Lyrics for Heretics as interpreted by blisse

Heretics Lyrics
Bored holes through our tongues, so sing a song about it
Held our breath for too long till we're half sick about it
Tell us what we did wrong and you can blame us for it
Turn a clamp on our thumbs, we'll sew a doll about it
And tell us all about it
We'll sew a doll about it

How about some credit now
Where credit is due
For the damage that we've done
We have brought upon ourselves and others
With a slow and vicious gun
And although pratfalls can be fun
Encores can be fatal

And then I hear you say
Thank God it's fatal
Thank God it's fatal
Not shy
Not shy of fatal
Not shy of fatal
Thank God
Thank God it's fatal
Thank God it's fatal
Not shy
Not shy of fatal
Not shy of fatal

Wait just a second now
It's not all that bad
Are we not having fun
You make your mountains of handkerchiefs
Where the mascara always runs
So be careful when you're done
You're bound to get post-natal
What did I just hear you say?

Thank God it's fatal
No, we don't want to hear the sound of a door
No, we don't want to hear the sound of a door
And we don't want to read the signs that you bore
You know the kind of sign you hang on a door
Saying, "We'll be back. What a crack."
Now don't you think we might have heard that before?
Now don't you think we might have heard that before?

Bored holes through our tongues, so sing a song about it
Held our breath for too long till we're half sick about it
Tell us what we did wrong and you can blame us for it
Turn a clamp on our thumbs, we'll sew a doll about it

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disastrous
01-27-2007

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favourite song off new album!

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gyroscope
02-03-2007

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i'm pretty sure it's "post-natal" not "post-needle". and possibly "turn the clamps on our thumbs".

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brokenspoons
02-08-2007

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what the FUCK does this song mean. It never leaves my head.

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jadedgypsy
02-11-2007

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seriously, this song is amazing. and yeah it never left my head till about 3 or 4 days after, although it felt really awkward to sing along to "thank god it's fatal". i guess that fits the meaning of heretics (according to merriam-webster, heretics are dissenters of an accepted belief or doctrine). the song embraces death so passionately that it's kinda morbid. but maybe that was his intent - in situations involving euthanasia & suicide, some consider death as a relief from pain and suffering. both euthanasia and suicide could be considered as a heresy, since there is some violation of accepted doctrines/religious beliefs.

i've also noticed this pattern of embracing death/mortality in 'Fiery Crash'. in that song, prior to his plane taking off, he says "to save our lives we've got to envision a fiery crash; it's just a formality".

i think all of these ties in with the first 4 lines of this song: "Born host to a tongue, So sing a song about it, Held a breath for too long, Till we're half sick about it". he's basically singing about expressing the other (more controversial) viewpoint.

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JeesumCrowe
02-17-2007

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Are we sure the last line isn't "We'll be back? What a crack." - That always made more sense to me but maybe I'm missing something.

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vlnp89
02-18-2007

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I never get Andrew Bird lyrics, but that doesn't stop them from being amazing... :)

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bradk4321
03-01-2007

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This song is amazing for sure. I don't really know what it means, but I have noticed that Andrew Bird talks about death a LOT in his songs.

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Quisquilloso
03-22-2007

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It's not "sound of a draw," it's "sound of a door." Here's something: "heretics" are nonbelievers, the song embraces death, and it ends by saying "We'll be back? What a crack." Maybe it's about the absence of an afterlife, in which case "thank god it's fatal" is pretty ironic.

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vinylskirt
03-26-2007

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i don't think it's a song that embraces death necessarily...bird just seems to be mocking people who are afraid of living life because they're preoccupied with the afterlife/SCARED of death.
"No, we don't want to hear the sound of a door"
is significant to me. people who have a strong belief in the afterlife usually consider death to be a door closing...and the afterlife to be a new door opening. so he's singing about someone who doesn't want to die. "thank god it's fatal" is definitely ironic. if it's fatal, that implies there's no afterlife, so why thank god?

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Quisquilloso
03-26-2007

Rated 0 
When I said I think the song "embraces death," I should have said I think the song embraces the finality of death. "thank god it's fatal" is saying, "thank god it's over." Not wanting to read a sign saying "We'll be back" speaks for itself. I definitely agree with vinylskirt about the door as a symbol of passage to another life - a sound "we don't want to hear." As for the irony, I think there's an irony in using the phrase "thank god" as an expression of happiness and/or gratitude if one is a heretic. I'd also like to say that I don't think he's really morbid about it - are we not having fun? And shouldn't that be enough?

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Quisquilloso
03-26-2007

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On the other hand, "Dark Matter" seems to make a case for escaping before they kick out the ladder...

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Quisquilloso
03-27-2007

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The more I think about it/listen to it, the less convinced I am of my previous thoughts. The song has a "we" and a "you," and it's the "you" that thanks god its's fatal. I'm particularly puzzled by the pratfalls/encore line. Maybe it's about an attempted suicide?

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eisey
03-28-2007

Rated 0 
So be careful when you're done
You're bound to get post-natal

post-natal: Of or occurring after birth, especially in the period immediately after birth.

reincarnation? afterlife? post-partum depression?

and this:
Tell us what we did wrong
And you can blame us for it

anyone who's known someone who's thought of suicide, or thought of it themselves can most likely resonate with this strongly.

and i'm thinking boring holes in our tongues to be the anti-establishment tongue-studs of today's youth.

oh, and more along the possible idea of suicide,
How about some credit now
Where credit is due
For the damage that we've done
We have wrought upon ourselves and others

most people don't do it to just "get out", but so that they won't hurt others anymore, and because their own personal hurt is so intense.

there's a lot to chew on here...

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Quisquilloso
03-28-2007

Rated 0 
More to chew:
"don't you think we might have heard that before?" has added meaning in light of the reincarnation angle.

The opening/closing lines imply torture (boring, placing under water?, confession, and thumb-clamping) - but for two of those, the response is creative - singing, sewing a doll. I have no idea what sewing a doll is about, except that sewing requires thumbs and creating a doll is kind of like a birth.

One of the things I admire about his lyrics is the richness of suggestion within a theme while remaining enigmatic.

(Can you tell I've had this CD on repeat for a very long time?)

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vinylskirt
03-29-2007

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i'm still putting all of this together but i've also had this cd on repeat and i feel like:

"We have wrought upon ourselves and others
With a slow and vicious gun
And although pratfalls can be fun,
Encores can be fatal"

is reading to me like someone who hates heros/icons for being celebrated after their death or solely because of their death

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Quisquilloso
04-12-2007

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It's occurred to me that even though this song probably applies to dissenters in a general way, there are a lot of things that resonate with the Irag war and the current Administration, if you allow for floating pronouns. The "Heretics" title could refer to the religious aspect of the (Holy) War, as well as the administration characterizing dissenters as "unpatriotic"; the opening/closing lines refer directly to torture, and indirectly to (peaceful) dissent; the lines about "credit" could refer to the adminsitration's actions both in the war and in terms of domestic policy; the pratfall/encore line could easily refer to the two terms of office; "Thank god it's fatal" could be seen as either the cry of a suicide bomber, or despair at the ongoing situation; the 'door' could be an exit strategy; the signs could be protesters; the "heard this before" could refer to the administration's first term, or to Vietnam. In a weird way, "post-natal" could refer to post-partum depression as regret for what's been done. "We'll be back" could be a weird way of referring to the "4 more years" chant. I don't think it all adds up nicely, but maybe there's something to it.

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bestwombat11
04-14-2007

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I think this song changed my life.

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VoltanEchoes
04-18-2007

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I think this is a crack as those people who use suicide as an excuse to get attention. That's how I see it, anyway. Like "Although pratfalls can be fun, encores can be fatal" shows how they did it once for the attention, then tried again and...well, you know.

I think it fits.

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Quisquilloso
04-19-2007

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VoltanEchoes: That is extremely cogent. Boy do I feel stupid.

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JasonBunting
04-20-2007

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For more accurate Andrew Bird lyrics and community commentary, etc. go check out:
www.AndrewBird.org

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Explosivemonkey
04-22-2007

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When i hear this song, i can't help but get happy and think about past revenge. "How 'bout some credit now where credit is due for the damage that we've done" I feel like it's probably really about suicide to a point, but songs are more fun when you can make them so personal, and this one just hits the nail on the head for me.

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akindabird
05-08-2007

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Am I the only one that hears "we're so adult about it"?

People are always making this big thing about death, wasting their time philosophizing about something that nobody can ever understand. I hear "we're so adult about it", and I hear it as a sarcastic remark, poking fun at how juvenile and trite our perception of death is., and especially at the people who glorify it or pine for it.

the state of being post-natal kind of comes off simply as a fancy way of saying the state of being alive; when you're finished with all your crying you'll still be alive. the whole tone sounds too light-hearted to be anything except poking fun, to me.

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Quisquilloso
05-09-2007

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akindabird - the printed lyrics say "we'll sew a doll about it," and it sounds enough like that to me to believe it's intentional.

By the way, I definitely agree with you about the tone, which is why I agree with the above comment about it poking fun at people who in a sense "cry wolf" for attention. Also by the way, postnatal could be crybabyish, infantile, which could tie in with your remarks.

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Becephalus
05-14-2007

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AT his most recent show Mr. Bird was sportign a doll someone had sewed for him in Toronto, but I would assume he got it after this song was written, still perhaps it is a sign he likes sewn dolls?

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Quisquilloso
05-18-2007

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Excerpted from an interview at gothamist.com:
"What about “Thank God it’s fatal, not shy”?
AB: You know, that song is going along and talking about the damage we do to ourselves and whether we’re going to get credit for it in the end. The chorus takes it one step further… I don’t know exactly what I was getting at with that but it’s something to do with seeing how you’re going to go. Are you going to torture yourself or are you going to go the extra mile and do it ‘til it kills you. It’s just trying to understand why we push ourselves."

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