Lyrics for Straw Dog as interpreted by krushzed

Straw Dog Lyrics
Staring into the intersection, she thinks that she can fly and she might
Holding on in a new direction, she's gonna try it tonight
The closer I get to feeling, the further that I'm feeling from alright
The more I step into the sun, the more I step out of the light

Jessica is covered ina blanket on a Sunday porch
Thinking of the weekends she would party in the city
She doesn't have a flame, she'd prefer to burn out like a torch
If she gets nowhere in life, at least she know's she pretty

She said, "Hey, now, the straw dog's out in the street
Hey now, there's chemicals in the clouds
Hey now, they're calling the police
They won't get to us, anyhow."

The moon is shining now and shadows are what's left of all the noise
Simple silhouettes and cutouts as if we had the choice
He listens closely now, swears that he can hear a voice
That's calling him and saying

"Hey, now, the straw dog's out in the street
Hey now, there's chemicals in the clouds
Hey now, they're calling the police
They won't get to us, anyhow."

What does it take to be a superhero in our world?
Make no mistake that these villains always get the girl
We can escape, and then we'd skate away from all of this
And no one ever does.

She's saying "Hey, now, the straw dog's out in the street
Hey now, there's chemicals in the clouds
Hey now, they're calling the police
They won't get to us, anyhow."

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labyrinthine_queen
10-02-2007

Rated 0 
well, a straw dog is something that is made only to be destroyed.

so, (and i could be wrong) i think that this is talking about humanity and how we treat life and the world. for example:

"She doesn't have a flame, she'd prefer to burn out like a torch
If she gets nowhere in life, at least she know's she pretty"

Everyone knows shes pretty and everything, but after that, her use is gone. It's like "ok, shes pretty. right, we don't need her anymore, she can abuse herself or whatever she wants because we have no use for her"

It the same with the "chemicals in the clouds"

we have something as wonderful as the world and we just polute it.


Furthur more, it doesnt matter if this is wrong. The whole point of songs and poetry and stories are for somebody to get meaning out of it. It doesnt matter if the meaning is the original intended one. The composer can get something different out of it to the artist or producer or dj or listener, but it doesnt matter, as long as it means something to them.

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iloveeeandrew
09-13-2007

Rated 0 
a straw dog is an idol in some culture. the people praise it for a year. nothing is above it. it is of upmost importance to them. when the year is over they burn it in the street. the song is showing hypocracy because adults want us to act responsible and old, but they honestly see us as children. they say all this stuff, but then end up burning (metaphorically speaking) us.

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XxPhantasmag0ryX
08-24-2007

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Definition for Straw Dog:

"something (an idea, or plan, usually) set up to be knocked down. It's the dangerous philosophy of presenting one mediocre idea, so that the listener will make the choice of the better idea which follows."

"Something that is made only to be destroyed."

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iiyamuzai
05-21-2007

Rated 0 
For anyone that was asking about the meaning of straw dog, I think this is plausable:

"Straw Dog" fallacy -- Putting words in someone's mouth to make them look bad or depicting them or their ideas in such a caricatured way as to trivialize them or their ideas. Example: Anti-war protestors walk around with their scruffy hair, slovenly dress, and sloppy thinking saying "Peace" like that was somehow a solution to world political problems.

Thanks to http://www.csuchico.edu/phil/sdobra_mat/fallacies.html

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labellavita
02-07-2007

Rated 0 
I realize now what he measn by "straw dog" but my interpretation was always that it was a symbol for soemthing fake. Like, straw dog, it's not real. & chemicals in the clouds, I always took it as "the clouds aren't 100% real" you know what I mean? So I always took the chorus as meaning things aren't always what they seem, sometimes what you think is real can turn out to be fake. Which woudl tie into "The villians always get the girls" because they seem nice at first, but once they get the girl they show their true colors.

I realize that's not what Andrew was going for when writing this song, but yea, that's just how I've always interpreted it.

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prettyhm
01-25-2007

Rated 0 
i heard the straw dog was supposed to be a drug dealer. but i also heard 'i woke up in a car' was about oral sex. i think a lot of the things my friends tell me is crap, especially about andrew's lyrics...he is much deeper than that.

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Nachos03
01-17-2007

Rated 0 
hey guys i found this on SoCo-Oline.net

What's a Straw Dog?

A dog made of straw! No, seriously...no one but Andrew may ever know for sure.

"Here are Andrew's words about it: 'You know I was reading like a Steven Mitchell interpretation of the Dao Te Ching, which is you know like an Eastern philosophy, and in it they kind of referenced this thing called a “Straw dog,” which is almost like in certain Eastern cultures it’s almost viewed as a crucifix in Christianity. They’re like a venerable, ritualistic symbol I guess, in a sense, cuz they use it in whatever religious ceremony, you know. But the catch is, once those ceremonies are through, they hold a parade in the streets and part of the festivities is they destroy this “Straw dog” that had been so respected through the religious ceremonies, and they just destroy it. So, I kind of used it as a metaphor for youth. You always hear how children are the hope of the future and we should invest so much time and energy in them, you know, just like the bullshit that politicians and teachers and parents all spit, and at the end of the day, you kind of see how really they say one thing but its like you really think that the youth of America are respected as the hope of the future and the way they’re treated by adults and various authority figures. Yea I kind of wrote it from a very angry place, disenfranchised with high school, and things like that. Kind of like one of those angst-ridden things you do when you’re sixteen writing music, you know? But, I mean I still kind of stand by it because I see it everyday. It’s like now you get a little older and you come to shows where you see security guards beating the shit out of kids who aren’t doing anything. You know it’s like you just see how everybody thinks kids are so appreciated in one sense, you also see how people are treated as if they were toys or something. So, that’s why I think we have so many fucked up kids now-a-days! I think where a lot of the problems come from. You’re constantly being fed two different messages, like constant double standard.'"

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konstantinesuicide
01-14-2007

Rated 0 
actually andrew has read the tao te ching, so i doubt its about the movie. i think the song is talking about the actual definition of a straw dog though; something that is made only to be destroyed, or something that is set up to be knocked down.

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make_a_statement
01-07-2007

Rated 0 
mmk.heres how it goes.this song is absolutely *amazing* and i think it can be looked at from alot of diff angles. #1 it could very well be about drugs, but more so the way that they affect the lives of young adults at an early age. #2 i always looked at this song as like and anthem of the youth today. it seems like everyone doesnt understand, and this song is telling about the way they see things, and techniques many use to escape their hard surroundings.

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lydgate
06-27-2006

Rated 0 
I agree that this is about the verse from the Tao Te Ching about heaven and earth not being benevolent, treating the myriad things as straw dogs, etc. Jessica is someone to be used and thrown away. I don't buy into the logical fallacy argument, since I think "straw dog" is just a less common (possibly incorrect) name for the well known "straw man" fallacy, and anyway the term obviously comes originally from the Tao Te Ching (6th century-ish BC). It just doesn't make sense in the context of the song as a logical fallacy; people above simply argued that the fallacy is built up to be destroyed, which is exactly what Lao-Tzu was talking about anyway. But why would Something Corporate pick this out of the Tao Te Ching? Perhaps they read the Lao-Tzu, but my guess is from watching Sam Peckinpah's 1971 movie Straw Dogs (a great film, incidentally) and then later doing the research. That's a film about inexplicable violence, and they probably just liked the reference once they asked why the film was called that. (Incidentally, I read the Tao Te Ching many times before I saw the film, but took no special note of it until I watched the film.)

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bekakakakaka
06-07-2006

Rated 0 
why does nearly every song have to be about drugs!?!?!

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bekakakakaka
06-07-2006

Rated 0 
Lao Tzu's writing in the Book of Changes: "Heaven and Earth are cruel; They treat all living things as straw dogs." (Straw dogs being ceremonial pieces meant to be used only once).

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bekakakakaka
06-07-2006

Rated 0 
Lao Tzu's writing in the Book of Changes: "Heaven and Earth are cruel; They treat all living things as straw dogs." (Straw dogs being ceremonial pieces meant to be used only once).

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a1is0n123456789
06-06-2006

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I meant to say in my prevous message it is basically something that is made to be destroyed.

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a1is0n123456789
06-06-2006

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The actual term straw dog means: In business, something (an idea, or plan, usually) set up to be knocked down. It's the dangerous philosophy of presenting one mediocre idea, so that the listener will make the choice of the better idea which follows. For example Cows made for meat, they live to die. But i would go for andrews interperation though, in this song it is whatever he meant it to be


And i agree with nicn64
read

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nicn64
04-07-2006

Rated 0 
I think there was a total of like 3 of you who got it right. For all of those who havn't taken a course in Philosophy (Classical Logic) look up Straw Man, and subsequently, Straw Dog. Maybe instead of being a lil emo bitch cutting your wrists, you could pick up a book and actually learn something.

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andhearts
04-05-2006

Rated 0 
stop overthinking it guys.
this songs about being high.

Staring into the intersection, she thinks that she can fly and she might
Holding on in a new direction, she's gonna try it tonight
The closer I get to feeling, the further that I'm feeling from alright
The more I step into the sun, the more I step out of the light


it doesnt get much more obvious..

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Gaz_182
03-26-2006

Rated 0 
A straw dog is something that is set up to be knocked down. If it's out in the street it's probably going to get collected by a speeding car. This Jessica girl has set herself up to be knocked down because she doesn't have any real plans and she's burning out basically. That's my interpretation, anyhow.

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Liiva
03-19-2006

Rated 0 
I don't know I always thought that this song is about shallow people. You know like Jessica in this song only cares about partys and being pretty. And lines ''there's chemicals in a clouds'' and ''there's straw dogs in the street'' is pointing that there is bigger things in the world.

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b_love04
03-02-2006

Rated 0 
a straw dog is something set up, and expected to be knocked down.....

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h0merg0mez
02-17-2006

Rated 0 
A straw dog is slang for something that's created just to be destroyed, if that helps. Andrew is using that symbolism.

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Fwaah
01-01-2006

Rated 0 
Hmm, I don't really know what 'straw dog' is supposed to mean...Can anyone explain? Some of you have said it may have to do with drugs..Whic for some reason I wouldn't doubt because almost every song has a refference to drugs in it....But I still love them. There is no way you can't....

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xsimpledesignx
03-22-2005

Rated 0 
One more thing. This also seems to show the fact of being on drugs:

Staring into the intersection, she thinks that she can fly and she might
Holding on in a new direction, she's gonna try it tonight


People that are on drugs such as halusagins (spl) tend to think that they can do things such as flying. And those thoughts generally lead to their demise.

Holding on in a new direction, she's gonna try it tonight
The closer I get to feeling, the further that I'm feeling from alright
The more I step into the sun, the more I step out of the light

That refers to a drug addiction. Every time she is able to get her hands on something, for a moment she will feel alright. So, she is stepping into the "sun" but just before she can reaches, she steps "out of the light." in other words, she tries so hard to feel better about her life by using these drugs, but it's only temperary, and when she's back in reality, everything is worse.

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xsimpledesignx
03-22-2005

Rated 0 
I love this song. But, I can't help but think of a play boy bunny star. Or some other kind of model who is accicted to cocaine, or another drug.

"If she gets nowhere in life, at least she know's she pretty"

10 to 1 a playboy will turn out to have a horrible life, but at least they know they're pretty.

She said, "Hey, now, the straw dog's out in the street
Hey now, there's chemicals in the clouds
Hey now, they're calling the police
They won't get to us, anyhow."

Now, how many people that aren't on a drug would think of a straw dog being in the street? It oculd also be a metaphor like milkcartonkid said. But, I think the fact that the dog is straw has a signifigance. You ever heard of the three little pigs? Straw is destoryed easily, just like she is being. And the fact that there are "chemicals in the clouds" seems to just bring me back to the whole drugatic bit. And when he says "they'll never get to us" makes me think about how she feels when she's in the high of the moment, literally, high. And, in that moment she feels untouchable.


That whole thing may be a little farfetched..but oh well. That's what comes to mind when I hear it! And even if it has a weird meaning to me, I still love this song!

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emlovesyou
02-06-2005

Rated 0 
this song is about a girl who has a 'perfect' life but she just wants to break free from everything and the pressure of what everyone wants from her or for her today

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