Lyrics for Holiday as interpreted by TemporaryLife

Holiday Lyrics
Holiday, oh, a holiday
And the best one of the year
Underneath my sheets
While I cover both my ears

But if I wait for a holiday
Could it stop my fears?
To go away on a summer's day
Never seemed so clear

Holiday, still so far away
A republic on the beach
I can't forget just how bad it gets
When I'm counting on my teeth

But if I wait for a holiday
Could it stop my fears?
To go away on a summer's day
Never seemed so clear

A vegetarian since the invasion
She'd never seen the word "bombs"
she'd never seen the word bombs blown up to 96 point Futura
She'd never seen an A-K in a yellowy day-glo display
A t-shirt so lovely, it turned all the history books grey

I got wheels, I got Cutter spray
And a healthy sense of worth
Half of me is the gasoline
But the other half's the surf

But if I wait for a holiday
Could it stop my fears?
To away on a summer's day
Never seemed so clear



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ap0theosize
01-08-2010

 Rated  0 
"she'd never seen the word bombs blown up to 96 point futura"

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General Comment
mrtsc
01-08-2010

 Rated  0 
"I got wheels, I got Cutter spray"

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General Comment
Conn92
01-10-2010

 Rated  0 
History books grey.

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Cine
01-11-2010

 Rated  0 
i never thought i'd see my favorite typeface mentioned in a song. thank you, vampire weekend.

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TemporaryLife
01-13-2010

 Rated  0 
I'm still waiting for my copy of the album to get here, but I'm pretty sure it's "red," like the teacher makes the books blush.

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pnw13
01-14-2010

 Rated  0 
About the war in Iraq.

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2 Replies  ·  General Comment
TemporaryLife
01-22-2010

 Rated  0 
So I got my copy today, and the line is, according to the lyrics insert, "A t-shirt so lovely, it turned all the history books gray." I like the misheard version better. Kinda like "The devil swam the backstroke all the way from France."

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General Comment
SatchelCharge
02-01-2010

 Rated  0 
"Holiday, oh, a holiday
And the best one of the year
Dozing off underneath my sheets
While I cover both my ears"

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General Comment
gabjopp
02-03-2010

 Rated  +1 
I think he's talking about the invasion on the Middle-East. Yes, honest.

"Holiday, oh, a holiday
And the best one of the year
Dozing off underneath my sheets
While I cover both my ears"

Means bombs falling and protecting from it.

A vegetarian since the invasion
She'd never seen the word "bombs"
she'd never seen the word bombs blown up to 96 point Futura
She'd never seen an A-K in a yellowy day-glo display
A t-shirt so lovely, it turned all the history books grey

This girl who lived there didn't what boms were, and what AK47s looked like. And her t-shirt will be in all the history books forever, to show how bad the conflict was.

Half of me is the gasoline
But the other half's the surf

Since the Middle East is basically oil, and the oil is shipped to the sea in those huge tankers, that's why it's such an importante place to have control over.

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General Comment
pianomatt
02-19-2010

 Rated  0 
I think this song is about a girl in the middle of a war longing for a vacation. I don't think it's the middle-east though. A few things point to it being set in England in World War II:

The word 'holiday' seems to reference British English where holiday often means vacation.

"A vegetarian since the invasion" references how many people were vegetarian during the war due to a lack of meat production.

"96 point Futura" is a font that would have been used on a front-page during that time. You wouldn't see Futura on a front page these days.

I just love this song, it speaks to the sense of longing amidst chaos we all face.

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2 Replies  ·  Song Meaning
sysiphus
03-15-2010

 Rated  0 
My guess as to the meaning: someone who hates the war in Iraq, and wants to escape it, so heads out on vacation/holiday. But upon getting to their beach-bound destination, the local t-shirt shops have shirts with some sort of war/bomb slogans on them (in jest or not) and she realizes that she can't escape war just by escaping home.

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My Interpretation
blindparadox
04-29-2010

 Rated  0 
It's about an American girl losing the appetite to eat meat because she feels so sick about the War in Iraq. Interview from the band:

http://www.nme.com/blog/index.php?blog=125&p=7814&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1

"The lyrics refer to a member of my family who gave up eating meat when we invaded Iraq. They were horrified by what was happening internationally and they lost their taste for meat. It wasn’t even necessarily an overt protest, it was a physical reaction."

In another interview: "you don't have to understand her reaction, I don't either, but it should how people can react and express their political engagement differently"

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General Comment
twins27
02-13-2011

 Rated  0 
I think what your saying about the middle east is right but when i heard it i thought of possibly some sort of dictatorship which looks all happy and nice from the outside, hense the happy sounding song and the talk of "summer" and "holiday"
However under the surface all is not well- as in many dictatorships they have rewitten history, "turneed all the history books grey", and the talk of "counting all my teeth" could be a reference to torture or violence by the state. and "cover both my ears" to block out the screams of poeple.
Just my opinion

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meatballs
03-05-2011

 Rated  0 
In the last verse it should say "To go away on a Summer's day"

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Lyric Correction
tommyhaych
03-25-2011

 Rated  0 
I love the reference to Futura :-D

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General Comment
Query
11-25-2011

 Rated  0 
Richard Beck of n+1 argues the lines "the word bombs blown up to 96 point Futura" is about attending an M.I.A. concert. Plausible?

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