Lyrics for Tunic as interpreted by shut

Tunic Lyrics
[Kim]
Dreaming
dreaming of a girl like me
hey what are you waiting for?
feeding
feeding me?

i feel like i'm disappearing
getting smaller every day
but i look in the mirror
and i'm bigger in every way

she said
you aren't never going anywhere
you aren't never going anywhere
i ain't never goin' anywhere
i ain't never goin' anywhere

i'm in heaven now
i can see you Richard

goodbye Hollywood, goodbye Danny
hello Janis, hello Dennis, Elvis
and all my brand new friends
i'm so glad you're all here with me
until the very end

dreaming
dreaming of how it's supposed to be
but now this tunic's spinning
around my arms and knees

i feel like i'm disappearing
getting smaller every day
but when i open my mouth to sing
i'm bigger in every way

she said
you are never going anywhere
you are never going anywhere
i aint' never goin' anywhere
i aint' never goin' anywhere

hey mum look
i'm up here
i finally made it
i play in a drumsband too
don't be sad
the band doesn't sound half bad
and i remember mum
what you said
you said honey
you look so underfed

[lots of background talking (incomprehensible)]

another green salad
another ice tea
there's a tunic in the closet
waiting just for me

i feel like i'm disappearing
getting smaller every day
but i look in your eyes
and i'm bigger in every way

she said
you aren't never going anywhere
you aren't never going anywhere
i ain't never going anywhere
i ain't never going anywhere

goodbye Richard
got to go now
i'm finally on my own
but then i start again
keep your lovelights glowing
little girl's got the blues
i can still hear mama say
honey don't let it go to your head

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Mainstreet
08-18-2002

Rated 0 
I think this is about anorexia/bulemia brought about by the pressure of fame and necessity to be perfect before the media. All the people referenced in the song including "mum" are the people she's trying to reach out to for help.

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MyFriendGoO
03-22-2003

Rated +1 
its about karen carpenter right?

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panickyfright
04-21-2003

Rated +1 
Yes - it's about Karen Carpenter. And that 'incomprehensible' bit in the middle is Kim Gordon and J Mascis (of Dinosaur Jr) singing 'Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft'. Top trivia!

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1 Reply
Davetheinvincible
04-09-2004

Rated 0 
Goo was the first album SY did after changing label. Kim was trying to convince fans that by going to a mainsteam label they wouldnt change that much.

"hey mum look
i'm up here
i finally made it
i play in a drumsband too
don't be sad
the band doesn't sound half bad "

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TonyInPortland
03-29-2005

Rated 0 
"hey mum look
i'm up here
i finally made it
i play in a drumsband too
don't be sad
the band doesn't sound half bad "

I thought that part was supposed to be Karen Carpenter in heaven

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BillyLiar
05-02-2006

Rated 0 
It's about Karen Carpenter's anorexia. just do a little research. ...end of story.

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TBeasley
06-02-2006

Rated 0 
Whatever it's about- it tells such a sad story, and it's added to music very well. top notch Sonic Youth tune here.

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destroyalltacos
07-29-2006

Rated 0 
Yeah, it's about Karen Carpenter. "Richard" being her husband/bandmate Richard Carpenter. Sonic Youth (well, mostly Lee Renaldo) kind of have a fascination with her story: Karen Koltrane and Karen Revisited seem to be about her too, and they also covered The Carpenters' "Superstar" for a tribute album.

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1 Reply
kickthebucket
08-13-2006

Rated 0 
The part with the "incomprehensible background talking" you can hear them singing "Superstar" which as destroyalltacos mentioned, SY covered from The Carpenters....

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Uh Huh
01-22-2007

Rated 0 
Yes, it is about Karen Carpenter, but it has added meaning since it was recorded for their major label debut. There is an obvious parallel between Karen Carpenter's death due in part to the pressures of the music industry and Sonic Youth's own hesitation to working with a major label.

end of story

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TonyInPortland
05-20-2007

Rated 0 
I remember Thurston saying once in an interview, that they were singing a bunch of different Carpenters songs in the background. Hard to make out more than one or two though.

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TonyInPortland
05-20-2007

Rated 0 
I remember Thurston saying once in an interview, that they were singing a bunch of different Carpenters songs in the background. Hard to make out more than one or two though.

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toomanyhumans
05-23-2007

Rated 0 
i just heard this song was about bulimia.

another green salad
another ice tea
there's a tunic in the closet
waiting just for me

i think its about anorexia aswell.

i feel like i'm disappearing
getting smaller every day
but i look in the mirror
and i'm bigger in every way

havent heard this song but it sounds like its awesome. i love sonic youth

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meg;
05-26-2007

Rated 0 
great song, amazing song writing. i like the fast pace, it's a good song to do exercise to. :)

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hazzamatazza
07-15-2007

Rated 0 
the video for this song is quality, nah i actually like it. no sarcasm

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ilisajasmine
12-31-2007

Rated 0 
Richard Carpenter was Karen's bandmate/brother... not husband.

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birba.mozz
03-22-2008

Rated 0 
I think it's almost obvious this song is about eating disorders..
"another green salad "
"I feel like i'm disappearing
getting smaller every day
but i look in your eyes
and i'm bigger in every way"
I think this topic has been described in some parts of "Marie Antoinette".

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foreverdrone
06-20-2008

Rated 0 
it should be "goodbye downey" (not danny), downey being the LA suburb where karen & richard lived.

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foreverdrone
06-20-2008

Rated +2 
and oh yeah, i thought everyone knew karen carpenter died of complications from anorexia nervosa. she'd been obsessively dieting--and abusing laxatives (in unbelievable quantity)--for years and years.

it was probably a classic case of maintaining control over the one thing you actually can control, when everything else in your life is controlled by others. the A&M label (and owner herb alpert) were notorious for not allowing them to make decisions about their career, esp. karen.

only occasionally were they allowed to choose the songs they recorded. karen loved playing the drums but their management insisted she needed to be more visible on stage (and they hardly let her play in the studio either). presumably so her cute wholesome face would help sell records (I'm sure it did), and also they probably believed the idiotic stereotype that drums aren't feminine.

i spoke with a european flautist who was stunned & appalled when i mentioned how a friend's nephew was getting beaten up for playing the flute (it's too "girly") and had to stop. there's nothing gendered about it. you don't play a musical instrument with THOSE parts of your body.

karen entered therapy and was getting better. unfortunately eating disorders were poorly understood at the time. we know how important it is to put the weight back on gradually. when karen recovered, she gained 20 pounds in a couple of weeks and her heart couldn't take it.

because of the ignorance at the time, her death was ruled to be not only from the complications of an eating disorder, but also a toxic reaction to abuse of syrup of ipecac. richard always firmly denied the latter.

he and karen lived in two apartments which they bought, and had them modified to be adjoining. he said if karen had been abusing ipecac, he'd have seen the empty bottles (he was aware of her laxative abuse; they lived too closely together for her to be able to keep too many secrets from him). also if she'd vomited repeatedly over a long period there would have been observable signs, which there weren't.

both were naive young people who overnight became among the most successful musicians ever (many of their recordings sold more than the beatles). richard had a problem with quaaludes, although in the '70s that wasn't too unusual.

i would sonic youth genuinely appreciate Carpenters songs on a musical level, simultaneous with the endless possibilities for ironic humor and social commentary of an odd pop cultural phenomenon.

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DanI SantI
08-28-2008

Rated +1 
definitely definitely aboyt karen carpenter

gosh this song has that something... it just feels desolate when you listen to it or soemthing but is a great great song, cant stop listeining to it

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helenp
01-15-2009

Rated 0 
"keep your lovelights glowing
little girl's got the blues"

Karen recorded a song called "Keep My Lovelight Burning" on her solo aulbum, the carpenters also so recorded "Little Girl Blue".

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aaronmark
01-26-2009

Rated +1 
when i had this song on repeat, and all the other times before i listened to this song, everytime i heard the part "you aren't never going anywhere" i always visioned karen's mother telling her that it'll all be right and that she won't die, at least, die like the way she did.
but after watching the video just now on youtube, i got the impression that maybe karen had a rough relationship with her mother and her mother told her all her life that "you aren't never going anywhere" thus the basis of her anorexia.

which one is right?

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vismund_cygnus
04-13-2009

Rated 0 
who is Dennis in the exceprt below? i got Janis and Elvis, but not Dennis...

goodbye Hollywood, goodbye Danny / Downey
hello Janis, hello Dennis, Elvis
and all my brand new friends
i'm so glad you're all here with me
until the very end


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foreverdrone
04-26-2009

Rated 0 
aaronmark, I think you got it right the 2nd time. if Karen recalls her mother saying "you aren't never going anywhere," she meant you're not going to make a living playing music (and, implicitly, "you're never going to grow up, beyond my control")

Dennis is probably Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys (which would make sense in this context: because Karen going through a list of dead rock musicians, i.e. those in heaven, with whom she's now in "the band")

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