The Shins write their songs like a poet writes poetry and thus it must be analysed like such. As a writer and reader of poetry (along with the help of a poetry interpretation class i am taking) i felt as if i could at least offer my take on the song. Take it line for line then stanza by stanza. But as to the meaning its about a couple who did not try hard enough to make things work. Try not to focus on the literal meaning of phrases like gold teeth and gulls taking to the wind. Gold teeth paint a picture of the character of the man and when he says like a gull takes to the wind he does not simply mean that he wishes she would take to him, but submit to him like a gull to the wind. If this change had been made he would have gladly come down from his tree (remember those, when you wanted to get away when you were a kid?) and danced (or jumped through hoops) for her like the king of the eyesores (sore eyes, the king of being with the same girl his whole life). Then the song changes (a NEW slang, slang being a term used in substitute for the actually, probably what he calls her) and the man who wished he was back in the infatuation stage of a relationship now changes his mood to a bitter reflection, how as a relationship moves on you see faults in the person (dirt in your fries) that you hope is all good as you grow old and die. The next bit of the chorus i assume was something of a booty call, if you have ever broken up with someone you truely fell for you would know how hard it is sometimes to get free of that influence. As for the bakers, you see that at dawn they are making their buns and the writer wishes them to cut their thumbs and bleed into their work, because as a baker the purpose in life is to bake and as a lover it is to love, you must put yourself into that purpose until you die. Also notice the references to food to descrbe the nature of dating, he found dirt in his fries, not something he has to deal with forever. As to the girl's response pay attention to the line with no flaming fields or trust, too dumb to refine? She could find nothing horribly wrong or completely right about this guy and she wonders if she was too dumb to make the thing something worth more. This song offers a bleak outlook on love and marriage (you also have to pay attention to the music, kinda melo) and is, in my opinion, pure genius. I love the shins. Anyways poetry is always one thing and one thing more (Robert Frost) but never everything at once.
I like the poetic interpretation, for the most part, but I wanted to add--when he says "...I'd jump from my tree, and I'd danced like the king of the eyesores"... it's important to know (while not as significant to the overall meaning of the song) that "eyesore" is a term used to describe something unpleasant or difficult to look at. He was calling himself a bad dancer, implying that, if she took to him, he would be so delighted as to risk looking foolish, resulted by his distasteful dancing. Sort of tagging along with the child-like idea... jumping from the...
I like the poetic interpretation, for the most part, but I wanted to add--when he says "...I'd jump from my tree, and I'd danced like the king of the eyesores"... it's important to know (while not as significant to the overall meaning of the song) that "eyesore" is a term used to describe something unpleasant or difficult to look at. He was calling himself a bad dancer, implying that, if she took to him, he would be so delighted as to risk looking foolish, resulted by his distasteful dancing. Sort of tagging along with the child-like idea... jumping from the tree, etc.
I know it's a small detail, but I figured while we were analyzing so earnestly, I might as well give my input.
The Shins write their songs like a poet writes poetry and thus it must be analysed like such. As a writer and reader of poetry (along with the help of a poetry interpretation class i am taking) i felt as if i could at least offer my take on the song. Take it line for line then stanza by stanza. But as to the meaning its about a couple who did not try hard enough to make things work. Try not to focus on the literal meaning of phrases like gold teeth and gulls taking to the wind. Gold teeth paint a picture of the character of the man and when he says like a gull takes to the wind he does not simply mean that he wishes she would take to him, but submit to him like a gull to the wind. If this change had been made he would have gladly come down from his tree (remember those, when you wanted to get away when you were a kid?) and danced (or jumped through hoops) for her like the king of the eyesores (sore eyes, the king of being with the same girl his whole life). Then the song changes (a NEW slang, slang being a term used in substitute for the actually, probably what he calls her) and the man who wished he was back in the infatuation stage of a relationship now changes his mood to a bitter reflection, how as a relationship moves on you see faults in the person (dirt in your fries) that you hope is all good as you grow old and die. The next bit of the chorus i assume was something of a booty call, if you have ever broken up with someone you truely fell for you would know how hard it is sometimes to get free of that influence. As for the bakers, you see that at dawn they are making their buns and the writer wishes them to cut their thumbs and bleed into their work, because as a baker the purpose in life is to bake and as a lover it is to love, you must put yourself into that purpose until you die. Also notice the references to food to descrbe the nature of dating, he found dirt in his fries, not something he has to deal with forever. As to the girl's response pay attention to the line with no flaming fields or trust, too dumb to refine? She could find nothing horribly wrong or completely right about this guy and she wonders if she was too dumb to make the thing something worth more. This song offers a bleak outlook on love and marriage (you also have to pay attention to the music, kinda melo) and is, in my opinion, pure genius. I love the shins. Anyways poetry is always one thing and one thing more (Robert Frost) but never everything at once.
I like the poetic interpretation, for the most part, but I wanted to add--when he says "...I'd jump from my tree, and I'd danced like the king of the eyesores"... it's important to know (while not as significant to the overall meaning of the song) that "eyesore" is a term used to describe something unpleasant or difficult to look at. He was calling himself a bad dancer, implying that, if she took to him, he would be so delighted as to risk looking foolish, resulted by his distasteful dancing. Sort of tagging along with the child-like idea... jumping from the...
I like the poetic interpretation, for the most part, but I wanted to add--when he says "...I'd jump from my tree, and I'd danced like the king of the eyesores"... it's important to know (while not as significant to the overall meaning of the song) that "eyesore" is a term used to describe something unpleasant or difficult to look at. He was calling himself a bad dancer, implying that, if she took to him, he would be so delighted as to risk looking foolish, resulted by his distasteful dancing. Sort of tagging along with the child-like idea... jumping from the tree, etc. I know it's a small detail, but I figured while we were analyzing so earnestly, I might as well give my input.