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A short delay,
The parrot blues
Little voices mimic you
It's not so hard to make that sound
So watch your back,
The Ides of March
Cut your hair like Joan of Arc
Disguise your will
They'll find you out
And when they do,
Look out
There's money lenders inside the temple
That circus tiger's gonna break your heart
Something so wild turned into paper
If I loved you, well that's my fault
A bitch in heat,
The alpha male
Not something she'd ever tell
Except when she got deathly high
And out it came,
Like summer rain
Washed the cars and everything
Felt clean for just a little while
A telethon,
We drove down
The starving children they ain't got no mother
There's pink flamingos living in the mall
I'd give a fortune to your infomercial
If somebody would just take my call
Take my call
Take my call
Hello,
Patterns in my mind now moving slow
Sorrow all across the surface roads
Smoothing out the edges of the stone
The lights are out, where'd everybody go?
Alone
Erase yourself and you'll be free
Mendula destroyed by the sea
All we are is colored sand
So pay to ride the ferris wheel
Smile, all that you can feel
Is gratitude for what has been
Cause it did not,
Happen
There's money lenders inside the temple
That circus tiger's gonna break my heart
Something so wild turned into paper
If you loved me, then that's your fault
There's money lenders inside the temple
This crystal city's gonna fall apart
When all their power turns into vapor
If I miss you well that's my fault
That's my fault
That's my fault
The parrot blues
Little voices mimic you
It's not so hard to make that sound
So watch your back,
The Ides of March
Cut your hair like Joan of Arc
Disguise your will
They'll find you out
And when they do,
Look out
There's money lenders inside the temple
That circus tiger's gonna break your heart
Something so wild turned into paper
If I loved you, well that's my fault
A bitch in heat,
The alpha male
Not something she'd ever tell
Except when she got deathly high
And out it came,
Like summer rain
Washed the cars and everything
Felt clean for just a little while
A telethon,
We drove down
The starving children they ain't got no mother
There's pink flamingos living in the mall
I'd give a fortune to your infomercial
If somebody would just take my call
Take my call
Take my call
Hello,
Patterns in my mind now moving slow
Sorrow all across the surface roads
Smoothing out the edges of the stone
The lights are out, where'd everybody go?
Alone
Erase yourself and you'll be free
Mendula destroyed by the sea
All we are is colored sand
So pay to ride the ferris wheel
Smile, all that you can feel
Is gratitude for what has been
Cause it did not,
Happen
There's money lenders inside the temple
That circus tiger's gonna break my heart
Something so wild turned into paper
If you loved me, then that's your fault
There's money lenders inside the temple
This crystal city's gonna fall apart
When all their power turns into vapor
If I miss you well that's my fault
That's my fault
That's my fault
Lyrics submitted by jethrothekid
Track duration: 04:35
"Lenders in the Temple" as written by Conor Oberst
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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A short delay, the parrot blues
Little voices mimic you
It's not so hard to make that sound
(Him writing songs and people singing them at shows or something like that. You know?)
There's money lenders inside the temple
That circus tiger's going to break your heart
Something so wild turned into paper
If I loved you, well that's my fault
(Money lenders...about the fans and how fans make profits for artists...Conor. The circus tiger could be Conor...like he's not who people think he is. The love part: Maybe sometimes his fans disappoint him with their actions at shows or whatever it may be.)
There's money lenders inside the temple
That circus tiger's going to break my heart
Something so wild turned into paper
If you love me, then that's your fault
(This is the inverse of the above I guess. If you love me...if you put someone on a pedestal like so many fans do and that person or artist turns out to be different and it hurts the fans then you know...it's their fault for putting that person on a pedestal.)
Just a thought.
The biblical references mentioned here already seem more likely (and better thought out) though. :)
But I believe it's reference to the sand mandalas created in the buddhist culture. They create these with colored sand and then destroy them, to signify how material life transitions. His lyric "all we are is colored sand" makes me think that may be right...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/…
All we are is colored sand
Could be Mandela, as he was imprisoned on Robben Island for 13 years during apartheid rule. Rather than kill him and let him become a martyr, the apartheid gov't tried to drown him away from the public eye, let them forget about him while he remained imprisoned on this island, much like aung san suu kyi today.
Smile, all that you can feel
Is gratitude for what has been
Because it did not happen
While Mandela was in Robben Island the apartheid ministers tried to cover up the protest movement he and the ANC started, making it look as if apartheid was a "policy of good neighborliness" and everything Mandela had done had never happened.
"short delay, parot blues, little voices mimic you" -referring to that persons "sound"
"its not so hard to make that sound" -saying your not doing anything original/significant
and the joan of arc lines could criticize that persons image.
im not saying this is what those lines mean, but thats what i heard when i first started listening to this song.
(instead of "Mandala destroyed by the sea")