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at your house the smell of our still living human bodies and oven gas
you pray to nothing out loud
two first names and an ampersand
embroidered proudly on a kitchen towel
you're a beautiful and violent word
with the skinny neck of a chinese bird
in a fading ancient painting
and if you're in heaven waiting
you made it there fighting
the tightest kite string
in a bad storm with lightning
and now these few presidents
frowning in my pocket
can persuade no god
to let me let you talk, oh
these few presidents
frowning in my pocket
can persuade no god
to let me let you off
even though i haven't seen you in years
yours is a funeral i'd fly to from anywhere
i thought i had a pebble in my sock
i pulled it off and shook out a wasp
it stumbled out lost, and without a pause
unstung as i was, still i stomped it
i thought, there is no paved street worthy
of your perfect scandanavian feet
while my crooked chinese fingers groped
the machinery of your throat
and now these few presidents
frowning in my pocket
can persuade no god
to let me let you talk, oh
these few presidents
drowning in my pocket
can persuade no god
to let me let you off
even though i haven't seen you in years
yours is a funeral i'd fly to from anywhere
you pray to nothing out loud
two first names and an ampersand
embroidered proudly on a kitchen towel
you're a beautiful and violent word
with the skinny neck of a chinese bird
in a fading ancient painting
and if you're in heaven waiting
you made it there fighting
the tightest kite string
in a bad storm with lightning
and now these few presidents
frowning in my pocket
can persuade no god
to let me let you talk, oh
these few presidents
frowning in my pocket
can persuade no god
to let me let you off
even though i haven't seen you in years
yours is a funeral i'd fly to from anywhere
i thought i had a pebble in my sock
i pulled it off and shook out a wasp
it stumbled out lost, and without a pause
unstung as i was, still i stomped it
i thought, there is no paved street worthy
of your perfect scandanavian feet
while my crooked chinese fingers groped
the machinery of your throat
and now these few presidents
frowning in my pocket
can persuade no god
to let me let you talk, oh
these few presidents
drowning in my pocket
can persuade no god
to let me let you off
even though i haven't seen you in years
yours is a funeral i'd fly to from anywhere
Lyrics submitted by oh ok
Track duration: 03:06
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The first verse could be after an initial failed suicide attempt, she stuck her head in the oven (hence the smell of gas) he goes to her house, or a house he once shared with her and in the kitchen she still has a tea towel with their names on it, bringing up painful memories?
'our still living human bodies' could be taken as the house still has some trace of their presence as a couple there?
and
'if you're in heaven waiting/you made it there fighting/the tightest kite string'
could mean if she has finally been able to kill herself it was a struggle, something was tethering her to earth/life, maybe he'd reached out to her in recent times but she shut him out.
The monetary thing for me could be funds left to him? However much though he deems it as not enough to 'let her off' for what she's done.
and what I think is one of the best lines ever penned by Yoni,
"even though I haven't seen you in years,
yours is a funeral I'd fly to from anywhere"
I think captures the extent of infatuation and regret about their breakup/her death that he would give anything, fly across the world to see her again, even if it was at her funeral.
I know thats certainly how I feel about a certain ex whenever I hear that line.
"i thought i had a pebble in my sock
i pulled it off and shook out a wasp
it stumbled out lost, and without a pause
unstung as i was, still i stomped it" seems like he noticed something uncomfortable and when he thought about it more, he realized she was toxic (a wasp) and squashed her even though he wasn't particularly 'stung' by her.
"and now these few presidents
frowning in my pocket
can persuade no god
to let me let you talk, oh
these few presidents
drowning in my pocket
can persuade no god
to let me let you off" seems to be implying that something small and material "these -few- presidents" isn't enough for him to change his mind or give her another chance.
"even though i haven't seen you in years
yours is a funeral i'd fly to from anywhere" is about the sadistic satisfaction of the narrator that would come with the the death of the subject of the song. He'd go anywhere to revel in it.
I agree with iesika about how they came back to her home after possibly her funeral for the first part of the song.
The chorus and "these few presidents frowning in my pocket" no amount of money that he could give to any "God" would enable her to come back and talk..or let her live again.
"even though I haven't seen you in years, yours is a funeral I'd fly to from anywhere"
He still has feelings for her. You wouldn't drop everything and fly to someones funeral if you didn't love them, or if they didn't mean something to you.
"i thought i had a pebble in my sock
i pulled it off and shook out a wasp
it stumbled out lost, and without a pause
un-stung as i was, still i stomped it"
Possibly recalling how things use to be whenever there relationship ended? Like he broke it off with her and she was "lost" and so "without a pause" even though she was not threatening, being "un-stung", he was harsh and stomped her..
"i thought, there is no paved street worthy
of your perfect SKIN AND AVIAN feet"
And now the "wasp" is crushed on a paved street..but she deserved more than that.
"while my crooked chinese fingers groped
the machinery of your throat"
one last time in the coffin, he says goodbye and touches her neck?
also it could be a reference to her dying, and how she died...like committing suicide, hanging herself?
May be a stretch...but this is how I feel about it.
My ex-boyfriend, who now lives on the complete opposite side of the country, is who I think of when this song comes on. Still love that boy to death. But I was the wasp, and un-stung as I was he stomped me.
I'd still fly to his funeral even if I don't see him for years..
He recently told me that he loved me and felt like an idiot for how everything turned out...I only wish he had realized that sooner, BEFORE he moved.
at the end of the song after he says the final "Yours is a funeral I'd fly to from anywhere" you can hear it echo in the background "Lie to her, lie to her, lie to her, lie to her"
daytrotter.com/dt/colour-revolt-concert/…
"with the skinny neck of a chinese bird"
"while my crooked chinese fingers groped"
"of your perfect scandinavian feet"
two first names and an ampersand
embroidered proudly on a kitchen towel
you're a beautiful and violent word
with the skinny neck of a chinese bird
in a fading ancient painting
Is merely a description of an ampersand (&) than only Joni Wolf could pen. See the skinny neck?
God I love this album.
Am I the only one that thinks of this as a reference to Chinese Finger-cuffs, aka, one guy having sex with a girl doggy style and another guy receiving oral sex? aka The Wobbly H