Lyrics for Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks as interpreted by Nitro1515

Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks Lyrics
Leave your home
Change your name
Live alone
Eat your cake

Vanderlyle, crybaby, cry
Though the waters are risin'
Still no surprisin' you
Vanderlyle, crybaby, cry
Man its all been forgiven
Swans are a swimmin'
I'll explain everything to the geeks

All the very best of us
String ourselves up for love
All the very best of us
String ourselves up for love
All the very best of us
String ourselves up for love
All the very best of us
String ourselves up for love

Vanderlyle, crybaby, cry
Though the waters are risin'
Still no surprisin' you
Vanderlyle, crybaby, cry
Man its all been forgiven
Swans are a swimmin'
I'll explain everything to the geeks

Hangin' from chandeliers
Same small world
At your heels

All the very best of us
String ourselves up for love
All the very best of us
String ourselves up for love
All the very best of us
String ourselves up for love
All the very best of us
String ourselves up for love

Vanderlyle, crybaby, cry
Though the waters are risin'
Still no surprisin' you
Vanderlyle, crybaby, cry
Man its all been forgiven
Swans are a swimmin'
I'll explain everything to the geeks

I'll explain everything to the geeks
I'll explain everything to the geeks
---
"Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks" as written by Aaron B. Dessner Matthew D. Berninger
Lyrics © BUG MUSIC
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200DiscChanger
05-12-2010

 Rated  0 
The melody of this song, especially the beginning, is so cinematic. How about this interpretation...

The first verse expresses the temptation to escape a relationship, probably a marriage, or a family to "live alone", and "eat your cake" insinuating that it would free-up doing something more, some extra capacity that is now limited by a burden of responsibilities and strain.

The second verse realizes beautifully why it won't happen. Waters rise, but swans swim together, and mate for life. Someone who loves you, forgives you for all the crying. The "geeks" may want your heart, but in the end they can't have it, not the best of us.

The best of what and who you have to pour into love, voluntarily "string ourselves up for love". Yet living in the "same small world" means it always be "at your heals". The "geeks" will always want more.

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My Interpretation
wilsoncsean
05-17-2010

 Rated  0 
Definitely not "love," it's "the."


http://nationalhighvioletlyrics.blogspot.com/2010/05/national-vanderlyle-crybaby-geeks.html

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2 Replies  ·  General Comment
QQoicu2
05-22-2010

 Rated  0 
wilsoncsean, is that blog authoritative? I can't say what the word is, but pointing to one arbitrary source to correct another doesn't solve much.

More importantly, what the hell are the geeks? You can analyze some National songs 'til you're blue in the face with no results, but still.

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1 Reply  ·  General Comment
kolko
05-24-2010

 Rated  0 
I think this song is about a 'geek' who committed suicide, maybe because of a lost relationship. The song makes multiple references to hanging yourself and drowning.

Great song, as are all the songs on High Violet.

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My Interpretation
Consmonaut
05-28-2010

 Rated  0 
When I hear this song, the thing that stands out to me, is 'I'll explain everything to the geese' As in 'the geese of beverly road'.

Of course geese of beverly road is about innocence, and setting off car alarms all down a street. Its looking back, somewhat disappointed at what you are today, and trying to make sense of what happened to get to this point. Theres no regrets, just a bit of a story to explain how and why things didn't turn out as planned.

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2 Replies  ·  General Comment
lambers
06-06-2010

 Rated  0 
I am almost 100% sure it is 'geeks' not 'geese'

Also is it not string ourselves up for 'love' not 'the'?

Regardless if anyone has any insight as to what Vanderlyle is please respond...

Thanks :)

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1 Reply  ·  General Comment
oceanpearl
06-18-2010

 Rated  0 
i feel like a cant breathe when i hear this song... truly breathtaking
before checking out the lyrics i thought vanderlyle was vandalize. hoping it was bc it works.

its hard not to hear this baritone voice and not think of sorrow and sadness so this is my thoughts...

someone is lost (depression) could be a relationship ending, death anything to cause the person to feel ashamed, lost, alone (enough to change name and live alone)
cry as much as you want... but you go deeper into depression (waters are risin' - the depth goes larger)
the surface of this matter is calm (swans are a swimmin')
everyone gives love/passion a chance (whatever it may be) but sets us up for failure/dissapoint bc of the vulnerable state your in.
..... i think the person hanged themself. at your heels...same small world.


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General Comment
houdinisgoat
06-27-2010

 Rated  +1 
I'm not sure if I'm anywhere near correct but I chose to view the concept of 'the geek' in a historical context. By this I mean the carnival freak show type that bit the head off of animals such as, wait for it, swans.

I believe that the swan itself is used as a symbolic gesture of mateship and purity and of course a type of perfectionist view of love. The idea of an individual gnashing teeth and ruthlessly tearing off its head may be a consideration that someone viciously cut ties with little aforethought and now there are deep regrets. Its a reference back to the first verse "Leave your home, change your name". A person can undergo these transformations but the superficiality of them doesn't necessarily erase the actions undertaken in the heat of the moment.

The geek did such things continually and for profit and notoriety. Let's consider it as habitual. The lyricist in this case may have very well learned from his mistakes and is now undertaking a role to educate the geeks who have managed to mask their chewing up and spitting out of an ideal love, in defence of their pride.

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1 Reply  ·  My Interpretation
abrooks148
07-29-2010

 Rated  0 
I have to admit, I thought it was "geese," so to play along with the "swans" line. I pictured the narrator sitting on a park chair, talking to the geese while they ate bread, going over whatever is going on in his head with them.

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1 Reply  ·  General Comment
BeatnikHowler
10-04-2010

 Rated  0 
Two options, change your name = Marriage, live alone = don't get married, thus "eat your cake"= can't have your cake and eat it too.

It's a pretty bleak view of being "tied down," as marriage is often viewed and you can hear the need to escape, to fly, break loose. That is the inability to breath that was mentioned by oceanpearl and "Hangin' from chandeliers, Same small world" is part of that desire to escape. I'm sure that most of us have had those moments when we look up at the chandelier and what to be up there, looking down at the "same small world at your heels." Flying above.

But for love, we tie ourselves to the earth. We feel the pressures of life trying to drown us, because we have takin' on the added responsibility of another.

In the end, it seems that they decided to leave, and life without them goes on. It's a sad song, and yet a joyous song. It's one of those few songs that presents both sides through pure emotion. It's not the words, it's the meaning, and the meaning is in the music.


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General Comment
perfectlyadaptable
10-07-2010

 Rated  +1 
So I found a nice little blurb about what Vanderlyle actually means:

The song title is typical of the made-up names the National give to many of their songs. Frontman Matt Berninger told The Quietus: "Inventing, yeah. Like 'Squalor Victoria' – there's something in that word that sounds like something because every time you actually try to use real words to describe it, it doesn't sound like the thing you're talking about anyway. This character, Vanderlyle Crybaby – I can't tell you how long it took me to come up with the word 'Vanderlyle.' There's the Nirvana song, 'Pennyroyal Tea' – just the word 'pennyroyal' I loved, it sounded so great and it's just the name of a tea. I couldn't use that – maybe I should have, that would have saved some time – and so I started looking at the rhythm of the word, and the cadence. I probably have a book of a hundred different three syllable things."

Also a little blurb about the addition of geek to the song title:

Berninger explained to The Quietus why he added the word "geeks" to the title: "Well it was always in the song, but the truth is, the reason I added it to the title was because a lot of people thought that I was saying 'geese' – people thought it was a reference to 'The Geese Of Beverly Road,' that the geese were back! In some ways that could have been cool, but that's not what it is. There was a time when we were mixing it where I kind of slur those lyrics a bit, and it sounds like I'm saying 'geese'. I asked Peter if I could re-record that one word, and he said no, it sounded fine, and it'd sound weird if there was suddenly this really pronounced 'GEEKS!' So I asked him to turn up the 'K' sound, just ride it up."

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General Comment
bocmaxima
12-02-2010

 Rated  0 
Well done on the lyric interpretation.
I think this song is so similar in meaning to "Racing Like a Pro" that it's likely in reference to the same person: someone who was once wild but who has drastically settled down and wholly grasped the more responsible, adult life. Berninger makes many subtle references to this particular aspect of growing older in many of his songs.

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1 Reply  ·  General Comment
NihLyle
12-31-2010

 Rated  0 
I wonder if this has anything to do with the "Vanderlyle" lyric... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_der_Waals_force .
Being a Lyle I have found no meaning when Vander added so far.

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General Comment
NihLyle
12-31-2010

 Rated  0 
Best I figure, Van Der Lyle means "from an island" Just as Lyle does in french, and van der just doubles l' of l'isle=lyle.

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General Comment
NihLyle
12-31-2010

 Rated  0 
So The National is commenting on "geeks" who are "crybabies" living on their "islands". Sounds like a DIG at Pitchfork to me. ;D

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General Comment
NihLyle
12-31-2010

 Rated  0 
To me, it sounds like it is about peple who live on islands mentally criticizing those who actually pour their hearts out in music.

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General Comment
NihLyle
12-31-2010

 Rated  0 
But the swans still swim. And the swans forgive. Regardless of the geeks on islands crits. It is a very well hidden jab at critics. Nothing more.

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General Comment
caffeinesounds
01-06-2011

 Rated  0 
"Closer Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks is the album’s darkest and most poignant strike, relating the story of this “geek” who leaves home and faces the world – the emotion is palpably painful when Berninger wails “I’ll explain everything to the geeks”, and even more so in the repeated lines of “All the very best of us string ourselves up for love”. This is the culmination of the protagonist’s self-destructive streak: it’s a plea for sympathy which many bands seek to attain, but which few succeed to reach."

-caffeinesounds.blogspot.com/2010/12/9-national-high-violet-top102010.html

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General Comment
GhostsOnTv
01-17-2011

 Rated  0 
Just free associating here... I take the characterization of a "geek" to mean someone who treats trivial things as sacred - like a person who gets seriously bothered if you mix up two characters from Star Trek. The repeated promise to "explain everything" suggests atoning for some frivolous offense that despite not having a lot of moral weight nevertheless managed to piss a lot of people off. I like to think of the protagonist as some kind of famous entertainer who feels overwhelmed by the pressures of an adoring fanbase ("same small world at your heels").He therefore is compelled to withdraw himself from public attention in a move that disappoints and enrages his admirers.

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My Interpretation
HiddenNorthworms
02-26-2011

 Rated  0 
Let's say it's about a boy. He lives a simple life with a group of close friends that you would categorize as "geeks". But as a lot of us secretly think to ourselves, he thought he was better than that, he was better than them. He was too good for that place. He left to lead a grander life, and like a lot of us, he eventually stopped coming back because he thought he's better than that place. And then he realizes that life isn't much different in the outside world. It's really all the same.
It seems like his life ended up pretty good though and he got what he wanted. But I think he regrets not staying in touch with his friends, because he realizes that he's not all that different from them and he probably feels shameful for thinking that he was.
Hangin' from chandeliers
Same small world
At your heels
I think this is him saying that even though he chose this path he realizes he's still the same person he was. Things might seem different, but they really aren't.
All the very best of us
String ourselves up for love
Perhaps he realizes that what really makes you a great person isn't the path you choose but choosing love. If Vanderlyle means; from an island, I think it's a way of saying that he is where he comes from and in the end that's what really made him and that's what he'll always carry with him.
Most likely someone he really cared about in the past died but it could also be him just realizing this, and now he feels guilty for leaving or not being there more. But in the end he chose this path a long time ago and people are not holding it against him anymore.
It's time for the boy to forgive himself and that's why I think he's telling him "I'll explain everything to the geeks"

So that's probably not the meaning at all, but that's what it says to me probably because that's something I can really relate to.

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General Comment
Leapingfurjoi
05-19-2011

 Rated  0 
Waters are risin' = Climate Change
The Geeks = People 'besides' Vanderlyle crybaby trying to solve global warming

In the song, actually the words in the chorus alternate between the and love. The singer is confused about what Vanderlyle is stringing himself up for, hence the 'the' in the first instance, and the 'love' in the second instance (because he knows that Vanderlyle is a loving friend). I believe that the Vanderlyle Crybaby is caught up on what to live for, though he puts his heart and soul into finding a solution to the current climate change crisis. He chooses to abstract everything through science, thus running away from his troubles by changing his name and moving in alone. He gets his kicks from eating cake, and his cake alone. His friend, the singer, wants him to be happy, because he knows he's a good person and a very passionate one; so the singer sings 'all the very best of us string ourselves up for love.' The very sad tone and mood of the song only incorporates into the sympathy of this friend. 'The swans are a swimin' because the effects of climate change have not affected them yet, and the singer will explain everything to the Geeks only to get his friend back.

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General Comment
GodWarrior
02-06-2012

 Rated  0 
This song is obviously about Matt's struggle with his own divinity.

Man its all been forgiven
Swans are a swimmin'
I'll explain everything to the geeks

This highlights Matt's belief that he is the second coming of our lord and saviour Jesus H. Christ. Sins have already been forgiven and soon comes the revelation. Get ready.

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Song Meaning
blue.painted.tears
03-27-2012

 Rated  0 
I get a collegiate feel from this, due to the geek mentions and how Vanderlyle sounds like a fancy college.

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General Comment
blue.painted.tears
03-27-2012

 Rated  0 
Actually, the second verse reminds me very much of Quentin from The Sound and the Fury, who...

SPOILER ALERT
commits suicide by drowning while at college.

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General Comment




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