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Sky,
What do I want
Sky (What would I want, sky)
Is everything alright?
You feelin' moany?
You feelin' lonely?
You're not the only
Is everything alright?
You feelin' stormy?
You feelin' phony?
You're not the only
Do you get up up up?
Clouds stop and move above me, too bad they can't help me,
What is the right way?
Do I float up up up, and not stop and look around me?
Grays where that color should be, what is the right way?
Old glass is clinkin' and a new order's blinkin' and I,
I should be floatin', but I'm weighted by thinking
I got on the river, wait, can't make it change,
But the sky gets filled up too fast and the tide seen them sayin', you better,
Give me some money, stop, daydreamin' dude.
When the thought of horizon is hiding from you,
What would you want? sky (what do I want? sky)
Is everything alright? You feelin' lonely?
You feelin' moldy? You're not the only
Is everything alright? You feelin' stormy?
You feelin' foamy? You're not the only
Do you get up up up?
Clouds stop and move above me,
Too bad they can't help me, what Is the right way?
Do I float up up up?
When I stop and look around me,
Grays where that color should be, what is the right way?
Old glass is clinkin' and a, new order's blinkin'
And a- I should be floatin', but I'm weighted by thinking
I will fly up the river that'll make me some change,
Well the sky gets filled up too fast and the tide she kept waiting,
But, give me some money, stop, daydreaming dude,
When the thought of horizon is hiding it's blues
What would you want,
Sky (what did I want, sky) (what would I want, sky)
What do I want
Sky (What would I want, sky)
Is everything alright?
You feelin' moany?
You feelin' lonely?
You're not the only
Is everything alright?
You feelin' stormy?
You feelin' phony?
You're not the only
Do you get up up up?
Clouds stop and move above me, too bad they can't help me,
What is the right way?
Do I float up up up, and not stop and look around me?
Grays where that color should be, what is the right way?
Old glass is clinkin' and a new order's blinkin' and I,
I should be floatin', but I'm weighted by thinking
I got on the river, wait, can't make it change,
But the sky gets filled up too fast and the tide seen them sayin', you better,
Give me some money, stop, daydreamin' dude.
When the thought of horizon is hiding from you,
What would you want? sky (what do I want? sky)
Is everything alright? You feelin' lonely?
You feelin' moldy? You're not the only
Is everything alright? You feelin' stormy?
You feelin' foamy? You're not the only
Do you get up up up?
Clouds stop and move above me,
Too bad they can't help me, what Is the right way?
Do I float up up up?
When I stop and look around me,
Grays where that color should be, what is the right way?
Old glass is clinkin' and a, new order's blinkin'
And a- I should be floatin', but I'm weighted by thinking
I will fly up the river that'll make me some change,
Well the sky gets filled up too fast and the tide she kept waiting,
But, give me some money, stop, daydreaming dude,
When the thought of horizon is hiding it's blues
What would you want,
Sky (what did I want, sky) (what would I want, sky)
Lyrics submitted by YerBlueJayWay
Track duration: 06:45
"What Would I Want? Sky" as written by Philip Lesh, Robert M. Peterson, David Michael Portner, Noah Benjamin Lennox, Brian Ross Weitz
Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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For example, I know many people who want to be artists/play music for a living but people always tell them things like this lyric, "Give me some money, stop, daydreamin' dude."
I'm pretty sure everyone has day dreamed about something they would really want to do. In this song I think that is what the "sky" represents. After all, what would I want? sky, of course (my day dream to be reality).
We get caught up trying to do what society thinks we should do in order to live prosperous lives, provide for our families, and to fit into the social norm. It's pretty depressing to be told to stop chasing your dreams and a lot of us can become lost or confused about what the meaning of our life is. This is suggested by the lines
"Lost in the flurry
You start to worry
You will be buried."
Being buried refers to burying your own personality to adjust to society.
The question "What is the right way" comes up a lot, and I believe he's asking what is the right way to live: happy and free from social scrutiny or unhappy and simply blend in with society.
I don't know how they ever created the chorus, because the songs in 7/8, and the guy seems to break of the regular rythmn and go off way faster and kinda sparatically, but it's so calm.
And then he just keeps going and you hear the sample in the background over and over again. First time I heard it, i somehow knew he was going to end with, what would I want sky, And then match up with the chorus, but he said way fast: what would YOU want... Sky. Then matched into the common 7/8 rythmn, into a joined loop chorus with the sample, except the emphasis sounds different every second time, pre-sure, or maybe it's just me.
The song seems to be about blissfullness, and how if you try to analyse it, it falls apart. When he gets up up up (sky, blisfulness) when he stops and looks around him (analysis), greys where that colour should be (conclusion), what is the right way, (trying to get up, up, up again)
Do you get up up up? (sky)
Clouds stop and move above me, (analysis)
Too bad they can't help me (conclusion)
what Is the right way? (...)
Old glasses clinking and a (sky)
New order's blinking and I - (starts thinking)
I should be floating but I'm weighted by thinking (falls apart)
I love how the first time: the point of horizon is hiding from you
But no, actually: the pint of horizon is hiding it's blues
They don't seem to know what sky is, and as soon as they try to figure it out, he falls down again. Someone already said this, but it's about your heart knowing the meaning, but not your mind, and being content with that.
I am now working on embroidering a shirt with some of the lyrics or images I make up to represent the lyrics. It will probably be copying more of the words than I want, just to really get the point across.
After being really into Avey Tare's "Down There" this year, I've discovered that we both have a lot of the same mindsets in place. Or default to life is to daydream... when things get crappy we get stuck. It's amazing how much you can sink too far into thoughts that seem like gentle clouds. "I should be floatin" want to be light, believing that daydreaming will make you freer until you are eventually "weighted by thinking". As Buddhism teaches, thoughts are made up as distractions and calmness is feeling the space between those thoughts. Thinking is not the answer! Hahaha. I know It's stupid and corny the way I think about it. But the song carries so many of my own sentiments that I could not as clearly display to other people. I want to wear this shirt and have people be like, 'wow, that's what she's really going through when she looks so confused'. People will understand when I make the images becauseee Avey is gonna help me out a lil' so if I'm feeling stucker than usual, I can just wear the shirt and display my confusion. It's like "GIVE ME SOME MONEY" well, I can show you my shirt, it's tangible. Not really money but I think that's a perfect symbol. Soemthing I totally do is take people's simple statements like that and repeat them in a different context and you can just dwell on them. it's like everyone is the guru.
Ugh I'm really blabbering now but I'm gonna write a little more. After reading about the greatful dead thing, it's just so funny because I think AC loves people's lyrical misinterpretations. Like just make what comes to you into your own belief of what it really is.
Okay what is the whole "Good Deeds" part about? I think that might mean waking up from your daydreaming and getting to the point. It's kind of hypnotic actually, like you're lost trying to do the right thing but it's just like nawww I'm daydreaminggg~
Is everything all right? No, it's not? That's okay, Avey has cloudy days too.
His solution is still What would I want? Sky! Still after, sky is the obvious blockage to horizon. You're knowing that you can't see the good for all of your daydreaming but still, would you want sky? Then still repeating, what would I want? Sky! Still, forgetting that the sky is hurting you ughhhh I need to stop daydreamin ya'll see I can't get to the point with nothing!
*~Avey Tare~* u r inside my brain or smethng mkayy
like i said, i might be wrong but thats how i see it.
You feelin' moany?
You feelin' lonely?
YOU'RE NOT THE ONLY.
The change in perspective from artist to listener is the best part about this song. There are people who want more and more, and are always looking for something else. This relates to musicians, drug users, thinkers, etc. This encompasses them all. Lessons from using drugs. LESSONS FROM TRYING EVERYTHING to get "sky." Live in the present, this song says. If you are always looking for something else, or some fix, the point of horizon is hiding itself. The brilliance of animal collective is that it seems as though their music is written intuitively, which is the way it should be. They always tackle the fact that there isn't always just one situation during one time in their songs, if that's understandable.
Lost in the flurry
You start to worry
You will be buried
Taking it lightly
And so you hurry
And then you worry
Here come those flurries)
(Taking it lightly?
Lost in the flurry
You start to worry
You will be buried
Taking it lightly
And so you hurry
And then you worry
Here come those flurries)
These should be added as Panda Bear's parts
Found them on LyricsWiki
Also I desperately want the lyrics to Panda's singing
But...
The lyrics:
When the point of horizon is hiding from you
What would you want sky?
Seem to point to the theme most in the song...
We're probably all saying the same thing. About his references to life's troubles, to our reactions, our attachments, preoccupations, short-sightedness...whatever.
But sky points towards the flip side of these ever-changing 'things' in our lives. Sky points towards the spirit behind. The beyond. The formless Being.
So with the cyclical nature of the 7 bar beat, the repeating lyrics, and the contrast between the petty things and the overwhelming vastness, the entire song doesn't define anything at all.
It's a microcosm of everything we experience every day of our lives. If you're listening to it you're just becoming aware of this.
Because we're all becoming aware of ourselves, our connections, our meanings, our beings.
And the horizon is simply the limit of our sight....for now.
We will find sky, and see further...deeper.
Being
So, the next day I quit my job. We had to drive back home and we had a stash of acid to finish off. The following day it was a perfect sunny day and we packed the car to go camping in Red River. Right as we were in the car I put the key in the ignition and Woe and behold... it broke inside the ignition. Yup. Completely stuck. 10 hours and 120 miles later we managed to get it fixed.
The NEXT day we were ready. Loaded up the car and went to our favorite campsite outside Red River. Paid the people our $24 for our site and we set up camp. However, unlike the previous day, it was completely grey and raining. So we wet up our tent, drop and sit inside of it. Then it started pouring and where our campsite was turned into a giant puddle. Rain was running off the hill and one of the groundskeepers kept on popping by and shamelessly dirty-man flirting. In any case, I was determined to make the best of it.
Then our tent broke.
'No Worries, I'll just get some tape and repair this shit fiberglass pole'
Nope... it was completely broken, and the rain wasn't letting up.
We decided then still keep going with the flow and put our rain jackets on and go into town. Gray clouds loomed relentlessly ahead. We got into town and the despair of the day was ridden all over everyone's faces. It was suppose to be a resort town but nobody looked like they were having having. Everywhere you looked was a reflection of the joking trashiness that is abundant in America. So we rented a surrey and had a ride around town contemplating the state of affairs.
No matter how much I wanted it to be a good day, I just kept on being weighed down.
I then decided that was enough. I had a nice, dry bed waiting for me miles away, and it was the only home I had. I was lucky to even have a place to stay for the summer that wasn't a tent. I just wanted to go home.
So we pack up and head out. As we are heading out of the valley the sky began to open up. There, right on the edge of town was blue sky peaking out of the daunting clouds. The more we drove the more sky we saw, right as the sun was beginning to set in the sky. It was the most beautiful moment, and all I really could of asked for at that moment.
Then this song came on the radio. The words never rang more true.
"Is everything alright?
You feeling lonely?
You feeling moldy?
You're not the only
Is everything alright?
You feeling stormy?
You feeling foamy?
You're not the only
Do you get up up up?
Clouds stop and move above me
Too bad they can't help me
What is the right way?
Do I float up up up?
When I stop and look around me
Grey is where that color should be
What is the right way?
Old glasses clinking and a
New order's blinking and I -
I should be floating but I'm weighted by thinking
I'm a fly on the river
That'll make me some change
When the sky gets filled up too fast
and the taxi cab's waiting, "You betta
give him some money;
stop daydreaming, dude!"
When the point of horizon is hiding it's blues
What would you want sky?
What would I want? Sky!"
I made this music video to show my appreciation for this song.
I made this music video to show my appreciation for this song.