Lyrics for Dumb I Sound as interpreted by Periodix

Dumb I Sound Lyrics
Something's suddenly unclear
Someone's suddenly my fear
My eyes demand like broken eaves
The ladle overspills on eaves

If you once knew
How I loved you

And my bruise-colored eyes peal
Every image to your face and heel
And if you're happy, I am too
And if you're sleeping, I'm with you

But you love someone else
But you want to be with someone else
And I can't believe how dumb I sound
And I will put my face over the ground
And love you

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MixedUpConfusion
10-22-2005

Rated 0 
I think this song is beautiful in the beginning, but the freaky evilness in the last minute of the song scares me.

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_ellie
12-09-2005

Rated 0 
It's about the fear & insecurity of love, selfishness, terror, desperation. Not understanding how this thing you love could be anything but perfectly reciprocal.
Is true love possessive?

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aereogramme
01-08-2006

Rated 0 
such an eerie song. gives me the willies. but still amazing none the less.

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Murphy McManus
01-08-2006

Rated 0 
pretty heavy for an album with a track like "belly button"

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themoralbank
02-14-2006

Rated 0 
personally, my favorite sufjan song, the flute is so killer \m/

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Song of Songs
06-05-2006

Rated 0 
Can someone explain the "eaves', "ladel', and "peel...heel" parts?

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musicalchairs
09-03-2006

Rated 0 
This has to be like my second favorite song.
It's just....great.
Really really really great.

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misterent
10-16-2006

Rated 0 
This song is indeed one of Sufjan's most beautiful and heavy.

I tried manipulating the ending to see what was being said, and came up with some weird results. Sufjan continually repeats something along the lines of "This sounds so stupid, soo stupid, ha ha." Also, if you speed up the ending, you can hear this deep voice repeating something like "Pizza... pizza..." during the whole freak out at the end. And that very last rumble in the last two or three seconds? I think he's saying "Yeti." Why? I have no idea...

But rest assured when I figured that all out... I laughed! :D So silly at the end of such a heavy song.

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gnoxyz
10-28-2006

Rated 0 
Incredible song, the lyrics kill me and the weird tune fits so perfectly.

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groundflower
12-18-2006

Rated 0 
The tune is so eerie, but I think the lyrical quality is wonderful. One of my top Sufjan songs.

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danielle76
01-17-2007

Rated 0 
"My eyes demand like broken eaves
The ladle overspills on eaves"

So "eaves" are edges on a roof. The "ladle" could be the big/little dipper. Get it?

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LolaKat
03-14-2007

Rated 0 
At first I thought this was about domestic abuse, sort of.

"Something's suddenly unclear
Someone's suddenly my fear"

And this:

"And my bruise-colored eyes peel
Every image to your face and heel"

Just strike me -heh. unintentional puns, that are only funny to me- as a violent relationship. Bruise colored eyes and fear and all. But the last verse sort of messes up that theory. Still, everytime I hear it I think "Dude, violent"

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hexspeak
04-26-2007

Rated 0 
eh i was thinking more that the:

"My eyes demand like broken eaves
The ladle overspills on eaves"

part was him crying. The first line references the eaves and his eyes, and the second i think is him starting to cry, the eaves being eyelashes.

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solarflair
05-15-2007

Rated 0 
the phrase 'someone's suddenly my fear' is probably referring to the fear of the person who is taking away his loved one, i.e., the 'other man/woman'. that could be further implied by the line 'but you love someone else'...the whole domestic violence bit doesn't really fit. :/

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Periodix
05-23-2007

Rated 0 
Here are the exact lyrics for this song, transcribed from Sufjan's handwriting in the first pressing of the album. The lyrics are originally written without line breaks.

Dumb I sound: something's suddenly unclear, someone's suddenly my fear. My eyes demand like broken eaves. The ladle overspills on eaves. If you once knew how I loved you. And my bruise-colored eyes peal every image to your face and heel. And if you're happy I am too, and if you're sleeping, I'm with you. But you love someone else, but you want to be with someone else and I can't believe how dumb I sound, and I will put my face over the ground and love you.

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Periodix
05-23-2007

Rated 0 
Note: The "peel" in the original lyrics should be "peal" instead. There's a pretty big difference between those two words.

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laurentertaining
08-28-2008

Rated 0 
Maybe the last half of the song is sort of his melting down after he realizes/thinks about how dumb he must sound, hence the "This sounds so stupid, soo stupid, ha ha." lyrics misterent interpreted. Just a guess, ha ha.

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crumbs
10-11-2008

Rated 0 
Ohhh... I just got so excited!! Just sped it up on audacity and heard the "sounds so stupid.. pizza" lines myself. and someone beat me to it ages back! Haha, good work. Go sufjan... this song is great. I dont find it too dark myself.. I guess the flute for me balances that, but yeah, I love it!

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alisha0715
03-28-2009

Rated 0 
I think this song is about being hopelessly devout.

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greenshirtguy
07-14-2009

Rated 0 
Great song.

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