Vampire Weekend – I Think Ur a Contra

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Send "I Think Ur a Contra" Ringtone to Cell

I had a feeling once
That you and I
Could tell each other everything
For two months

But even with an oath
With truth on our side
When you turn away from me
It’s not right

I think ur a contra

My revolution thoughts
Your little arrows of desire
I want to trace them to the source
And the wire

But it’s not useful now
Since we’ve both made up our minds
You’re going to watch out for yourself
And so will I

I think ur a contra
And I think that you’ve lied
Don’t call me a contra
Till you’ve tried

You wanted good schools and friends with pools
You’re not a contra

You wanted rock and roll, complete control
Well, I don’t know

Never pick sides
Never choose between two
Well I just wanted you
I just wanted you

You said,
“Never pick sides
Never choose between two”
Well I just wanted you
I just wanted you

I think ur a contra
And I think that you’ve lied
Don’t call me a contra
Till you’ve tried

Send "I Think Ur a Contra" Ringtone to Cell


Lyrics submitted by Shaedyn

Track duration: 04:29


I Think Ur a Contra song meanings
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32 Comments

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  • 0
    General Comment:This song is art.
    Flag pdeluc99on May 02, 2013   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:"contra" is slang for counter-revolutionary, which is doublespeak for a revolutionary, an anarchist.

    The point of the song is that this person claims to be a "contra" and he's buying it and maybe even he's falling in love with this person. Then they start telling each other things for real (life goals like having a house in a good school district and neighbors with swimming pools) and he realizes that this person isn't a contra, they're just a normal person, but, despite her earlier "contra"ish declaration that a person should never choose between two things, he's still in love with her and he chooses her.

    It's about young love maturing with the lovers. The people grow up, and so does their love. Vampire Weekend is the greatest band of all time.
    Flag nominalaeonon July 08, 2011   Link
  • +1
    My Interpretation:Throughout this album there are references to the Clash (one of them qtip mentioned). One of the Clash's albums is called Sandinista! When u look up contra it says that a contra is a group of Nicaraguans who fought against a group called the Sandinistas. Contras were supported by the US.
    Contra, in spanish, means against. seekingcynplicity had a good interview that explained what Ezra said it meant. It doesn't say what is the better side, it just says there is a contradiction, (contradiction probably came from the word contra, not vise versa).That could be why the Contras named themselves the Contras in the first place, because they didn't know who would win.
    Flag haydensroomon June 14, 2011   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:The Nicaraguan Contras were revolutionaries, fighting against the Sandinista government. But they were CIA-funded, Reagan-supported revolutionaries, so one might call them revolutionaries on the side of imperialism, which is a strange combination, a paradox. I think that's the point of the whole album; not everything falls along nice neat lines. Most of the punk bands - like The Clash, whose album Sandinista! was clearly an inspiration for this album - were from middle class families. They sang about communism and Castro, etc., but they went to good schools and had friends with pools.

    So, in short, to say "I think you're a Contra" is to say "sure, you're a revolutionary, but you also voted for Reagan."
    Flag NankerPhelgeon April 21, 2011   Link
  • 0
    My Interpretation:This song has a similar theme to "Taxi Cab". The protagonist thinks of himself as being revolutionary and bohemian. He meets this girl he likes and he thought she was all hip and revolutionary too.

    However, The two dated for about two months he starts think that she is more more "mainstream" than he wants to be and wants conventional things like a house in the suburbs (which he thinks is not very revolutionary).

    He does seem to agree she has good taste in 'revolutionary' music, like rock and roll (e.g. "Complete Control" by the Clash) so he starts to doubt his accusation that she's not a "contra".

    Anyway, after it all breaks up he realizes he just wanted her and maybe he shouldn't have cared whether she was revolutionary or hip enough, because he really liked her.

    As I said, this has a similar theme to Taxi Cab, which suggests that the protagonists in his songs tend to fall in love and then just as things get serious, he starts to look for reasons the relationship might fail or why the girl doesn't meet his "ideal." As expected, the relationships fail, and then he looks back and realizes he is causing them to fail by second-guessing them, and that the girls are really okay. He is just sabotaging things in his mind, perhaps because he's afraid of commitment.
    Flag ned23on February 08, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I´m from nicaragua, and I really love this song!... I read somewhere that the whole album was a kind of tribute to THE CLASH, more specific the SANDINISTA ALBUM. The story between this lyrics are very good explained in other comments, at least as i see it. I want to talk about this word CONTRA, CONTRA (against in english) is the word that were used in nicaragua to the CONTRA - REVOLUTIONARY forces in the 1980´s . In that time, The Clash realesed the album SANDINISTA, that´s the name used for the revolutionary people. In 1985 started a cruel war between the SANDINISTAS and the CONTRAS in nicaragua. The word CONTRA, were used in other things like de popular videogame CONTRA of Nintendo, and you can see it too in the last game of Metal Gear Solid for PSP.

    In my country, the word CONTRA is used for those people who are against your thoughts or feelings, maybe that can explained something ´bout the girl in the song. Other references to the origin of that word in the song, is the qouthe ¨You wanted rock and roll.. complete control¨... complete control... is part of a song in the album SANDINSTA of THE CLASH.

    Anyway... I dont know if Vampire Weekend knows about my country and our history.. but it doesn`t matter anyway.. is just a very good song!...
    Flag AlejoF85on January 17, 2011   Link
  • +2
    Song Meaning:This is what Ezra said about the song in his Track-By-Track guide to "Contra", to NME:

    "It’s the first song that I’ve sang entirely in falsetto and the vocal feels more exposed because of that. It’s a conversation between two people and the way they’re using the word ‘contra’ is to say, “You’re the opposite of me.”

    Say you break up with your girlfriend and suddenly you feel like they’re a totally different person to you, but obviously that’s not the whole story because at one point you felt very tender towards them.
    We have so many signals in our life telling us to make decisions between two things, but usually it’s not as simple as that. Some people would say a choice between two things is no choice at all.

    We thought of calling the album 'Contra' before this song was even written – to me it makes perfect sense as the title of this album because in some way every song has something to say about being forced into a dichotomy, that every choice is always either A or B.

    You can apply it to politics, culture, religion or personal relationships. We’re fighting against the dumbing down of choice."
    Flag pjfsupertrampon December 15, 2010   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:I definitely think the reference of contra to the actual meaning "against" especially referring to the Nicaraguan Resistance fighters of the 80's.Not literally, just being a boy and being harsh....Which tends to be necessary for a girl worthwhile to hear... I will say as a girl who loves someone very much, but wont commit to them, I definitely feel like the contra.... The contra hes singing about..Not specifically(obviously I dont know them). But its hard, there are so many reasons to choose to not be with someone.. Being in love with someone, most of the time is not even close to enough to make it work in the longrun. This song is beautiful.
    Flag Sammijon December 09, 2010   Link
  • +1
    My Opinion:This song describes how i feel now.... i shed a tear or two when listening to this :\
    Flag contra233on November 01, 2010   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:I took the line in the middle to mean she changed but he hasn't. They met young, got close, had fun, and either the relationship progressed or they got older and she started to look toward the future "good schools, friends with pools" while he was perceiving the relationship as fun and free. Now he's torn concerning whether or not she changed too suddenly or he didn't grow up fast enough. They are contras, but it's unclear who is in the wrong or if they just went their separate ways. He's also having a hard time holding it against her.
    Flag joeshmo39on September 27, 2010   Link

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