Lyrics for Stephanie Says as interpreted by typo

Stephanie Says Lyrics
Stephanie says
that she wants to know
Why she's given half her life
to people she hates now

Stephanie says (Stephanie says)
when answering the phone (answering the phone)
What country shall I say is calling
from across the world

But she's not afraid to die
the people all call her Alaska
Between worlds so the people ask her
'Cause it's all in her mind
it's all in her mind

Stephanie says (Stephanie says)
that she wants to know (she wants to know)
Why it is though she's the door
she can't leave the room

Stephanie says (Stephanie says)
but doesn't hang up the phone (hang up the phone)
What sea shell say is calling
from across the world

But she's not afraid to die
the people all call her Alaska
Between worlds so the people ask her
'Cause it's all in her mind
it's all in her mind

They're asking is it good or bad
It's such an icy feeling

It's so cold in Alaska (Stephanie says)
it's so cold in Alaska (Stephanie says)
It's so cold in Alaska (Stephanie says)

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ramblingfool
02-03-2002

Rated 0 
this song gets my love.

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ugly-girl
02-06-2002

Rated 0 
i have no idea what this means. perhaps a girl who's emotionally detached, or doesn't want to lookfor/find love because she just doesn't care. "Its such an icy feeling." "given half her life to people she hates now". she thinks that if she's alone, she won't waste time on people that will hurt her/screw things up.

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EnspyreMe
05-05-2002

Rated 0 
what does this song mean? anyone know... please post it cause i'm really interested.

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yarbles
05-10-2002

Rated 0 
notice the similarities between stephanie says and caroline says from lou reed's solo work. he re-worked the song when he went out on his own, since stephanie says was never officially released on a vu album and he (apparently) owned the rights to it.

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JstforgotUwerethere
07-12-2002

Rated 0 
Well, since this song was include on the soundtrack for The Royal Tenenbaums, we can assume it is about a girl who is confused about love, but we can't really be sure.

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venusinfurs
09-27-2002

Rated 0 
...stephanie, ah the sweet girl with nothing to offer to the circle of affection...as the song reveals, we get a picture of her as some sort of doormat, welcoming the others to the final destination...obviously not with her...through her work she's grown tired and unforgiving and while nothing strikes her as important she does feel loneliness under her skin...by accepting death she's describing life as complete and fulfilled. this not only sets the tone for her winter aroma but also pushes others back...in all probability she'll either die of an overdosage or continue despising the human flaw so best described with her own face...and as for the historical facts of the girl...do we need to know who 'julia' is to feel sympathy for john lennon?...wdc


Why she's given half her life
to people she hates now

when answering the phone (answering the phone)
What country shall I say is calling
from across the world

But she's not afraid to die
the people all call her Alaska
Between worlds so the people ask her


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angryxhippy
04-05-2003

Rated 0 
adorable song.

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knowthyself
04-17-2003

Rated 0 
This is such a great song; for some unknown reason I just love it. And it definitely had its rightful place on the Royal Tenenbaums soundtrack.

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DontCritizeME12xu
04-24-2003

Rated 0 
erm this song can mean about a bijjillion different things. becos it can mean different things to different people. i think what this whole song is about is some one who is confused. she once did everything that she was told to do. but now she realizes that she never wanted to and she hated doing it. but she did it anyway. and she is trying to figure out what is going on with her. and why she acts the way she does. and why she follows other people when all she wants to be is herself.

Stephanie says (Stephanie says)
that she wants to know (she wants to know)
Why it is though she's the door
she can't leave the room

she wants to be her. but can because she is used to following some one. she has so many questions but never asks them. but she is upset + depressed that she cannot change.

But she's not afraid to die
the people all call her Alaska
Between worlds so the people ask her
'Cause it's all in her mind
it's all in her mind

it is all in her mind. but she doesnt want to change.

but whatever. this song rocks. cha!

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nahilolo
06-14-2004

Rated 0 
I got the Royal Tenembaums soundtrack and all of the songs on it are like the movie; entrancing. I can listen to it for hours on end and not get tired of it. I love this song but I dont really understand why. I mean I like to think I do but what do I know I'm 16.

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nahilolo
06-14-2004

Rated 0 
I got the Royal Tenembaums soundtrack and all of the songs on it are like the movie; entrancing. I can listen to it for hours on end and not get tired of it. I love this song but I dont really understand why. I mean I like to think I do but what do I know I'm 16.

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Greyshoes
12-11-2004

Rated 0 
Looks t'me like Stephanie says "Fuck the world." She's living for herself now, not anyone else (she's already played that game.)

Tenenbaums was fantastic.

I think it's interesting how they say, "the people all call her alaska," and then later on it's "It's so cold in Alaska."

Here's something to think about: Perhaps she's gone crazy.
"But she's not afraid to die/.../Between worlds so the people ask her /'Cause it's all in her mind/it's all in her mind"

Well, I don't know. It's my best guess.
Peace.

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ZipperHead
12-25-2004

Rated +2 
Some songs can be interpreted word by word, some by the overall mood or feel. To me this song is more the latter. It gives me a feeling of disconnection, aloofness, resignation ... like much VU, I believe it is meant merely as a reflection.

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mimis
03-11-2005

Rated 0 
'Stephanie says
that she wants to know
Why she's given half her life
to people she hates now'

I saw this as her growing up and realising she hates her parents - wants to move away now, wishes its someone across the globe on the phone. She wants to go to alaska

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mimis
03-11-2005

Rated 0 
'Stephanie says
that she wants to know
Why she's given half her life
to people she hates now'

I saw this as her growing up and realising she hates her parents - wants to move away now, wishes its someone across the globe on the phone. She wants to go to alaska

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dr_fraud
03-17-2006

Rated 0 
For me, this song is about a girl who feels like she's wasted her life, maybe she's had her heart broken a few times, or been close to people who let her down ('she wants to know/why she's wasted half her life on people she hates now'). The fact that she wants to know indicates an uncertainty - she genuinely doesn't know why life hasn't gone so well for her, maybe there are questions for her left unanswered.

I get the feeling she's kind of in limbo ('she wants to know/Why it is though she's the door
she can't leave the room) - like, she's part of the world, but she isn't actually PART of it. it's the same feeling I get from the part about the telephone - she's connecting other people, in the same way that she is when she is 'the door'. But she's not talking on the phone herself. It makes her seem really lonely, and kind of destroyed, because now she is frozen and cold.

And to me it's kind of a plea for somebody to help her, because she's telling them how cold she's feeling, and talking about wanting to 'leave the world' but she keeps on politely asking questions to the people on the telephone (who to me seem likely to be the 'people she hates now') and.. it's just really sad.

I feel like she's stuck either in a particular place or in a particular mindspace, and she wants to get out of it but she can't. loneliness is the theme I get from it, mainly, and it's a bit heartbreaking.

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chrismc
03-21-2006

Rated 0 
The song is about a suicidal telephone operator in Alaska.

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velvetsister
04-12-2006

Rated 0 
well we all know julia is john lennon's mother

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riot4201
05-31-2006

Rated 0 
chrismc: The song is about a suicidal telephone operator in Alaska.


HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAA

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reidbottorff
06-21-2006

Rated 0 
I think the song is about someone on the brink of reality. The lyrics seem to have been written in a deliberately confusing and fractured style to give relevance to her apparent insanity. The song almost feels like a morbid radio jingle, catchy but somewhat repulsive and ironic. I love the shivering viola from Cale when Reed sings, "It's such an icy feeling." Perhaps this song would've sounded more conventional and compelling if a female had sung it, perhaps someone representing Stephanie herself.

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hankpiece
07-26-2006

Rated 0 
I think that Stephanie is about a girl who is unable to get really close with people. People meet her and are friends with her but eventually they move on (she's the door but can't be the room) and she grows resentful while they regard her as cold-hearted (they call her Alaska.)
But her isolation is self-imposed and is a product of her coldness. (It's all in her mind.)

So she questions why she lives in this isolation. But people wonder about her "Does she like living so distantly?" (Is it good or bad?) The answer is no, it's a cold and lonely existence. "It's so cold in Alaska."

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Polster
08-03-2006

Rated 0 
I hate it myself when people constantly want songs to be about drugs, but I'm pretty sure I heard Lou Reed say this one was... It would make sense with the "Alaska" nickname and an addiction to cocaine, or "snow"... He may have talked about another song, and I'm probably wrong, but every fourth song in the world is always interpreted as a drug song anyway :)

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woobin
08-22-2006

Rated 0 
hankpiece i pretty much agree with you, except for some reason i think Stephanie is like a PR agent or something like that. she let's people in to the glamorous but fake world of celebrity (ie she's the door) but she can't leave. People think she's cold, but she's just afraid to get close to something that could turn out to be a lie (maybe. the song doesn't go into that as much). In the end, she could leave it behind if she really wanted to, but a part of her is still dependent on the lifestyle (ie it's all in her mind). I don't know I feel like that's a little specific, but i got that idea from the answering phones part.

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stephsays
01-05-2007

Rated 0 
I obviously love that my name is in it.

I agree with a lot of these interpretations, her coming to be as cold as Alaska has been a gradual thing, as resentment has built. She's spent her whole life running around doing things for people who don't appreciate it and now she's tired of it and hates them for her wasted time.

They also use her, she's the door, the means to get whatever they're looking to acheive, and then forgotten once they've reached it.

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toxicology
07-03-2007

Rated 0 
this song means a lot to me after these last few months. My best friend in high school, Stephanie, pretty much lost it these last few months... and this song pretty much has painted a picture of that.

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