Lyrics for Wish Fulfillment as interpreted by shut

Wish Fulfillment Lyrics
I see your wishes on the wall
And that's alright with me
I see you run to make a call
Hoping that there's someone free
Your life and my life, they don't touch at all
And that's no way to be
You've never seemed so far

What's real? What's true?
I ain't turning my back on you
Where you going? Where you been?
Making wishes, watching dreams?
It might be simple, it might be true
I might be overwhelmed by you
You might be empty
The way your eyes just look right through
It's such a mess now anyway
Wish fulfillment every day
I don't believe you
Now I can't hear a word you say

I see you shaking in the light
Reading the headline news
The others, they're not quite so bright
You want them to choose you
I could almost see your face tonight
Singin' simple rhythm and blues
You'll always be a star

Shake it baby! C'mon, scream!
Did I see your face in a magazine?
Your doubt, it leaves me sore
I can't stand it anymore
It's my favorite shot of you
You looked so pretty, your eyes were true
I'm still on your side in spite of everything you do
We're only blood on light on life
New pretty pictures every night
Come wish beside me
Don't you know you know what's right?

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Temujin
04-19-2002

Rated 0 
I think it is a new version of Pictures of Lily by The Who. Pictures of Lily is about a guy who falls in love with some pictures of a girl that he does not know. I think this can be the same here.

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Songmeaningsuser
09-24-2002

Rated 0 
I agree that it is about being in love wth someone that you don't know, maybe a famous musician?

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IHaveAnOpinion
06-13-2004

Rated 0 
to me personally, this song is about someone who is infatuated with another person, and the other person is just too "big" to settle down with anyone. They have to be on the go, hence the third and fourth lines where they are running to make a call to be with someone new.
Their vibrance makes them infinitely attractive, but after a while they start to lose their appeal when you see their might not be something past the glitz and beauty, as evident in the fourth stanza.
But, regardless, there is something special about this person, and it leaves you broken, frustrated and confused, wishing you could be a part of their life.

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Nightfreak
11-27-2004

Rated 0 
I agree with most said. I can relate to it at the mo, it such a great riff too.

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BigNToasty
12-27-2004

Rated 0 
I love this song. It sounds so hearfelt to me..probably my favourite Sonic Youth song. I like "IHaveAnOpinion"'s interpretation of the lyrics.

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jezzyboy
01-31-2005

Rated 0 
I agree that it's about being in love/infatuated with someone you do not know. It's a theme most of us can relate to and it's also an awesome Sonic Youth song. The best SY song with a Lee Ranaldo vocal in my humble opinion.

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stanley888
04-11-2005

Rated 0 
First post ever! I actually have always thought this song was about a prostitute...the "shaking in the light, want them to choose you" section sold me on that. These other comments are probably right on but I'll always think of it as a man observing a prostitute...

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ZEROpumpkins
05-15-2005

Rated 0 
Its leave me sore btw.

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MoreViolence
05-27-2005

Rated 0 
I think it's about someone who doesn't want to be famous.

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sandpc
11-10-2005

Rated 0 
its a really beautiful song, to me it seems to be about a wannabe star who he sincerely cares for and knows that past the empty desires she has there is something she cannot see in herself that he can see. he believes in her true nature. i really like the last line, and how the song seems to say that it's ok to wish anyway.

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PotassiumApples
03-27-2006

Rated 0 
i agree with "Ihaveanopinion"

cool song ;)

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lathyrus
06-28-2006

Rated 0 
here goes one powerful song!!

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shuttrrbug
09-21-2006

Rated 0 
I think the "pretty pictures every night" means dreaming about the person.

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bfrank
04-13-2007

Rated 0 
I had the same first impression stanley888 did, but it seems too impersonal to be about a prostitute.

Exotic dancer, j--- shack girl or nude model perhaps. There really seems to be a strong feeling of inappropriate obsession with somebody looked down upon by common society, and who is in a much different, and lower, walk of life.

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squarelover
06-05-2007

Rated 0 
yeah, I think this song has a little of what everyone has commented on. I definitely feel that the song is being sung from someone who is obsessed with a stranger, possibly famous. I think the song has 2 parts. the first part establishing the obsession, and the 2nd one taking the obsession further, as the "star" takes a fall.

"Shake it baby! C'mon, scream!
Did I see your face in a magazine?"
Makes me think that maybe a actress has has possibly posed for pornography in the past, or was a dancer/prostitute, or has become one as their career fails. And this fact has been made attention to the media, and becomes a scandal. But the obsessor doesn't care. "I'm still on your side in spite of everything you do"

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pablohoneydew
08-22-2007

Rated 0 
I take the lyrics perhaps a bit more literally than others.

The first line of the song "I see your wishes on the wall" and the song title "Wish Fulfillment" both tell me it's about a person who's pursuing a dream, probably in the entertainment business. This is supported by the line "Singin' simple rhythm and blues" (which is essentially what pop music is).

Anyone pursuing a dream in entertainment will inevitably need to move to either LA or New York. So the singer/narrator has been left behind and is singing this song to his old friend/lover who's left town to pursue their dream, hence "Your life and my life, they don't touch at all...You've never seemed so far".

The singer also complains of the insecurities of the subject, which is understandable considering the hyper-competitive and superficial nature of fame. "I see you shaking in the light, Reading the headline news [e.g. Hollywood Reporter, Variety], The others, they're not quite so bright, You want them to choose you" and "Your doubt, it leaves me sore".

He also laments the wayward ways of his subject "I'm still on your side in spite of everything you do", who apparently has acheived some fame "Did I see your face in a magazine?" and "New pretty pictures every night", and is now apparently partaking in the celebrity lifestyle (not hard to imagine). He is calling him/her back home, because he knows they are still a good person "Come wish beside me, Don't you know you know what's right?"

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mogulwraith
02-24-2008

Rated 0 
Someone he knows at least on a peripheral basis. Don't think its an exotic dancer at all. She's watching the headlines, trembling and upset because she is looking for her name and it doesn't happen. The others aren't in his opinion as good as her, he thinks she should've made it. She's a star to him but she sees right through him. At some point she has some limited success but its not enough for her, she's doubting she'll ever get there and it bothers him.

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matea
02-25-2008

Rated 0 
i agree with both pablohoneydew and mogulwraith

this song is about someone the singer knows- who is breaking away and selling themselves to fame.. they are pursuing their dreams and getting caught in them.

"I see you run to make a call
Hoping that there's someone free"

slowly the person is becoming "too important" for the singer, getting caught up in the spotlight, and doesn't turn back to reflect on his/her past and roots.

"You've never seemed so far" and "I ain't turning my back on you"

indicates to me that the relationship is gradually breaking apart but the singer is still sticking to his/her friend through it all - "I'm still on your side in spite of everything you do"

the glamor and the spotlight is causing the person to lose a bit of their soul in the process - "You might be empty/ The way your eyes just look right through"

This person is calling a lost friend back to them, back to where the dreams first began and first took off - "Come wish beside me/ Don't you know you know what's right?"

i feel like the "wish fulfillment every day" emphasizes how monotonous living the dream can become - and how much it can drain a person and remove them from their old friends.

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sonic_leaves
04-09-2008

Rated 0 
I have so much love for this song! I believe it's about chaotic city life and not being able to connect with people around you because life is too bustling and busy for simple pleasures. It's like he's looking at someone and wishing for that friendship and connection that just won't happen.

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moik
05-17-2008

Rated 0 
i always considered this song is about the confused, sick thoughts of a stalker. the narrator is the stalker and the person who is being stalked doesn't know the stalker. actually i think the stalked person is lee ranaldo, or somebody very much like him.

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voxetoile
08-12-2008

Rated 0 
wish fulfillment is a term that sigmund freud used to describe the unconscious desires during the dreamstate, meaning that dreams were basically wishes. i've loved this song for half of my life. i was always left the impression that the song is about the trappings of fame, and the desire to be close to someone yet they're self-involved and wrapped up in their own world, which leaves the protagonist unimpressed; i.e. "leaves me sore, i can't stand it anymore." however, it seems as though he still loves her despite her ego-centric ways.

it's really a beautiful song. definitely my favorite sonic youth song.

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HideousAndSexy
10-28-2008

Rated 0 
okay, so i've loved this song from the begining. so many other songs on this album are so strange then this one comes on and it sounds so heartfelt and sweet. i think it might be like a person who knew the "star" figure. perhaps she left him when she moved on to bigger things, and he still loves her. he's looking back on pictures of them together, after perhaps finding a new picture of her in a magazine and remembering his feelings.

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denisimo
10-15-2009

Rated 0 
For years I have loved this song, mesmerised by the beauty of the music rather than paying attention to the lyrics. It always just "sounded" like a love song to me. Then this morning in the car I listened to the lyrics properly for the first time and they sent a shiver down my spine - to me this song is definitely a love song with a very sinister twist - its from the eyes of an obsessive and dangerous stalker fantasising about the subject of their obsession in a romantic way during the "nice" parts of the song, then fantasising about having the subject captive during the "angry" parts of the song. Shudder!!!

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