Lyrics for Tables and Chairs as interpreted by kemekongka

Tables and Chairs Lyrics
if we can call them friends then we can call them on their telephones
and they won't pretend that they're too busy or that they're not alone
and if we can call them friends then we can call
holler at them down these hallowed halls
just don't let the human factor fail to be a factor
at all

don't, don't you worry, about the atmosphere
or any sudden pressure change
cause i know
that it's starting to get warm in here
and things are starting to get strange

and did you, did you see how all of our friends were there
and they're drinking roses from the can?
and how, how i wish i, i had talked to them,
and i wish they fit into the plan

and we were tired of being mild
we were so tired of being mild
and we were tired...

i know we're going to meet some day
in the crumbled financial institutions of this land
there will be tables and chairs
there'll be pony rides and dancing bears
there'll even be a band
cause listen, after the fall there will be no more countries
no currencies at all, we're gonna live on our wits
we're gonna throw away survival kits,
trade butterfly-knives for adderal
and that's not all
ooh-ooh, there will be snacks there will
there will be snacks, there will be snacks.

and we were tired of being mild,
we were so tired of being mild,
and we were (we were so) tired...

so don't you,
don't you worry
about the atmosphere.

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pheonix
04-04-2005

Rated 0 
*trade butterfly-knives for adderal
*we were tired of being mild

i think this song is about it being the last day of earth (in some form or another) and the narrator has to choose the one person he wants to spend the rest of his remaining time with, and in doing so he has other realizations about just what "friends" are.

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do i run rare?
04-09-2005

Rated 0 
"if we can call them friends then we can call them on their telephones/and they won't pretend that they're too busy or that they're not alone"

This part is really delightfully simple and sweet.

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kemekongka
04-29-2005

Rated 0 
pheonix: thanks for the spot, now that i listen to it, it's definitively mild and not mired. and adderal does fit in.

do i run rare? (

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kemekongka
04-29-2005

Rated 0 
right, guess i'll just pick up where i left off, seeing how songmeanings hates me ever so much:

do i run rare? (loving the newsom reference)
i love that part as well, in fact, the first "verse" is what made me obsess over this song for so long.

"just don't let the human factor fail to be a factor" is just amazingly pretty

as for my take on the song, it is of course horribly subjective and quite possibly one hundred percent wrong, but i see it as some sort of post-economic-apocolypse party song. once all the rules and regulations go to hell we all just kiss, hug and turn into one euphoric world state.

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hemptimes
05-02-2005

Rated 0 
*on red telephones
**there'll even be a band

i think the album sort of builds up to this song and that this is about heaven of some sort.

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stevenleland
05-31-2005

Rated 0 
"...

...

...

I know we're gonna meet someday-"

That part is awesome.

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beyondclarity
07-26-2005

Rated 0 
In the live concert that is linked from andrewbird.net - before this song he says...

"This song is about the Apocalypse, and how great it's gonna be, when we can start over"

I love that outlook

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cyanidebreathmint
08-24-2005

Rated 0 
beyondclarity-did you watch that on fabchannel.com? i was just curious because i cant watch that peticular concert untill i reinstall flash player onto my computer...

any how, that would prove phoenix's thoery to be correct. does anyone know if andrew belives in reincarnation? i was just wondering...

i also belive that this song refers to the narorator showing remorse for liveing a solitary life.
"and how, how i wish i, i had talked to them,
and i wish they fit into the plan"

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razajac
09-01-2005

Rated 0 
I'd like merge cyanide's ruminations re reincarnation and the "solitary life".

I think they both sort of fit together...sort of. I can't help but think Bird's talking about the fact that he is moving into spiritual spaces where past friends can't/won't come along. We have the choice to stay where we are and keep our friends or change and kiss those friends goodbye, and likely make new friends.

This is a microcosm of reincarnation; writ small, as it were. We can become dead to one world, and be reborn into another, here in our one worldly incarnation.

And...thanks for all these comments.

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bobwronski
09-15-2005

Rated 0 
I don't have anything really to add about the song that people haven't already said (although to me I never really interpretted the song in a spiritual sort of way... more as just a sort of fantasy).

But some of you seem familiar with that fabchannel concert, and I was wondering if any of you knew the title to the song that begins with, "I dreamt you were a cosmonaut of the space between or chairs/ and I was a cartographer of the tangles in your hair"? I am in love with that song. The chorus sounds a bit like "time is a crooked bow."
This is the only lyrics site that I've found Andrew's lyrics posted on, and I don't see the song (looked under bowl of fire too). If anyone can tell me the title, I will be soooo grateful! If you could do that, I'd love you forever (and everybody wants to be loved by me :) hehe) Thanks.

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cyanidebreathmint
10-07-2005

Rated 0 
oh my god!!! i have the same exact freakin problem! oaky, speaking for the two of us: SOMEONE PLEASE TELL US WHAT THAT SONG IS CALLED!!!!....DANKE! any how, beautiful lyrics...

do you have a xanga site bobwronski?

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bobwronski
10-08-2005

Rated 0 
Hey cyanide- Pants e-mailed me and told me the title of the song: Armchair Apocrypha. I added it to songmeanings. I wish it were on an album so that I could listen to it away from the computer...

And yeah, I do have a xanga: http://www.xanga.com/boatyboat
It's about the least interesting thing you could ever imagine reading.

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mylifeaquatic
04-30-2006

Rated 0 
i was driving to housesit at my grandparents house which is at least ten miles from where i live. the current price of gas is high, so this trip that i find myself taking frequently is costing a lot. i'd been having a rotten week, people were acting subtlely annoyed with me, and the moment that andrew bird began talking about his excitement about SNACKS i laughed. i felt better. thanks andrew.

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mylifeaquatic
04-30-2006

Rated 0 
i was driving to housesit at my grandparents house which is at least ten miles from where i live. the current price of gas is high, so this trip that i find myself taking frequently is costing a lot. i'd been having a rotten week, people were acting subtlely annoyed with me, and the moment that andrew bird began talking about his excitement about SNACKS i laughed. i felt better. thanks andrew.

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lostinwonderland
05-14-2006

Rated +1 
i'm in love with him...seen him perform 4 times now. When he plays this song he tells you that it's a story of how lovely things will be after the apocalypse! There will be tables and chairs...snacks...and all your real friends will be there... And I think "Armchair Apocalypse" is gonna be the title track on his next album!!!

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eisey
05-16-2006

Rated 0 
i absolutely love this song. it's so beautiful. how come no one's mentioned the "we were so tired of being mild" line yet? that resonates so strongly with me sometimes. just getting over that blandness of dull life and having joy over the simplest and most enjoyable things that occur all around us...i don't know, kind of a subjective perspective on that one...

also, i've always gotten this image in my head when the "crumbled financial institutions of this land" bit comes around. it always makes me think back to Fight Club when Tyler Durden is talking about destroying all the banks and debt records and it's kind of an economical chaotic collapse in which the whole world resets and we're forced out of our rutted everyday to truly live...i think he says something about "pounding out strips of venison on abandoned four lane highways" something like that. that's what runs through my head with that one. the kind of economical apocalypse alluded to in Fight Club.

also, the last line...so don't you worry about the atmosphere. that's so strangely comforting, because you can be one of those people who thinks it's totally going to hell and we're destroying our ozone and pay waay too much attention to it, or you can just live life and not feel constantly bombarded by the people who would live to watch for signs of the apocalypse. take it as it comes and embrace it with joy.

i love this man's lyrics. they brought me so much hope in a time where it was very tempting to look at life all gloomy-like. but he gives so much to just sit and smile about. thank God for andrew bird.

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shelieh
07-29-2006

Rated 0 
insomnia + boredom + paint shop pro = :)
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e296/shelieh/snacks.jpg

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Relapser
10-02-2006

Rated 0 
Hottest track fo the year.

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moeyoldbold
10-07-2006

Rated 0 
I love the picture. This song is amazing. I think about armageddon quite a bit actually and that was the first thing I thought of when I heard this song.

But I don't know whether he is talking about the final moments before the world ends or if he is talking about how at some point our structured society will dissintegrate and then we can make what we want out of it.

Also, I'm not sure what he's trying to say about global warming here:
"don't, don't you worry, about the atmosphere
or any sudden pressure change
cause i know
that it's starting to get warm in here
and things are starting to get strange"

Maybe he's saying that its inevitable? What do you think.

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moeyoldbold
10-07-2006

Rated 0 
P.S. whats adderal?

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MeetMeinStLouis
01-17-2007

Rated 0 
Adderall is a medication for ADD/ADHD.

While Weather Systems calms me down in most occasions, when I start feeling down about driving too much or the ice shelf that just broke off in Canada or how much my trip to Europe is going to cost because of the falling dollar I think of this song and think about it being ok. I think that he focuses on things that are nice and lovely. Yeah, we're screwing ourselves over with our mainstream lifestyle but there are some really great things in life. (Snacks, music...ponies) If we get a chance to start over maybe we should take some lessons and focus on different priorities in life than making money...maybe the way we have our society structured isn't the best way for people to be happy. He's just so damned happy when he performs this; you can't help but smile.

Maybe we should stop being so "mild" and take a stand - change our own lives, do something for the fun of it. Be happy! Why wait until society as we know it has collapsed?

(and the FabChannel concert is amazing...I'm watching it now for the millionth time.)

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nebulasinbloom
01-24-2007

Rated 0 
there will be snacks there will
there will be snacks, there will be snacks.

i love this. its the apocalypse and there's going to be snacks. hoorah for andrew bird! hoorah for snacks!

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SnazzJazz
03-27-2007

Rated 0 
eisley: I totally think about Fight Club too! Wow. Good book. Good flick. Anyways. Difference though is in Fight Club it's nihlism in an anarchist revolution. Here it's the Apocalypse, and, i guess, in a sense, anarchy results.

moeyoldbold: Adderall is a medication for ADHD, as MeetMeinStLouis said. To be specific, it also has a lot of hype. Think of it as the new Ritalin.

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JasonBunting
04-20-2007

Rated 0 
For more accurate Andrew Bird lyrics and community commentary, etc. go check out:
www.AndrewBird.org

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snowboardhippie5
05-31-2007

Rated 0 
i immediately thought of fight club also, both referring to an economic fall of some sorts. i love the movie and the song. both put a great image in my head

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