The Black Keys – Little Black Submarines

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  My Opinion:I think you are all close, but maybe too young to be aware of the powerful amphetamine pill called Black Beauties. They were black capsules (or submarine shaped). These were common 30-40 yrs ago and would "pick you up" and then "let you down". They would cause psychosis after a few days of no sleep. The old time rock and rollers (think Cash, Holly, Elvis) used these types of prescription drugs to stay awake during their grueling tour schedules. He is alluding to a state of desperate confusion and calling a telephone operator to help him. It is a retro song. When was the last time any of us called a telephone operator?

  Flag Bebop1on April 19, 2013   Link

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  My Interpretation:The little black submarines are cancer cells--or enemy bodily invaders of some kind, I'm not a doctor--jetting around in the sea of his blood, destroying all the good, white submarines that live and belong there (he has sickle-cell anemia, perhaps?). It's hard to tell exactly what's going on here, but someone has a fatal disease and not long to live; I'm going to assume that it's the poet himself. If that is the case, the song seems to be about him being torn between going into the light, (the "glow") toward the voices that are calling him, or instead staying a while longer with his girl and his loved ones. He had wanted to go into the light-was resigned to it; had even welcomed it--but his heart, broken at the thought of leaving his girl and family, is now blind and can no longer see it or see it clearly enough to be drawn to it. The treasure map represents the light; the known path to his happiness...i.e. to Heaven. The trees represent something like bends in the light--i.e. where corners are turned and the direction of travel altered: those landscape features that would have led him inescapably to his treasure--his happiness--were they not now fallen, or in the process of falling, down. The map of a path that is no longer as simple and straightforward as it once was is just another metaphor for the ambivalence that has crept into the dying man's thinking. As others here have opined, theOperator here is God, or some entity overseeing all of this, who the poet seems to be asking to return him (the poet) to his previous state of resolve regarding death. Although he is broken-hearted to be separated from his loved ones, he seems to be saying, it would be worse to remain with her/them in this condition than to pass on. But his broken heart has rendered him blind. He is now a tortured soul whose heart will not find rest until his disease finds it for him...
  
  The hardest part for me to square with my interpretation is this plan the dying man had that has now disappeared into the back of his mind. Grammatically, and in the context I have assigned with my interpretation, he would seem to be to referring to a "plan" to follow the light to Heaven. That's not absurd, but it does seem to me like an odd, clumsy way of putting it, if for no other reason than that it IS so ambiguous. On the other hand, if he's talking about his plans for doing something here on Earth while he was alive, it doesn't seem to fit the structure of the rest of the poem at all--it's a break from the pattern the poet follows before and after it--and that throws my interpretation of the song as a whole into question (and we can't have that now, can we?). So I don't know. I guess until a better explanation is offered, I'll have to interpret it as the dying man talking about his previous intention (his" plan") to just follow the light posthaste and get on up and into Heaven.
  
  Whether I've got this right at all or not, it's a bit of an attention-grabber when the song is interpreted in this way. Lifetime and Oxygen Channel movies typically tell tales such as this from the reverse perspective: the dying man wants to remain with his loved ones but death intervenes to tear him away. How interesting to look at it for once from a point of view either identical or very close to that of the Christian believer, who longs to live in perfect, eternal happiness with God but who is at the same time torn by his natural desire to be with his family...

  Flag jimnewlon April 11, 2013   Link

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• +1
  General Comment:Sounds to me like it's just about being disconnected from yourself and the rest of the world... depression and negative emotions.. can't hear your friends and loved ones calling for you because your mind is on autopilot... themes of addiction and denial and out of control behavior covering up the pain of a broken heart which could range anywhere from romantic love to just disillusionment with life... anything more specific than that is conjecture. Great song..

  Flag graceMazinon March 11, 2013   Link

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  My Interpretation:I think 'little black submarines' is a poetic description of the sound of being on hold on the phone, or like a european ring tone. Similar to a sonar ping. Someone is not answering his call.
  
  That said, poetry can have multiple meanings. I also like the interpretation of little black submarines as dark thoughts or voices impinging on conscious thought, possibly making him delusional.
  
  An argument could be made that this character struggles with an addiction, which ruined his relationship.
  
  Any way you slice it, this is a beautiful song.

  Flag porkpiehaton March 05, 2013   Link

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  My Interpretation:"Little Black Submarines"
  
  
  Little black submarines (perhaps some sort of delusion)
  Operator please (This could be talking about God, the "Operator" who tells you where to go.)
  Put me back on the line ("Give me some sense of direction -- I'm drifting.")
  Told my girl I'd be back (I really can't speak on girlfriends... I skip this line)
  Operator please
  This is wreckin' my mind ("I'm going crazy.")
  
  Oh can it be
  The voices calling me (Someone who isolates themselves from others may think he hears "voices" or may actually be more sensitive than others, and so really DOES hear voices. Maybe this person is hypersensitive to others' emotions. Or, this could be the push and pull of our own good and evil intentions and choices.)
  They get lost
  And out of time (After all of that, things just get messed up and I lose track of time = depression, definitely.)
  I should've seen it glow
  But everybody knows
  That a broken heart is blind (You really can't trust yourself when you're in love. Sometimes it's more like obsession than love. Love is complex, so you can't trust yourself to make the right choice if you are that overwhelmed. Sometimes you gotta just wait it out 'til you get better... if you get better.)
  That a broken heart is blind
  
  Pick you up, let you down (Ups and downs in life, some kind of tumultuous happening, either mental or part of his environment)
  When I wanna go
  To a place I can hide (He is now very reclusive -- he's in pain)
  You know me, I had plans
  But they just disappeared (Kind of like saying, "Fuck it." I lost the girl, why care about the future. Now that she's gone, who cares about the future?)
  
  To the back of my mind (I'm more focused on my situation than on my plans for the future.)
  Oh can it be
  The voices calling me
  They get lost
  And out of time
  I should've seen a glow
  But everybody knows
  That a broken heart is blind
  That a broken heart is blind
  
  Treasure maps, fallen trees (Childhood thoughts or ambitions, and then shattered dreams as one grows up, or perhaps personal failures and fumbles... the good and the bad.)
  Operator please
  Call me back when it's time (Ok, God, let me know when you need me to move on. Otherwise, I'm just going to wallow in my self-destructive pattern of thought and action.)
  Stolen friends and disease (Friends betrayed him, and he's lost dear ones to disease: physical, mental, spiritual... people change.)
  Operator please
  Patch me back to my mind (Make me sane again.)
  
  Oh can it be
  The voices calling me
  They get lost
  And out of time
  I should've seen a glow
  But everybody knows
  That a broken heart is blind
  That a broken heart is blind
  That a broken heart is blind
  

  Flagged Tandem713on January 09, 2013   Link

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    +1

    Hi, I want to help you to treat your wounds.
    
    This girl, she saw your sorrow, but she doesn't know how to make you feel right. Her situation isn't way better than yours.
    
    You shouldn't forget about your ambitions and all of the rest, when someone cares about an other, he or she wishes him or her the best.
    
    She might very sorry about what your going throw. Verry sorry because she understands, she is living just the same.
    
    She is maybe also way more sensitive than the others (she might barely live with this kind of feelings, she might be depressed as well - she might live in a sort of hell, waiting for God to release her) and I think that she felt your love, but your situation looks very complex as much than her's and she really don't know anymore how to do, she's afraid to do him wrong at anytime. But this scream that you just push will make her understand that you need here attentive behavior back (maybe she tries to be by his side in her own way, maybe different than in the past).
    
    I think that what both of you are living is a difficult and complex situation to live with and that both of you share a love (or an obsession - I share your point of view about love) and a situation, with the same way of seeing things. She also told herself to fuck everything around her (and she won't listen to the other advices, even though there's a few - who would believe her story?). She's desperately waiting.
    
    But she heard you and her love is still true.

    Flag unmaterialon January 10, 2013  

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    MOVE ON, you can't afford this. Live your life peacefully, be happy with your dear ones. I'm pretty sure you don't even know her. If it's easier for you hate her, judge her, or whatever. But don't feel any guilt. She just can't stand to hurt someone that much. MOVE ON with no fear. You'll be much happier without her.

    Flag BSFEon January 16, 2013  
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  General Comment:Actually, while those are cool ideas, it is about depression. Little black submarines being dark thoughts that drag you under the sea of depression. I've lived this, so I know it. He told his girl he'd be back, but his mind is being wrecked by the dark thoughts, even though he wishes to be reconnected with reality and happiness and do right by her. Later it says "you know me, I had plans, but they just disappeared, to the back of my mind." Obviously because he had darker thoughts on his mind, such as stolen friends, and disease (most likely cancer took friends of his.) I could go deeper and do a blow by blow but I think you get my drift. Oh I will say though you were right about the "I should have seen it glow, but everybody knows, that a broken heart is blind" part. He should have seen the warning signs, but didn't because he was so deep in his depression. Also I think the overall gist of the song is that he let his girl down and lost her, much to his own dismay, because of this horrible depression he couldn't break. Sorry for being so redundant. Hope this helped some to understand, because I think he put it very artfully, much as I have myself in the past.

  Flagged Slater421on December 17, 2012   Link

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    You could've left out the "much as I have myself in the past" from your synopsis. It makes you sound arrogant. Up until that point you sounded very bright and kind, but that last line is off. I do that too, though. Anyway, I like what you wrote. You should dig deeper. I'd read it. Unless you don't have the time. Otherwise, never give up an opportunity to dig as deep as you can: it's amazing what you find and what you can create. Maybe you already know this, though.

    Flag Tandem713on January 09, 2013  
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  My Interpretation:I am definitely in agreement with DestinyProfound on this one. Either the mental activity of a drug overdose victim or someone who is just totally lost to their addiction, while still technically "conscious". I think Little Black Submarines are a direct reference to the "Black Beauties" of yore. Basically, black beauties were speed pills, in a capsule (submarine shaped). Today's Adderall is very similar. As I recall, they were developed and first used oversees to keep our soldiers at war alert and awake for days on end. In the 60's, they stopped shipping them to the armed forces and that's when they hit the streets here.

  Flagged BETHIECon October 21, 2012   Link

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  My Interpretation:I'm going to interpret this song in my own way, verse by verse:
  
  "Little black submarines" - I feel that, connecting to the rest of the song, this infers that he is a marine or in the navy, who may have been drafted, going out to war in little black submarines.
  
  "Operator please
  Put me back on the line
  Told my girl I’d be back" - I believe that this may mean his phone call with his girlfriend was cut short by a time limit, and he's begging the operator to put him back on the line with her. Again, connecting to the rest of the song, they may have had a fight over the phone, or, my favored opinion, his girlfriend told him that they could no longer be together, now that he was in the army.
  
  "Operator please
  This is wrecking my mind" - He's still begging the operator, pleading and telling him/her that he's an emotional wreck, and needs to talk to his girlfriend again.
  
  "Oh can it be
  The voices calling me
  They get lost
  And out of time" - While he is on a mission in one of the submarines, he hears voices calling him to duty, but in his emotional state with his love and everything, he's really distant and is zoned out, not really hearing what they're trying to tell him.
  
  "I should’ve seen it glow
  But everybody knows
  That a broken heart is blind" - There was a red emergency light on, warning him of an enemy approaching. He should have seen the light glow, but in his depression and with his broken heart, he is blinded by emotion, and isn't really thinking straight, the only thoughts on his mind being those of his girlfriend.
  
  "Pick you up, let you down
  When I wanna go
  To a place I can hide" - He feels that at first, he was loyal to his girlfriend, but when he is drafted, he feels that he has failed her in some way, and, overcome by guilt and depression, wishes he could just hide himself away from the rest of the world.
  
  "You know me, I had plans
  But they just disappeared
  To the back of my mind" - He had plans for himself and himself and his girlfriend. Maybe they were going to get married, or were going to move together. But when he is drafted, all those plans are ruined, and he stuffs them into the back of his mind. They're still lingering in his thoughts, but he knows that they'll never be a reality.
  
  "Oh can it be
  The voices calling me
  They get lost
  And out of time
  I should’ve seen a glow
  But everybody knows
  That a broken heart is blind" - Exactly the same as the first time I described the chorus.
  
  "Treasure maps fallen trees
  Operator please
  Call me back when it’s time" - Treasure maps and fallen trees may relate to his mental state, and how he's been striving to find something (treasure maps) and has torn everything apart, including his own self and mentality, to find that peace of mind (fallen trees). He tells the operator to call him back when he's finally mentally stable, but the irony of this is that this may never happen.
  
  "Stolen friends and disease
  Operator please
  Patch me back to my mind" - He refers to the army and being drafted as a disease, and that disease stole his friend, or girlfriend, away. Instead of telling the operator to wait for him to become mentally stable, he's now begging the operator to help him, lost in his own emotions.
  
  "Oh can it be
  The voices calling me
  They get lost
  And out of time
  I should’ve seen a glow
  But everybody knows
  That a broken heart is blind" - The exact same as the last choruses.
  
  Well, that was MY interpretation of the song. I don't know about everyone else, but it's logical enough to me. I hope you were able to see it through my eyes as well.

  Flag tigers1535on October 02, 2012   Link

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    -1

    Nice to see that someone is realy understanding this album. I have been trying to analyze it for days now. I know I am a little late, but when I first listen to this record it killed me because it was very close to a story I was living at this specific time.
    
    I think that the album is dedicated to a person that had a love story, or what ever, with a person close to them, or maybe with one of them (we'll never know...).
    
    But I think that my experience as a female can give a « clue » to some people here. This entiere album is talking about a relationship that stopped abruptely. It seems that the poet, or the writer (call it as you like) here didn't understood exactly why. So he tries with his own words to give an answer of what happenned. He is right, I would have done the same. But I think, considering all the keys we have in this album that the girl in question left for a reason that she keeps for herself, that she is ashame of. She might have been living filthy things during this « Hell of a season », something worth than an assault (kind of things that only girl can experience, do you read me...?), something really shoking, so she didn't had the strength to carry on with him, and she had too much things to fix that she had to leave him. It happened to me, so I don't think she did it on purpose.
    
    Anyway, « houd(ing) » her, like he says in the « Stop Stop » song wasn't a good idea. I think that, considering the way she is discribed in the whole album, she thought that he wanted to make a fool out of her. That's right she didn't saw anything, at least she didn't understood because she felt like she wasn't valuable for him... That's my favorite supposition. Anyway, I think this girl was madly in love with him, but she was afraid, and something (a disaster) happened to her. Then she left.
    
    So, I'll say to the navy guy, that if she comes back (what can probalby happen if she realy loves you), she knows what she wants (by the way « Nova baby », is a bittersweet song that sounds unfair for her, if my supposition is right). So what's lingering in your mind can become reality if you're able to face truth, and if you accept to talk sincerely and directly with her. If I was her, I wouldn't ask for anything else. It sounds quiet simple to me.

    Flag unicorne07on October 05, 2012  

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    I think you really completed my thoughts about this song.
    Thanks! I tried not to overrate the Submarine Thing but in the end this explains a lot.
    Love this song and I think this type of music, the Lo-Fi Blues stuff, takes us back in time anyway so a scene from WW2 makes a lot of sense.

    Flag qaywsxon January 15, 2013  
• -1
  General Comment:I really think this song is about some deadly adventure.
  At first he wants to go home and re-unite with his girlfriend.
  but when the electric guitars start, he realizes that he's not done with his expedition. he has treasure maps and lost friends to find. so he tells the operator "call me back when it's time" or, call me back when I'm done, because I'm not done.
  I think the voices calling him are the voices calling him to adventure.

  Flag sismmkon September 29, 2012   Link

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• -1
  General Comment:I agree with the coma idea, makes sense.
  Though with the music, i just kept thinking very stairway to heaven style, not exactly the same, though incredibly similar

  Flag mousey92on July 16, 2012   Link

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    +1

    This song screams "Stairway to Heaven." Going to be hearing it on the radio for decades... Great song.
    
    Wish the Black Keys and Jack White would work on something together...

    Flag cghsocceron August 22, 2012  

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