SongMeanings | Lyrics | Andrew Bird

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Andrew Bird
Fitz & Dizzyspells
16 Comments

Lyrics for Fitz & Dizzyspells as interpreted by wild_ cosmia

Fitz & Dizzyspells Lyrics

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Comes and goes
Like in fits and dizzy spells
Like the weather

And it blows
Like it knows what's going wrong
Like it's clever

Has a name but the name goes unspoken
Weather vanes
Were all twisted and broken
So soldier on, soldier on

Flailing to the whir of a snack machine
And muted screams of an old regime
And then oh
Something gets in it
The nightshade gets in it
We were all fast asleep
Were all so fast asleep
But you woke us
You woke us from the strangest dream that an aubergine could ever know
Would ever know

Lava flows over crooks and craggy cliffs to the ocean
And explodes in a steam heat fevered cyclical motion
Has a name
But the name goes unspoken
It's in vain
Cause the language is broken
So cast your own, cast your own
Soldier on

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16 Comments

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Mooncutter
12-19-2008

Rated 0

And it gloats like it knows what's going on...

Lava flows over crooks and cragged cliffs...

It's in vain 'cause that language...

Also, I had:
And then oh, something gets in
The nausea gets in

I'm not 100% on that, and I'm also quite sure it's not "regime" in that second instance.

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wild_ cosmia
12-19-2008

Rated 0

Yeah I'm not 100& sure about some of it. Feel free to give suggestions.

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thriggle
12-21-2008

Rated 0

Has a name, but the name goes unspoken...
Flare into the whirr of a snack machine...

I do think Mooncutter's right about "something gets in" but I'm not sure if it's "nausea" or "magic" in the next line. And it sounds like "cast your own" to me near the end, where you've got "cause you're wrong"

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peopledontdance
01-06-2009

Rated 0

okay, for what i hear: he just says "explodes in a steam heat" etc, there is no "like" between them. and it is a very close tie between "sickly commotion" and "cyclical motion." oof!
but, what a fun little tune :D

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TDeMello
01-11-2009

Rated +2

from the lyrics booklet:

Comes and goes
Like in fits and dizzy spells
Like the weather

And it blows
Like it knows what's going wrong
Like it's clever

Has a name but the name goes unspoken
Weather vanes
Were all twisted and broken
So soldier on, soldier on

Flailing to the whir of a snack machine
And muted screams of an old regime
And then oh
Something gets in it
The nightshade gets in it
We were all fast asleep
Were all so fast asleep
But you woke us
You woke us from the strangest dream that an aubergine could ever know
Would ever know

Lava flows over crooks and craggy cliffs to the ocean
And explodes in a steam heat fevered cyclical motion
Has a name
But the name goes unspoken
It's in vain
Cause the language is broken
So cast your own, cast your own
Soldier on

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blom
02-05-2009

Rated 0

Damnit! I thought with 5 comments someone would have maybe suggested what he was actually talking about. Because I really have no idea & I'd love to know someone else's thoughts...?

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birdhead
02-16-2009

Rated 0

Well the "old regime" is a historical term referring to the reign of the monarchs before the July Revolution.

If that helps any.
I just can't see how it would fit into the song...

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TTam
03-01-2009

Rated +1

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Bug2
03-09-2009

Rated 0

Maestro Bird has mentioned a couple of different meanings for this song over the past few months. While at his performance in Denver, he spoke of a fishing trip with his Dad where he got horrible food poisoning. And he was amazed at his bodies reaction to expelling the toxins.
In Seattle he mentioned it is his "barn burner" song, and live it is estastic, more so than on the album.

I think it is very fun to say the word aubergine (eggplant) aloud. It flows nicely from the mouth, and creates a natural smile when it leaves.

4 Replies

GrungyBeatle
03-10-2009

Rated +1

after reading the lyrics, i think this song is in fact his attempt at trying to write a song about the food poisoning he experienced. the fits and dizzy spells even adds to what happens when a body is poisoned, all these natural bodily reactions happen to get rid of the poison or sucuumb to it. a nightshade is a plant related to the patatoe that has posinous red or black berries. he probably confused a posionous nightshade for a dark purple colored eggplant and eat it straight from the wild while fishing with his dad, which most likely poisoned him. why he would compare the wind, or a volcanoe's motion to this, might be the motion it does, so it happened inside him. thats my interpretation as Bug2's interpretation makes sense.

thriggle
03-15-2009

Rated 0

Heh, that's kind of gross, but it really does make more sense than any other interpretation. Although Mr. Bird does like his double (and triple) meanings..

Bug2
03-16-2009

Rated 0

Thus, with this "surface intepretation"... Cast your own could simply be what he said to his Dad on the fishing trip: I'm too sick to be a good little soldier and go out to the river / lake with you... go on Cast your Own FISHING LINE! That is hilarious to me!
Diving deeper into his surface description of his own song... (thriggle you will love this one, I think.) It could be he was speaking of his Dad, meaning the universal Father or creator, food poisoning was eating of the apple of knowledge, which then thrust him away from his Barn of Eden, causing him to wander as a lost soldier, trying to soldier on trying to cast his own net ( the whole, fishing stories about Jesus and the fishermen apostles stuff.) O-- or that the nightshade that gets in the word of goodness and kindness and morphs into biggotry, you know when people try to use faith to justify in the judgements of other peoples behaviors. Then Cast your Own could mean, be nice, and cast your own stones first.

busybeegal
06-15-2009

Rated 0

I'm pretty sure that eggplants are actually part of the nightshade family of plants. I'm allergic to eggplants, and all other members of the nightshade family.

As far as:
Lava flows over crooks and craggy cliffs to the ocean
And explodes in a steam heat fevered cyclical motion

I almost envision that the lava is him throwing up on the edge of the pond, and it's just traveling over rocks into the pond... and that the explosion is him vomiting. The steam heat fever is like when you're really sick (like the time I had food poisoning) and you just have sweat pouring off your brow like you're burning up with fever. And the cyclical motion is like the constant heaving, almost like a pattern - when you're throwing up, and your whole body is undulating and wretching.

I'm seeing him this Thursday at Radio City Music Hall - I'll post any new explanations. ;o)

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supposablethumbs
03-10-2009

Rated 0

I hope its about love. But knowing it's Andrew Bird, my money is on global warming.

As usual the music is good.

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TheForceOfTragedy
06-16-2009

Rated 0

i have no idea about the interpretation, but i really like the aubergine part. completely random line, i love it :D

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pukkapukka
06-22-2009

Rated 0

so my thoughts on this... though they are incomplete... is that the song is about mental illness, which is what "it" is ("and it blows/ like it knows whats going on/ like its clever")
i feel like the person in this song has defeated said illness, or whatever is torturing him or her, and yet it still finds a way to creep back into his or her life

I feel like this line: "But you woke us/ You woke us from the strangest dream/ that an aubergine could ever know/ Would ever know" is the years of happiness that the person experienced, and now they are being disrupted. Whatever illness that is being personified never experienced said happiness, and so the person is disrupted, such as waking up from a dream.

Then of course at the end with "Soldier on, soldier on" and "has a name but the language is broken" and even earlier with the line "Weather wanes oooh were all twisted and broken" shows that we all have our shortcomings that we need to defeat, and sometimes we can't understand the, but we need to get through them even if they find ways to come back into our lives.

I know thats a bit of a messy interpretation, but its the best I've got. By the way, aubergine means eggplant...

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LLslp
07-18-2009

Rated 0

I've always felt this song was about autism ... "flailing to the whirr of a snack machine" and "it's in vain, 'cause the language is broken" were my chief supporters. Thoughts?

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breezey23
09-09-2009

Rated 0

I happened to be reading the Farseer and Tawny Man Trilogies when I first heard this song and noticed some interesting correlations. It's most likely coincidental, but now I can't hear the song without thinking of these books and the main character, Fitz.

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AlexKuykendall
09-15-2009

Rated 0

@LLslp: altruism? as in ethical altruism // ayn rand?

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CaptainNero
11-21-2009

Rated 0

I think the song is about both physical and mental illness, where Fitz(fits) would be mental and Dizzyspells would be physical. Just maybe Andrew Bird has considered every possibility for his songs, I mean, doesn't his creativity just scare you? then again, he does have alot of time on his hands.
An amazing song, but it's possible theme kinda kills how goddamn happy it is.~

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