undressing in front of me
I should've stayed home
The DJ's picking up speed
That's something I just don't need
I should've stayed home
The gossip's bearing down on me
The kids are pairing off in front of me
I should've stayed home
I should've stayed home
I think I'll go home

Hey lady, put your phone down
Cancel all operations
Tell your friends to cool it
Because your cover's blown
I want to see you alone
Cancel all operations
Tell your friends to cool it

Hey lady, meet my mum and dad
You're a strange aberration
In this land of potted plants and box-like houses
Where the girls like mouses
Breathe a long sigh of resignation
You resign yourself to keep on growing
All the seeds you're sowing
You're a strange apparition
In this land of grammar schools and gala days
The ladies set in their ways
You had a long conversation
With the kid next door
Who's a little slow
But in your favour, it shows
Cancel all operations
Tell your friends to move out to the sticks

Listen lady, leave the phone down
Cancel all operations
Tell your friends there's more to you than this



Lyrics submitted by michaelbondy

Track duration: 06:01


Your Cover's Blown song meanings
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9 Comments

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  • 0
    My Interpretation:I have always thought that this song is about a boy who falls in love with a woman then finds out that she is working as a stripper. She's a very famous/popular stripper and is constantly at work. she tries to keep it from him but he finds out and doesn't know how to bring it up.
    Flag bluberrie8on February 03, 2013   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I always thought this song was about a loser, who wreaks of desperation, who constantly tries too hard with the ladies, and who is getting a little too long in the tooth to fit into that dating scene anymore. The chorus in particular reminds me of the "blind date escape plan" that a lot of women employ with their friends, where they have a friend call 15 minutes into a blind date with a fake emergency just in case the girl is unhappy with the setup and needs an excuse to bolt, something our poor protagonist has probably experienced a few too many times:

    "Hey lady, put your phone down
    Cancel all operations
    Tell your friends to cool it
    Because your cover's blown
    I want to see you alone
    Cancel all operations
    Tell your friends to cool it"

    Or at least that's how I read into it. But then there are a ton of cryptic lyrics in there...
    Flag hudsuckeron September 09, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I think it is referring to a girl that actually likes other girls and her boyfriend doesn't get it.

    Write down a list of things you want to do
    Leave it in work because you've got to live a little
    Pick up the girl in someone's borrowed Mini
    Take her to dinner, use her boyfriend's money
    Flag jberryon April 18, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Here's what I think. Went to the party with a girl, and she's not what he thinks she is? She's got a lot of men in her life.

    Listen lady, put your... phone down
    Cancel all operations
    Tell your friends to cool it
    Your cover's blown
    I want to see you alone

    From that, when they're in the party, he wants to speak to her, but she's never alone "I want to see you alone", either on the phone, or whatever.

    So, he knows her, in the place, but he can't / doesn't want to talk to her, because she's not that girl he thought she was.
    Flag denithon March 30, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Can't express how much I love this song, and I adore EVERYTHING Belle & Sebastian have done (um... maybe not Beyond The Sunrise, but whatever).

    You can just listen to this one over and over and it never gets old. It makes me want to dance every single time (and I usually do). It's so serious without being remotely serious, if you know what I mean, and that kind of tongue-in-cheek attitude is one of things I love most about B&S.

    Heh, when I saw them in June and they played this, Stuart said it was the story of all his Saturday nights. I highly doubt that, but he looked so sincerely lonely and sad when he said it that I don't care. He's the best.

    Yes. So. One of the best songs ever.
    Flag xanyaon November 02, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:best song ever
    Flag RogueCheddaron September 15, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:b&s go to the discotheque!
    Flag pumkinhedon August 29, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:This is by far B&S's best song. Absolutely wonderful--the Indie Bohemian Rhapsody.
    Flag pkjunon June 24, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:roflrofl. best belle and sebastian song.
    Flag Boris the Spideron March 31, 2006   Link

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