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Gravitated towards a taste
For foreign films and modern plays
But that machine could only
Bend to squares five to six times
Before your fingers came unwired
Weights down so that you could move forwards
Pinch to snub that restless nerve
And knock the wind from one last urge
With two fingers a rock glass,
Time passed and that was that
Quite a slip (a loosened grasp)
What a way to cut lengthwise
For foreign films and modern plays
But that machine could only
Bend to squares five to six times
Before your fingers came unwired
Weights down so that you could move forwards
Pinch to snub that restless nerve
And knock the wind from one last urge
With two fingers a rock glass,
Time passed and that was that
Quite a slip (a loosened grasp)
What a way to cut lengthwise
Lyrics submitted by weezerific:cutlery
Track duration: 04:33
"Bend to Squares" as written by Christopher Walla, Benjamin Gibbard
Lyrics © EMI Music Publishing
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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"Gravitated towards a taste
For foreign films and modern plays"
The machine sounds like a car driving around small town blocks.
"But that machine could only
Bend to squares five to six times
Before your fingers came unwired"
and breaking from those blocks, weighing down the feelings/pedal and driving away, forwards to a new life.
"Weights down so that you could move forwards
Forwards
So you could move forwards
Forwards"
I think it is a reference to giving in to alcholism completely as evidenced by cutting the folds lengthwise, to completely throw away the efforts of bending to the squares completely. It's about giving up, whether with suicide or whatever, both images fit the progression of the lyrics.
told to (either by parents or parent figures, or by bosses, or even by societal standards) and finally they are just like "Screw it!
I'm throwing these 'weights down so i can move forward!'
He dated the girl to get over someone else, in an effort to forget the ex. The girl didn't share his interests of the foreign films and modern plays he took her to, probably because that's what he and his ex liked ("gravitated towards a taste..." = forced to be interested in, to be like his ex). The "bend to squares" bit is sadly sarcastic (ie. ironic) in that she didn't share his indie tastes, and the spectre of he and his ex are the "squares" to which she didn't want to bend.
At the end, she realized that he thought her to be the substitute for his ex, and her fingers "came unwired," with "quite a loosened grasp." Once she realizes this, she drops the weight, the pressure of being treated as the machine substitute for his ex, so that she could "move forwards" and on with her life.
Over his rock tumbler of whiskey (or whatevs), he's resisting the urge to call her because he knows she's right, he was projecting his ex onto her. He's deciding to think about the relationship with the square as "time passed and that was that" since he hasn't heard from her since they parted ways. She has probably moved way on, but he's still thinking over it.
"What a way to cut lengthwise" -- true, cutting wrists lengthwise is how one kills oneself, but I think this is about the ending of the relationships. He went out with the square to forget about his ex in the first place, in lieu of killing himself. And now he's saying, 'well, look where that led me.' Instead of finding peace from his rebound relationship, he's no better off -- or is he?
He's learned to accept that he won't find his ex anywhere, won't be with her anymore ("knock the wind from one last urge"), and the relationship with the square helped him to see that. He's back to himself at step zero, way behind where the square went ("forwards"), but at least he can now truly move on with his own life.
"two fingers in a rock glass"
a rock glass is the name given to a short tumbler used for serving alcohol and 'two fingers' is a measurement of 1/2oz of Tequila.
I really don't see that. I mean, there are other ways to put ''Weights down so that you could move forwards'' then by comiting a suicide.
I believe that this song is about someone who always wanted to live something more, to be someone else, and that finaly decides, even if it's gonna change a lot of things, to do what it takes to change.
He is cutting lengtwise on his life, on all the things he didn't really want to be, but that he become.
The first verse : he has special taste, he loves things that are not always what society would want you to . I mean, he doesn't really fit in. & he chooses to stand out, because he had enough.
I somehow feel hope when i listen to this song.
This is about someone who decided to change drasticly his life.
That line gives me goosebumps...it's so beautiful and sad.