Lyrics for Australia as interpreted by heyheyhey111

Australia Lyrics
Time to put the earphones on…
No!

La la la la
La la la la
Laaaaaaa
La la la la

(Born to multiply) Born to multiply
Born to gaze into night skies
All you want’s one more Saturday
Well look here until then
They’re gonna buy your nice time
So keep your wick in the air and your feet in the fetters
'Till the day you come in doing cartwheels
We all pull out by ourselves
And your shape on the dance floor
Will have me thinking such filth and gouge my eyes

You’d be damned to be one of us girl
Faced with a dodo’s conundrum
I felt like I could just fly
But nothing happend every time I tried

Wooo, ooooh!

A dual-tone under wall
Selfish fool and hoped he’d save us all
Never dreamt of such sterile hands
You keep 'em folded in your lap
And raise them up to beg for scraps
You know he's holding you down
With the tips of his fingers just the same

But you'll be pulled from the ocean
But just a minute too late
Or changed by a potion
You’ll find a handsome young mate for you to love

You'll be damned to pining through the windowpanes you know
You'll trade your life for any ordinary Joe
Will do and I will grow old
Your nightmares only need a year or two to unfold

Been alone since you were twenty-one
You haven't laughed since January
You try and think of this as so much fun
But we know it to be quite contrary

La la la la la la la

Dare to be one of us girl
Faced with the android's conundrum
I felt like I should just cry
But nothing happens every time I take one on the chin
Your humor in your coat you don't know how long I've been
Watching the lantern dim starved of oxygen
So give me your hand and let's jump out the window

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nickvb
10-22-2006

Rated 0 
man this song is so fun. havent analysed it yet i only been listening to the album today ^_^

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ripelivejam
10-22-2006

Rated 0 
I just love the "facing the android's conundrum" line, despite not knowing what the hell it refers to (laws of robotics maybe? lol)

jury's still out on this one, personally...

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2 Replies
away we drift
10-24-2006

Rated 0 
"android's conundrum" - to live but never be alive.
As in the "dodo's conundrum" earlier - to be a bird, but never able to fly.

Loving the new album, addicted already.

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1 Reply
vasco17
10-27-2006

Rated +1 
All i can pretty much say is this song is INCREDIBLE

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harshfury
10-31-2006

Rated 0 
I agree. This song is the most "instantly gratifying" on the album. I won't say that it has a Chutes Too Narrow feel...but I will say that it has a "they'll soon discover" feel.

So catchy...so good...so shins

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doctortim
10-31-2006

Rated 0 
I love it. The name of the song, plus a few of the lyrics ("feet in the fetters", "haven't laughed since January" -- the First Fleet arrived at Australia in January 1788) make me think it's about the convicts who were sent from England to Australia. I guess that's pretty obvious. I have no idea what it means beyond that.

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1 Reply
Liiza
11-01-2006

Rated 0 
I LOVE THIS SONG!

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roon
11-02-2006

Rated 0 
cant stop listening to this song... sigh

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ladybug87
11-02-2006

Rated 0 
In 'Australia,' our ‘hero’ meets a girl and is commenting on her with black humor. "Born to multiply" may be a reference to his mindset that humans just reproduce and die. Although he has the thoughts of Nietzsche and ubermensch, he still is attracted to this girl, and is afraid he may taint her with his bitter realizations about life. "You'd be damned to be one of us girl," is the boy’s observation that this view of life completely agrees with the “Ignorance is bliss,” saying, because it can seriously shake up your idea of how to approach life. Though he cannot completely understand what rejecting every aspect in society is about until the album goes full circle. He will finally realize it in 'A comet appears.'
This boy mentions that the lantern has been dimming for him, so perhaps he thinks he can show the girl what life is truly about, however grim, and so they jump out the window together, falling through Pam Berry.

I think the title may be a reference to the Shins last tour dates before they starting really “wincing the night away” were in Australia. Even though the lyrics to this album start off darker from the beginning, the album’s feel doesn’t get dark until after Australia.

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musiclover2223
11-03-2006

Rated +1 
I think that in this song the speaker is someone who is single and is trying to talk a girl who is tied down into freeing herself. He says that we're born to multiply, talks about how she wants one more Saturday, etc. Then he talks about how she's tied down and has to pine through windowpanes and about how she's kidding herself thinking things are still fun being beholden to someone else. Even though he's trying to convince her to join the ranks of the free though, he's doesn't seem so sure himself if his way of life is better; he may be the one kidding himself and might really feel like he's of a dying breed as he gets older and all the other people around him start settling down. His motives for trying to convince the girl to free herself from her relationship with an ordinary joe may actually be selfish; he wants her to be "free", but "free" with him.

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Liiza
11-08-2006

Rated 0 
I love it!

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nevermeanttorhyme
11-27-2006

Rated 0 
this is fun

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blame_monster
11-30-2006

Rated 0 
before, I used to think (and rather firmly as well) that the 10:00 minute mark in Menomena's "Light" on their newest album, Under An Hour, when the drums came in after the 15 seconds of buildup was literally, "The most amazing element in music ever."

That title has been reassigned.

The last chorus, where they all come in and shout, "Dare to be one of us, girl" is the new most amazing element in music ever.



Sorry Menomena.

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fgevilmonkey
12-02-2006

Rated 0 
Just heard a live KEXP version of this song, and based on what Mercer was singing I thought I'd add two more corrections, one that I'm sure about and one that I'm not.

1) In the second verse, there is a "dual tone on the wall" instead of a "dual tone under wall". Right after that the lyrics read here as "selfish fool who hoped he'd save us all", but that doesn't make much sense... it sounds a lot more like "selfless fool had hoped he'd save us all". Someone who is selfish would never hope to save everyone, only themselves.

2) I'm much, much less sure about this, but in the live version it very distinctly sounds like James Mercer is saying "you're Himmler in your cote/coat/code, you don't know how long I have been". I'm not sure I really understand why a Heimlich Himmler reference would be thrown in there, but it sounds pretty distinct... perhaps someone could shed a little light?

Anyway, this is the most amazing song on the new record, which in my opinion is absolutely phenomenal and shows why The Shins are the best bast going right now.

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fgevilmonkey
12-02-2006

Rated 0 
Just realized... given that this song is being sung to a girl, it should be "selfless fool, who/you hoped you'd save us all"

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ElvisAteMyDonuts
12-03-2006

Rated 0 
James regularly alters his lyrics at his live shows/radio visits. I wouldn't read too much from differing lyrics in his live takes, as many of his lyrics are ever-changing live.

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fursoftasfur
12-09-2006

Rated 0 
i think this is among the best songs on the new album. i would have been let down by the cd as a whole if not for australia, sleeping lessons, turn on me, and a comet appears.

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sarac
12-10-2006

Rated 0 
Are there more versions of this song? In mine he clearly says: "time to put the earGOGGLES on" at the beginning, not earphones..

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guitarroman1
12-18-2006

Rated 0 
haha, yeah i think it actually says eargoggles but at first i thought it said earphones. and do you think "Will have me thinking such filth and gouge my eyes" might be a reference to Oedipus Rex?

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evapor8ed
12-18-2006

Rated 0 
After turning it up very high, I am 100% sure he says eargoggles, and lets face it, that's far funnier.

I love the song either way. Not much to add to what Ladybug and musiclover point out.

But I have to totally disagree with fursoftasfur, I think this album is brilliant all around.

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1 Reply
G-Farbulous
12-28-2006

Rated +1 
Definitely agree that this is the most catchy of the tunes off the new album. Love the melody and rhythm to this one.

To me it kind of speaks to the state of attention deficit modern society in the first verse. It speaks of forgetting our essential nature: "Born to multiply...", but he emphasizes trying to remember to be happy and vital. I think "All you want's one more Saturday" is evidence of this. We all want to put off responsibility, and just have fun. "They're gonna buy your nice time" is about selling yourself to the system, having a job. Mercer lends his advice on how to stay happy, and if you can "keep your wick in the air and your feet in the fetters" then you will eventually "come in doing cartwheels". At that point you will be so free that the sight of a gorgeous girl on the dancefloor will be overwhelming.

By telling the girl she would be damned to join their ranks, he is advising against overthinking things, like him and his crew do. He wants his mind to be able to fly free and clear, and unfettered, but nothing happens whenever he tries to let go.

The lyrics in the next verse are very interesting to me. I think they again reflect our situation in society as part of the masses. The selfless person thinks that they can fight the system and save the people. The "man" is holding you down so all you can do is keep your hands folded and wait to beg for scraps.

"But you'll be pulled from the ocean, but just a little too late..." meaning even if you do break free it won't matter, life will never be as normal as you'd like it to be. Thus the teasing last line: "You’ll find a handsome young mate for you to love."

Another set of great lyrics in the bridge. The "windowpanes you know" are your own limitations, and you will be damned to continue suffering by them. But at the same time he says you may just as easily "trade your life for any ordinary Joe", get married, settle down and forget all your idealistic behavior. I think he might be saying basically you're damned if you do, and you're damned if you don't.

In the last verse he is appealing to his partner, but this time he's daring her to jump into this world of doubt and constant questioning. His ultimate solution is for her to just "give me your hand and let's jump out the window".

I'm not saying this is what Mercer meant by it, but rather my take on things. The Shins continue to amaze me. Some of the most amazing lyrics I've ever heard, up there with the likes of Morrissey and Belle & Sebastian. On Chutes Too Narrow every song has a unique feel to it, but the music on this album took a few listens to grow on me, especially because whatever effect they are using on his voice seems to be used on most of the songs, giving the songs more coherence as a whole piece than previous albums. Basically, it didn't sound very "Shinzy" to me on the first listen. But oh how it grows. Best band in America right now!!!

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musiclover2223
12-30-2006

Rated 0 
Wow, after reading what some other people have thought, especially G-Farb, I have a much different take than I did before. I originally had a more shallow view of the song, thinking that the speaker was pleading to a girl to stop letting a man hold her down and to free herself, but now instead of it being "a" man, I think it's about "THE" man. This song is a plea to all of us to be true to ourselves.

The song starts out by reminding us how we're social animals and dreamers by nature, but many of us sell out. Life might actually be easier, simpler, and seemingly more carefree for those who don't worry about "selling out" and that type of thing and are able to just live and conform, but this song is pleading with us to dare and not take that easy route.

The song goes on to describe a benevolent "fool" who sort of forgoes her ideals and takes the easy, "ordinary" route in life and tries to convince herself that all is well; the song then again, telling her it has seen all the life sucked out of her, pleads to its target to forget the "ordinary" life and live the way she has always wanted.

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mit.
01-13-2007

Rated 0 
maybe small fractions of it could be in protest of our (australia's) involvment in giving bush a lapdance by joining in with the Iraqui war? "They’re gonna buy your nice time"

"You’d be damned to be one of us girl" perhaps warning about turning into the "democratic" system that bush presides over

"A dual-tone under wall
Selfish fool and hoped he’d save us all
Never dreamt of such sterile hands
You keep 'em folded in your lap
And raise them up to beg for scraps
You know he's holding you down
With the tips of his fingers just the same" -bush?!

"Your nightmares only need a year or two to unfold"

just thoughts. brilliant album!

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fursoftasfur
01-14-2007

Rated 0 
sorry evapor8d, the rest of the album is solid, but those songs are the ones that really do it. still does not stand up to oiw or ctn. and sea legs is just awful.

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ENEP
01-23-2007

Rated 0 
I laugh everytime at the "TIME TO PUT ZE EARPHONES ON!!" part.

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