Regina Spektor – Pavlov's Daughter

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  My Interpretation:My interpretation:
  I think this is about human nature. We, as humans, are born into sin. This is what Christianity has taught me. At the beginning when she is talking about the grave digger and getting slimmer, I think she means that as we get older if we continue to live in sin, our odds of making it to Heaven when we die get slimmer and slimmer. We are sort of damned from the begginning if we do not accept Jesus Christ as our personal saviour. This is why the song starts this way. Then she goes on to talk about how if she hears about angels calling her name to be good and repint one more time, she will just get drunk to ignore them. Then she talks from the POV of the devil, Lucifer/Lucille, and she talks about all different forms of sin. When she talks about Pavlov's daughter (and of course we know that Pavlov invented the idea of classical conditioning), she is talking about how we are programed, conditioned if you will, to be sinners and how hard it is to break the cycle of sinning until you accept Jesus. I think the ending where she is basically talking, she is saying that she (or the speaker, rather) chose to end their life and dies, and she hears rain, but it isn't real rain, it is the fire of hell raining down on her because she never chose to accept The Light.
  Again, this is just my interpretation and how I see it. Feel free to come up with your own :)

  Flag clcsilenton April 07, 2013   Link

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  General Comment:I like this song a lot, I could never fully understand it, but I always thought it is about a person who is unhappy with her boring life.
  The grave diggers might symbolize her thoughts about suicide that repeat in her head calling her name.
  She wants to live differently than other people, be alive this is why she sings - "Whadya think I was an amateur
  playin' with my temperature?" - she wants to be emotional, extraordinary, give all herself, she wants to do her best.
  The part - "If I hear another song about angels
  if I see another feather on the dumb-box
  I'm gonna go to Babylon and get me some whiskey
  Gonna go to Babylon and get me some whiskey now..." - makes me think of a person who is tired of people who predend, holy, sweet girls, never drinking whiskey. She is so sick of it that if she ever hears it again she will just go out and drink.
  She found a guy who is just like her, she knows how he feels because he is also tired and bored, he is her neigbour so she knows a lot about him.
  She calls herself Lucille because she wants to be bad, being bad is better than being sweet and boring, this is how she sees other girls she knows.
  She is hoping something will change but eventually all stays the same - "but nothing happens, it's a cruel joke".

  Flag INDIonlineon March 06, 2013   Link

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  General Comment:How is Lucille "Lucifer"? Regina Spektor is jewish and me, being jewish myself, I know that jewish people don't believe in Hell. How can she imply that in her songs?
  I think that you are all off-track but so off-track - it's interesting.
  
  Someone commented something about Regina's lesbian relationships and how she's afraid and wants to kill herself, that is so off-track, yet might be it.
  
  I honestly DON'T know, and maybe I'm as off-track as you all are, but I think that this song was touched with a little bit of meaning here and there but the rest of it is a blank page for us to fill.
  Listening to Regina is not listening to music, it's studying the art of the brain. Oh Regina, Regin-ah, Regin-ah!

  Flag gardenfulloflieson June 15, 2012   Link

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    You have to remember though that songs, poems, and stories are not necessarily from the point of view of the writer but from the point of view of the speaker of the song, poem, and story. Maybe Regina's speaker for this song is not Jewish, and maybe she wrote this song about other people's beliefs. Just something to consider :)

    Flag clcsilenton April 08, 2013  
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  General Comment:In the beginning of the song, as someone else pointed out, she randomly says "Christopher"
  
  "Christopher" = "Christ" + "-opher"
  
  Then, later, she refers to herself as "Lucille", but the way she says it it sounds almost like "Lucy"
  
  "Lucy" + "-opher" = Lucifer

  Flag cretor2617on May 31, 2012   Link

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  General Comment:I know the rhyme is off but it sounds like she is saying "Tamba" not Temperature.
  
  
  yes I'm putting the boulder to my ear
  and I still can't hear
  whadya think I was an amateur
  playin' with my tamba cha cha cha
  
  Listen and see. Tamba, as in tambarine makes more sense too.
  
  As for the rest of the song, I'm baffled. I came here for ideas.

  Flag chrismzelleron May 30, 2012   Link

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  Song Meaning:“The original and most famous example of classical conditioning involved the salivary conditioning of Pavlov’s dogs. During his research on the physiology of digestion in dogs, Pavlov noticed that, rather than simply salivating in the presence of meat powder (an innate response to food that he called the unconditioned response), the dogs began to salivate in the presence of the lab technician who normally fed them. Pavlov called these psychic secretions. From this observation he predicted that, if a particular stimulus in the dog’s surroundings were present when the dog was presented with meat powder, then this stimulus would become associated with food and cause salivation on its own. In his initial experiment, Pavlov used a bell to call the dogs to their food and, after a few repetitions, the dogs started to salivate in response to the bell.”

  Flag unfashionerdon December 21, 2011   Link

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  General Comment:This song is about masturbating. The 'My name is Lucille' verse is the equivalent of the 'bell' or the stimulus. When she hears the guy, Pavlov's daughter 'drools on her pillow.' "something deep inside her made her want to salivate." "It was like a hazy dream..." that part is where the masturbation comes in. The way she sings 'quiet, quiet..." resembles the stages of an orgasm. But at the end of the song you learn that she's not able to reach orgasm and it's disappointing: a cruel, ironic joke. But I'm not sure about the Babylon part tho.

  Flagged dustparticleon September 29, 2011   Link

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    weird.

    Flag omfgmattyon November 06, 2011  

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    orgasm? Please (Not 'please' as in please; rather, you have GOT to be kidding:)

    Flag ILUVUon May 30, 2012  
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  General Comment:I see now that this connection has already been made.
  +5 points for my faith in humanity xD

  Flag Linachan18on June 01, 2011   Link

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  Song Meaning:Oh man, this is my interpretation, but I'm pretty surprised that no one made this connection?? (I only read the first page though...so..)
  
  My name is Lucille and I know how you feel
  I live downstairs
  I hear you taking out your garbage
  I hear you loving your girlfriend
  I hear you loving yourself too
  I hear you turning your thoughts off
  I hear you turning your thoughts off
  And I turn mine off too
  The only thing I hear is you
  and you don't sound nice and you don't sound right
  and you don't sound good and you don't sound right
  
  The above chorus...I think she is the devil. Lucille is the female name for Lucifer...and then she says, "I live downstairs", possibly referencing that she is in hell (I only can deduct this from the other songs Regina has written about Greek Mythological characters.). She then goes on to list all these things that she is "hear"ing you do. She is the devil of course, so she hears all your sins (and I'm sure it's driven her mad).
  
  Then the part of her lyrics:
  
  If I hear another song about angels
  if I see another feather on the dumb-box
  I'm gonna go to Babylon and get me some whiskey
  Gonna go to Babylon and get me some whiskey now...
  
  Implies this even further, because of COURSE the devil would hate hearing about angels. Not only is she/he the devil, but according to the bible/stories Lucifer was [one of] Gods favorite angel[s]. And to take the edge off she would go to Babylon and get drunk because she was so pissed off.
  
  Either way this song is way off the deep end, into madness, and one of my favorite Regina songs to date!

  Flag Linachan18on June 01, 2011   Link

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  General Comment:I love this song so much... it's stuck in my head >.< I think that it's clever to write that Pavlov's daughter reacted that way to the bell... I keep singing the 'Lucille' part....

  Flag flufffybootson April 29, 2011   Link

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