Lyrics for A Baby for Pree as interpreted by PLANES

A Baby for Pree Lyrics
Blistering Pree, all smiling and swollen
Makes babies to breathe
With their hearts hanging open all over the sheets
As soft as beets in some brown dresser drawer

And with bees in her breath and the rest of her ringing
They'll sting through her chest with a force hard and beating
Until wonderfully wet she will get
Until she's soaked inside her clothes
And there is no sorry to be sorry for

For a roll around the floor some afternoon so sound and soft
It made her swallow all her sweat
With every bit of breath she coughs
And when the day it came to pour all her babies
All across the bathroom floor
She will be swimming in them all forevermore

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xReadysetSTAB
06-17-2003

Rated 0 
It's quite easy to see that this song is about abortion/miscarraiges.

"With every bit of breath she coughs
And when the day it came to pour all her babies
All across the bathroom floor
She will be swimming in them all forever more"

Jeff has such a way with words. He can create the most beautiful songs with the most disturbing words and subject matter.

Genius.

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GreenFleshyFlower
04-18-2004

Rated +1 
I don't think it's so obvious what it's about. I think that it is about four things, the first two intertwined with each other and the second two.

Firstly, it's about a baby. If you think of Pree as a baby rather than a mother, it becomes pretty evident except for the last part of the song. I think Magnum left it ambiguous until the last part for a reason (to make the abortion part of the song more poignant).

The second part is the one already mentioned, that Pree is the mother and she is aborting her baby. That is the most obvious one.

The third is that Pree is having sex ("They'll sting through her chest with a force hard and beating/till wonderfully wet she will get until she's soaked inside her clothes"). The last part of the song mentions the consequences of her having sex.

The fourth is that Pree is being murdered. Her "babies" are her blood cells. The sorries she is sorry for are her screaming sorry to her murderer. I think this is the most emotive meaning the song can have, just by the strange juxtaposition of the song's soft melody with a murder.

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Abex22
05-09-2004

Rated 0 
i think it could also mean that Pree.... has a lot of kids until she dies...but there's no sorry to be sorry for because she gave so much life..any takers?

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dannyw
06-08-2004

Rated 0 
It seems to me (i may sound dumb but whatever)that this is about a woman being excited about being pregnant-"blistering pree all smiling and swollen", and then facing the pain of giving birth-"It made her swallow all her sweat With every bit of breath she coughs ", then realizing after the birth of the child that maybe she isn't as happy as she may have thought being a mother would be.- "And when the day it came to pour all her babies All across the bathroom floor
She will be swimming in them all forever more"

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XMorningxStarX21
06-23-2004

Rated +1 
To me, this song takes on an "I-told-you-so" sort of meaning. Pree is a naive woman who uses abortion as a form of birth control. She doesn't think about the consequences of having sex, but rather enjoys herself in the heat of the moment. Then it comes time for her to abort her baby[babies?] and the story goes that she will have to have that in her mind the rest of her life. It is a song about a woman's naivety and stupidity.

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XMorningxStarX21
06-23-2004

Rated 0 
To me, this song takes on an "I-told-you-so" sort of meaning. Pree is a naive woman who uses abortion as a form of birth control. She doesn't think about the consequences of having sex, but rather enjoys herself in the heat of the moment. Then it comes time for her to abort her baby[babies?] and the story goes that she will have to have that in her mind the rest of her life. It is a song about a woman's naivety and stupidity.

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archit84
09-19-2004

Rated 0 
I think it speaks more about people acceptance of abortion rather than one woman's naivety. It hammers home the point that this is not something that should be considered as lightly as some do. Many, most consider abortion the worst decision of their lives, but are too young and stupid to make the right choices.

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fugazi
11-21-2004

Rated 0 
Actually, I agree with all of you, but personally, this song come across to me as a lone young woman giving birth, by herself, in a trailer-trash home on a bathroom floor. It's very strange. I imagine the smell of butter, blood on the floor, sunlight in a bathroom, a rich mahogany dresser, and the desperation of a woman giving birth. Alone. In a bathroom. Abortion though, yeah.

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RainSong
12-13-2004

Rated 0 
Agree with alot of this but has anyone ever considered it could possibly a miscarriage?

So far, it could be a woman that DID have her babies or that aborted them, or I think a miscarriage as well, although it seems less likely that Jeff Mangum would write about that but who knows, I mean I don't know him.. It's hard to tell which it is but there are some interesting things to point out either way

"Blistering Pree, all smiling and swollen
Makes babies to breathe
With their hearts hanging open all over the sheets "

This part is hard because Blistering Pree, all smiling and swollen is a pregnant person, and most abortion occur before any signs like blisters, and swelling, but she's smiling too. Because she's ignorant or because she's happy? Makes babies to breath with their hearts hanging open...god, what imagery it makes me want to cry but it does sound like abortion, and so sad the way she makes them with abortion as birthcontrol, aborting them before their hearts have developed. But that still be because of miscarriage, although the miscarriage could have occured because she was too young or not ready to give birth or not getting proper care because it was an accidental pregnancy

"They'll sting through her chest with a force hard and beating
Till wonderfully wet she will get
Until she's soaked inside her clothes
And there is no sorry to be sorry for
For a roll around the floor some afternoon so sound and soft"

This does show that it was probably an accidental pregnancy, it evokes the idea of a girl and a guy having sex, just a "roll around the floor some afternoon so sound and soft". They'll sting through her chest...if she aborted the baby this could be her conscience, or it could be why she decided not to have an abortion and still be her conscience. Or it could be the lust before they had sex, the force hard and beating being her reason why it was ok to have sex.

"It made her swallow all her sweat
With every bit of breath she coughs
And when the day it came to pour all her babies
All across the bathroom floor
She will be swimming in them all forever more"

Sounds alot like a difficult pregnancy to me. Like maybe she was trying to hide that she was pregnant and one day in the bathroom she gave birth and miscarried. It could have killed Pree and the baby, or maybe that's why baby is always plural, as a multiple childbirth with out care would be more likely to end in a miscarriage. If it killed both her and her babies perhaps she died on the bathroom floor with them, and that's why she will be swimming with them everymore.

I could feel Fugazi's idea as well, the lone woman giving birth in a trailor trash home, or the conscience finally and hopefully catching up to a woman who has had multiple abortions, but however I think I'll judge Pree a little less harshly and consider the miscarriage idea as well.

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RainSong
12-13-2004

Rated 0 
Another idea after look at the title...

A Baby for Pree

Perhaps she had abortion's early on with out thinking of the consequences, and when she grew and actually wanted a baby...

"Blistering Pree, all smiling and swollen
Makes babies to breathe
With their hearts hanging open"

She finally did get pregnant when she wanted to be pregnant but this line foreshadows that the abortions of her past ended up destroying her ability to have babies come to full term in the future and she miscarries in the bathroom...

"It made her swallow all her sweat"

and then she comes to realize all those babies she aborted in the past is why she can't have one when she really wants one and now, the swallowing all her sweat is her being forced to swallow the reality and consequences of her actions and which is why she swims with them all forever more, all the babies she made but never had.

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shortpants
02-05-2005

Rated 0 
Actually, I read that it was a song written about a friend of Jeff Mangum's named Pree who had just gotten pregnant. The article is at a biography site at sing365.com. Sorry to end the creative thought process, mine was probably the most boring answer.

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Abex22
03-18-2005

Rated 0 
damn you and your reality! ::shakes fist::

let us have our fun and quit your logic

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monicatx
08-18-2005

Rated 0 
anyone have the added lyrics from the jittery joe's version?

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SnareRushJunkie
12-21-2005

Rated 0 
I've seen the explanation shortpants gave, but the only place I saw it was in a supposed interview with Jeff. However, no one is sure whether or not the interview is real.

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words&tricks
03-15-2006

Rated 0 
I honestly see no miscarriage or abortion references in this song. It seems to me to be more about the beauty of childbirth, and the title furthers that explanation, as it makes it seem as if the baby is a gift bestowed upon mother Pree.
"Blistering Pree, all smiling and swollen
Makes babies to breathe
With their hearts hanging open all over the sheets
As soft as beets in some brown dresser drawer"
Pree is blistering and swollen, sure signs of pregnancy, but she is smiling in the midst of it, because she is going to "make babies". The hearts hanging open on the sheets, I think, symbolizes the boundless and completely devoted love the babies will have for her, and the beets in the drawer are simply similies for the soft and tender physical quality of the babies.
"And with bees in her breath and the rest of her ringing
They'll sting through her chest with a force hard and beating
Till wonderfully wet she will get
Until she's soaked inside her clothes"
Description of childbirth? Pretty self-explanatory, I think. The "wonderfully" sort of reassures the reader that this is a painful but good experience.
"And there is no sorry to be sorry for
For a roll around the floor some afternoon so sound and soft
It made her swallow all her sweat"
Obviously, this is a reference to sex, but Mangum says there is no reason to be sorry for that sex, it was "sound and soft", hence, he is saying that it was not a bad thing, for it brought forth such life. The swallowing of sweat: sweat is worries and pain, perhaps this made her forget all of that? Not quite sure on that.
" With every bit of breath she coughs
And when the day it came to pour all her babies
All across the bathroom floor
She will be swimming in them all forever more"
Yeahhhh...not quite sure on that. The more I try to explain this, the less I believe myself. However, I still find very little support for the miscarriage/abortion theory. Since you all seem to adamantly support that, is there something I'm missing? I didn't find it in your explanations, no offense, so guide me if possible.

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Andaah
03-18-2006

Rated 0 
I take the miscarriage view.

"Blistering Pree, all smiling and swollen
Makes babies to breathe.."

She is happy and pregnant and is excited to be having babies.

"With their hearts hanging open all over the sheets
As soft as beets in some brown dresser drawer.."

Magnum goes straight from the hope and happiness of Pree to telling us that she miscarries.

"And with bees in her breath and the rest of her ringing
They'll sting through her chest with a force hard and beating
Till wonderfully wet she will get
Until she's soaked inside her clothes.."

Childbirth taking place. The pain of it but not a natural pain. She is losing the babies. The imagery used here is bizarre and unpleasant (bee's stinging) and does not at all lead us to think positive things.

"And there is no sorry to be sorry for
For a roll around the floor some afternoon so sound and soft
It made her swallow all her sweat
With every bit of breath she coughs...."

She feels the guilt often felt by women who miscarry for getting pregnant int he first place.

"And when the day it came to pour all her babies
All across the bathroom floor
She will be swimming in them all forever more....."

Again the imagery is not pleasant and her babies are being spilled across the bathroom floor instead of the normal hospital room. She is going to be upset and hurt by this for a long time. She will be swimming in them ever more shows this in a very beautiful and poetic way.

I see no references about abortion here.

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Cynothoglys
05-15-2006

Rated 0 
I a gree with Word & Tricks in general, although the little albeit disturbing bit at the end is probably a dream sequence of having to many babies... It was written for a mother-to-be named Pree, a good friend of Jeff's, so it's more a surreal view of the pleasantly mundane.

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i.are.scientist
11-10-2006

Rated 0 
the first time i read these lyrics whilst listening i cried. thank you, jeff mangum.

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bobbydowns
03-08-2007

Rated 0 
I know Jeff likes Charlie Parker, and Parker had a baby that died named Pree (Basquiat was obsessed with Parker too, and "Pree" is incorporated into some of his pieces). Pree dide of pneumonia, which would correspond especially with "with every bit of breath she coughs". Pree's death, I've read, accelerated Parker's decline, incidintally. Other lines seem to go along with the pneumonia theme too ("bees in her breath", "sting through her chest").

I can buy that the song is about some friend named Pree, but in his typical fashion it's probably about a dowzen other things, one of which is Parker's daughter.

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jenni21
03-15-2007

Rated 0 
"Blistering Pree, all smiling and swollen
Makes babies to breathe
With their hearts hanging open all over the sheets
As soft as beets in some brown dresser drawer"
separate from the song, this makes me imagine a woman who gives birth to still borns or babies with deformities. aside from that, i really have no clue

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airbaby8
03-19-2007

Rated 0 
A few years after I started listening to NMH, I heard this was about a friend's dog (Pree) who just had a litter of puppies. Now that could be a totally a totally fake story, but it fits. At first I was disappointed, but there is true beauty in the joy of seeing a litter of puppies and seeing motherhood in a totally natural state.

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lomographer
05-02-2007

Rated 0 
I just like this song soo much because it is so true, sadly, it is . . .

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a345jkl
05-02-2007

Rated 0 
I think this is about two teenagers (Pree and her boyfriend). They think they're in love, thus they have sex.
"Blistering Pree, all smiling and swollen" I see this, not as blistering and swollen and smiling from her pregnancy (though probably foreshadowing) but from her arousal.
"Makes babies to breathe
With their hearts hanging open all over the sheets
As soft as beets in some brown dresser drawer"" They're "in love" and showing their feelings by... well... making babies

"And with bees in her breath and the rest of her ringing
They'll sting through her chest with a force hard and beating
Till wonderfully wet she will get
Until she's soaked inside her clothes
And there is no sorry to be sorry for"
At this moment, they're happy and showing their love in the most intimate manner and they're -happy- because they aren't thinking about the consequences.

"For a roll around the floor some afternoon so sound and soft
It made her swallow all her sweat
With every bit of breath she coughs"
She can't believe that something that beautiful and pure had such a life ruining effect.

"And when the day it came to pour all her babies
All across the bathroom floor
She will be swimming in them all forever more"
I think this is... either she miscarried and died during or she aborted and then killed herself. I'm not positive.

This whole thing is probably very scattered but I hope it's at least readable.

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Zoethrope
06-10-2007

Rated 0 
It definitely seems like she died during childbirth at the end of the song.

"and when the day it came to pour all her babies all across the bathroom floor"
To me these lines seem to be clearly about her giving birth, she was lying on a bathroom floor rather than in a hospital, which seems to me that the birth was premature and unexpected, and she didn't have time to get to a hosptial.

"she will be swimming in them all forever more"
And this lines descibes how she died and will never get up from the floor where she gave birth.

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kethan
07-08-2007

Rated +1 
reminds me of the movie eraserhead.

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