Lyrics for Brainy as interpreted by lampada

Brainy Lyrics
I’ve been draggin around from the end of your coat for two weeks
everywhere you go is swirlin, everything you say has water under it

You know I keep your fingerprints in a pink folder in the middle of my table
you’re the tall kingdom I surround
think I better follow you around

You might need me more than you think you will
come home in the car you love, brainy brainy brainy

I’ve been draggin around from the end of your coat for two weeks
you keep changing you’re fancy fancy mind every time I decide to let go

I was up all night again, boning up and reading the American dictionary
you’ll never believe me what I found
think I better follow you around

You might need me more than you think you will
come home in the car you love, brainy brainy brainy
you might need me more than you think you will
come home in the car you love, brainy brainy brainy

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  • 35 Comments
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tinerj
04-03-2007

Rated 0 
I love this song and all of Boxer.

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illiterature7
05-26-2007

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This is probably my favorite song off of Boxer. It's such subtle, beautiful melancholy. Completely awesome.

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unit1
05-30-2007

Rated 0 
i wonder what he found. that the person he is following is a fraud? anyone have any ideas?

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artformsnow
05-31-2007

Rated 0 
the drum sound in this track is really great.

i wonder if "the tall kingdom I surround" is alluding to something specific or just pretty poesy?

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thejlar
06-28-2007

Rated 0 
I think what he's saying is that he believes he needs to protect this other person. What surrounds a kingdom? A wall; protection; safety. He seems to take it a little far though, going so far as to know when she comes home and to be able to recognize her car easily. Maybe a song about obsession? Or a police officer, keeping watch over someone in danger (or a suspect?)? These are all things that occur to me.

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vervor
06-29-2007

Rated 0 
To me this is about the dance between ego and "spirit" - his point of view even seems to change between the two - my head always goes to this metaphysical level when it comes to good lyrics though...intruiging stuff

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tjw
07-28-2007

Rated 0 
I think the character is a stalker. I don't think he's cop since he keeps the fingerprints in a folder on his table, prob not SOP in law enforcement circles. I think hes gone so far as to bug his target (draggin around from the end of your coat). The mic has a a hard time picking up everything and sounds a little garbled (everything you say has water under it). He watches her come and go. Plus, he's nuts. He reads the dictionary and gets messages from it. And theres no way hes gonna let her go.

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maddilne
07-29-2007

Rated 0 
he's been going crazy because of this girl.
he wants to let her go to get out of the water and stuff. but she keeps changing her mind. doesnt know if he should stay with her cause she wants him back or do the healthy thing and move on.
he's basically going round the twist because of her. and he seems happy doing it!!

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kipshabazz
08-06-2007

Rated 0 
I think it's about loving someone you feel intellectually inferior to. And there are definitely some obsessive undertones.

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songyone
10-18-2007

Rated 0 
Is it just me? I swear the line goes:
"I keep your fingerprints in a pink folder in the middle of my tangle."

This is one of the first National songs I fell for. This and Start a War. To me this song is about a woman who displays some traditionally masculine attributes. The 'tall kingdom' is a reference from Seamus Haney (sp). In that poem, the tall kingdom is the British Empire and is cast as a 'masculine' power. Also this woman is smart, loves her car! :). He digs her, he's trying to impress her (staying up all night boning up on the dictionary - love that) but she is stringing him along. He is trying to tell her that she may not be as self-sufficient as she might think. And that he might be able to offer her something.

I agree with thejlar that the surrounding of the tall kingdom means he wants to protect her, but I don't think it is from a specific threat. I think it just means he wants to be the strong protective male in a relationship with her. Just makes the line so brilliant to me. She is a tall kingdom-what a powerful thing, but he could be the wall to protect her; even tall kingdoms need protection. God, I love this song!

The keeping of her fingerprints and following her around do give the idea of obsession, but it doesn't strike me as creepy in this song. I take this more figuratively. Her identity is with him all the time, he wants to be with her and is puppy dogging her - trying to win her over. Trying to prove he could be important to her.

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user#55
11-06-2007

Rated 0 
maybe it's just me, but i see this song as similar to the line in "slow show" and his thinking with his dick

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pfinarffle
11-19-2007

Rated +1 
i hear this song as having two meanings, one obvious and another very dark.

the obvious interpretation is, as others have stated, this song being about feeling inferior to a lover intellectually. probably because of the reference to a coat and a fancy car, i immediately thought of a guy dating a female physician. the inferiority is visually described as the man feeling like a wall or perhaps even moat (ie "water") surrounding a "tall kingdom." what is the use of having a wall surround tall buildings? the height of the buildings alone would be protection enough. but i also agree that the "kingdom" could be a biblical reference of some sort i'm not familiar with.

the other, darker interpretation was already hinted at as well. the line "you'll never believe me what i found" has always stuck in my head. at first i thought it might reference how pathetic he feels by trying to draw her attention to mere words in a dictionary to somehow prove his intelligence, kinda like "hey, look here! isn't this word something you haven't heard before?" but i've also since realized that line as possibly indicative of there being an infidelity in their relationship. while reading the dictionary one night to build up his vocab, he stumbles across a love letter or evidence of some other sort hidden in the book. that's when he decides to gather evidence, keep fingerprints, and spy, hence the spy-like tune in the intro. there may even be hints of his suggesting a surprise attack of some sort on the other man, hence her impending "need" for protection a la the wall/moat around the "tall kingdom." good interpretation of the "water" line up above, though the less ominous interpretation would be that she uses her big words to keep aloof from the relationship.

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TerroristCakes
01-13-2008

Rated 0 
About a smart guy who really likes a girl, but can't get her. She thinks he's a weirdo, he thinks she could use him in her life.
As a smart girl who can't get a date, I feel for him.

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verdant75
01-21-2008

Rated 0 
the general meaning of this song is quite clear but the verses are disjointed and most of the references are very hard to interpret. quite obscure, and why brainy? what's that about?

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selfdeprecation
01-28-2008

Rated 0 
I kind of think some people are taking this song too literally ... like with the line "I’ve been draggin around from the end of your coat for two weeks" when I heard that line it reminded me of the saying "hanging on someone's coattails". I definitely agree and think it's a song about feeling inferior to someone - someone who's not necessarily as great or "brainy" as they think they are i.e. "everything you say has water under it" = it's not built on a solid foundation; it doesn't really have a lot of depth.

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Whythereiswords
02-17-2008

Rated 0 
From more than a couple of songs on the album i've got the impression there is a theme of change The National are getting at.

I'm at an age where i'm interpretting them to relate to me and they seem to fit. I'm seeing this song especially as being about a love who leaves. Im seeing it as more about the breaking up of a couple who are going their seperate ways. She's the clever one, so for me personally, it's telling a story of how she could be leaving to chase the potential her intelligence holds. Be that education, or society of her 'calibre' or a job.

I think he is trying to convince her they could stay together, she is trying to convince herself its for the best they don't.

'you keep changing you’re fancy fancy mind every time I decide to let go'

I see this line as them clinging on when sometimes its for the best to leave each other. He's trying to except it's over when it's actually her turn to buckle.

Such is the mannor of being in love as a youngster i suppose. For me It just fits a great group of friends amongst whom there were couples, myself one of them, who left for university or work and so left their relationships behind them for the best. Even if it is for the best that doesn't make it easy, and the darkness in the song is simply the emotions your going to encounter. Inferiorety, lust, ruthlessness, regret, doubt, insecurity and so on

I think alot of the national songs on the boxer could be interpretted to be about when you close a chapter in your life and have to leave it behind to move to the next.
So thats what i think of this song, what does anyone think?

It really hits the nail on the head for me at this stage of life anyhow

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casualtyofgwar
02-18-2008

Rated 0 
"everywhere you go is swirling"
I thing swirling is him being almost dizzy by being where shes at
"everything you say has water under it"
hearing her words gives him an unreal floating sensation
just one stalkers opinion.

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Godzuki
02-22-2008

Rated 0 
I love the lyrics. I think it's a relationship that is coming to an end but he still loves the girl alot.

He says "everything you say has water under it" which is quite negative as if everything she says is false and everything she does fails. Later he calls her a tall kingdom and hints that he is the moat - he is the water thus he is making her fail. Thats why she's leaving. He can see that it is his downward spiral and dependance of her thats causing it but he loves her so much he can't help himself.

I think the chorus goes "Come on let me call you love. Brainy brain brainy."
Not "come on in the car you love" i dont know if the lyrics are with the album though cos i downloaded it.

He has quite a poor image of himself "up all night again, boning up". It's almost as if, the fact that he masturbates is a sign that he does know that the relationship is fading.

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selfdeprecation
03-09-2008

Rated 0 
I think the chorus goes "Come on let me call you love. Brainy brain brainy."
Not "come on in the car you love"

I agree Godzuki! I thought the exact same thing.

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Penguincubus
03-13-2008

Rated 0 
Godzuki, "boning up" doesn't mean masturbating, it means that he's studying the dictionary.

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Godzuki
03-16-2008

Rated 0 
ahh really, i didn't realise. fair do's penguincubus. i prefer my idea and i've never heard the phrase 'boning up' used in any other context but if you say so.

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Penguincubus
03-17-2008

Rated 0 
From dictionary.com. Not that i'm accusing you of not believing me, but having some sort of proof is better than not.

"—Idioms
14. bone up, Informal. to study intensely; cram: We're going to have to bone up for the exam."

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James?o
03-18-2008

Rated 0 
god i love the line, "think i better follow you around" really chilling, definitly gives the sense of him being a stalker, follows the same theme throughout boxer, which may be the best album ever (this year)

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YouKnowStuff
07-24-2008

Rated 0 
i wanna know what "everything you say has water under it" is about/means. one of my favorite songs of theirs.

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topogigio
10-24-2008

Rated 0 
We can all agree that it is about a relationship. Beyond that I think it is about an unstable relationship. She is indecisive about what she wants and thinks, re-thinks her decisions, hence the "brainy, brainy, brainy." He realizes it is not him who needs help because he has made up his mind, he loves this girl. Except for the fact that he can't move on and doesn't mind following along and thinks he must help her grow up. I guess. In any case excellent song.

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