And if it was just how you wanted
You'd be glued to his bones and his brain stem
And changing your image and attitudes
Won't bring you back into your bedroom
Amputating as he's waiting
He's unresponsive 'cause you're irresponsible
Little swinger your bottle is thinking too much
Cause you're aiming to please way off target
And I'll tell you what you must already know
Of amputating that too slow



Lyrics submitted by weezerific:cutlery

Track duration: 04:03

"Amputations" as written by Benjamin Gibbard

Lyrics © EMI Music Publishing

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Amputations song meanings
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36 Comments

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  • +1
    Song Meaning:"he's unresponsive cause you're irresponsible"
    I know they say this a lot in this song, but I think that's okay, because it's probably my favorite death cab line. It just sounds wonderful when he sings it with so much contempt. He might be talking to himself or to someone else, but either way someone did something careless and now someone else has suffered the consequence.

    I take the song literally to be an accident, likely drunk driving or something of that nature.
    Flag chopperjon February 07, 2012   Link
  • +2
    General Comment:"I pray to god, that one day he will grant me the power to reach out and hold my hand until the end, and give you instant belief, because you dont have instant belief. You've been hooked, you've been croooked, you've been lied to so many times that you're suspicious minded, and when the right thing comes along you don't believe it. When i'm giving a knock at the front door, you're at the back door looking for four leaf clovers, and when you find it you think somebody planted there to fool you. "What's the angle?" You look for an excuse. In this modern day in age we have instant coffee, instant tea, instant disbelief. That's the reason we will never become anything- it is because we will never believe in ourselves. We'll always listen to the mass majority. When everybody's making fun of you and criticizing, you know you're on the right track. Cuz' most of the people ain't got it."
    -Glenn W. Turner.

    That's the speech at the end of the song.
    Flag thesieveandthesandon October 16, 2010   Link
  • -1
    General Comment:I'm fairly certain it's Glenn W. Turner. I listened to some of his speeches on Youtube. He has a distinct voice because he was born with a cleft palate. You can hear this somewhat in the speech at the end of the song. Unfortunately, I didn't find the exact speech in the listed videos.
    Flag internationalindieon May 29, 2010   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:query.nytimes.com/gst/…

    Glenn Turner, the motivational speaker who can be heard giving his "You can better your best." speech was found guilty of running an illegal pyramid scheme to con people out of their money in the late 80s

    I always find these types sketchy
    Flag Glaydenon February 22, 2009   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:great song and i will always think the you can play these songs with chords version is better haha although i love something about airplanes
    Flag skijornon December 08, 2008   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:Ok this is how i see it.

    And if it was just how you wanted
    You'd be glued to his bones and his brainstem
    And changing your image and attitudes
    Won't bring him back into your bedroom

    Girl acts aloof and uncaring. Boy can't stop thinking about her but starts distancing himself from her because it hurts too much from him.

    Amputating as he's waiting
    Amputating
    He's unresponsive because you're irresponsible

    The word 'amputating' was kind of confusing for awhile. But i think it kind of describes how it hurt for the boy. Kind of like slow and constant.

    Or 'amputating' might refer to him slowly losing her love for her. Sort of like slowly severing his love for her.

    He doesn't respond to her anymore because she's 'irresponsible' with her love.

    Doesn't really link to the speech though.

    But then again i think i read too much into it.

    Anyone else got any other ideas as to what it means?
    Flag Kinruion August 05, 2008   Link
  • +2
    General Comment:the motivational speach is for her, the girl/woman from the song. she doesn't believe in herself and she's doing all this because of her low self-esteem. why should she change for a guy? so gibbard is actually saying, believe in yourself, and the speach is just putting an emphasis on that.

    that's how i see it.
    Flag sue_defenderon June 18, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:This song describes my situation with a guy I like perfectly. I seem pathetic.
    Flag victorialucason May 14, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:This song describes my situation with a guy I like perfectly. I seem pathetic.
    Flag victorialucason May 14, 2008   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:i don't think this song is about drunk driving.
    Flag iquitmysceneon May 12, 2008   Link

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