Lyrics for Fake Empire as interpreted by lampada

Fake Empire Lyrics
Stay out super late tonight
Picking apples, making pies
Put a little something in our lemonade and take it with us
We're half awake in a fake empire
We're half awake in a fake empire

Tiptoe through our shiny city
With our diamond slippers on
Do our gay ballet on ice, bluebirds on our shoulders
We're half awake in a fake empire
We're half awake in a fake empire

Turn the light, out say goodnight
No thinking for a little while
Let's not try to figure out everything at once
It's hard to keep track of you falling through the sky
We're half awake in a fake empire
We're half awake in a fake empire

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soozi
04-06-2007

Rated 0 
ive fallen in love with this overnight! but i have no clue really what it means if you dont take the lyrics at face value...

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stellar
04-08-2007

Rated 0 
incredible, just incredible.

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voodoodolly
04-08-2007

Rated 0 
I think that this song is about the USA (fake empire) & the people here distracting themselves with trivial superficial things cuz they don't want to think about or can't deal with any big issues in the country or world.

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Polster
04-11-2007

Rated +1 
I think the first part of the song is meant to describe the simple life for the Americans in their empire. There's a very laid-back feel to both the words, actions and Berninger's voice.

The last part of the song tells of the current state of the empire.
"No thinking for a little while" - we allow things to happen without really thinking about them. We postpone whatever consequences there might be.

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coyote78
04-13-2007

Rated 0 
What made me think it was about America is the first few lines relation to the phrase "as American as apple pie"

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thenewspirit
04-24-2007

Rated +5 
Brilliant song! Here's a thought about the meaning. I wonder if this song is about finding a new love. There's a purity in the feeling of happiness when you initially fall in love, that 'honeymoon period', when you're like children - 'making pies', 'lemonade', 'tiptoe through the city', 'bluebirds', not worrying about what others think about your public displays ('do our gay ballet on ice').

You know the real world is out there and approaching (when honeymoon period is over, also your 'real' regular lives which are not as much fun as what you're experiencing when together). You're on such a natural high, you try to postpone the inevitability, try to ignore it ('no thinking for a little while') . 'Half-awake in a fake empire' could mean that you want to and try to have some control your life (your 'empire') but you know it's only partly true. You're trying to lie to yourself that you can stay in this happiness though you know you can't (you're 'half awake'). Seems to fit in a lot of ways, also in the emotional tension which does seem to leave a sense of optimism from the piano, drums, guitar and finally trumpet in the ending that the inevitable is okay, just enjoy the ride while it lasts. What do you think?

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1 Reply
Garbs76
04-25-2007

Rated 0 
I really love this new cd, and this is one of my favorite songs on it. I heard them perform it when I saw them in Eugene, OR. I really really like the small tempo change in the middle of the song. Gives the song new life

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upthera44
04-26-2007

Rated 0 
thenewspirit, I think you're right on about new love, which is really what the song seems to be all about.
About the 'fake empire' interpretation, it seems more like a reference to America as some other people have already said, especially considering The National's tendency to refer to American culture in their lyrics ("I wouldn't go out alone into America" and "You know you have a permanent piece of my medium-sized American heart."). It seems Matt Beringer feels there is something empty or false about America.

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dela
04-27-2007

Rated 0 
Yeah, I agree with the love aspect. I doubt that it's a political statement because their lyrics seems to be more abstract. In "all the wine", they talk about a birthday candle in a circle of black girls. I think they go for more imagery than blunt messages.

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aleksey2001
04-28-2007

Rated 0 
I think this song is about family.
It seems that action takes place in one evening.
In first couplet they don't hurry at home, in the second they have a sex, and in the last one they fall asleep.

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phocid
04-30-2007

Rated 0 
It could be about about America as his love, about indulging in some simple but sweet Americana even knowing that his love, that is America, has become a fake empire. That there is much that is false and awful going on and being allowed to go on without hue and cry from Americans and the mainstream media's owtowing to the Bush admin's bullshitting about so many things? The people of America succumbing to being uncritical and unquestioning instead of alert and questioning intelligently all the dodgy decisions and the disinformation that seems to go on every damn day in the US of A..
?


?

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lampada
04-30-2007

Rated 0 
he could have taken the oportunity and made it about love and america, all at once. there is clearly the political message (dela, i'm sure of it, so as in 'all the wine' he is actually talking about wine - and the image of a birthday candle is not to be taken literally but it is to be taken visually, it isn't some obscure association).

think about america right now, how could he not be talking politics and accidentaly mention a "fake empire"? it's dead clear.

as for love, i see it politically too, as a metaphor. i wouldn't say love as much as childhood and happiness. a naivety concerning the state of affairs and political issues. or a carelessness. being happy and young and living your life merely in a fake empire. voodoodolly, polster, upthera44 and phocid kind of said it all before.

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lampada
04-30-2007

Rated 0 
i meant "the image of a birthday candle amongst black girls"
and "merrily", not "merely"

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woopsay
05-24-2007

Rated 0 
i always saw
"bluebirds on our shoulders"
as a representation of canada for some reason
anyone else?

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woopsay
05-24-2007

Rated 0 
or it could refer to the song "zip-a-dee-doo-dah"...

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lukewagoneer
05-29-2007

Rated 0 
First of all, I LOVE the horns and the piano and everything, secondly, I think Diamond slippers may be hinting at Paul Simon's diamonds on the souls of her shoes, or A "Cinderellian theme."
I also just thought of this-
could the line "it's hard to keep track of you falling through the sky" refer to people jumping from the twin towers? I guess that could also be allegorical for the difficultly for one to see oneself or someone close to you "falling" or declining? "let's not try to figure out everything at once" might be the few days after September 11th- different interperetaions et cetera.

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1 Reply
artformsnow
05-31-2007

Rated +2 
the first couple lines are heartbreaking.

"stay out super late" - for me that's pure nostalgia, especially coupled with the sweetness of "picking apples, making pies"

then the dagger:
"put a little something in our lemonade and take it with us"

if the lemonade here is intended to suggest the lemonade made in the axiom about life handing you lemons, it's crushing to think that even that most optimistic outlook is so bleak that we might "put a little something in our lemonade" - i.e. liquor it up to numb ourselves, to stay only "half-awake" so we don't have to admit it's a fake empire.

one way or another, this song is about the bit of sadness in everything - it's an empire, sure, but it isn't real - it's lemonade, of course, but it isn't enough - it's a shiny city and we've got bluebirds on our shoulders (woopsay: i definitely think that's a tongue-in-cheek shot towards "zip-a-dee-doo-dah") but the emphasis is on quelling thoughts and ideas, hiding them behind glitter and pretense. there's definitely some questioning of identity, or at least "genuine" identity.

this theme returns in the next song:
"you get mistaken for strangers by your own friends"

such remarkable melancholy...

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noparking
06-05-2007

Rated 0 
I think this can be seen as both a love song and a political song. I see the line of "half awake" referring to the political split in america. More or less half wanted to keep Bush the other half wanted to boot him and see this as a reference to that. About a country split down the middle. This could of course also refer to two lovers - that is what is great about the lyrics of this song. You can take what you want from it.

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triciaagogo
06-10-2007

Rated 0 
i love the tempo change. there are only a few bands who can pull this offf or who even have drummers and bass players who can lead that tempo change... obviously the singer is not the only talent in this band. way to go boys!

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lukewagoneer
06-25-2007

Rated 0 
I can't quite tell, but I don't think there actually is a tempo change... I think it's 8/4 the whole time....????

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Fippy
06-26-2007

Rated 0 
I think a lot of you are trying way too hard on this one. Just read the lyrics...I don't think they're supposed to be abstract. To me, it's about being young and irresponsible, and perhaps in love, driving/walking around and having fun and not having too much of a care for anything. Whether "fake empire" refers to America or not, I don't know, the way I've been hearing it is as a representation of their carefree, shallow lives. Really, I think the spoilingly high standard-of-living of America could easily be a factor in the song, and a cause for the way they act, but it's not what the song is about.

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JeffV
07-12-2007

Rated 0 
I definitely think it has something to do with not thinking/caring about the bad in the world, and living like it doesn't exist.

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lamboleap2006
07-21-2007

Rated 0 
There isn't a tempo change, the song stays 4/4 the whole time it just changes from a quarter note feel to a triplet feel, listen to the beginning where the pianist is playing 3 beats a measure in his left hand and 4 beats in his right (amazing really). The song just switches between these two feels, sometimes it's both at once.

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Deezers
07-31-2007

Rated 0 
Am I being very basic by saying i think it sounds like a friends having an absolutely magical night, tripping on acid, wandering round a big city but feeling like they're in some wonderland

- not quite with it (half awake), in what they feel is some magical place, but they know that when sober, isn't really - fake empire...

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byronichero
08-13-2007

Rated 0 
Obviously this song can work on multiple levels; one level deals with the personal and individual 'fake empires' of meaning that people use to make sense of their everyday lives (ie family, jobs, friends, schools, universities, clubs and any institution in general) and the other can be viewed of as a more literal criticism of the U.S.

If one looks at the latter, the first bit of the song references very american things apple pies and lemonade and shining cities. however, these quintessentially american things are tinged with an undercurrent of dread and melancholy: ie 'picking apples' obviously alludes to adam and eve being caste out of the garden and the shining cities and 'hard to keep track of you falling through the sky' can be viewed as poignant 9/11 imagery.

all in all, it seems as this is a song dealing with the singer's exploration of a postmodern unraveling of things coupled with a disenchantment with the idea of america...

Stay out super late tonight
picking apples, making pies
put a little something in our lemonade and take it with us
we’re half-awake in a fake empire
we’re half-awake in a fake empire

Tiptoe through our shiny city
with our diamond slippers on
do our gay ballet on ice
bluebirds on our shoulders
we’re half-awake in a fake empire
we’re half-awake in a fake empire

Turn the light out say goodnight
no thinking for a little while
lets not try to figure out everything at once
It’s hard to keep track of you falling through the sky
we’re half-awake in a fake empire
we’re half-awake in a fake empire

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