i love this track, i dont think theres any way of decoding that tho!

this song makes me think of pollution, about how we are destroying the world and ourselves. Thats probably not the meaning of it, but it could be?

I dont know why but it kinda sounds like a superman story to me....but dont take my word for it

Atheists praying full of sarcasm is such a brilliant image. It just sums up that particular kind of person who isn't content to just disbelieve a religion but has to go out of their way to mock it. It makes me laugh every time I hear it because she seems so amused when she mentions them.

I like the way it seems to be a little folklore-y, with the "Some said a local lake had been enchanted". But then that's just me. I also like the way she plays on "trying to keep it quiet", being both the rumours, and the lake itself, in that she can hear laughter.

i'm not sure if i'm correct, but it sounds like the genius commits suicide in the lake. it is his secret... in the chorus it's like she's telling him to hold in his breath until he comes back out of the water in full. instead, i guess he lets it go and dies. she thinks he is a foolish child.

maybe he didn't value his life the way he should. the film crew and reporters come in to report what happened. and life goes on... like nothing happened... the kids wake up hung over, the garbage men etc. while the genius was maybe hoping something would come of his death. he was asleep "dreaming that the antidote was orgasm." i'm not really sure what that means, but i get the impression he had romanticized suicide somehow. he had made a mistake, but it was too late. he hadn't thought it through... a foolish child.

i'm not sure if i'm correct, but it sounds like the genius commits suicide in the lake. it is his secret... in the chorus it's like she's telling him to hold in his breath until he comes back out of the water in full. instead, i guess he lets it go and dies. she thinks he is a foolish child.

maybe he didn't value his life the way he should. the film crew and reporters come in to report what happened. and life goes on... like nothing happened... the kids wake up hung over, the garbage men etc. while the genius was maybe hoping something would come of his death. he was asleep "dreaming that the antidote was orgasm." i'm not really sure what that means, but i get the impression he had romanticized suicide somehow. he had made a mistake, but it was too late. he hadn't thought it through... a foolish child.

DROWNING
"dreaming that the antidote is orgasm" - many believe that when a person drowns, they experience a euphoric sensation at the moment of death, comparable to an intense orgasm.

I believe maybe the lake had a reputation- the teenagers would go there to party, and dare eachother to hold their breath a long time underwater, hoping to achieve the fabled orgasm while still surviving to tell about it. Instead, many drowned- but this did not keep the kids from going back. They were foolish. Perhaps they joked that those young men who died had ejaculated in those waters... inspiring the humor in the consistency of the lake itself. The townspeople obviously did not find it appropriate to talk about what went down at the lake.
"The neighbours were trying to keep it quiet
But I swear that I could hear the laughter
So they joke, and they nicknamed it the porridge
Cause over night that lake had turned as thick as butter"

now the geek "genius" thought he'd try the theory out himself, without anyone knowing- he thought he was smarter than the drunk boys and would be sober enough to save himself, but he drowned alone in the lake, still hoping to acheive his orgasm, not realizing that there was no "antidote" to save him from death.

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maybe the genius killed someone in the lake?

I like the drowning/orgasm theory, but I have another one I prefer, mostly because it seems a thousand times more common.

Imagine a guy who lives what seems like a normal life, all the while secretly hoping for greatness - seeking fulfillment in any way possible. To everyone around him, he's normal - better than normal - in fact, he's doing fantastic. But he can tell that he's not. He can tell that he's secretly drowning in his secrets and his desires and his disappointment.

Anyways, that's all I got right now. I was inspired by an ex who actually makes me sick to my stomach these days...

This song is brilliant.
I could listen to the "to strip his clothes off by the dumpsters..." part all day. Her voice is amazing.

I like the drowning/orgasm theory, but also the suicide theory too.

Hm..I dunno..

I LOVE this song... does anyone know how to get it on CD?

I think it's about a "genius next door" who has never really fit in with everyone else. All the other kids hang out together, get drunk, and laugh about the lake. So one night, the genius next door drowns himself in the lake - and, like many people who commit suicide, regrets it the moment before he dies.

This song is so sad and so beautiful...

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it seems like 'genius' might also be a sarcastic term. everyone's whipsering that they know what's going on and they have their funny ideas of what it might be, but
'Didn't care as long as he was able
To strip his clothes off by the dumpster
At night while every one was sleeping
And wade midway into that poridge
Just him and the secret he was keeping'

seems to indicate that perhaps he had created the 'enchantment' (or at least thought he had) and didn't care what went on as long as he had the comfort of going back to what he'd created it. to me it spoke of a man alone/in his own world

even though i enjoy general banter, i must put an end to it

i met regina not too long ago and she explained to me this song...


basically..
lad or "genius" was called the genius cause he was the lad who figure out about that orgasm before death,
so loads of people tried it, ejaculating and whatnot making it as thick as porridge, and he planned to comit suicide, so he "wade midway into that poridge
Just him and the secret he was keeping"

and then yeah when its says " til you thought it through you foolish child" he actaully realised it wasnt worth it, he was a foolish child.



"In the morning the film crews start arriving
With donuts, coffee and reporters
The kids were waking up hung over
The neighbours are starting up their cars
The garbageman were emptying the dumpsters
Atheists were praying full of sarcasm"
Obvious they wer goin on like a normal day and stuf blah blahh...
"And the genius next door was sleeping"(dead)
you know when they say that death is like being asleep? she was playing on that... saying that hes
Dreaming that the antidote is orgasm
when it says dreaming that the antidote is orgasm, it actaully means dreaming that the answer to his problems is death,


so there you have it kids, spoken from the true regina skeptor herself, she has an amazing vioce live i definatly recomend anyone the see her (:

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you konw regina actaully wanted the lyrics to be " and wade midway into that poridge, swimming in the secret he was keeing" because it sounded more poetic but she changed it incase people didnt get it.


how humble of her (:

how did you meet regina?
this song is definitely one of my favourites. i love how the garbage man emptied the rubbish the next day, disposing of the genius' clothes without knowing he's dead.
i kinda got the idea that, well maybe he's not actually dead, maybe he's just dreaming the whole thing, but having a revelation at the same time, like he's thinking about killing hemself but he realises he's just a foolish child. and he wakes up and hes a genius, and to everyone else it's just a normal day.

I feel as if there's still more to it.. but at the same time thats all there is to it.

DeeBabes... maybe she explained it to you, but I don't think you fully understood what she meant... cause I don't understand your explanation...

DeeBabes: if you met her then why do you call her 'Regina Skeptor'... Apart from that, no offence but everyone on SM claims to have met the artist and its normally rubbish, and your fable doesn't sound any more reliable to me.

As for meaning, clearly if you read the lyrics only the genius was orgasming in the lake (if we accept the orgasm theory), because it was 'the secret he was keeping'. The kids swam, which makes the orgasm theory revolting, but nonetheless still very likely.

The film crews are a strange addition... they must be coming to film the strange phenomenon of the thick watered lake.

Anyone else have the live version? At the beginning it sounds like she's saying 'Im a lesbian', but I may be mishearing.

Love Regina's lyrics - fantastic stuff.

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DeeBabes I also get the feeling that you might have made that up lol

I think everyone is totally of the mark. I feel sure there is something this song represents, and I think it might take either a literary professor or Regina herself to reveal its meaning

I can't stop listening to this song. The melody is so soothing, and the words really sink in.

This is my own theory:
The genius in the story is sort of an oucast and a loner, and while he has a lot of potential to be great, he lives a mundane life because of his anti-social behavior -- "The genius next door was bussing tables
Wiping clean the keptchup bottle labels
Getting high and mumbling German fables"

While his peers are all having a good time at the enchanted lake, he's all by himself.

And so one night he gets sick of missing out on life that he goes to check out the lake alone.
I don't think he kills himself in it, personally, but all your theories are quite possible. Although, I wouldn't be so quick to accept what DeeBabes said, as we have no real proof to know if Regina actually said that. ;)

And the line, "And the genius next door was sleeping
Dreaming that the antidote is orgasm"....I think spending time in the lake made the genius realize he wasn't living, only existing, and perhaps the "orgasm" was not meant in a literal sense, but "orgasm" as in living life to the fullest.

Regina writes such amazing songs! They can be interpreted in countless ways.

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"Some said the local lake had been enchanted
Others said it must have been the weather
The neighbors were trying to keep it quiet
But I swear that I could hear the laughter
So they joke, and they nicknamed it "the porridge"
Cause over night that lake had turned as thick as butter"

My interpretation of this song is that the lake is a metaphor for worldly problems, or more specifically:the problems that the youth faces today(drug/alcohol addiction? teen depression? violence? disease?risky behavior?), that society chooses to ignore and in doing so the problems accumulate thus turning the lake thick as butter. They continue to downplay its importance and take the problems lightly.

"But the local kids would still go swimming, drinking
Saying that to them it doesn't matter"

The kids probably know these problems are harmful to them but still choose to play with it because like society,they also choose to downplay its importance, possibly for their own sanity since these are problems that they must face. Spektor seems to add "drinking" as a sidenote to possibly signify that the alcohol helps them to cope with these problems. Or maybe it is used as a metaphor to show that the teens are trying to force themselves to be apathetic/ignorant/blissfully unaware of the "porridge" and possibly forget that it is harmful to them.

"If you just hold in your breath
'Til you come back up in full
Hold in your breath
'Til you've thought it through
You fool"

I am not exactly sure how to interpret this just yet but I think it might be Spektor warning people that since it is too late to get rid of the "porridge" the best thing they can do is hold their breaths and dont try to jump into it and just think it through before you do something that will harm you.

"The genius next door was bussing tables
Wiping clean the keptchup bottle labels
Getting high and mumbling German fables
Didn't care as long as he was able
To strip his clothes off by the dumpsters
At night while every one was sleeping
And wade midway into that porridge
Just him and the secret he was keeping"

The genius next door probably represents an innocent intelligent youth, a "neighbor" who no one would expect. His intelligence is wasted by "wiping clean the ketchup bottle labels." He is unfulfilled and the world fails to recognize his talents. He gets high and even in his lack of sobriety he is still able to recall literature further emphasizing his intelligence. His unfulfillment causes him to willingly make himself vulnerable to the "porridge" by stripping his clothes. His secret could be his misery, or whatever made him miserable. Another guess is that his depression caused him to get into heavy drugs and he went into the "porridge" every night, only this time he overdosed and died (or it could have been on purpose). So his secret may have been his drug addiction.

"Hold in your breath
'Til you thought it through
You foolish child"

Spektor seems to be directing her warning to this genius, but this time it seems to be more of a chastisement. She elongates the word fool and then seems to add on "-ish child" as an afterthought and there appears to be anger/dissapointment in her voice. It is almost as if she is warning a group of people, trying not to point out anyone specific and then after a while she is overcome with so much anger/dissapointment that shes like "screw it, im talking about you foolish child" haha. She calls the genius a fool (paraodox) signifying that algthough he had a lot of intelligence he was not smart enough to avoid his fate of "drowning in the porridge." He did not think logically and he was childish, foolish, and immature in his actions.

"In the morning the film crews start arriving
With donuts, coffee and reporters
The kids were waking up, hung over
The neighbors were starting up their cars
The garbageman were emptying the dumpsters
Atheists were praying full of sarcasm
And the genius next door was sleeping
Dreaming that the antidote is orgasm"

Here it seems as if no one cares about the death of a "neighbor" who was also a genius. The film crews are basically distracted by coffee and donuts, people are going about their daily lives, and the atheists use this as an opportuniy to mock faith, basically saying there is no God because he did not prevent the genius from "sleeping"(dying). About the antidote being an orgasm I might be stretching it a little but ill say it anyway: an orgasm, although there are other ways, is produced with another person. So maybe an orgasm is a metaphor for love and a human connection. The genius was alone and ignored in this song and if he was given some happiness and attention he would not have had to wade into the porridge. So maybe he wished the world were a little nicer to him or just nicer in general and not as apathetic and ignorant to all the problems that are right under their noses.

I probably could have explained all this a little better but I hope this at least makes a little bit of sense im kind of just rambling :p


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hmmm... maybe i'm just being shallow but i tend to take regina's songs as they are...

i think the meaning is pretty literal, basically what juliaspaperbags said.

but, no disrepekt!

I've just registered to weigh in on this song - I agree with sweets on the "the antidote was orgasm" line. Often, suicide victims cite loneliness as one of (not always the main) the reasons for attempting to/committing suicide. To me, genius is asleep, dreaming that if he were loved he wouldn't need to commit suicide.

Somewhat linked, the "bussing tables/cleaning ketchup bottle labels", I think, is a comment on how there are all these people around us - geniuses, depressives, all kinds of people - just going along with their normal lives.

I think the essence of the song is that: life goes on because nobody is really interested in others around them: "the neighbors were starting up their cars", and Regina is trying to get the genius, all of the geniuses to wake up and realise they aren't that alone.

:/

Not entirely my interpretation, but when I think of "genius", I think of a mad scientist type. A fairy tale about a waiter who has a special machine that can turn the lake into porridge. I agree with the suicide interpretation. Maybe he's just dreaming of drowning and never goes through with it and the town wakes up and trudges through daily life. Maybe the reporters are attending to something else going on.