I think you caught me on the downslide, downturn
I was busy writing with a pen and paper thin dream
And all your plastic people with plastic hearts and smiles
They had the worst intentions all along after all

The royal castle holds the mellow drama kings and queens
And all their dazzling children; they're so regal (clean)
With pristine fingertips they wash behind their ears
And let their hair down 'til the audiences leave
I'm definitely shaking

The silence isn't breaking
Back-washed and stranded memories
Of something I thought could be



Lyrics submitted by weezerific:cutlery

Track duration: 03:49

"Pictures in an Exhibition" as written by Benjamin Gibbard

Lyrics © EMI Music Publishing

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Pictures in an Exhibition song meanings
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37 Comments

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  • 0
    General Comment:Personally, I prefer the raw garage-esque sound that you hear on the Chords version of this song.. I have a soft spot for garage bands... heh.
    But this song to me is beautiful, as others have said, it figuratively ploys out the fakeness of people, and how they 'let down their hair', until the 'audience' leaves.

    Also for the person that said the line "I'm definatly shaking' may be sarcasm, something to support this is on the chords version, on how he always let's out a cheerful 'WOO!' after every time the lines repeated.

    I've related to this song for sad times and happy times, and that's just the beauty of open-interpretation.
    Flag InuShadowon August 07, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:omg i love this song and the whole cd.. ;p
    Flag ashley15on February 22, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I feel like this whole album is like someone who is trying to figure out where they are in the world and being fed up with society and alot of its consumer / "be like this" mentality and its an attempt to break away from it
    Flag firedog81on August 26, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Should be
    "melodrama kings and queens"
    not
    "mellow drama kings and queens"
    Flag darthdavidon June 03, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:woh, perfect <3
    Flag krollisasexyhoeon March 17, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:this song reminds me of someone that i liked, u know she sorta bumped into me at a time when i was looking at the future and working towards that, but was not really in a good place "i think you caught me...", but shes part of a group that is out to get u and not very approachable and is kinda fake "plastic people". They all try to act so perfect as a part of this drama that seems to constantly be unfolding in their world "royal castle....". ne way u try and talk to them which is sorta represented by the chorus, they dont want u there and its just silent, u start thinking what have u done. u thought u could have been a part of it but now its just a memory of a fantasy.
    this is just what it makes me think of, if u can understand it.
    if u dont understand this, it is just an awesome song :)
    Flag pieman45on November 08, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:It's probably unrelated, but this reminds me of a poem by Charles Bukowski called 'the deathly bravo'. It's about a bunch of prudes who go to a music concert in L.A. and act all impressed and think how 'cultured' they are. Then they go down to their cars and drive home being jerks on the freeway. the phrase 'pictures AT an exhibition' is right in there. Also the fact that Gibbard seems to despise Los Angeles is a similarity (see , Why You'd Want To Live Here,).

    Like i said; probably unrelated, but interesting. If you want to read the poem here it is: bukowski.net/vault/…
    Flag sunshine_umbrellaon September 26, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:This song is about fake people. Theres a line missing above cuz on the chords album they say "polyurethane people with the glass hearts."
    But yeah i mean its about fake stuck up rich people .
    Flag teamkantneron May 01, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:It doesn't get any better than this song, especially as it's sung on 'chords.' It makes my stomach squirm when I hear it, out of pleasure. Whatever it's about.
    Flag hersoftmachineon April 19, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I think the closest person to grasp the meaning of this Death Cab song is a_contradiction . in the stanza below:

    I’m definitely shaking
    The silence isn’t breaking
    Backwashed and stranded memories
    Of something I thought could be

    Can noone else sense the sarcasm? His definetly shaking in his boots? He doesn't really care about the silence between him and a signficant other, and what could have been... or does he? You decide.

    It is that stanza that I just referred to that really tells me what the song is about. The rest of the song quite clearly describes the fakeness of this world. For me, that is what the significant other was to him, everything that happened between them or anything they experienced seems all fake in hindsight. Its a reflection of looking back on a relationship and realising that everything that was said or done, was maybe just a sham.

    Interpret it how you want.

    This song is bliss.
    Flag krispychic69on June 09, 2007   Link

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