This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
Bring your own lampshade, somewhere there's a party
Hear it's never endin', can't remember when it started
Pass around the lampshade, there'll be plenty enough room in jail
If being wrong's a crime, I'm serving forever
Being strong and kind, I need help here with this feather
If being afraid is a crime, we hang side by side
At the swingin' party down the line
Pound the prairie pavement, losin' proposition
Quittin' school and goin' to work and never goin' fishin'
Water all around, never learning how to swim now
If being wrong's a crime, I'm serving forever
If being strong and kind, then I need help here with this feather
If being afraid is a crime, we hang side by side
At the swingin' party down the line, li-li-line
At the swingin' party down the line
Bring your own lampshade, somewhere there's a party
Hear it's never endin', can't remember when it started
Pass around the lampshade, there'll be plenty enough room in jail
If being wrong's a crime, I'm serving forever
Being strong is what you want, then I need help here with this feather
If being afraid is a crime, we hang side by side
At the swingin' party down the line
Every valentine at the swingin' party down the line
Catch you down at the swingin' party down the line
Hear it's never endin', can't remember when it started
Pass around the lampshade, there'll be plenty enough room in jail
If being wrong's a crime, I'm serving forever
Being strong and kind, I need help here with this feather
If being afraid is a crime, we hang side by side
At the swingin' party down the line
Pound the prairie pavement, losin' proposition
Quittin' school and goin' to work and never goin' fishin'
Water all around, never learning how to swim now
If being wrong's a crime, I'm serving forever
If being strong and kind, then I need help here with this feather
If being afraid is a crime, we hang side by side
At the swingin' party down the line, li-li-line
At the swingin' party down the line
Bring your own lampshade, somewhere there's a party
Hear it's never endin', can't remember when it started
Pass around the lampshade, there'll be plenty enough room in jail
If being wrong's a crime, I'm serving forever
Being strong is what you want, then I need help here with this feather
If being afraid is a crime, we hang side by side
At the swingin' party down the line
Every valentine at the swingin' party down the line
Catch you down at the swingin' party down the line
Lyrics submitted by krushzed, edited by gilbert113
Swingin Party Lyrics as written by Paul Westerberg
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Westerberg's humanity and honest shine through on this one...I see it as a sort of abstract description of addiction ..a realization that he is partying ...except the party aint so fun anymore ...and hes stuck (I love the inhale thats dubbed in) "...if being strong is what you want, then I need help here with this feather"...additction feels makes you feel weak
@thelight <br /> I think that could be correct. I'm a recovering addict and some of the lyrics could point to addiction in my opinion. "Quittin' school and goin' to work" sounds like me. Somebody had to pay for the drugs. And "never learn how to swim" to me sounds like how many times we would sit around the table talking about all the things we were going to do, or learn, etc. 99% of the time we didn't do sh*t And I did feel very weak knowing I had to have the drugs. Actually I didn't have the drugs, the drugs had me.
I've found that listeners can often be confused/unsure of what the "Lampshade" means. This is only my interpretation, but I see the Lampshade as something that the user can hide under, their real self (imagine a lightbulb) is veiled and hidden beneath this Lampshade.
Bring your own disguise.
For a lot of party-goers this could be alcohol, or drugs. Bring your own and pass it around.
Iris Whittaker.
I've always thought "lampshade" refers to the stereotypical image of the drunken person as wearing a lampshade on his/her head while reveling. Google "lampshade drunk" for plentiful examples.
"Bring your own" is a play on "bring your own beer," which is, or was, a common stipulation for parties in which drink is/was not provided.
@paul839025 Expanding on this a bit - wearing a lampshade means you are the life of the party. The drunk meaning dates to the 1920s, but before that it was a common gag in silent film. Basically, he is saying bring a lampshade so we can all be the life of the party. There's obviously more joking going on here because "somewhere there's a party, here it's never ending can't remember when it started," so he's saying it while already at a party and the party has gone on for some time.
Westerberg has written so many outstanding songs, both uptempo defiant rockers and downtempo miserable affairs.
This song is one of the most depressing tracks I've heard, and it's also one of my top ten favorites ever. Paul's rough, ragged voice is amazing. It's really suited to such a slow, raw confessional type of record like this.
The lyrics are smart as ever from Paul. Great words, great voice, great melody, and great accompaniment. Awesome!
A swinging party is public execution by hanging. That's my guess. Paul is saying that he's guilty of a lot of things (being wrong, making bad choices) and if those things are crimes, he'll hang for them (figuratively, of course).
What is a lampshade? Is that a serious question? This is the song that originally made me fall in love with the Replacements. What a great feat of songwriting. The imagery is amazing and the music sets the perfect mood. Hauntingly beautiful.
In SongMeanings it is indeed a serious question. It has many possible meanings, depending upon one's understanding of the culture this song is rooted in. Among other things, lampshade is an old slang term, dating back to the nineteenth century, for a type of holly found in northern Minnesota and in parts of southern Canada. I don't know if the Replacements, being from those parts, are referencing that or not. If so, it may be like bringing your own mistletoe in case you need to be kissed. Pretty depressing but with its own glint of humor.
The lyrics are mostly correct, but I think some of it needs fixing:
"Water all around, never learned how to swim now" should actually be: "Water all around, never learn how to swim now"
The [mumble] should actually be replaced with: "Everything in time"
Isn't the swinging party suicide in jail.
The match sound and the cigarette inhalation is probably the greatest thing the 'Mats ever recorded. Just because it fits their persona so well.
Oh, and the song's a banger as well.
What is a lampshade?