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The Wonder Years – An American Religion (FSF) Lyrics 11 years ago
It's not a criticism of military culture. The entire album is about a struggle to live up to live up to a family legacy (or what he believes their expectations to be.) For instance, the repeated line "If I'm in an airport and you're in a hospital bed, what kind of man does that make me?" Or the line "Bury me at sea / Pretend it's all a bad dream" becoming "Bury me in the memories of my friends and family." Their last album dealt with finally breaking out of the suburbs, and this album is a concept album about the guilt you're left with after you actually leave.

So for me, the line "they're all paying for bullets to shoot at my feet" doesn't have anything to do with a military industrial complex, (which doesn't fit at all with the rest of the album) instead it calls to mind someone shooting at someone else's feet to make them "dance" by having to dodge the bullets. The guilt he's feeling from leaving is driving him to succeed for fear of letting down everyone he loves. Then, the following line makes sense. "Does that make you happy?" It's at once a bitter tongue-in-cheek jab, and a genuine heartfelt query: "Am I living up to what you want from me?" Or to borrow a line from the album's final song, "Am I enough for everyone?"

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The Wonder Years – You Made Me Want To Be a Saint Lyrics 12 years ago
Two interesting Get Up Kids references in the second verse. The most obvious is "I'll always hear you in the bass drum beat after 'I'll Catch You,'" referencing the stray bass drum beat at the end of that song.

But right before that, I'm almost certain the lines "I buried half of a decade there
It was the better part" is a reference to The Get Up Kids song "Better Half," specifically the line "I saw my better half for the better half of a decade." (especially considering the "you would have caught the reference" line, followed by another Get Up Kids reference.)

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Motion City Soundtrack – L.G. FUAD Lyrics 12 years ago
"Forget-me-nots, marigolds and other things that don't get old" is a line from a song by The Promise Ring.

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The Get Up Kids – Tithe Lyrics 14 years ago
But I'm pretty sure it's "dirty bones"

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The Get Up Kids – Tithe Lyrics 14 years ago
Crap, wrong song. Disregard.

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The Get Up Kids – Tithe Lyrics 14 years ago
Actually a lot of this is wrong: http://www.daytrotter.com/dt/the-get-up-kids-concert/20054694-7400.html

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The Get Up Kids – Tithe Lyrics 15 years ago
Is it dirty bones or bombs?

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The Get Up Kids – Rememorable Lyrics 15 years ago
This is the most blatantly self-reflexive song on the album, almost a sequel to "Close to Home." In that song, they were lamenting the fact that their hometown would never come around to appreciating what they had made of themselves, and this is a rebuttal of those harshest critics that decry anything but a return to Something to Write Home About. This album is almost defiant in its refusal to align with people's desires for more hooky love songs, and this is the perfect track to end on, ending perhaps their most refreshing and energetic album with a staunch decree: They aren't going to fade away without a fight, so go fuck yourself.

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Weezer – Where's My Sex? Lyrics 15 years ago
Sorry "Can't Stop Partying," the title for most blindingly dumb Weezer song ever written has a new champion.

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Gavin Osborn – The Greatest Thing There Is Lyrics 15 years ago
Corrected a few mistakes:

Watching you when you're in the rain
Holding up your arms and letting water wash all over you
Running down your hair making rainbows in the street
And the patterns on your feet and on your shoes

I just love watching old films with you
Making a note of all the jokes you like
And laughing way to loud not at the jokes but at the fact you liked them
I guess you think I'm weird
You've got no idea

You're singing early Elvis rockabilly
Coming from the beat up car radio
And you don't seem to know any of the words
But you wind your window down and punch the air

I hear you in the other room
Brushing your teeth like it is the last time that you'll ever get to do it
Standing in your pants
What I would give to be that mirror in the bathroom right now

And I like myself when I'm with you
And I imagine what you do
When you are doing all the things you do to get ready for bed
Talking books filling your head
As you close your eyes

Oh if you could be inside my body
When I see you
When I hear you
When I touch you
Or just when I think that I might see or hear or touch you
Maybe you'd stop crying
Maybe you'd stop crying

And I write this not to say something
But because I've got something important to say to you
F. Scott Fitzgerald said that,
I couldn't come up with that
But your the greatest thing there is,

Your the greatest thing there is,
I came up with that,
So this one's for you

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The Get Up Kids – Wings and Wheels Lyrics 16 years ago
This is exciting stuff! For those who don't know, this song is a recently released demo from back when the band was still trying to find someone to produce On a Wire. There were five brand-new songs found in this batch of demos, and they're pretty great.

I've started a repository for Get Up Kids bootlegs, demos, and rare tracks/video (OK-ed by Matt Pryor himself) over at getupkidsarchive.blogspot.com. This is there, as well as plenty of other stuff. Please check it out, and send me an email if you have something I don't! The site is kept alive by people like you letting us share it with fans all over the world, and you will receive credit. Thanks!

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The Get Up Kids – Through the Haze Lyrics 16 years ago
This is exciting stuff! For those who don't know, this song is a recently released demo from back when the band was still trying to find someone to produce On a Wire. There were five brand-new songs found in this batch of demos, and they're pretty great.

I've started a repository for Get Up Kids bootlegs, demos, and rare tracks/video (OK-ed by Matt Pryor himself) over at getupkidsarchive.blogspot.com. This is there, as well as plenty of other stuff. Please check it out, and send me an email if you have something I don't! The site is kept alive by people like you letting us share it with fans all over the world, and you will receive credit. Thanks!

submissions
The Get Up Kids – My Photographs Lyrics 16 years ago
This is exciting stuff! For those who don't know, this song is a recently released demo from back when the band was still trying to find someone to produce On a Wire. There were five brand-new songs found in this batch of demos, and they're pretty great.

I've started a repository for Get Up Kids bootlegs, demos, and rare tracks/video (OK-ed by Matt Pryor himself) over at getupkidsarchive.blogspot.com. This is there, as well as plenty of other stuff. Please check it out, and send me an email if you have something I don't! The site is kept alive by people like you letting us share it with fans all over the world, and you will receive credit. Thanks!

submissions
The Get Up Kids – The End Is in Sight Lyrics 16 years ago
For those who don't know, this song is a recently released demo from back when the band was still trying to find someone to produce On a Wire. There were five brand-new songs found in this batch of demos, and they're pretty great.

I've started a repository for Get Up Kids bootlegs, demos, and rare tracks/video (OK-ed by Matt Pryor himself) over at getupkidsarchive.blogspot.com. This is there, as well as plenty of other stuff. Please check it out, and send me an email if you have something I don't! The site is kept alive by people like you letting us share it with fans all over the world, and you will receive credit. Thanks!

submissions
The Get Up Kids – All Eyes on the Liar Lyrics 16 years ago
This is exciting stuff! For those who don't know, this song is a recently released demo from back when the band was still trying to find someone to produce On a Wire. There were five brand-new songs found in this batch of demos, and they're pretty great.

I've started a repository for Get Up Kids bootlegs, demos, and rare tracks/video (OK-ed by Matt Pryor himself) over at getupkidsarchive.blogspot.com. This is there, as well as plenty of other stuff. Please check it out, and send me an email if you have something I don't! The site is kept alive by people like you letting us share it with fans all over the world, and you will receive credit. Thanks!

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Say Anything – Yellow Cat (Slash) Red Cat Lyrics 16 years ago
I think that's simplifying it. Max's state had less to do with his drug use and more to do with his severe bipolar disorder and anxiety. Like someone else said before, I think this song is very much about his struggles to retain a sense of self despite his madness. He's upset with where he is and everyone who surrounds him, while at the same time he is consumed by fear, anxiety, cynicism and sexual frustration.

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Ludo – The Horror Of Our Love Lyrics 16 years ago
Actually, parody is NOT necessarily meant to be funny. It's supposed to exaggerate certain elements of something to create an over-blown version of it, which this does.

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Midtown – So Long As We Keep Our Bodies Numb We're Safe Lyrics 16 years ago
I really like this song, but I HATE the ending. I mean, for the first minute or so it's fine, but really? Ten minutes of the same four bars?

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that a long outro is bad, or repetition is bad. But it's over-long repetition with no purpose. Any statement they're trying to make could have been made in a shorter amount of time without beating it into our head. Even "Goodbye Sky Harbor," a song mentioned above, begins varying vocal, organ and guitar parts. (Although it's still similar enough that I don't usually listen to the entire song).

And repetition isn't a bad thing either. For instance, take "Alec Eiffel" by The Pixies. The end of that song repeats the same phrase, with the guitar and bass parts playing the same thing over and over. However, each time, the drummer plays something different, which places different emphasis on the lyrics, even though he's singing it exactly the same each time.

Or "Woods" by Bon Iver. That entire song is the same four-line phrase repeated over and over with NO instrumental backing. However, as the song progresses, not only does the primary vocal line variate melodies, but it keeps adding new layers of vocal tracks until by the end it is a cavernous, booming chorus. It's a really amazing effect that actually does something spectacular, unlike this song.

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Midtown – So Long As We Keep Our Bodies Numb We're Safe Lyrics 16 years ago
I really like this song, but I HATE the ending. I mean, for the first minute or so it's fine, but really? Ten minutes of the same four bars?

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that a long outro is bad, or repetition is bad. But it's over-long repetition with no purpose. Any statement they're trying to make could have been made in a shorter amount of time without beating it into our head. Even "Goodbye Sky Harbor," a song mentioned above, begins varying vocal, organ and guitar parts. (Although it's still similar enough that I don't usually listen to the entire song).

And repetition isn't a bad thing either. For instance, take "Alec Eiffel" by The Pixies. The end of that song repeats the same phrase, with the guitar and bass parts playing the same thing over and over. However, each time, the drummer plays something different, which places different emphasis on the lyrics, even though he's singing it exactly the same each time.

Or "Woods" by Bon Iver. That entire song is the same four-line phrase repeated over and over with NO instrumental backing. However, as the song progresses, not only does the primary vocal line variate melodies, but it keeps adding new layers of vocal tracks until by the end it is a cavernous, booming chorus. It's a really amazing effect that actually does something spectacular, unlike this song.

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The Protomen – The Hounds Lyrics 16 years ago
I think you're right for the most part, except for the "who turned this city on." I think it's far more literal than that. He turned the city on, "plugged this city in," by creating the machines. He says "If you think that you can run, if you think that you can stand Well, you forget who turned this city on
You forget who plugged this city in." He helped create the machines, and he already holds that power over them.

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The Get Up Kids – Let the Reigns Go Loose Lyrics 16 years ago
I'm surprised there's not a lot of actual discussion about the lyrics themselves. This song is essentially the sequel to "Close to Home" from Something to Write Home About, in that it's a song about the fact that despite being one of the most respected and popular second-wave emo bands, they never got any recognition in their hometown.

They actually remarked at their farewell show in 2005 that the song was about "our fair city," and that the "Valentine" in the song is actually a reference to Valentine Road, the street they grew up on and played their "last" show on. (Not so "last" now, anyway.) Having lived in Kansas City, it's a truly strange phenomenon. Not even many of the hipster kids there know of this band, even though they've influenced so much popular music today, and if you ask any fan of the genre in most any city in the country if they've heard of The Get Up Kids they would say yes.

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Brokencyde – Freaxxx Lyrics 16 years ago
This is perhaps one of the worst songs ever written. It would be hilarious if it were meant as a joke, but the fact that they take their "music" so seriously is troubling, both for them and anyone who enjoys it. I keep hoping that the band members are all psych students, and this is all one big social experiment.

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Attack Attack! (USA) – Stick Stickly Lyrics 16 years ago
Yeah, this song is fucking awful.

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The Get Up Kids – No Love Lyrics 17 years ago
To be clear, tommyhaych doesn't know what he's talking about. Nobody sued anybody. The use of the lyric and melody was meant as a tribute, and Matt Pryor was thanked and attributed in the liner notes of the album.

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The Get Up Kids – Close to Home Lyrics 17 years ago
I got the GREAT opportunity to see their secret reunion show, and they played "Something to Write Home About" from front to back. Before this song, they explained the meaning, and Miss Chainsaw is the closest. They wrote this as a frustrated love letter to Kansas City. When they were first getting started, they experienced great success and acclaim from around the country, but they couldn't get anyone from their hometown to appreciate them. That's still true today. Throughout the nation they are lauded as harbingers of the mid-90's second-wave emo scene, but here in Kansas City few people have even heard of them outside of those most in touch with the music scene. I wasn't sure of the meaning before, but now that they explained it it's so clear to me. For instance;

"Every word you wrote down,
we read it over to know...
would they believe in us now?"

Expresses their anxiety and frustration at wanting the city they were raised in to appreciate their work.

There's no shame like no sound
from sources hits close to home.

This is expressing that their greatest "shame" is that even if they can amass fans from across the country, they can't get noticed in their hometown. That "hits close to home" (also a dual meaning, in that they can't make any "hits" in their hometown.)

We know you'll never be there.
We're not waiting forever,
but if you get out we'll see you there.

I see this as speaking to two different entities; The first two lines to the city in general, expressing their loss of belief in their hometown, and feelings that they will never come around to them. The third line is to potential fans. If they manage to get out of Kansas City, they they will surely discover their music, and they will "see them there".

Maybe we had all you figured out
absolutely wrong.
There's been a misunderstanding
we've had all along.
You can read about it when we're gone.

This is them saying that maybe they had misjudged their city. They started off at a time when the music scene in Kansas City was thriving, producing bands like Coalesce, Boy's Life and others (including Puddle of Mudd, which I understand was actually great back in the day before they drastically changed their sound for the worse.) However, over the past decade the music scene has all but died off. There are some great bands and artists, but there is no cohesive local "scene". They're saying that maybe that period in time they experienced was an anomaly, and that it shaped their perceptions of the city.

But I think that the most telling and eerily accurate part is the final line, "You can read about it when we're gone". Of course when this was written they had no plans of a breakup, but rather they were fearing that they would fade away and become a slight mark in the local history books. But rather, after they broke up in 2005, they had truly made their mark on music as a whole, all the while never being greatly noticed by their hometown.

Sorry for the huge thesis, but after they explained it at the show, I had a sudden realization I thought I'd contribute.

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Reggie and the Full Effect – F Lyrics 17 years ago
I added your changes. Thanks a lot man!

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Jack's Mannequin – Miss California Lyrics 17 years ago
No, I think this song is just straight-up about kidnapping someone. I mean, I don't see the marriage parallels so much, in part because of the "I hear she has a boyfriend" line. I think you're kind of grasping to justify the whole "when they can't find you" thing. I don't think it's trying to be some allegory for someone becoming someone different. I mean, how do you read the "they can't prove anything" line?

Plus, I think there's an interesting portrait of the person doing this. He's been infatuated with someone, but he's kept restrained. Then, as he loses his faith ("I called Jesus but he didn't check his phone today"), he starts descending into madness and ends up kidnapping this girl.

But yeah, not every song has to have some deeper, secret meaning making it actually a happy song. I think that it's a really fucking creepy song juxtaposed with an upbeat melody.

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Violent Femmes – Kiss Off Lyrics 17 years ago
I could be wrong, but I think it's "5 for my loneliness", not "lonely and".

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Reggie and the Full Effect – J Lyrics 17 years ago
Nevermind, it's on the new album ^_^

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The Get Up Kids – Take the Fall Lyrics 17 years ago
This is an early version of "In Your Sea", found when a collection of Guilt Show demos were *ahem* "borrowed" from Black Lodge Studios. However, the only thing really remaining from this version is the bridge, and even that's different in the final version.

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Weezer – Pork and Beans Lyrics 17 years ago
So apparently, Geffen heard their first cut of the album and made them go in for another session because there wasn't enough "commercial material" on the record, and this song was written in response to that. Makes sense to me.

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The New Amsterdams – Beautiful Mistake Lyrics 18 years ago
Actually, I disagree. I think this is written about Matt's time with The Get Up Kids. See, look at the first verse. In an interview in AP magazine during their farewell tour, they told a story about their first tour ever. Jim drove the van over a pothole and broke the manifold, so it started pumping fumes into the van. They had to drive from Kansas City to Chicago with the windows down (hence the "Breathe broken manifold") line. Then "part of my history" line, that's pretty obvious.

Then in the next verse, the line of "Long days full of bad notes" likely refers to when the band was first getting started

Then, at the end he says "I see clearly now, I never will escape. Once we took the time to make a beautiful mistake." I think that's the central theme of the entire song, which is to say that he's afraid that his long legacy as The Get Up Kids' frontman will overshadow any future endeavors, including The New Amsterdams, but he doesn't regret that time. Hence, "The Beautiful Mistake."

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Ludo – The Horror Of Our Love Lyrics 18 years ago
Haha, I love this song. Best as I can tell, it's a parody of all the goth-rock bands like AFI and My Chemical Romance. That seems to fall in line with their humor pretty well.

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Reggie and the Full Effect – J Lyrics 18 years ago
For those of you who don't know, this song, along with "G", was put up on Reggie's Myspace for about a day or two before being mysteriously taken down. However, I'm sure if you do some digging you can find them. They're very good, and they really show off James' hardcore roots, much like on "Songs Not to Get Married to".

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Reggie and the Full Effect – F.O.O.D. AKA Aren't You Hungary? Lyrics 18 years ago
This song belongs in the world music hall of fame, if not for the transition 50 seconds in.

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Andrew W.K. – Ready to Die Lyrics 18 years ago
Dude, emochris, get a sense of humor. Andrew W.K.'s music is all very tongue-in-cheek, a fact blatantly obvious in the song "PartyPartyParty." You gotta take it for what it is, man. You can love one without hating the other.

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The Get Up Kids – While You Were Sleeping Lyrics 19 years ago
This song is actually from a set of Guilt Show demos found on a secret site for a while after the CD was released. It Is indeed an early version of Martyr Me, but it is pretty much an entirely different song. It should be up on the soon-to-be-launched Get Up Kids Retrospective site, but if you don't want to wait, check on the Get Up Kids forums.

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The Get Up Kids – Dreaming Underwater Lyrics 19 years ago
Jeez, FINALLY this song gets accepted! For those of you who don't know, this song was an unreleased track meant to be on On a Wire. It was uncovered by an intern working at Black Lodge Studios, when he stumbled upon a cd entitled "Get Up Kids Demos." he snuck the CD out to his car, copied the tracks to his laptop, and returned the CD. He eventually released the tracks to varioius online sources, one track to each, telling each not to share it until the time was right. Finally, the time came, and thank god. This song, as well as the other demos, are absolutely amazing.

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Coheed and Cambria – Three Evils (Embodied in Love and Shadow) Lyrics 19 years ago
Jesse doesn't die in this song, because he dies in battle toward the end of Good Apollo at the hands of Wilhelm Ryan.

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The Get Up Kids – A Newfound Interest in Massachusetts Lyrics 19 years ago
*high fives Red Letter Day* Us MO folk gotta stick togetha, y'hurd?

Anyway, I totally agree with the emo thing. I cringe every time I hear someone call TGUK "emo," and will always correct them.

But as far as the song is concerned, I believe that this song was written before or after Matt (and the rest of the band, I think. Maybe not.) moved to Massachussets. At the last show, he commented on how he wrote "out of reach" while he was living in Mass, so it makes sense, especially when the lyrics are put into context.

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The Get Up Kids – A Newfound Interest in Massachusetts Lyrics 19 years ago
*high fives Red Letter Day* Us MO folk gotta stick togetha, y'hurd?

Anyway, I totally agree with the emo thing. I cringe every time I hear someone call TGUK "emo," and will always correct them.

But as far as the song is concerned, I believe that this song was written before or after Matt (and the rest of the band, I think. Maybe not.) moved to Massachussets. At the last show, he commented on how he wrote "out of reach" while he was living in Mass, so it makes sense, especially when the lyrics are put into context.

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