Lyrics for Imitosis as interpreted by emhass

Imitosis Lyrics
He's keeping busy
Yeah, he's bleeding stones
With his machinations and his palindromes
It was anything but hear the voice
Anything but hear the voice
It was anything but hear the voice
That says that we're all basically alone

Poor Professor Pynchon had only good intentions
When he put his Bunsen burners all away
And turning to a playground in a Petri dish
Where single cells would swing their fists
At anything that looks like easy prey
In this nature show that rages every day
It was then he heard his intuition say

We were all basically alone
And despite what all his studies had shown
That what's mistaken for closeness
Is just a case of mitosis
And why do some show no mercy
While others are painfully shy?
Tell me doctor, can you quantify?
He just wants to know the reason why
The reason why

Why do they congregate in groups of four
Scatter like a billion spores
And let the wind just carry them away?
How can kids be so mean?
Our famous doctor tried to glean
As he went home at the end of the day
In this nature show that rages every day
It was then he heard his intuition say

We were all basically alone
Despite what all his studies had shown
That what's mistaken for closeness
Is just a case of mitosis
Sure fatal doses of malcontent through osmosis
And why do some show no mercy
While others are painfully shy?
Tell me doctor, can you quantify
The reason why?

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emhass
02-21-2007

Rated 0 
I adore this song... might have screwed up the lyrics in some parts but Bird tends to mutter...

"what was mistaken for closeness was just a case for mitosis"... ran on loop all through Valentine's day this year, just for the fuckery of it.

palindromes is definitely a reference to "Fake palindromes" off the previous record... i think. also "we're all basically alone" is a reference to "I" off weather systems.

i think it's great that the lyrics are self-referential... although puzzling as usual.

i love the idea of romantic love and intimacy as simply being an illusion of sorts, and the reference to science for proof.

anyhow, point being any songwriter that mentions mitosis wins enormous points in my book.

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tenwords
02-24-2007

Rated 0 
" 'we're all basically alone' is a reference to 'I' off weather systems."
actually, imitosis seems like an extended version of "i", since it goes: "we're keeping busy /yeah we're bleeding stones/ with our machinations and our palindromes / anything but hear the voice / that says we're basically alone"
so i'm guessing the lyrics are wrong here.

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Alfredo
02-24-2007

Rated 0 
It is an extended version of "I". The full version is "Capital I", which he couldn't use because of legal problems with Sesame Street (the song contained a few lyrics from an old song). I guess the night before I went to see him, he rewrote it. I think Capital I is still superior to both Imitosis and I. :(

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Alfredo
02-24-2007

Rated 0 
He's keepin' busy yeah he's bleedin' stones
With his machinations and his palindromes
It was anything but hear the voice
Anything but hear the voice
It was anything but hear the voice that says that we're all basically alone

Poor Professor Pynchon (?) had only good intentions
When he put his bunsen burners all away
And turned (toward?) a playground in a petri dish
Where single cells would swing their fists
At anything that looks like easy prey
In this nature show that rages everyday
It was then he heard his intuition say:

We were all basically alone, and despite what all his studies have shown
That what's mistaken for closeness is just a case of mitosis
Why? Do some show no mercy while others are painfully shy?
Tell me doctor, can you quantify?
'Cause he just wants to know the reason, the reason why....

Why do they congregate in groups of four
Scatter like a billion spores
And let the wind just carry them away?
And how can kids be so mean?
Our famous doctor tried to glean
As he went home at the end of the day

In this nature show that rages everyday
It was then he heard his intuition say:

We were all basically alone
Despite what all his studies had shown
What was mistaken for closeness was just a case of mitosis
Sure fatal doses malcontent through osmosis
And why? Do some show no mercy while others are painfully shy?
Well tell me doctor, can you quantify
The reason why?

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tenwords
02-25-2007

Rated 0 
i guess i like "i" better than the other two, but i was happily surprised of hearing it on armchair apocrypha (?). shows that andrew probably likes the song as much as i do :)
as for the meaning, i think it's pretty clear. i like the ironic twist he gave the song by adding that "what was mistaken for closeness was just a case of mitosis" part.

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FordA
02-25-2007

Rated 0 
Do you think professor Pynchon is a reference to the author Thomas Pynchon? Also, I think the title "Imitosis" means it's a second verson of the song I. Its like a sequel, or the song "I" went through Mitosis, thus creating two versions... or IMITOSIS!

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tenwords
02-28-2007

Rated 0 
your thoughts about the mitosis thing is interesting! i'd never see it that way...
i can only think of the obvious: two people seemed really close when they were, in fact, growing apart.

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shelieh
03-07-2007

Rated 0 
i agree with forda on the 'i went thru mitosis' bit...it seems a witty solution for a name for a pre-existing song. in fact, i thought that almost as soon as i heard this new verison... if anyone's heard the boy perform it live, its never quite the same any time....it always seems to change little bits here and there. the 'we all live in a capital i' part seems to be the only missing factor in this 'new' verson.
some might consider it album filler...or not as successful as 'I' on weather systems...or not as great as the 'as-it-was-intended-to-be-heard'-live version. i personally see it as being absolutely appropriate to re-record such a song for the new album.

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cuomo
03-17-2007

Rated 0 
the first time i heard the familiar melody of 'i' in this song (without listening to the lyrics) i thought the name a clever pun as well... pun for a different reason. i thought 'imitosis' was a play on words saying that this track was an 'imitation' of 'i'. just another interpretation.

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Quisquilloso
03-27-2007

Rated 0 
I find this to be perhaps the most elegant summation of our society's obsession with explaining everything about human behavior through "selfish genes."

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JasonBunting
04-20-2007

Rated 0 
For more accurate Andrew Bird lyrics and community commentary, etc. go check out:
www.AndrewBird.org

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Scaremongering
06-15-2007

Rated -1 
I think the songs about love, or the non-existing love. We're all basicly alone, and what people think is love, is just the biological urge to reproduct.

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tenwords
06-17-2007

Rated 0 
agreed, Scaremongering.

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ukcheese
07-23-2007

Rated 0 
quisquilloso knows....he's obviously been reading his Dawkins

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ciaosampinto
11-26-2007

Rated 0 
this song has so much character, i think it's so clever and unique and narrative. i think it's pretty blatant that it's about trying to measure intangible concepts through science, the way we analyze genetics and chemicals in the brain etc. it's kind of like the doctor is searching for proof of "love" (closeness) and finding only proof of biology (mitosis).

by the way, this song is in a commercial. i can't remember what it was, but it was just musical parts of it. i think it was for oust or something unimportant.

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Alejo
12-04-2007

Rated 0 
I can relate to this song very well as I find myself running through these thoughts on a daily basis. Anyhow, I think Byrd is portraying a professor who through all of his studies can only conclude that sex and the "feeling of closeness" is purely a product of science and chemicals. He refers to the different forms of reproduction, specifically the ones that seem cold and void of passion, such as the scattering of "a billion spores" or mitosis. The professor seems to want to push out these musings. He wants "anything but hear the voice that says we are all basically alone", which makes sense. No one would want to live a life where you know your feelings are simply a product of science, so in the name of practicality, you have to just push those thoughts out and try to live life to the fullest, even if it goes against your principles.

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AlexKuykendall
12-06-2007

Rated 0 
i watched a dutch interview with him and he talks for a bit about how he was beat up a lot growing up and bullied i guess in school

i think a lot of this song deals with that and how "we are all basically alone" in many social settings today and how hostile schools and institutions can be.

"in this nature show that rages every day"

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AlexKuykendall
12-06-2007

Rated 0 
i watched a dutch interview with him and he talks for a bit about how he was beat up a lot growing up and bullied i guess in school

i think a lot of this song deals with that and how "we are all basically alone" in many social settings today and how hostile schools and institutions can be.

"in this nature show that rages every day"

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bestwombat11
12-06-2007

Rated 0 
imitosis used in a commercial for oust?! what is this world coming to. jeez. i love this song. andrew bird write such smart songs

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jjsakon
12-22-2007

Rated 0 
^^^^nice work, i think that's highly accurate. goes right along with the selfish gene idea, as well.

as for the pynchon reference, it seems to be the author, who wrote on a number of science-related topics. i have not read any of his stuff, though, and a cursory wikipedia glance makes it hard to determine exactly what bird is referencing. i'm curious to find out, though.

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jjsakon
12-24-2007

Rated 0 
not certain, but based upon a blurb I read I think the Pynchon reference involves him writing in one of his books about how we're "all just a bunch of chemicals." goes along well with the nature of the song.

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inverseworld
12-31-2007

Rated 0 
Pynchon in definitely a challenge to read. Over the summer I attempted getting through Gravity's Rainbow but could barely finish the first 100 pages so I quit. It's definitely something I want to try when I'm older though. It's just very difficult to make sense of what's going on. I've heard the similar things from others.

Anyway this is definitely a brilliant song, and of course it is; Andrew Bird is a brilliant man. (=

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unzipping_ghosts
01-12-2008

Rated 0 
This is the first Andrew Bird song I heard. I love the way he writes.

The message is a little unsettling, but makes sense. When you diagram everything down to a science, it always seems less beautiful and spectacular.

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elizah
01-27-2008

Rated 0 
besides it's not only the major Reason Why that the scientist is looking for - ha can't also answer the 'why?' concerning basic biological processes.
hm, personally i think science can only answer the question 'how'.

what i like is how he explains human agression through comparing it with the supposed one of single cells as well as malcontence [which is sort of an psychological attitude] with the osmosis mechanism [soaks into you if you're not malcontent yourself].

but i don't really understand the key line: "what's mistaken for closeness is just a case of mitosis" - does he mean closeness between people? mitosis just copies the cells of a single organism, has nothing to do with others.. ??

anyways, love this song

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inanity
01-30-2008

Rated 0 
What a great song. The message I get from this song is that for all our trying to feel and empathize with others, in the end, we are fundamentally alone, as we can not share experience, and hence can never truly know anyone but ourselves.

Though this might seem obvious, many seem to think that it's not true -- we can find love or whatever else to make us closer. Our scientist looks for the connections we seem to have, but Bird knows his efforts are futile: "Yeah he's bleeding stones". Eventually the professor gives up as all attempts to quantify the supposed closeness have failed ("When he put his Bunsen burners all away"), and realizes the reality that it is an illusion is literally all around us -- "Where single cells would swing their fists / At anything that looks like easy prey / In this nature show that rages every day".

"That what's mistaken for closeness / Is just a case of mitosis" -- this is a great line saying that even though we feel close, really it is just the indicator of eventual splitting like through mitosis, when the two similar strands of dna separate forever, having just come together when the cell duplicates it's original dna.

Despite it all, we all share this loneliness: "And why do some show no mercy / While others are painfully shy", so why is it that some are insensitive and uncaring? "How can kids be so mean?" This is what the scientist should be looking for : "Tell me doctor, can you quantify / The reason why?"

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