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,
Ooh, ooh
Ooh, ooh
Ooh
I don't know why I feed on emotion
There's a stomach inside my brain
I don't wanna be heard, I wanna be listened to
Does it bother anyone else that someone else has your name? (Oh)
Does it bother anyone else that someone else has your name, your name?
I scream, you scream
We all scream, 'cause we're terrified
Of what's around the corner
We stay in place
'Cause we don't wanna lose our lives
So let's think of something better
Down in the forest, we'll sing a chorus
One that everybody knows
Hands held higher, we'll be on fire
Singing songs that nobody wrote
My brain has given up, white flags are hoisted
I took some food for thought, it might be poisoned
The stomach in my brain throws up onto the page
Does it bother anyone else that someone else has your name?
Does it bother anyone else that someone else has your name?
I scream, you scream
We all scream, 'cause we're terrified
Of what's around the corner
We stay in place
'Cause we don't wanna lose our lives
So let's think of something better (better)
Oh
Down in the forest, we'll sing a chorus
One that everybody knows
Hands held higher, we'll be on fire
Singing songs that nobody wrote
Quickly moving towards the storm, moving forward, torn
Into pieces over reasons of what these storms are for
I don't understand why everything I adore
Takes a different form when I squint my eyes
Have you ever done that? When you squint your eyes
And your eyelashes make it look a little not right
And then when just enough light comes from just the right side
And you find you're not who you're supposed to be?
This is not what you're supposed to see
Please, remember me? I am supposed to be
King of a kingdom, or swinging on a swing
Something happened to my imagination
This situation's becoming dire
My tree house is on fire
And for some reason I smell gas on my hands
This is not what I had planned
This is not what I had planned
Down in the forest, we'll sing a chorus
Hands held higher, we'll be on fire
Singing songs that nobody wrote
Down in the forest, we'll sing a chorus
One that everybody knows
Hands held higher, we'll be on fire
Singing songs that nobody wrote
Hands held higher, we'll be on fire
Hands held higher, we'll be on fire
Ooh, ooh
Ooh
I don't know why I feed on emotion
There's a stomach inside my brain
I don't wanna be heard, I wanna be listened to
Does it bother anyone else that someone else has your name? (Oh)
Does it bother anyone else that someone else has your name, your name?
I scream, you scream
We all scream, 'cause we're terrified
Of what's around the corner
We stay in place
'Cause we don't wanna lose our lives
So let's think of something better
Down in the forest, we'll sing a chorus
One that everybody knows
Hands held higher, we'll be on fire
Singing songs that nobody wrote
My brain has given up, white flags are hoisted
I took some food for thought, it might be poisoned
The stomach in my brain throws up onto the page
Does it bother anyone else that someone else has your name?
Does it bother anyone else that someone else has your name?
I scream, you scream
We all scream, 'cause we're terrified
Of what's around the corner
We stay in place
'Cause we don't wanna lose our lives
So let's think of something better (better)
Oh
Down in the forest, we'll sing a chorus
One that everybody knows
Hands held higher, we'll be on fire
Singing songs that nobody wrote
Quickly moving towards the storm, moving forward, torn
Into pieces over reasons of what these storms are for
I don't understand why everything I adore
Takes a different form when I squint my eyes
Have you ever done that? When you squint your eyes
And your eyelashes make it look a little not right
And then when just enough light comes from just the right side
And you find you're not who you're supposed to be?
This is not what you're supposed to see
Please, remember me? I am supposed to be
King of a kingdom, or swinging on a swing
Something happened to my imagination
This situation's becoming dire
My tree house is on fire
And for some reason I smell gas on my hands
This is not what I had planned
This is not what I had planned
Down in the forest, we'll sing a chorus
Hands held higher, we'll be on fire
Singing songs that nobody wrote
Down in the forest, we'll sing a chorus
One that everybody knows
Hands held higher, we'll be on fire
Singing songs that nobody wrote
Hands held higher, we'll be on fire
Hands held higher, we'll be on fire
Lyrics submitted by bookhouseboy23, edited by fr0st2k
Forest Lyrics as written by Tyler Joseph
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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i agree with most of these comments however i feel like i should add one thing. the rap should be reviewed once again.
"quickly moving towards the storm moving forward torn into pieces over reasons of what these storms are for" im not 100% sure but it seems like he is saying that he left his forest, his happy place, and now its harder to get back there. so now he is walking into the storm & he is coming apart. he isnt mainly coming apart because of the storm itself, he is coming apart after trying to fix the storm.
"i dont understand why everything i adore takes a different form when i squint my eyes" i guess you could say his forest is like his car radio was. it distracted him from the bad aspects of life & when it was gone, he had time to think. now that he is outside of the forest, he is thinking. his forest also blinded him (like the effect of rose colored glasses: where you can only see what you want to see aka the good). when he was in the forest he could only see the good aspects & now that he is outside of the forest, he isnt blinded anymore.
"have you ever done that where you squint your eyes & your eyelashes make it look a little not right & then just enough light comes from just the right side & you find youre not who youre supposed to be?" still outside of his forest, he is now seeing everything so clearly now & he finds out that the person that he has been all of his life is not who he is supposed to be
"this is not what youre supposed to see please remember me i am supposed to he king of a kingdom swinging on a swing" he isnt supposed to be the person he thought he was. he is worth more
"something happened to my imagination this situations becoming dire" his imagination was what was blinding him. he is saying now it is gone & the situation is real and clear.
"my treehouse is on fire & for some reason i smell gas on my hands this is not what i had planned this is not what i had planned" he realised that he had caused this storm involuntarily & he wants to go back to his forest where everything was good