Lyrics for Hey as interpreted by riffic

Hey Lyrics
hey
been trying to meet you
hey
must be a devil between us
or whores in my head
whores at my door
whores in my bed
but hey
where
have you
been if you go i will surely die
we're chained

uh said the man to the lady
uh said the lady to the man she adored
and the whores like a choir
go uh all night
and mary ain't you tired of this
uh
is
the
sound
that the mother makes when the baby breaks
we're chained

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ginadoll187
08-29-2007

Rated 0 
it sounds to me like he can't make up his mind. does he want the whores? or does he want something real? "hey, been trying to meet you, hey must be a devil between us.." is just an excuse as to why he broke a date or why he won't just settle down. but whatever he decides he wants the girl to be there just in case cuz he can't let a good thing go, so he says if she goes he will surely die and they're chained, to give her hope so she'll stick around and continue giving him love and affection. meanwhile he's screwin her AND his "choir" of bitches, doing whatever he wants. mary ain't you tired of being fucked over by this guy? do you want to have his baby and really be chained to him?

that's my interpretation, it sounds just like my ex. we are NOT chained thank goodness.

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Sundog32
09-21-2007

Rated 0 
This is a fantastic song about the human race. This song is about ALL of us. We are all chained (connected); we are all basically the same in the fact that we all experience sexual lust and love and that we are all the product of this. Everyone is the product of their parents’ lust or love and we are all born of our mother.

The song starts out with a human lusting after another of the opposite sex.
“Hey been trying to meet you”
As humans we have the ability to mix our primal lusts with emotional love. Our initial physical attraction of our mate often turns to deeper emotional feelings of love.
“If you go I will surely die”
Everyone experiences these feelings of sexual lust and love. We can connect through our common experience.
“We’re chained”

The next verse zooms up from the individual to the general.
All over the earth and throughout time men and women are now, have been and will forever be having sex and mating.
“uh said the man to the lady
uh said the lady to the man she adored
and the whores like a choir
go uh all night”

After a while we all begin to realize this and ‘making love’ turns to boring, routine sex or just basic mating.
“and mary ain't you tired of this”
Finally, the next link of the chain is formed by “Uh”, the birth of another child who will repeat the song.
“uh is the sound that the mother makes when the baby breaks”
The human family tree is a chain. We are all links in a chain.
“We’re chained”

To me the most clever bit of songwriting by Black was the use of the grunt “Uh” to transition from the physical sex act to the birth of the next child…and then the cycle repeats.

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dedgrrlsdance
12-22-2007

Rated 0 
sex and/or giving birth?

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tef
12-27-2007

Rated 0 
ink kiss your perspective of this song is amazing!!! so is this song about abortion somehow??? i've thought of it before... that's strong for such a goofy tune! i love it still! i love to sing it top voice! like : HEY!!!! hehehe

the guitar of this song is amazing!
UHUH!

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tef
12-27-2007

Rated 0 
sundog32: ur in terpretation rocks! its amazing how pixies can have so many philosophical lyrics...

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thundercat
12-28-2007

Rated 0 
gcortes has it.

It is a about religion, Mary and Josef and their religion.

The theory about tarot card is interesting!

It's great how this song resonates with so many peoples hearts, look at the abundance of comments! :)

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eleventy
01-04-2008

Rated 0 
first off, I only read the first page as a result of my attention span. so sorry if this has already been said. but, THAT said...

the emphasis of Black Francis on the "we're chained" and the sore/anguished sear of the guitar lead me to believe the aim is more at a deeper pain than just sex.

one aspect of it is that people, in a way that's more instinct and nature than simply choice, are pulled towards sex. there's the obvious tone of tiredness of the process-- whores and routine "uh"s and the continual stream of "heys" as the narrator goes for another. but of course, tug against it as much as we may, we're chained.

then it takes sex, that natural tendency of man, and goes on to say that it fuels on the next step of man, which both are met by a grunt of either pleasure or pain or boredom. the next time "we're chained" is sung, it still means the same as the first one, with us being chained by our natural instincts, but it adds the chain of our connection/obligation to the rest of mankind and the chain (from the child's perspective) of being born out of and into the "uh" all over again.

so I'd go as far as summing the point as- Man is forever bound to his instincts and to the people around him, so too bad, go ahead and keep to it.

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blann
02-01-2008

Rated 0 
yeah he's in love with the girl - 'if you go i will surely die' and 'we're chained', but theres almost a crazy obsessive lust as well the rest of the song is just sex, sex, sex.

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escape_aid
05-21-2008

Rated 0 
I think this song is beautiful but also heartbrakingly tragic... i do this the song deals with infidelity but not it the sens discussed above.. i beleive the song is about a couple in which the woman is unfaithful and the man knows but is so deeply in love that he just desperately wants her to be with him and be satisfied by him. Seeing as how she wanders for sex with others he tries to seduce her in hopes of attaining her and connecting to her so that they can be the whole they once were. I find the song to be very erotic but its sort of like a desperate passion. ''Whores in my head'' is a reference to the constant image of his girlfirends infidelity circulating in his mind... its burdening him and he sees it everywhere... (''Whores in my head, whores in my bed...'') And then naturally the ''devil between us'' is his knowledge of what shes doing behind his back... but its not making him angry because hes just so in love with her he just aches to have her be satisfied with him and with him only... ''if you go i will surely die'' and the ''chained'' remarks are him trying to make her realise that they are supposed to be linked to each other unconditionally. ''uh said the man to the lady uh said the lady to the man she adored'' thats him again trying to remind her of the passion they shared in the past. But then when he ties in ''the whores like a choir go uh in my head'' proves that it becomes unbearable for him to live with the fact that she cheats on him and it just kills him. At hs lowest when he says ''mary aint you tired of this'' i think its a biblical refernce but to mary Magdalene as opposed to the virgin mary because Magdalene was a prostitute.. the ''uh'' that follows is no longer sexual but him actually taking the life of his lover because shes pregnant and he is ''breaking the baby'' that was the fruit of the wifes infidelity.

Does that work?
Actually one of my favorite songs of all time... i have like this whole movie that plays out in my head everytime i hear it. i love the '''mmmmmmmmm'' part after he says ''been trying to meet you'' reall sensual.

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igotfakeid
06-11-2008

Rated 0 
Beautiful and minimalistic - gripping and passionate- everything is perfect - the drums - the solo - and the singing. Regarding Black's playing - could it be that the bass marks the chord "change" and that he plays the same sequence over and over again (except for the F#). Looks that way when you see him play it.

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igotfakeid
06-11-2008

Rated 0 
Beautiful and minimalistic - gripping and passionate- everything is perfect - the drums - the solo - and the singing. Regarding Black's playing - could it be that the bass marks the chord "change" and that he plays the same sequence over and over again (except for the F#). Looks that way when you see him play it.

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igotfakeid
06-11-2008

Rated 0 
Beautiful and minimalistic - gripping and passionate- everything is perfect - the drums - the solo - and the singing. Regarding Black's playing - could it be that the bass marks the chord "change" and that he plays the same sequence over and over again (except for the F#). Looks that way when you see him play it.

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precipitate
07-03-2008

Rated 0 
this song is unbelievable.

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thegnu
07-05-2008

Rated 0 
I agree partially with people, but I think it's about him looking for his soulmate:
"been trying to meet you"
You can only be trying to meet an idealized person, because if you don't know them, you're making everything up. This is him trying to meet someone who he has a meaningful relationship with.

"must be a devil between us, or whores in my head,whores at my door, whores in my bed"
Things get in the way of meeting his lover. He still fantasizes about fucking, and continues to just have sex with people with people who aren't her, and get off track.

"but hey where have you been. if you go i will surely die"
If he lost that feeling that he would someday find someone, he would die.

"we're chained"
He feels the connection that you feel with your idealized soulmate.

"uh said the man to the lady. uh said the lady to the man she adored and the whores like a choir go uh all night"
He's having sex with someone who's loves him, but the whores are still dominating his consciousness.

"and mary ain't you tired of this"
This is an appeal to the virgin Mary (Frank Black is all about biblical imagery), who represents purity. He wants it to stop so he can be with someone.

"uh is the sound that the mother makes when the baby breaks"
2 things: Uh is the sound of meaningless sex as well as of creating new life, and "the baby breaks" is being used as "dawn breaks" juxtaposed against the whores going "uh all night". It is the awakening from the night of whores and pointless carnal pleasure to the day of a woman he can create life with.

"we're chained"
yep

best damn song ever.

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angelacherixoxo
08-27-2008

Rated 0 
to me this song is about finally finding someone worthwhile after wasting a bunch of time on shitty relationships or messing around with complete whores, having meaningless sex or sex that meant something to you at the time, but you regret now... you've been too distracted by whores to see the person you should really be with ("must be a devil between us") and you've been searching for them in all the wrong places, they're what you really want but you just didn't know ("been tryin to meet you")...you've been hurt a lot in the past and then you meet them and they're absolutely perfect for you. "where have you been" to me means, why couldn't i have met you sooner and saved myself a lot of heartache?... and maybe they're been through similar stuff, but you help each other forget all about it and make each other really happy. before you know it, you're inseperable... and you find yourself saying to yourself regarding them "if you go i will surely die" because they mean so much to you and you're best friends and falling in love and "chained". and the last part is just about having sex with someone you care about...somehow the sex is better than all the rest and you seriously can't get enough of them and vice versa...

haha somehow i think no one else would agree with my interpretation, but this song just makes me think of my boyfriend and recent personal experiences... GREAT song =]

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chinchin69
10-20-2008

Rated 0 
i realized somewhat of what sundog says when i saw the last line...but personally i think the song is about children being born because of routine sex.
"mary and you tired of this"
mary had jesus without having sex, for the sole purpose of having children. character in the song is the exact opposite. if youve noticed most songs on this cd are of biblical nature, i believe this on is too
"uh said the lady to the man she adored, and the whores like a choir"
she fell in love with him but he just wanted her for sex.
"uh is the sound that the mother makes, when the baby breaks"
she basically has a kid, and the two get married just for the kid.
Lamen terms, teenage girl falls in love with guy who says he loves her, but is just a player. they have sex, she gets pregnant, and even though they don't love eachother, they get married for the sake of the kid. slaves were chained in older days against there will, for on sole purpose. so are these people, just in a different way

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chinchin69
10-23-2008

Rated 0 
i found a quote. turns out i was absolutely right =]. bout time 9 times out of ten im wrong =[

charles thompson (aka frank black) -"It's a relationship song about two classic sad figures. Myself or maybe not myself. Uh is the sound of sex and also of childbirth. I dunno I'm just sorta sad about about how sex goes the wrong way in a very basic sort of way and how it results in very amazing things like childbirth and stuff."

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guessgirl7857
11-02-2008

Rated 0 
this song is amazing in zack and miri

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liquoricefish
11-12-2008

Rated 0 
No one else seems to have this interpretation: I don't take "chained" to mean that two people are chained together. I take it to mean that two people are chained to their own personal worlds and networks, and as a result they are separated.

I think the song is about a man and a woman are in love, but life comes in between them. The man becomes chained to fulfilling his sexual and intimate fantasies with this woman, and this makes him empty because the one woman he loves is not available to him. He turns to replicates of his woman and engages in empty sex. The woman has become chained to her domestic life, she has a husband and a baby, and feels forever separated from the man she truly loves because of how chained she is to her current life.

I think ultimately this is about the forces of society separating two lovers. Instead of somehow chained to each other, they are chained to their separate lives, or personal demons.

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pgfa
11-14-2008

Rated 0 
I think this song is about two people who love eachother and maybe it's gone wrong already or maybe there really hasn't been a chance for it to be as a real true relationship should because of "a devil between us" or in other words maybe things one person can't let go of, any bad habits or bad actions, like "whores" is plain and simple other women. I think this is reflected again when he says "Mary ain't you tired of this" I think its possible he says Mary because Mary is such a sacred female figure, the opposite of a whore, and he sees her as that, like above other women, he has ultimate respect for her and love. and I think the uh is sexual at one point referring to sex in a relationship. Its one sound but it is such raw human emotion that it can just apply to any situation. like how it is the sound the mother makes when her baby breaks, it represents suffering as well. again Mary is a mother, maybe this woman is the mother of his child. Either way despite everything they are chained, because he can not live without her and that is such profound love.

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dalek001
12-23-2008

Rated 0 
The concept behind this song song is true love and how meaningless sex is compared to it.

“Hey, been trying to meet you”
A man slowly realizes that all of his encounters with women have been hollow.
As the time passed by, his dead end relationships with non-girlfriend materials had made him feel lonely and start looking for The One.

“Must be a devil between us or whoreS in my head, whoreS at the door, whorE in my bed”
Even though he believes he met a special someone, the old habits are hard to break- not only his mind is preoccupied with thoughts of other women, but his bed is as well.
“whorE in my bed”- he is currently involved with one of them.

If the deepness of the feelings between the man and the lady isn’t transparent in the text, then the chorus should help. The chorus sounds more dramatic as the instrumentals get louder and both of them repeatedly say they’re chained.

“Uh said the man to the lady
uh said the lady to the man she adored
and the whores like a choir”
He had sex with her just like he did it with the whores. Maybe he kept his sexual relationships while he was with her, due to his nature and habits, but she was the only one in his heart.


“..go uh all night and mary ain't you tired of this uh?”
Eventually he got bored from the simplicity of the whores and desired more out of life, more than just sex.

“Uh is the sound that the mother makes when the baby breaks”
The sound she makes while she’s giving birth is the same sound she made when they had sex. Correction- when they made love.

The song finished with the familiar phrase “We’re chained”, which reminds me of marriage- they’ll be together through thick and thin and will make compromises because of true and unconditional love between them... and their child/children. Nobody is perfect, but they are good for each other and will stay side by side forever.

Oh… how much I love happy endings =)


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love_is_free
12-27-2008

Rated 0 
I FUCKING love this song.
I'll analyze later.

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robindr74
01-05-2009

Rated 0 
The way I see things, sometimes, you get in this rut where you're meeting a lot of people, and not connecting. Being human and having needs people tend to keep lovers and sometimes more than one. It is like you go through the motions, but for the most part you're not in something that you want. People are generally looking for that perfection in ourselves in the relationship/someone we are seeking. At times, these lovers we keep tend to get in the way of our chances with that someone who could be special because we are chained to our sexual habits.

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marilynw
01-21-2009

Rated 0 
i'm addicted to this song. SO GOOD!!!!! my favorite part is "uh said the man to the lady"

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ceelos
02-20-2009

Rated 0 
People look way to deep into this song for meaning. It's right there on the surface, and it's pretty straight forward:

1) A couple are "chained" together by a child.

2) The man has an addiction to prostitutes (or "whores").

3) The "mother", out of mounting frustration, kills her "baby", and thus "breaks" the chain.

I love this song, but it bothers me how people try to over-interpret it. The Pixies' themes are usually dark and this song is no exception.

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