Lyrics for Green Gloves as interpreted by lampada

Green Gloves Lyrics
Falling out of touch with all my
friends are somewhere getting wasted,
hope they’re staying glued together,
I have arms for them.

Take another sip of them,
it floats around and takes me over
like a little drop of ink in a glass of water

Get inside their clothes
with my green gloves
watch their videos, in their chairs.
Get inside their beds
with my green gloves
Get inside their heads, love their loves.

Cinderella through the room
I glide and swan cause I’m the best slow dancer
in the universe

Falling out of touch with all my
friends are somewhere getting wasted,
hope they’re staying glued together,
I have arms for them.

Get inside their clothes
with my green gloves
watch their videos, in their chairs.
Get inside their beds
with my green gloves
Get inside their heads, love their loves.

Now I hardly know them
and I’ll take my time
I’ll carry them over, and I’ll make them mine.

Get inside their clothes
with my green gloves
watch their videos, in their chairs.
Get inside their beds
with my green gloves
Get inside their heads, love their loves.

Interaction
Mail to a friend Send Lyrics to a Friend
Share on Facebook

Stumble It
Add to Del.icio.us Add to Del.icio.us




  • 38 Comments
  • Printer Friendly Lyrics
oldest first     Expand All
Myswordhand
05-05-2007

Rated 0 
"Take another sip of them,
it floats around and takes me over
like a little drop of ink in a glass of water"

In my opinion, this is one of the greatest albums of all time. There is not a song on it that I dislike, and I love Matt Berninger's lyrics. The excerpt above captures perfectly the sensation of what it is like to slowly get drunker and drunker. In my interpretation, this song and the next two songs on the album all share the common theme of alcohol.

Log in to reply
artformsnow
05-31-2007

Rated 0 
i actually think alcohol is one of the bigger touchstones for the whole album. fake empire opens with
"put a little something in our lemonade and take it with us"

i don't really know. i've only listened to it through once. seems to fit with the lyrics i've seen, though...and it definitely fits with the music.

Log in to reply
Eterna1
06-07-2007

Rated 0 
Wow! Such enticing sounds are created in the beginning of this song. As soon as I heard that second guitar come in, I knew it was going to be one of my favourites.

The lyrics are pretty strange. What is the symbolism of the green gloves that give him power over other people? Is it an alcohol induced fantasy?

Log in to reply
ElfyNibs33
06-15-2007

Rated 0 
Falling out of touch with all my
friends are somewhere getting wasted,
hope they’re staying glued together,
I have arms for them.

i love that verse. makes the whole song for me. as far as the green gloves go, i think they symbolize his feeling of helplessness in wanting to get back into touch with his old friends, and he wishes he had something, green gloves, to help him get close to all his old friends again

Log in to reply
scooby_doo
06-20-2007

Rated 0 
One of my favorites from the new album. Very cool imagery. My take is a little different.

I see the song as a narration of a night out drinking/socializing with friends. The narrator gets separated from his friends, though, and goes home with a new girl. The green gloves are what he wears when drinking and preening for the girl, and what he uses to keep himself emotionally distant. They could simply be the alcohol.

Log in to reply
devilgirl
06-24-2007

Rated 0 
A wonderful song. I see the green gloves as those latex gloves that a CSI would wear while investigating a crime scene or that a forensic pathologist would wear while doing an autopsy. They symbolize wanting to really really get to know a person on a deep level.

Log in to reply
shrodes
07-03-2007

Rated 0 
I thought the green gloves would be a certain detachment from those the narrator is with?

Log in to reply
muzik2deep
08-01-2007

Rated 0 
My take is more literal than others. I see the author as being twisted (perverted?) and disowned/cast out by his friends, he has a twisted desire to exact some sort of revenge.

In order to know them better, he sneaks into one of their homes while they are all out getting wasted, he "hope they’re staying glued together" so one doesn't return to the home he's invaded prematurely.

The author secretly goes through their stuff, using green gloves I'd guess to inhibit fingerprints/germs.

"watch their videos, in their chairs.
Get inside their beds
with my green gloves
Get inside their heads, love their loves."

Getting inside their heads and loving their loves, could be reading diaries/email/love letters, pretending it was his life.

Perhaps exacting revenge is his knowing their secrets without their knowledge?

Very powerful lyrics. I just discovered The National, and only have Alligator and Boxer, but really enjoy the music and lyrics. Is their earlier stuff just as good?

Log in to reply
frankie47
09-01-2007

Rated 0 
I think the green gloves are a symbol of jealousy and envy. I think he has been out of contact with his good friends and has grown jealous of them because he is not included. The drinking theme could be a way of getting closer to them. I think the jealousy in the last few lines is pretty obvious as he says he wants to win them over so they'll be his. I also think of gloves as a way of fighting to get back in, just like boxing gloves. he is fighting to win them over through jealousy and alcohol.

Log in to reply
duke_mike
09-03-2007

Rated 0 
I agree with the green gloves synbolising jealousy. Its presumably a take on Shakespeare's "green eyed monster" from Othello. I think this song is about a person who has fallen out and lost touch with a group of friends and grows jelous of them and wants to lead their lives.

Log in to reply
setat06839
10-08-2007

Rated 0 
Right now I'm with devilgirl, i think the green glves are those CSI latex gloves. But I'm gonna start at the beginning.

He talks about how he's losing touch with all of his friends, but he hopes that they are still staying together, and when he says, "I have arms for them" I think he's saying that he wants to see them again sometime. His arms are open, in other words.

When he talks about his green gloves, it's as devilgirl said. They are gloves for investigating. He can use them to find out what they are doing and how they're feeling.

I do agree with the alcohol them though. By the end of the song the lyrics and the sound is sorrowful in my opinion. It sounds like he's drinking somewhere dreaming about having the chance to get back in touch with them.

Amazing song anyway. I love the whole album.

Log in to reply
user#55
11-06-2007

Rated 0 
amazing song....definite theme of alcohol (as in just about every song of this album) and how its affected him and his friendships

Log in to reply
johannsen
12-12-2007

Rated 0 
i've heard the national many times, but it took this song for me to get into them. this song is so wonderful.

Log in to reply
FauteDeMieux
12-19-2007

Rated 0 
The persona in the song seems to be living somewhat vicariously through memories of his friends, which he seems to have outgrown.

From his current position, he wishes them well ("I have arms them" - as if to hug them, from a distance), hoping they are still having fun together ("glued together").

However, the usage of the phrase "getting wasted" seems negative, leading me to believe that he must regrettably start to distance himself ("falling out of touch..") as he matures in his life.

Though he is outgrowing his old friendships based largely on alcohol, he does seem to miss them. Maybe even be jealous of them ("green"). The gloves themselves seem to be his memories, his only way to grasp and interact with his old friends.

Towards the end of the song the distancing is complete ("Now I hardly know them..."), and he is thus completely isolated from them.

In order to rectify this, and furthering the idea that he is indeed manipulating his own memories, he claims he will "Take my time / Make [their memories] mine."

So, he has matured while they have not. However, he misses the camaraderie of "getting wasted" with his friends, and so he lives vicariously through their memories, sipping them in, letting the memories overcome him, "like a little drop of ink in a glass of water."

Log in to reply
icebox712
12-25-2007

Rated 0 
According to an NPR podcast, it's about the narrator going into his/her friends' homes while they're out partying and whatnot together. The green gloves are their garden gloves.

Anyone know who the backup singer during the chorus is? I thought it was Sufjan but apparently he only guests on 'Racing Like a Pro' and 'Ada'. Is it Marla Hansen?

Log in to reply
Welch151
12-25-2007

Rated 0 
I agree totally with frankie 47, its all about envy with green being the colour of envy, and with the verse about his friends getting wasted. That suggests he wishes he could eb with them

Log in to reply
cleverername
01-15-2008

Rated 0 
Am I crazy or does the intro to this song sound a WHOLE lot like the intro to "Bad News" by Owen?
The rest of the song is completely different, and it's one of my favorites from Boxer, but, yeah, anyone?

Log in to reply
katy-jane
01-21-2008

Rated 0 
On its own, to me, this song sounds like it’s about a friendship group he's drifted away from but they've all stayed close, while he's just been off on his own.

"Take another sip of them,
it floats around and takes me over
like a little drop of ink in a glass of water"

To me this part sounds like only needing to be back in their company for the tiniest while and everything about them creeps back into his life, not in a bad way.
And yeah, drinking with them again, realising you've missed them, still loving them, having "arms for them"

The green gloves bit i think just suggests a detatchment though, that strange feeling when you start seeing people again who you used to be so close to, but you haven’t even been a part of thier life for so long. So the closeness you once shared is still lurking there but all your talking when you start seeing each other lacks a depth it used to have.

Getting into someones bed suggests so much intimacy, but with gloves on it’s more clinical, so yeah he’s doing everything he used to with them, but it doesn’t have that same depth anymore.

At any rate my favourite part is the Cinderella bit, that slow, foggy, drunken detatchment to the world you get and you think no one else can possibly ever feel like this and surely it’s a feeling only you know..?

And yeah the last verse is about re-establishing what you once shared.

I dunno, that was not so well explained, and over-explained in places also.
But I certainly relate to it like that though. You may have guessed I love this song a lot hey.

Log in to reply
colonies
02-21-2008

Rated 0 
I think this song could be seen as a continuation of the sentiments in "Mistaken For Strangers" -- The narrator is out of touch with all of his old friends and imagines getting back in to their lives in some creepy way by sitting in their chairs and watching their videos...like if he does the things they do, he will somehow connect to that innocence that he's lost and they still retain.

Log in to reply
James?o
03-18-2008

Rated 0 
I love this song, somehow, really haunting, i agree with the idea that he i sneaking around in his friends room, and trying to experience their lives, becuase of his feeling out of touch.
but when he says
" hope they stayed glued togther, i have arms for them" could it be "alms" as aid?

Log in to reply
SecondDegreeFresh
04-27-2008

Rated 0 
I love the pun.

Log in to reply
Rob__21
05-19-2008

Rated 0 
I agree with Muzic2deep and Frankie47 - it's a song about trying to come back to hang with his old friends, after coming home from university/army/travelling the world etc.

"I'm the best slow dancer in the universe" - he hasn't quite realized that things have changed since high school, he's not "Mr. November" anymore.

"Hope they're staying glued together" - "hope after x amount of years away, I can just come back to the Good Old Days like I wasn't ever away"

It's a song about coming to the realization of growing up

Log in to reply
Havenspear
05-21-2008

Rated 0 
My favourite lyrics on the whole cd. "Like a little drop of ink in a glass of water." fuuuck

Totally about trying to reconnect.

Log in to reply
Godzuki
07-01-2008

Rated 0 
dunno if it's right but when I've been out drinking one way or another i always come back with dirty hands.

I think green gloves is like the grass stains on his hands after a night out an when he comes back to his friends house cos he needs a place to stay he sits in their chairs and watches videos/has sex with them. But he knows he's not romantically inclined toward them and is very distant.

I've been in so many situations where I'm somewhere with out my best friends and i'm thinking 'oh im out of touch with my friends' cos they're getting wasted somewhere else without me.

I think he admires his friends to the point of obsession which is why he stays at their houses etc and i think this can develop into a jealous arrogance and disregard for them 'cinderella through the room- i'm the best slow dancer'.

He loves his friends but he's tired of them so he manipulates them when he's / they're drunk.

Basically i think he's discussing not being with them and missing them as opposed to being with them and using them cos he's popular and he knows he's better than them and that he shouldn't be getting drunk with them.

Log in to reply
Godzuki
07-01-2008

Rated 0 
that could all be bollocks of-course.

Log in to reply




  • Add Your Comments
What does this song mean to you?

You must be logged in to post your comments.

Feel free to create an account with us, or log in with your existing account, to start adding your comments to songs.





Popular
Top:   Lyrics, Artists, Albums
Random:   Lyric, Artist, Album

Your Ad Here