The song lyrics were written by the band Van Halen, as they were asked to write a song for the 1979 movie "Over the Edge" starring Matt Dillon. The movie (and the lyrics, although more obliquely) are about bored, rebellious youth with nothing better to do than get into trouble. If you see the movie, these lyrics will make more sense. It's a great movie if you grew up in the 70s/80s you'll definitely remember some of these characters from your own life. Fun fact, after writing the song, Van Halen decided not to let the movie use it.
Blame it on the Tetons. Yeah, I need a scapegoat now.
No my dog won't bite you, though it had the right to.
You oughta give her credit 'cause she knows I would've let it happen.
Blame it on the weekends. God I need a cola now.
Oh we mumble loudly, wear our shame so proudly.
Wore our blank expressions, trying to look interesting.
Blame it all on me 'cause God I need a cold one now.
All them eager actors gladly taking credit
For the lines created by the people tucked away from sight
Is just a window from the room we're bound to.
If you find a way out, oh would you just let me know how?
Would you just let me know how?
Blame it on the web but the spider's your problem now.
Language is for liquid that we're all dissolved in.
Great for solving problems, after it creates a problem.
Blame it on the Tetons. God, I need a scapegoat now.
Everyone's a building burning
With no one to put the fire out.
Standing at the window looking out,
Waiting for time to burn us down.
Everyone's an ocean drowning
With no one really to show how.
They might get a little better air
If they turned themselves into a cloud.
No my dog won't bite you, though it had the right to.
You oughta give her credit 'cause she knows I would've let it happen.
Blame it on the weekends. God I need a cola now.
Oh we mumble loudly, wear our shame so proudly.
Wore our blank expressions, trying to look interesting.
Blame it all on me 'cause God I need a cold one now.
All them eager actors gladly taking credit
For the lines created by the people tucked away from sight
Is just a window from the room we're bound to.
If you find a way out, oh would you just let me know how?
Would you just let me know how?
Blame it on the web but the spider's your problem now.
Language is for liquid that we're all dissolved in.
Great for solving problems, after it creates a problem.
Blame it on the Tetons. God, I need a scapegoat now.
Everyone's a building burning
With no one to put the fire out.
Standing at the window looking out,
Waiting for time to burn us down.
Everyone's an ocean drowning
With no one really to show how.
They might get a little better air
If they turned themselves into a cloud.
Lyrics submitted by Grim713, edited by ApacheTomcat
Blame It on the Tetons Lyrics as written by Eric Judy Dann Gallucci
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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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"
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This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
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Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
Blue
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“Blue” is a song about a love that is persisting in the discomfort of the person experiencing the emotion. Ed Sheeran reflects on love lost, and although he wishes his former partner find happiness, he cannot but admit his feelings are still very much there. He expresses the realization that he might never find another on this stringed instrumental by Aaron Dessner.
Fuck anyone who calls modest mouse sell outs for having a popular cd. So what if they're on MTV? They fucking deserve it. The whole concept of "selling out" is bullshit. If a band has worked their ass off for ten years like MM has, and made some absolutely incredible music doing it, they deserve every fucking red cent they can get, and then some. I'm sick of people who want bands to spend their lives producing music, but then get pissed off and call them sellouts if they ever make any money at it.
OK... now that I got that out of the way- I don't like this song at all. And I don't think I'm contradicting myself here. It's just not a good song. Boring and kind of annoying vocal melody, barely anything interesting lyrically or musically. But the rest of the album is phenomenal, which is why I remain completely happy for MM and their MUCH OVERDUE success.
i agree with you in this particular context, that just because a band is popular does not make them a "sellout," but i do believe the term as applicable usage, for instance when a band betrays its roots specifically for money. popularity, and the acquisition of more money, does not necessarily imply this, but when a band loses depth in meaning for its songs because perhaps it's trying to appeal to a larger scale audience to sell more cds, that i would consider selling out. for instance, if a band swears a lot, but later it decides to censor itself specifically for the purpose of appealing to a wider range of people who may not like swear words, i would say that is one type of selling out, because the artist is no longer saying or singing what he or she really wants to say. that said, i would certainly not necessarily condemn a band or singer simply because i believe they have betrayed their roots. there are plenty of logical reasons for doing so, and it depends on what music means to you. it's essentially all interpretive. <br /> <br /> but i agree, the idea that just because a band has become popular or brought a video to MTV means they have sold out is normally propagated by the pricks who liked the band when no one knew about them and so they try to establish themselves as "true" fans who were there since the beginning, and thus "better" than everyone else. it's a misplaced sense of pride, and it's ridiculously juvenile.
how can you say theres nothing interesting lyrically here?<br /> Language is the liquid<br /> That we're all dissolved in<br /> Great for solving problems<br /> After it creates a problem<br /> <br /> Everyone's a building burning<br /> With no one to put the fire out<br /> Standing at the window looking out<br /> Waiting for time to burn us down<br /> Everyone's an ocean drowning<br /> With no one really to show how<br /> thats fucking poetic