Ten, twenty, thirty, forty
Tell me that you want to hold me
Tell me that you want to bore me
Tell me that you gotta show me
Tell me that you need to slowly
Tell me that yr burning for me
Tell me that you can't afford me
Time to tell yr dirty story
Time f'are turning over and over
Time f'are turning four leaf clover

Betting on the bull in the heather

Ten, twenty, thirty, forty
Tell me that you want to scold me
Tell me that you a-dore me
Tell me that you're famous for me
Tell me that yr gonna score me
Tell me that you gotta show me
Tell me that you need to sorely
Time to tell yr love story
Time f'are turning over and over
Time f'are turning four leaf clover
Betting on the bull in the heather



Lyrics submitted by shut

Track duration: 03:05

"Bull in the Heather" as written by Kim Gordon, Lee M. Ranaldo, Steven Jay Shelley, Thurston Joseph Moore

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

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Bull In The Heather song meanings
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23 Comments

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  • 0
    General Comment:Definitley a very sensual song. Even the title!
    Ugh and the way she sings it...
    Flag love_is_freeon October 07, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Here is what I think.

    About the title of the song that puzzled me because I am not english so I intented to understand it with the "bet on the bull's eye" expression.
    I rode that Bull in the heather is the name of an underrated horse that won a race. So I believe that it siginifies that the end of a love relationship is inexorable, all seem easy and sure at the beginning but with time nothing can avoid it from finishing, so you will have to rely more and more on "luck" to save the couple which can only work a few times (it's a matter of decreasing probability).

    Then the "turning over and over" is related and means sexual relationships in my pov whereas the "turning four leaf clover" means that this won't keep the two people in love eternally and the magic of sex will fade then disappear in a glimpse after having made love a last time like if it was only bad luck. Instead it is solely explained by time and decreasing desire. I believe in english there are also the expressions "wheel of fortune", the luck turns as a wheel, human fate is sometimes seen as a wheel, well in french we have them all and even fortune means luck or fate or money, so we're really lucky :)

    Almost each sentence is closely related to the images of the video clip :

    hold : childish rope play
    bore : laying on the bed picking a paper
    show : strip-tease
    need to slowly : banana peeling / sexual
    burning : horse wants to eat the banana
    afford : provocative prostitute
    tell story : whispering at the ear of the other girl
    over and over : bedroom
    clover : the man leads the horse, all is working
    betting : horse race (the 7 (Bull ?) is leading/winning whereas he was behind another horse previously)

    scold : push the annoying little girl
    adore : kiss
    famous : parisian cabaret

    Then it's not so clear except the last clover one :
    score : tummy dance
    show : tell
    need sorely : hotel

    clover : nail varnish flow out on the ground : bad luck, lack of attention even if intention doing something nice for the girl may remain
    bored girl turning a vegetal, horse in the background : end of the sexual magic, end of the relationship -> Kim no more on the bed then rests on it (last image), dancing employee no more attractive that is to say end of her show.

    betting : the 7 is not first again, back to square one

    Kim and the brunette girl stands for the same woman but at the two different states of their love affair.
    At the beginning they're smiling each other like they are well knowing each other, and that is enhanced when the little girl kiss the other like her mother, that is to say their intimacy is high, in fact they are the same person.
    Kim is serious, bored, sad, older the brunette is childish, playful, cheerful, careless. Kim whispers at her ear what will come next (dirty, love story, gotta show = explain) but the little girl repeats mechanically without wanting to understand what it means.
    At the end they're reunited in their minds as you see the brunette girl has become serious and is watching the camera with connivance, like she's wanting to mean to you she knows you understood she was just playing a game that is over now.
    [they're could be also daughter and mother, Kim was pregnant, so the mother teach the little girl she had with a man about life, love, sex, procreation, manhood]

    The count 10 20 30 40 are maybe like the odds for an horse, or time periods that are passing, well I'd say it implies something that increases (or subsequantly decreases) with time, but it's tautological !


    Well, there were my ideas !...
    Flag Angelotiqueon June 01, 2008   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:I think this song is about wanting something (sexually) that odds are very against you actually getting. It's about pure and desperate yet unrequited and unrealistic desire. I also get the feeling that deeper down it's about the constant and the very childish need for positive reinforcement. Everyone wants to constantly be told that they are good and desirable etc. but no one really gets it. In a way it's about insecurity.
    Flag sygirl10on March 13, 2008   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:Bull In The Heather was in fact the name of a race horse; Bob Nastovich from Pavement is a big horse racing fan, and apparently he gave Kim and Thurston a bumper sticker with the horse's name on it. I don't think the song is actually about the horse though; it seems more like they're either using betting on horses as an obtuse sex/prostitution metaphor or they just thought it'd make a cool song title and decided to work it into an otherwise unrelated set of lyrics.
    Flag destroyalltacoson March 05, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:To me this song with the bass scratch (also if u look at the video with the bright sun & kids in the park) has some kind of great "Rites of Spring" feel (also has discordant parts in it) with dangerous latent, languid sexuality in it (I guess it's S&Mish now that I think about it).

    Interesting horse stuff above. . thanks for that
    Flag trialsofjobeon January 26, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:this song oozes sex.
    the Go! Team cover does not cover it accurately whatsoever. it almost sounds like a mockery. Nonetheless,
    this song is amazing.
    Flag pinkpinkon December 18, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:about sex or a horse interressting i thought it´s a roundition of a mahruhana high and it describs how kim flys thru the flashing lights with this bull in the heather nice to hear that not every sonic youth song is about drugs but i am not sure
    Flag greatbeyoundon October 01, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:when it says time turning four leave clover is about the good days being gone and maybe sex or a strong sexual attraction wont fix what is here
    Flag hazzamatazzaon July 26, 2007   Link
  • -1
    General Comment:yeah sexy song but kim was pregnant during the making of the video
    in fact come to think of it the video isnt sexy at all
    which is a pitty for such a great song
    if you want sexy SY video clips you should check out titanium expose
    haha
    Flag hazzamatazzaon July 26, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Yes, the song is about a horse. But I don't think every single lyric is about the horse. It's also very sexual. It's about how she needs attention all the time. She wants to be worshipped in everyway, even if that includes being scolded.
    Flag sonic_leaveson June 20, 2007   Link

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