Lyrics for Wrong Number as interpreted by oofus

Wrong Number Lyrics
Lime green lime green lime green and tangerine
Are the sickly sweet colors of the snakes I'm seeing
Lime green lime green and tangerine
Are the sickly sweet colors of the devil in my dreams

Lime green lime green lime green and tangerine
Are the sickly sweet colors of the snakes I'm seeing
Lime green lime green and tangerine
Are the sickly sweet colors of the devil in my dreams
It gets to Friday and I give you a call
"You know I'm getting kind of worried
No she doesn't seem herself at all...
Lime green and a sickly kind of orange
I've never seen her like this before"

I had the best laid plans this side of America
Started out in church and finished with Angelica
Red and blue soul with a snow white smile
"Can you dig it?"
I had the best laid plans this side of America
Started out in church and finished with Angelica
And now I dig it in the dirt
And I'm down here for a while

You've got to make up your mind and make it soon
Is there room in your life
For one more trip to the moon?
Is there room in your life
For one more?

Burn red burn red burn red burn red and gold
Are the deep dark colors of the snakes I hold
Burn red burn red burn red and gold
Are the deep dark colors of the devil at home
"she pulls me down just as I'm trying to hide
Grabs me by the hair and drags me outside
And starts digging in the dirt
For a not so early bird it's the only way
For her to get the worm"

I had the best laid plans this side of America
Started out in church and finished with Angelica
Red and blue soul with a snow white smile
"Can you dig it?"
I had the best laid plans this side of America
Started out in church and finished with Angelica
And now I dig it in the dirt
And I'll be down here for a while

"Hello? Are you still there?"
And much too late
"Sorry, wrong number"
---
"Wrong Number" as written by Robert James Smith
Lyrics ﾂｩ Universal Music Publishing Group, EMI Music Publishing, Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
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koolkt85
06-08-2004

 Rated  0 
I don't often comment on this site, in fact I'm mostly interested in everyone else's opinions. But I'm sad that no one.. NO ONE.. has commented on this song. I'm curious as to what it really means, or a few interpretations.

All I can gather from it is that the girl is being distant (it gets to friday and i give you a call you know i'm gettin kinda worried she doesn't seem herself at all) and he's trying to get a hold of her (maybe not by phone, but moreso metaphorically) but she won't open up. and he's upset because he had these plans.. (i'm thinking marriage possibly.. the started out with church part)

but, i don't know. and i'm curious to know what everyone else thinks.

another thing. this song makes me think of adam sandler in the wedding singer when he gets stood up at his own wedding. but probably because it's an 80's movie and he mentions in it before he plays his song that he'd been listening to the cure a lot.

can someone tell me about the color symbolism in here means? lime green and tangerine. burn red and gold. red and blue soul with a snow white smile. (i understand that red blue and white are america's colors but that's about it)

comment people!!

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sorrywrongnumbah
10-17-2004

 Rated  0 
Every time I listen to the song (and I listen to it quite a bit), I come up with different possibilites as to what it could possibly mean. The only 'help' I've come across in looking for information on it's meaning is Robert Smith's own comment that he was "never quite sure about" the song...and I am not even sure if he meant lyrically, what the meaning is, or musically.
Personally, although I can see how this song could be about a relationship being distant or growing apart--and since that is a recurring theme in a lot of Smith's songs, it is quite plausible--I have always garnered a different feeling from "Wrong Number," one of the reasons perhaps being because the song itself is quite different in several ways than other Cure songs.
I keep getting the feeling that "Wrong Number" has something to do with the feeling of a foreigner being Americanized...that is where the "red and blue soul with a snow-white smile" factors in. The voice that answers Robert on the phone at the end of the song is American as well...and I think the garishness of the colors has tie-ins with the loud rudeness of American pop culture.
The music video also gives me this impression. He's underground, part of this world of dark beauty, where he looks like he wants to be, then he's dragged into this world of brashness and bright colors, where he seems to want to get away.
That's all I've been able to get my head around thus far....

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LulusXe
12-06-2004

 Rated  0 
this song is always always always in my head. What is it about anyways? lime green and tangerine? woah.

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geradeaus
12-15-2004

 Rated  0 
I keep getting the feeling a lot of the lyrics are there for their sound, the way they go with the other words. Otherwise, the whole song makes me think of an engagement that he broke off because it was spiraliting toward marriage too quickly, or something. That's so boring though, and the song's so much fun, I hope someone has a better idea. Sorrywrongnumbah's is pretty good

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bloodflowers323
01-10-2005

 Rated  0 
I remember reading that Robert said that the colours were a memory of how his sister (and other people) used to always be 'in fashion' with certain colours at certain times. Something about a call in America as well..
I think this song is so awesome and crazy. I love how you can hear him taking deep breaths and stuff, what a sexy man...lol

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jancsibohoc
03-03-2005

 Rated  0 
Firstly i would like to say that in my view there are very few songs that have one specific meaning. I think one example of a legitimate interpretation of a song is when, you know, your half asleep and the whole thing just comes togheter in your head to form some strange untiy. That then is the meaning. I had the idea sometime that this one is about watching tv for a long long time until your brain gets so numb that if some freind calls you on the phone you just answer "wrong number" and continue staring and druling into the tv screen. (despite anything the lyrics may imply)

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bloodomen
03-04-2005

 Rated  0 
YOU'VE GOT TO MAKE UP YOUR MIND AND MAKE IT SOON
IS THERE ROOM IN YOUR LIFE FOR ONE MORE TRIP TO THE MOON?

it's about a 'crazy' person who is in love with somebody, and asks if his love dares to break old bonds and habits and wants to reach new dimensions together with him.

then he gets laid with somebody else, since the original chick could't make up her mind what she wanted.

or something like this. pretty weird song.

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kid pirate
05-21-2005

 Rated  0 
i always just thought this song was about trippin acid...maybe im thinking too much into it...

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ringwormone
05-28-2005

 Rated  0 
This has to be one of my favorite Cure songs. I think it's about a guy who wants to be with someone who has no interest in him at all--maybe someone he was with and wants back, but they're completely over him. But I think most of the lyrics are just there to sound cool, which they totally do.

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planet_queen
12-11-2005

 Rated  0 
I think this song is about a guy who is in a relationship with a girl who is going off the rails and gettingherself in to all sorts of stuff, and he can see that she's goingot drag him down with her if he stays with her , but he is so tempted by her that he can't get out- or he tries a little but it doesn't work. First he's only seeing the snakes, and he's getitng worried about the girl, but then later he is actually holding the snakes and they bothe end up 'digging in the dirt. maybe Angelica is the name of the girl- he starts out all good (church) but then he ends up with the girl (angelica) . Anyway this song is pretty cryptic. Everyone else'sinterpretations on this song are good too -it does seem to have a lot of allusions to America in it, i just didn't know how to tie that in with my little spin on it all. Anyway, I just thought I'd throw all that in to the discussion- try to help decipher this song.

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Sunquai
01-25-2006

 Rated  0 
Ok this song to me is telling a story it a very metaphorical way. I'd like to think he's upset a close friend/interest by fooling around while on tour overseas. He's trying to drown his sorrows by taking some kind of drug acid or whatever and calls trys calling her when he's off his head. I'm taking into concideration that he met mary in highschool and they would have been married when this song was made for sure. So the church part might have more to do with her then somone random chick in america (like others have sugested). "FOR A NOT SO EARLY BIRD ITﾕS THE ONLY WAY FOR HER TO GET THE WORM... " to me suggests that because of distance between him and mary (mary being in the UK) she's using past issues to attack him for what he's upto in america

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kata_
02-09-2006

 Rated  0 
This song sounds so cool.
I think it's about somehow ending up in a situation you didn't plan on getting yourself into, and that you'd actually feared that you might end up in. You'd planned everything to make sure you could avoid the situation, but your plans failed. And I think that he thought that he could get out of the situation by talking to someone, and that that someone could help him. Much too late he realizes that he can't be helped by that person.
I think that the "she" isn't really a woman, but the thing that landed him in the situation he was so keen to avoid.
Of course, my analysis is completely wrong, but it's just what I think at the moment.

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hothothot!
06-03-2006

 Rated  -1 
Americanisation? What, like replacing s's with z's.

Ahhh the butchery of our language continues...

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samwalton
07-11-2007

 Rated  0 
Depeche Mode - Clean

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Nighteshade Kitty
02-16-2008

 Rated  +1 
I just want to say a couple things here. Angelica is an herb. It's been known to have "medicinal' properties, and it's also used to flavor certain kinds of alcohol, like gin or absinthe. So he could be using it as metaphor for his drug and alcohol habit.

And as for the colors, whoever said it has to do with the American flag, the Union Jack (Britain's flag) is also blue, red, and white.

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1 Reply  · 
manuel.jose.ribeiro
05-02-2008

 Rated  0 
Did anyone took a look at the video!
To me, it's completely allucinated and TRIPPED!
Looks like an alucinogenic tripp.
And Angelica does that!
The color worms allways superimposed look like neurons fireing, the bright colors are completely coerent with a tripp. SICKLY SWEET COLOURS OF THE DEVIL IN MY DREAMS seams than, kinda obvious.
The started out in Crurch and finished with angelica is telling of the addicition of a "tipical good church boy".
The song is also clear about the "down" after a drug rush...AND NOW I DIG IT IN THE DIRT AND IﾕLL BE DOWN HERE FOR A WHILE...
Then the EVEN more obvious IS THERE ROOM IN YOUR LIFE FOR ONE MORE TRIP TO THE MOON? - after the depression form the tripp... let's go for another.. but should we!?
The call is a metaphore on him trying to get in touch with his sanity. "are you still there?"... then the "much too late" like not only he's addicted as he's completly brain fried. and the obvious permanent disconection with the sane world with the "sorry wrong number".

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DJ Verde
05-15-2008

 Rated  0 
To me Wrong Number has always served as a warning against the disconnect that comes from addiciton. I think Manuel got it spot on.

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anill42
01-23-2009

 Rated  0 
This is one of my faves.
Probably because of the line...'Started out in church and finished with Angelica'
I guess hearing my name in songs makes me love them more...

Not to mention it has a sweet ass tech sound. not just a tech sound,
i guess it just is techno.
Man Robby.


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General Comment
anill42
01-23-2009

 Rated  -1 
This is one of my faves.
Probably because of the line...'Started out in church and finished with Angelica'
I guess hearing my name in songs makes me love them more...

Not to mention it has a sweet ass tech sound. not just a tech sound,
i guess it just is techno.
Man Robby.


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General Comment
autoerratica
01-20-2010

 Rated  0 
OMG i dont have anything useful to say but i love this song! Don't you love spam!

Just kidding

"Trip to the moon" is a tip of the hat to Alien Sex Fiend's song EST (Trip to the Moon), he does a mini impression of nik fiend when he says it.

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General Comment
psytom
03-23-2010

 Rated  0 
possibly about lsd....

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General Comment
psytom
03-23-2010

 Rated  0 
jsut wants to go out witha girl and trip basicaly.. is there room in your life for one more trip to the moooon !

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General Comment
heatherrxxx
02-22-2011

 Rated  0 
I know I'm just being pedantic, but please can you change the word "colors" to "colours"? This song is in English, and written by an English man, so in my opinion the word should be spelt the correct way /:

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