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You have to do it running
But you do everything that they ask you to
'Cause you don't mind seeing yourself in a picture
As long as you look faraway, as long as you look removed
Showered and blue-blazered, fill yourself with quarters
Showered and blue-blazered, fill yourself with quarters
You get mistaken for strangers by your own friends
When you pass them at night
Under the silvery, silvery Citibank lights
Arm in arm in arm and eyes and eyes, glazing under
Oh, you wouldn't want an angel watching over
Surprise, surprise, they wouldn't wanna watch
Another un-innocent, elegant fall
Into the un-magnificent lives of adults
Make up something to believe in your heart of hearts
So you have something to wear on your sleeve of sleeves
So you swear, you just saw a feathery woman
Carry a blindfolded man through the trees
Showered and blue-blazered, fill yourself with quarters
Showered and blue-blazered, fill yourself with quarters
You get mistaken for strangers by your own friends
When you pass them at night
Under the silvery, silvery Citibank lights
Arm in arm in arm and eyes and eyes, glazing under
Oh, you wouldn't want an angel watching over
Surprise, surprise, they wouldn't wanna watch
Another un-innocent, elegant fall
Into the un-magnificent lives of adults
You get mistaken for strangers by your own friends
When you pass them at night
Under the silvery, silvery Citibank lights
Arm in arm in arm and eyes and eyes, glazing under
Oh, you wouldn't want an angel watching over
Surprise, surprise, they wouldn't wanna watch
Another un-innocent, elegant fall
Into the un-magnificent lives of adults
But you do everything that they ask you to
'Cause you don't mind seeing yourself in a picture
As long as you look faraway, as long as you look removed
Showered and blue-blazered, fill yourself with quarters
Showered and blue-blazered, fill yourself with quarters
You get mistaken for strangers by your own friends
When you pass them at night
Under the silvery, silvery Citibank lights
Arm in arm in arm and eyes and eyes, glazing under
Oh, you wouldn't want an angel watching over
Surprise, surprise, they wouldn't wanna watch
Another un-innocent, elegant fall
Into the un-magnificent lives of adults
Make up something to believe in your heart of hearts
So you have something to wear on your sleeve of sleeves
So you swear, you just saw a feathery woman
Carry a blindfolded man through the trees
Showered and blue-blazered, fill yourself with quarters
Showered and blue-blazered, fill yourself with quarters
You get mistaken for strangers by your own friends
When you pass them at night
Under the silvery, silvery Citibank lights
Arm in arm in arm and eyes and eyes, glazing under
Oh, you wouldn't want an angel watching over
Surprise, surprise, they wouldn't wanna watch
Another un-innocent, elegant fall
Into the un-magnificent lives of adults
You get mistaken for strangers by your own friends
When you pass them at night
Under the silvery, silvery Citibank lights
Arm in arm in arm and eyes and eyes, glazing under
Oh, you wouldn't want an angel watching over
Surprise, surprise, they wouldn't wanna watch
Another un-innocent, elegant fall
Into the un-magnificent lives of adults
Lyrics submitted by lampada, edited by thebrignad
Track duration: 03:30
"Mistaken for Strangers" as written by Aaron B. Dessner Bryce D. Dessner
Lyrics © BUG MUSIC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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"you wouldn't want an angel watching over you" is something you'd say in passing which would imply you live a lifestyle that an angel wouldn't approve of, maybe as a boast. The reply is of course:
"surprise, surprise they wouldn't want to watch|another un-innocent elegant fall into the un-magnificent lives of adults" which is essentially a wake up call, as if to say "an Angel wouldn't haven any interest in your life, there is nothing about your experiences that would warrant their attention."
The term "mistaken for strangers" sort of drives this home because it implies that this group of people are so indistinguishable with how they live they might as well be strangers. It is a critique on being self-absorbed in a modern society of self-glorification.
It's all over the net. It pays Google, Facebook, Fox TV under the silvery, silvery citibank lights, while they count the beads from their pulpits of hypocrisy.
It's 24/7, work and play compromised, no break for matters non-carnal.
It's in the home; ageing mom, blooming daughter, distracted dad.
It's the relationship-killer. Never finance, never no common interests, always unmagnificent sex!
Always sexual!
It's obsessive; everything that they ask you to.
It's compulsive; you have to do it running.
It's a disorder; the blindfolded man!
George Romero predicted how big business, mass media would brainwash us all into the all-consuming living dead.
Matt Berninger is just the reporter, presenting a not-too-exclusive from the unmagnificent lives of adults!
There is no cure.
Community is dying! Love is dying! So you get mistaken for strangers. You no longer know yourself.
It's sexual O.C.D. and it's epidemic!
..... and it may be too late!
Quote: Matt Berninger.
As for the lyrics, i've always seen the national as brilliant, all together, they use lyrics so in depth and to the point and yet at the same time so vague and open-ended that it's so easy to put yourself into the song and be able to relate to what it is trying to portray, or you can even run with it in your own direction.
They say this is their objective, to write songs that the listener can put themselves into and relate to their own life while at the same time, the songs mean something to them as well.