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,
In the garden district
Where the plants grow strong and tall
Behind the bush there lurks a girl
Who makes them strong and tall
The villagers call her
Quicklime girl behind her back
Quicklime girl behind the bush
Quicklime girl
She's the mistress of the salmon salt
Quicklime girl
Quicklime girl
Quicklime girl
In the fall when plants return
By harvest time she knows the score
Ripe and ready to the eye
Yet rotten somehow to the core
And they call her
Quicklime girl behind her back
Quicklime girl behind the bush
Quicklime girl
She's the mistress of the salmon salt
Quicklime girl
Quicklime girl
Quicklime girl
A harvest of life a harvest of death
One body of life one body of death
And when you've gone and choked to death
With laughter and a little step
I'll prepare the quicklime, friend
For your ripe and ready grave
For your ripe and ready grave
It's springtime now and cares subside
And the plannings almost done
And fertile graves it seems exist
Within a mile of that Duke's joint
Where Coast Guard crews still take their leave
Quite listless in the sun
And the Quicklime girl still plies her trade
Reduction of the many from the one
And they call her
Quicklime girl behind her back
Quicklime girl behind the bush
Quicklime girl
Well she's the mistress of the salmon salt
Quicklime girl
Quicklime girl they call her
Quicklime girl
A harvest of life a harvest of death
Resumes its course each day
It comes as if by schedule
A harvester lifts his arms to the rain
The toes that crawl
The knees that jerk
The necks like swans that seem to turn
As if inclined to gasp or pray
Where the plants grow strong and tall
Behind the bush there lurks a girl
Who makes them strong and tall
The villagers call her
Quicklime girl behind her back
Quicklime girl behind the bush
Quicklime girl
She's the mistress of the salmon salt
Quicklime girl
Quicklime girl
Quicklime girl
In the fall when plants return
By harvest time she knows the score
Ripe and ready to the eye
Yet rotten somehow to the core
And they call her
Quicklime girl behind her back
Quicklime girl behind the bush
Quicklime girl
She's the mistress of the salmon salt
Quicklime girl
Quicklime girl
Quicklime girl
A harvest of life a harvest of death
One body of life one body of death
And when you've gone and choked to death
With laughter and a little step
I'll prepare the quicklime, friend
For your ripe and ready grave
For your ripe and ready grave
It's springtime now and cares subside
And the plannings almost done
And fertile graves it seems exist
Within a mile of that Duke's joint
Where Coast Guard crews still take their leave
Quite listless in the sun
And the Quicklime girl still plies her trade
Reduction of the many from the one
And they call her
Quicklime girl behind her back
Quicklime girl behind the bush
Quicklime girl
Well she's the mistress of the salmon salt
Quicklime girl
Quicklime girl they call her
Quicklime girl
A harvest of life a harvest of death
Resumes its course each day
It comes as if by schedule
A harvester lifts his arms to the rain
The toes that crawl
The knees that jerk
The necks like swans that seem to turn
As if inclined to gasp or pray
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Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
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No Surprises
Radiohead
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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
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“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.
American Town
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran shares a short story of reconnecting with an old flame on “American Town.” The track is about a holiday Ed Sheeran spends with his countrywoman who resides in America. The two are back together after a long period apart, and get around to enjoying a bunch of fun activities while rekindling the flames of their romance.
Page
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
There aren’t many things that’ll hurt more than giving love a chance against your better judgement only to have your heart crushed yet again. Ed Sheeran tells such a story on “Page.” On this track, he is devastated to have lost his lover and even more saddened by the feeling that he may never move on from this.
I've always wondered what this song is about. There's several things I've come up with.
My first inclination since Albert Bouchard was the writer, and he tends to lean toward sexual references, is that Quicklime may be a substitute for quick time girl. It says she "plies her trade" so she's getting paid for something. I was thinking that sailors "where coast guard crews still take their leave" hit her up for sex behind the bushes. "Where the plants grow strong and tall Behind the bush there lurks a girl Who makes them strong and tall" could be a reference to their erections. Mistress of the "salmon salt" and "reduction of many from the one" have always seemed like code for semen to me. Perhaps they spill their semen and feed the plants that way?
She perhaps is killing her victims too, since there are ripe and ready graves. With laughter and a little step, perhaps you fall into a hole in the ground?
There's one other literal possibility. Quicklime is an actual substance en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calcium_oxide "Because of vigorous reaction of quicklime with water, quicklime causes severe irritation when inhaled or placed in contact with moist skin or eyes. Inhalation may cause coughing, sneezing, labored breathing. It may then evolve into burns with perforation of the nasal septum, abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting. Although quicklime is not considered a fire hazard, its reaction with water can release enough heat to ignite combustible materials." She could be burning her victims to death with quicklime, or it could even be a drug dealer reference. Since the lyrics mention gasping, and choked to death perhaps they're smoking something intended to be a drug, and it's actually poison, or perhaps they're just junkies dying from her drugs. Also, Quicklime is used to make cement, so she could be burying victims in cement too.
Another thing about the plants growing tall, is that she could be feeding actual plants with the corpses of her victims.
I believe she's a prostitute, and she lures sailors in with sex behind the bushes, and she kills them, and feeds the plants. I don't really think the drug reference makes sense if they are sailors. Sailors don't generally go off on drug binges.
I wish someone would give a definitive explanation to this song, as it's always made me wonder.