The National – Lemonworld

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  Lyric Correction:i think its "im to tired to drive anywhere, anyway right now"

  Flag francoisgilberton July 13, 2011   Link

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  Song Meaning:I agree that Lemonworld stand for a world that is bright on the outside but sour at its core.
  "I have my heart to the army" suggests he joined the army.
  "Cousins in colours" might suggest the Civil War, but I'm leaning towards it being World War I, because during this war more city "New York" and college kids join the ranks. Also, after the war many of them came back into society. It reminds me of Hemmingway.
  "This pricey stuff makes me dizzy" suggests he joins high society after the war because during 20s many common men rose in society because of the booming economy.
  The Lemonworld can be a common perception of the world post war. Many people became aware that life may seem bright and cheery (life in high society or an easy life in general), but can also be sour (the war and violence.)
  I consider this to be a Moderist Song.
  Maybe I'm over thinking this lol

  Flagged pumaminaon January 29, 2011   Link

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• +3
  General Comment:The singer didn't go off to war himself: his less well-off cousins did. He just put a yellow ribbon on his bumper to send the message that he "supports the troops." College kids like him don't join the army - they go off on day trips to the coast to hang out with girls and their sisters to drink expensive wine and try to forget how awful the rest of the world is.
  He takes pains to avoid the news channels and parks the dial on MTV or something equally vapid. "Lay me on the table, put flowers in my mouth and we can say we invented a summer-loving torture party." This is waterboarding imagery. He's acutely aware of the dichotomy between his heavenly life cavorting at the beach house with two beautiful girls while his cousins and countrymen fight and die in the dust and sand of ugly wars full of torture and terror. He doesn't want to think about them. He wants this day, this beautiful moment to be his whole world - his eternity, but he knows the lemon-scented cleanness of the moment he's in merely masks the stench of the world that it is built on.

  Flag ghosttrainhoboon December 01, 2010   Link

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• +1
  General Comment:I know it's not what the song's actually about, but it always makes me think of Catch-22. Some of the lyrics remind me of Yossarian scrambling to survive the war and how he tries to save Nately's Whore and her kid sister when he finds out they were thrown out on the street.

  Flag floorchildon July 17, 2010   Link

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• +8
  General Comment:From songfacts.com:
  "Berninger explained what a Lemonworld is to The Quietus: "A Lemonworld is an invented, sexy, weird place where you can escape from New York. I had some image of it being a big beautiful, maybe semi-decrepit house. You know the documentary Grey Gardens? It's set in a house out in the Hamptons, it's about this crazy mother and daughter who live there in their own little world. It's also very depressing and odd and beautiful. Anyways, I had this sense of a Lemonworld as a place where these two sexy sisters who wear bathing suits all the time and drink a lot, y'know, 'put flowers in my mouth and we can say we invented a summer lovin' torture party' – that's awesome! That's sexy, weird, and fun. My wife and her sister are very close in age, they're both hilarious and sexy and brilliant, so I think I was channeling them a little bit. It's a fun world."

  Flag seitgeiston June 06, 2010   Link

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    +4

    a brave thing to say about your wife's sister.

    Flag 13chadon June 30, 2010  
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  General Comment:I think it might be "I'm too tight to drive anywhere anyway," seeing as tight is sort of an old-timey word for drunk.

  Flag cmgonemadon May 24, 2010   Link

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  My Interpretation:i'm inclined to agree with the poster who saw the main character of this song as a kid who went off to war. he "gave his heart to the army" because he didn't know what else to do with his life, and inevitably wrecked him. other people live in their bright, happy lemonword, but only he knows the bitter inside. he feels disconnected.
  
  and the "summer lovin' torture party," lying on the table with flowers in his mouth -- that kinda alludes to waterboarding? or is that just me?

  Flag maybeshewillon May 20, 2010   Link

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  General Comment:I take this song to mean that all of our brothers and sisters try to hide there pain in reference to war. He knows the pain it causes and it seems like so many turn there cheeks and try to forget that there is a war and put on a pretense that everything is alright while he is dying with anguish on the outside and the inside. They put up a wall like everything is alright but on the inside they are living with anguish as well. This is evident to me in (you and your sister live in a lemonworld) and the beginning of the song with:
  
  "So happy I was invited
  Give me a reason to get out of the city
  See you inside watching swarms on TV
  Livin' or dyin' in New York it means nothing to me
  I gave my heart to the Army
  The only sentimental thing I could think of
  With cousins and colors and somewhere overseas
  But it'll take a better war to kill a college man like me"
  
  "This pricey stuff makes me dizzy"
  
  He tries to drink away his worries and fall asleep anyway he can, in this song, drunk at the TV.
  
  "You and your sister live in a lemonworld". This reinforces his belief that his brothers and sisters live there lives happily on the appearance and deal with it there own way but he is dying and barely unable to take his anguish.
  
  "This pricey stuff makes me dizzy
  I guess I've always been a delicate man
  Takes me a day to remember a day
  I didn't mean to let it get so far out of hand
  I was a comfortable kid
  But I don't think about it much anymore
  Lay me on the table, put flowers in my mouth
  And we can say that we invented a summer lovin' torture party"
  
  He has always been so easily effected by things in his life fore he has always been a delicate man. He was fine as a kid but he let his emotions get out of hand. "Lay me on the table, put flowers in my mouth
  And we can say that we invented a summer lovin' torture party" is his way of changing the mood and trying to make it fun again by attempting to suggest that we have fun with it and do something children would do for and pretend everything is alright.
  
  That's my interpretation. Please comment!

  Flag LoganTHISisITon May 19, 2010   Link

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• +2
  General Comment:"It's basically a dirty song about my wife."
  -Matt Berninger

  Flag drkpssngr11on May 15, 2010   Link

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• +2
  General Comment:I think it's
  
  "I'm too tired to drive anywhere, anyway right now"

  Flag seabeariaon May 14, 2010   Link

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