Your candy apple lips have been sinking all my ships
and you're the one sank my Lusitania
But somehow don't register as pain at all.
And oh, with your serum in my veins
Help me not-
Not remember the name

So if we let our backbones slip
let the arcs spit from our fingertips
'til we've become a hazard in the rain
Yeah we'll get charged out in the rain.
And there's a 60 second halt.

Go ahead say something dumb boy there's no shame
there's no shame
Go ahead say something dumb boy there's no shame.



Lyrics submitted by vnshdCrimewave

"Arcs and Coulombs" as written by Andrew Wegman Bird

Lyrics © CHRYSALIS SONGS OBO WEGAWAM MUSIC CO

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Arcs and Coulombs song meanings
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3 Comments

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  • 0
    General Comment:This is obviously an early version of the song "Lusitania" from Andrew Bird's album Break It Yourself.
    Flag ksuwdbootson April 09, 2012   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:This song is freaking amazing.

    The Lusitania was a British ship sunk at the beginning of World War I, and the Maine was the ship whose sinking was catalytic in the beginning of the Spanish-American War. The slogan, "Remember the Maine! To hell with Spain!" became a rallying cry for anti-Spanish sentiment.

    There are references to electricity run throughout the song. The title is a play on words; it refers to electrics arcs (a discharge of electricity through air between two electrodes) and Coulombs (the unit for electrical charge, named after Charles-Augustin de Coulomb), but also brings to mind architectural arcs and columns.
    This gives new meaning to the lines, "Let the arcs spit from my fingertips/Till we'll become a hazard in the rain./Yeah we'll get charged out in the rain." They're a "hazard" because the metaphorical electrical charge running between them is conducted through all the water.
    The "60-second hum" is a reference to the Mains hum (yet another play on words--the Maine sounds like Mains). The Mains hum is the sound electricity lines make, which oscilates at 60 Hz (Hertz=cycles per second).
    Flag EaglesWingson March 11, 2012   Link
  • +1
    Lyric Correction:Your candy apple lips keep sinking all my ships,
    And you're the one who sang for Lusitania
    But somehow don't register its pain at all.
    With your serum in my veins
    To help me not not remember the Maine.

    So if we let our backbones slip
    Let the arcs spit from our fingertips
    Till we've become a hazard in the rain.
    Yeah we'll get charged out in the rain.

    And there's a 60-cycle hum.
    Go ahead say something dumb, boy, there's no shame.
    There's no shame.
    Go ahead say something dumb, boy, there's no shame.
    Flag EaglesWingson March 11, 2012   Link

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