(Daddy, will you tell me the story about the chicken? ha ha ha)

(Ah ha ha ha, ah ha ha)
(Let's double track that)

Haven't seen the sun in weeks
My skin is getting pale
Haven't got a mind left to speak
And I'm skinny as a rail

Light bulbs are getting dim
My interests are starting to wane
I'm told it's everything a man could want
And I shouldn't complain

Conversations getting dull
There's a constant buzzing in my ears
Sense of humor's void and null
And I'm bored to tears

I'm bored to tears, yeah
I'm bored to tears, yeah

If you're looking for an accomplice
A confederate, somebody's who's helpless
You're gonna find, you'll find yourself alone

If you're looking for cut-throat
Singing above note, looking for a scapegoat
You're gonna find, you'll find yourself alone

Looking for sympathy
I can get you something
Something good, something good to eat

Haven't had a decent meal
My brain is fried
Haven't slept a week for real
My tongue is tied

Light bulbs are getting dim
My interests are starting to wane
I'm told it's everything a man could want
And I shouldn't complain

Conversations getting dull
There's a constant buzzing in my ears
Sense of humor's void and null
And I'm bored to tears

I'm bored to tears, yeah
I'm bored to tears, yeah

Ah ah ah ah ah


Lyrics submitted by JustFetus

Consoler of the Lonely Lyrics as written by John Anthony White Brendan Benson

Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group

Lyrics powered by LyricFind

Consoler of the Lonely song meanings
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30 Comments

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  • +2
    General Comment

    Specifically - Capitalism's theory's probably dead on. Generally - I think what we're supposed to take away from this is "life sucks, and no one cares about your problems".

    ninjapirateon August 12, 2008   Link
  • +2
    General Comment

    sorry i accidentally hit something on the keyboard that made me add the comemnt before i was finished...

    he's bored and lonely. light bulbs getting dim references how he's phased by nothing, and his feelings towards the world and his psychiatric state has made him numb and looking at the world through his eyes makes the world seem dim. he was skinny as a teen when he was turned so he is eternally skinny..in addition he's starting to feel like he doesnt want to live anymore and starts feeding less and less... so he has the psychological feeling of "skinny/starving" much like how anorexics feel when they havent eaten for an entire day or so...

    He is frustrated, disgusted, and tired of his life...and he complains about it to people who are human. The humans are naive because they lack his experience. They look at him with twinkling eyes wishing they could have what he has. Possibly BEGGING for him to bite them. DREAMING of what it would be like to be a vampire, and pondering all the things they would do if he would turn them. They tell him how great it is, and how nearly everyone in the world wishes for eternal youth. They are jealous of him. and he is told that he shouldn't complain, that it is a gift... But he sees it as a curse, refuses to turn them... Tells them of his misery, how he would never wish this on anyone, not even his worst enemy. He is torn between fear of dying and the addiction to blood (which to him is like the strongest heroin in the world), and the guilt and disgust for his lifestyle, and how miserable he has become.

    The line I'm bored to tears

    is pretty obvious... he's been a vampire for so long and done everything he wanted to do. Jack had a whole list of things that he fantasized about that he would do if he was a vampire and had eternity and invincibility to do everything he possibly wanted. Including mastering music with infinite time, and doing dangerous adrenaline rush activities, because he would no longer have to risk pain, injury or death....among other things which normal people have restraints, due to time, fear, injury, death etc... anything that a vampire can do much easily than a human that he expressed and interest towards the vampire in the story (which may or not be jack imagining himself as a vampire, or just a fictional vampire for the purpose of the song, he has not revealed this information to the public, i choose to believe that it is jack as a vampire) Anyway...

    He has literally done it all, and is bored out of his gord (rhyme unintentional)

    the lines

    "If you're looking for an accomplice A confederate, somebody's who's helpless You're gonna find, you'll find yourself alone

    If you're looking for cut-throat Singing above note, looking for a scapegoat You're gonna find, you'll find yourself alone"

    are what he feels like telling the people at the party, or perhaps actually does. He's basically just saying he's not the person they are looking for when they ask him favors, or beg him to turn them. He wants no part in any of these things. He just goes about his own business, he's tired of life and tired of looking for anything outside the ordinary.

    The lines: "Looking for sympathy I can get you something Something good, something good to eat"

    again are referencing people begging to be turned... He is telling them basically that playing the sympathy card is useless, he's not falling for it... He will not sympathize with how miserable your life is and how much better it would be if he turned you, because of how miserable his life is, nothing could possibly be worse. He believes he is cursed, and that it is not a gift therefor refuses to turn others. (i explained a little more in my earlier post.) Those who try to get his sympathy in an effort to turn them he replies that he will get them something good to eat to make them feel better...

    The reference to something good to eat plays on two different levels... You see the first is simple. I will get you something good to eat to drown your sorrows. He will sympathize with them up to a certain point and because he is their friend or simply because he is a good person/nice guy he will get them something to eat to drown their sorrows (as many people do, they're depressed and go eat a bunch of ice cream to feel better) he will buy you the icecream sundae to indulge yourself..

    On a deeper lever... he remembers what it was like to eat real food, how much he enjoyed it. He has been on blood and off real food for so long, he misses it with a passion. It is one of the things he misses MOST about being human. All the supposed "gifts" that he took advantage of after he was turned...it's been over a hundred years and he's done everything he wanted to with that time..but one of the things he wishes he could do most and he CAN'T is eat a delicious meal.

    I mean the guys' been living on blood for over a hundred years, imagine living on slimfast for the rest of your life. It'd probably keep you alive... but you're never going to feel completely full or satisfied...

    So in a sense, him offering yuo "something good to eat" is probably actually a really deep sense of sympathy, and a very generous offer. Because of how he feels about food , being WAY different and certainly of much more value, than the person he is offering it to feels about it. He values food very highly because he hasnt had any in over a hundred years and misses it like crazy desperately wishes to taste some delicious food.

    Again, the lines: " Haven't had a decent meal My brain is fried Haven't slept a week for real My tongue is tied"

    are in reference to how much he misses food. ":haven't had a decent meal" in over a hundred years and he misses food with a passion.

    my brain is fried, is because his subconscious mind is always running with his internal struggles, and his emotions or lack there of etc...

    "havent slept a week for real" is because vampires dont sleep, and though they dont need to, i believe that the feeling humans get after sleeping for liek 12 to 16 hours and wake up feeling REALLY refreshed and good, they never experience that feeling again, because without sleep, there is never any 'refreshment" and even if they dont get "tired" per say, the duration of being awake all day, the mind never gets a break from thought which i dont imagine feeling "good"

    "my tongue is tied" is kinda like he's at this "party" we all seem to imagine the song referencing to somehow, or the people who always bother him to turn them are talking his ear off and then ask him a question, I imagine him like too involved with his innerconflict and inner thoughts at the time of hte conversation, and instaed of taking the "tongue tied" meaning that he cant tell them...but that he actually isnt processing hte conversation well enough due to his internal thoughts about something else, that he just cant respond correctly because he's not listening and interperating and thinking well enough about the words the other person is saying to him..

    "light bulbs are getting dim" again putting emphasis on that point, to finish the whoel message of the song, and leave the sense and impression of that part being really important.

    The negativity that jack found out about his childhood fantasy is based on the thoughts this line is a reference to (if you are unsure what i'm talking about i exlpained it in my first post)

    therefore it is basically the whole message of the song and he just ended it there for dramatic effect and poetic expression.

    Sincerely, Jamaul Wallace

    P.S. I'd really appreciate your feedback, and i'd love to hear your thoughts on my interpretation even if they're negative, and especially if you're a true fan.

    I will actually be bookmarking this page so i can check back to see you're responses as i am really interested, so please respond knowing that I will actually be checking back and personally reading your response, and not just for future people who come to this page. Thank you.

    JamaulWallaceon June 07, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Awesome way to start off the album...

    Not sure about the second stanza after the first "I'm bored to tears" chorus. Sounded like "singing a bum note" but that doesn't make sense to me.

    The song gives me the vision of a guy always going to parties/get-togethers, leaning on a table with a cup in his hand, and being bored shitless. The conversations he has are boring, he's not listening to them, not laughing at any of the jokes. He keeps going to these parties so he can't get a decent meal. He's falling asleep, he's obviously not interested in going anywhere anymore but people keep telling him that being able to is "everything a man could want."

    I think Jack here is the one inviting Brendan to the parties, telling him he'll be a loner if he doesn't go and promises him "something good to eat."

    Don't know what the murmuring from the child in the beginning is about...

    JustFetuson March 23, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I found an article on the internet about the title of the raconteurs new album (and this track), its worth a look.... nme.com/news/the-raconteurs/35265

    ((kp))on March 24, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I think it's "singing above note". Great song, and an awesome way to start off this album.

    theraconteurs123on March 26, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    It a person who's life appears great his friends, and everone he meets. Everyone think he has it good, but hes falling apart inside and noone notices. He's tried to tell people, but all he gets as advice in return is "I'm told it's everything a man could want And I shouldn't complain"

    The first words in the song is "Lets Double TRACK that."

    Hard to pick out, he's talking about a recording process were you play the song over again and add differnt sounds with the recording, such as a second guitar. Benson already plays a second guitar though, so i don't know. I just love no lyrical banter at the beginning and the end of the song

    bwalshyon March 27, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    This song kicks ass

    Peyton2015on March 27, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Yeah, I was stuck between check and track. I guess it doesn't really matter either way.

    JustFetuson March 27, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I think bwalshy nailed it.

    TwirlyRedon March 27, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Also, I love this song, because it articulates so well the feeling of getting caught in bad conversations. God, how I hate getting caught in bad conversations ... It happens too often too ...

    TwirlyRedon March 27, 2008   Link

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