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The indecencies of city streets
The cleaners' sweeping trucks from nine to noon
And the factories make clouds to keep the sun from being jealous like the moon
While the husband holds his house
He hates his children for being green when he is gray
And his wife, she likes to talk on telephones
But just to people far away
Well, the big surprise was televised
On a crowded couch their eyes grew wide and wet
Oh, was it really such a sad event?
You could capture this with camera clicks
But it don't exist
Just light on negatives
Another number on the birthday cake
You should act your age
We were hungry for a holiday
Won't cooperate with the calendar we found
We just scattered snow like styrofoam
And sang our Christmas carols all through town
And the voices soared, the people joined
With silver coins they filled our cupping hand, hand, hand
And we all agreed, the charity was much in need
Yes, a nobel cause at that
And I met a man, a mannequin
Who stood so still
I know he was afraid
And he preferred a place of permanence
To the awful guessing game of choice and change
Well, the big surprise was telelvised
On a crowded couch our eyes grew wide and wet
Oh yes, it's really such a sad event
You can't capture this with camera clicks
No, it don't exist
Just light on negatives
Another candle on a birthday cake
And a wish you make
Well, if the costume fits, keep wearing it
But no Halloween could quite account for this
I guess you're getting into character
Or just be yourself, if that would help
Or sink completely into someone else
You dreamt of mountains but sometimes a hole is more comfortable
The cleaners' sweeping trucks from nine to noon
And the factories make clouds to keep the sun from being jealous like the moon
While the husband holds his house
He hates his children for being green when he is gray
And his wife, she likes to talk on telephones
But just to people far away
Well, the big surprise was televised
On a crowded couch their eyes grew wide and wet
Oh, was it really such a sad event?
You could capture this with camera clicks
But it don't exist
Just light on negatives
Another number on the birthday cake
You should act your age
We were hungry for a holiday
Won't cooperate with the calendar we found
We just scattered snow like styrofoam
And sang our Christmas carols all through town
And the voices soared, the people joined
With silver coins they filled our cupping hand, hand, hand
And we all agreed, the charity was much in need
Yes, a nobel cause at that
And I met a man, a mannequin
Who stood so still
I know he was afraid
And he preferred a place of permanence
To the awful guessing game of choice and change
Well, the big surprise was telelvised
On a crowded couch our eyes grew wide and wet
Oh yes, it's really such a sad event
You can't capture this with camera clicks
No, it don't exist
Just light on negatives
Another candle on a birthday cake
And a wish you make
Well, if the costume fits, keep wearing it
But no Halloween could quite account for this
I guess you're getting into character
Or just be yourself, if that would help
Or sink completely into someone else
You dreamt of mountains but sometimes a hole is more comfortable
Lyrics submitted by firefly716
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I love when the drumbeat comes in, It's such a perfect counterpoint to the atmospheric melody.
The first verse is about the monotony of life in suburbia and how an unnamed father "hates his children for being green when he is grey" and his wife only talks to "people far away."
Next thing we hear about is a "big surprise" told to several people, presumably a family since they're on a couch. From the first verse, it seems like a logical conclusion that the father committed suicide (or possibly just walked out on them). We get more and more evidence for this as the song goes on... "Was it really such a sad event" if he was miserable anyway? Camera clicks can't capture someone who no longer exists, and numbers on birthday cakes don't exist either... And I read "you should act your age" as someone else's words about how irresponsible a father is for taking his own life, though I may be reading into it too much.
Then they're hungry for a holiday to take their minds off the loss, and they go caroling and people give them money out of sympathy (By the way I'm fairly sure the line is "With silver coins they filled our coffee can.") The mannequin-man might be a metaphor for how the father felt living there... He prefers a place of permanence (state of death) to dealing with the choices life throws at him.
Even if my interpretation is reading too far into it, I'm fairly confident saying that the whole song is a reflection on the notion of giving up. The father figure clearly gave up in some way, whether suicide or leaving or something else, and mannequin man just stands in place rather than striving for anything better, because it's the easy thing to do. The final line tops it off: "You dreamt of mountains but sometimes a hole is more comfortable." That seems pretty clear to me..
Anyway, it's an absolutely beautiful song.
When it comes to
And I met a man, a mannequin
Who stood so still
I know he was afraid
And he preferred a place of permanence
To the awful guessing game of choice and change
I think he is talking about a person who resisted this sudden outburst of emotion, and preferred his stoic lifestyle. If you imagine all of these people as gray (first verse), and there is a sudden eruption of color (anyone seen Pleasantville??), that color represents vitality and passion, in other words, life (that awful guessing game of choice and change).
the album leaf and bright eyes together is just a an amazing mix!
I checked (not very thoroughly) and i saw something about this song and 2002, and the song seems to allude to 9/11 several times.
Well, the big surprise was televised
On a crowded couch their eyes grew wide and wet
We were hungry for a holiday
etc.
But no Halloween could quite account for this
I guess you're getting into character
Or just be yourself, if that would help
Or sink completely into someone else
You dreamt of mountains but sometimes a hole is more comfortable '
the trees get wheeled away?
the entire idea is kind of childish, to have have holidays whenever you want. it shows that inside all of us there's something desperate that looks for pure, simple, pointless happiness. and that in itself is depressing.