This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
We've got solid-state technology
Tapes on the floor
Some songs we can't afford to play
When we came here today
All I wanted to say
Is how much I miss you
Alcohol and cotton balls
And some drugs
We can afford on the way
When we came here today
We all felt something true
Now I'm red-eyed and blue
Tapes on the floor
Some songs we can't afford to play
When we came here today
All I wanted to say
Is how much I miss you
Alcohol and cotton balls
And some drugs
We can afford on the way
When we came here today
We all felt something true
Now I'm red-eyed and blue
Lyrics submitted by OwnPersonalDemon
Red-Eyed and Blue Lyrics as written by Jeffrey Scott Tweedy Jeff Tweedy
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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I can't believe no one has wrote anything about this song! I love it! It's one of my favs on this CD. The way he sings it catches me and the words I can relate too. He's depressed and he drowns his sorrows in liquor and drugs.
This is a beautiful song and it was on my break-up mix when my bf and I split for the first time.
This song seems like a narrative of his addiction ("When we came here today, all I wanted to say was how much I miss you."), and the last three lines seem to refer to the high and the subsequent come-down. I could be wrong, though, that's just how I've come to interpret it.
One of the things I thought immediately about this song is a kind of negative sentiment towards the American Dream -- not so much an anti-american sentiment per se, but specifically towards the broken promise that tends to come out of the American Dream -- it\'s like, it seems as if they have everything -- great technology -- this was right at the very beginning of the tech boom of the 1990s -- but yet, they can\'t even do what they intended to do -- write songs and play them for the world -- without going broke. I think the whole \"red-eyed and blue\" is a play-on-words with \"red, white and blue\"
i think he's depressed (big surprise, i know) about losing his girl.
he wants to go to the to the studio with all its "solid state technology" and get it all out through music , but its not working out (hence all the tapes on the floor- failures at recording anything good) now he's wasted time and money because studio time is expensive. this sucks cause all he wanted to do was get his feelings out. since his musical therapy didn't work, he decides to get high (probably heroin- i think hes swabbing his arm with a cotton ball) and he's drinking in the meantime. it make his eyes red (both the high and the crying, perhaps), and he's blue cause he's sad. the whole episode is expensive both monetarily and emotionally (hence drugs we cant afford) all this happened and all he wanted to do was get out how much he missed his girl
I totatly agree with PoprocksCk and b.chroneos. I guess my favorite part of the song is the line, "alcohol and cotton balls and some drugs I can't afford." Just listen through the song, its like the turning point in the song. I mean the first half Tweedy is just pissed that he can sing a simple love song. But then he says Alcohol long and drawn out making the listener think he's got an alcohol problem. Then he says cotton balls really quick and when you put those two together they are a pretty innocent thing. But then he says "Some drugs I can't afford" and well I'm no heroine user, in fact I know jack shit about the use of it, but I was half wondering if Heroine users clean the spot on the skin where they stick in the needle. Hence the need for alcohol and cotton balls. Well I don't know, but if there is a heroine user out there who knows sumpin, lemme know.
Come on guys, if you were to sit down and write a song about how you feel right now.. write it down... there you go.. don't read too much into these songs. They are great but come on man! Tweedy is brilliant but the key is the simplicity.
Well jerky5, I certainly agree with you that the song isn't that complicated, and I as well as others are just expressing some of the thoughts that went though our heads as this song played out. In fact I was just trying to place myself in Tweedy's shoes by considering his past and possible the reasons why he wrote the song. I mean it certainly would be alot easier to have Tweedy tell us what the song is about, but when your outside looking it, you have to at least explain your reasoning for why you think he says the lines he sings. Finnally the forum isn't offering hard facts, but merely peoples ideas. So if you could do us a favor and lose the attitude that would be great. Cause I'm sure you could have said that last comment with at least a kinder tone.
It's fun and interesting to listen to peoples wild imaginations but I'm kinda like jerky5, keep it real otherwise the world becomes a complicated illusion...
It's about getting high (Red-Eyed) and drunk well you're depressed (blue).