Lyrics for Parentheses as interpreted by fancyashley

Parentheses Lyrics
Some philosophies fuel a belief in the self
Constructed to keep one's goods on one's own shelf
Built well you're a strong letter I
With the feet on the ground and the head to the sky
Now and then you can bend
It's okay to lean over my way
You fear that you can't do it all
And you're right
Even diligent day takes relief every day
From its work making light from the night

And when you're holding me
We make a pair of parentheses
There's plenty space to encase
Whatever weird way my mind goes
I know I’ll be safe in these arms

If something in the deli aisle makes you cry
You know I’ll put my arm around you
And I’ll walk you outside
Through the sliding doors
Why would I mind?

You're not a baby if you feel the world
All of the babies can feel the world
That's why they cry

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  • 21 Comments
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playgroundlove
12-14-2006

Rated 0 
i love this song! i think she's trying to convince the person she's having a relationship with, who's this strong, macho type, that it's okay to be sensitive in front of her. i like how she uses 'parentheses' to describe their relationship. like two "I"'s that bend toward each other, in between is this space they share, for their eyes only.

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onegrrlprideparade
12-25-2006

Rated 0 
i totally agree with you. this song is one of my favorites on the album. it's so sweet! she's just trying to reassure this person that whatever feelings they want to express is great and shouldn't be supressed!

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ohlyndsey
02-12-2007

Rated 0 
This is the cutest song ever.

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portion for a fox
05-10-2007

Rated 0 
soooooo what does the deli aisle have to do with anything?

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LaTeDa
05-30-2007

Rated 0 
I agree that the song is about her speaking to a gy who thinks he needs to be strong and she is saying that he can be sensetive. The deli aisle thing my friend told me. She said it's about the meat and it makes him sad and basically she says he can cry about it but it's worded as he is crying.

This is one of my favorite songs.

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rainingpaperlilies
06-07-2007

Rated 0 
It's beautiful.

But I don't get the deli aisle thing...still. Like, he's vegan? Or something? And seeing dead animals makes him sad?

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awkwardgirl
06-14-2007

Rated 0 
haha, rainingpaperlilies.

"hes vegan?"
i dont get it either, but that was a great/funny guess.

this song is so cute.

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hardpack
06-18-2007

Rated 0 
Maybe the "deli isle" quote is a cute reference to the first couple of lines. She's saying that most belief systems teach you to keep everything to yourself ("keep one's goods on one's own shelf"), but if there's something on your shelf ("in the deli isle"--maybe even referring to machismo and meat) that you need to let out (get off the shelf), then it's OK--she'll help you do it.

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sj_sands
07-08-2007

Rated 0 
I kind of thought the deli aisle thing was more metaphorical, as in, it's ok even to cry about the simple small things that may get to you. Not a strict reference to an opposition to meat.

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CAPITALLETTERS
07-16-2007

Rated -1 
I have just signed up to say that I think "sj_sands" is the only person writing here that has a brain, and isn't the sort of silly twat that would take English Literate simply to show how they can read excessively far into things and make everyone impressed with their intellectual prowess.

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CAPITALLETTERS
07-16-2007

Rated 0 
"Literature", that was meant to be.

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umyes
07-25-2007

Rated 0 
On the deli aisle bit: I agree with sj_sands, it's more metaphorical than anything. And I think it ties in with her use of "baby" - seriously, who hasn't seen a kid burst into tears at the store? She's saying it's ok if he needs to let out emotion (even at the most ordinary times, like kids do) That's why she says "You're not a baby if you feel the world. All of the babies can feel the world. That's why they cry." I took it as another reference to him being a bit closed off from the world, and her telling him it's ok to be more emotive and such, not to be so... stoic perhpas? Hm, hope that makes sense.

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satyrn
08-03-2007

Rated 0 
This song can be viewed as the separation and consolidation of mind and body. The first verse is about newage/buddhist/existentialist view of the I, the self.. meaning the mind. It even has a vague reference to yoga, "with the feet on the ground and the head to the sky".
In the chorus, the lyrics go on to talk about this parentheses, but although you get a sense of two people, you also get a sense that there is only one person: "There's plenty space to encase whatever weird way my mind goes." Kind of like, her mind and her body. Where her mind goes is within the parentheses and does not exist in the physical world. The physical arms are the parentheses that cradle this person, baby, or herself, with understanding and compassion.

Crying in a deli isle is not macho at all.. A very emotional person would cry at whatever they experience there. In this song it is very sweet and unconditional with the "of course i'll wrap my arms around you and walk you outside" (in the above lyrics it says 'you know' instead of 'of course'), and again the arms cradle with understanding only the more physical, neutral part of the self could provide.

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hab204
08-06-2007

Rated 0 
this ones been on repeat for a while now, and it's not gettin old..

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SomeOldFashionWay
09-03-2007

Rated 0 
I think this song is about a girl. I think the deli aisle comment isn't about anything specific. It's like "if anything ever just overwelms you, regardless of how simple, you can count on me to help you through it." My favorite part is the "why would i mind?". In this made up scenario, it implies the girl in question asks "You don't mind?" Something about that i really like.

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mockingsmile
09-18-2007

Rated 0 
it is about a girl.

MJ: Another beautifully sad lyric on that record is the one that goes, “If something in the deli aisle makes you cry…”

KM: What’s funny is that I made that up in my head around you.

MJ: Really?

KM: Yeah, we were in the Whole Foods, when I was visiting you in Portland one time, and I was staring at the overwhelming mass of all the food, kind of personal but really so impersonal. I had that really overwhelmed feeling; just wanting someone to come up and see that, and see me, and see that they should walk me outside.

MJ: Right, but I guess I didn’t walk you outside, did I? That’s not the punch line: you were waiting and then I walked you out? You probably didn’t even tell me.

KM: I don’t think I would have taken the risk to expect that from you at that point. I think my eyes were a little watery, and I was like, “Do you ever want someone to walk you out the door? Just put their arm around you and walk you out?”

MJ: I was probably like, “Get it together, Khaela!”

KM: You were just like, “We need food.”

MJ: That’s so funny, because I’ve imagined those two women in the deli aisle. So just say the lyrics so we have it.

KM: [in a normal speaking voice] If there’s something in the deli aisle that makes you cry / You know I’ll put my arm around you and walk you outside / through the sliding doors / Why would I mind?

MJ: OK, but you sing it much less flip. I love the “why would I mind?” part. It implies that someone else is saying “Do you mind doing this for me? Is this OK?” That’s the part that breaks my heart, because it’s very female to feel like that’s too much to ask.

KM: Yeah, yeah, totally.

MJ: Even in your fantasies there’s an implicit apology. That’s the extra part that you probably don’t even think about, I’m guessing. I don’t, when I’m writing. When people ask me, “Is there a female point of view in your work?” I’m always like, I don’t know. I’m just me, and am I even human? But when I heard that line, I was like, Oh, no guy would have that fantasy of someone saying, “Why would I mind?”

KM: It seems like a lot to ask.

MJ: Yeah, it’s so much to ask! [Both laugh]

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bizarro
03-09-2008

Rated 0 
*of course i'll put my arm around you

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ftheworld
05-02-2008

Rated 0 
OK, listen up,

FIRST of all i would just like to say that CAPITALLETERS is the only frickin' person with a brain in this god-forsaken chat room and his comment about everyone taking English Literate classes was ESPECIALLY intriguing.

OKKKAYYYY this song is DEFINiTELY NOT cute. I cut myself to this song every night before I knock myself with Xanax. Sometimes my girlfriend and I listen to it while we have rough sex, but that's just me. This song is about the pain of the world as seen through a transvestite's eyes. The deli isle is the tranny's loss of manhood aka "meat". Anyone who can't CLEARLY see that is f'd up!

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ftheworld
05-02-2008

Rated 0 
/fUck YeAh//XXXXXXXX

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lexusinabasket
05-04-2008

Rated 0 
I think it's interesting that she says both "babies feel the world" and "you're NOT a baby if you feel the world." Maybe in the latter she's referring to the insulting meaning of "baby," so it means "you're not pathetic if you feel the world."

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BMagYay
07-24-2009

Rated 0 
I think the reference to the deli aisle means refers to the "manly" things in life; when something is really tough, when he's hurt and he doesn't want to be, she'll be there for him and will lovingly walk put his arm around him and comfort him without making a big scene (hence the walking out through the doors).

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