| Bright Eyes – Cartoon Blues Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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You were very quick to respond. You deserve a hearty round of applause for that; it’s no small thing, mind you. Sadly, I’ve seen lyrics languish in neglect and inattention for months, even years on end; they wait, lost and alone in the vastness that is cyberspace, always faithful and intrepid, never imploring, though riddled with typos and misheard lines they may be—errors that are often made out of carelessness, but that are sometimes simply the result of the listener not using his or her “good ear.” So, on behalf of all the pock-marked refrains, the wart-strewn verses, the boil-littered bridges, and, above all, those wretched long-suffering songs whose entire bodies are ravaged with open sores, I extend a sincere thank you. With that said, back to the lyrics we go. Although I too am frequently peeved when trying to interpret the “swallowed syllables” and poor enunciation of some singers (this is doubly frustrating when listening to a song in a language (French, Spanish) one has little experience with), I’ve come to appreciate these little quirks, these idiosyncrasies of the spoken word. After all, what would some singers be without their southern drawl or their trademark slur? Notice that, inexplicably, Conor Oberst says, almost beyond a shadow of a doubt, “So I sleep with the fan on to drowned (to drowned!? An infinitive with a past tense ending! Oh, Lord!) out the street.” These odd little mistakes, whether intentional or completely unplanned, used to grate my ears in the extreme, but they now make me love the songs and the lines in which they occur all the more (this line in particular, because I myself do the very same thing every night for roughly the same reason). Another example: I fell in love with the wonderful “If You Rescue Me (Chansons des chats)” from the Science of Sleep soundtrack (It’s a remake of “After Hours” by the Velvet Underground, which is equally charming) upon first listening, but after a second and third listening, I noticed that, once again, unexplainably, Linda Serbu, who after watching a video of her on YouTube one might be inclined to think is slightly insane (Adopt a cat…it’s better than crack.) (she means well, she really does), speaking from the point of view of a cat down on its luck, says “Oh, the cars drive so fast, and the people are mean, and sometimes it’s so hard to find foon” (whereas any native English speaker worth his or her weight in salt would’ve said “food” with a nice crisp click of the tongue, or at least a half-hearted effort to produce something resembling the sound of a “d”). Well, I’ve begun to digress again, so I’ll try to wrap this up. Upon a second reading, I noticed a couple more mistakes in your post—don’t worry, they’re only minor errors. “So I asked like a child, “May I be exCused”—you’re missing the C. Also, I believe “tumour” is spelled “tumor,” without the U, unless that’s some sort of British or alternate spelling(?) (Now that I come to think of it, I believe it is a British spelling. Are you British? Is this site British? If so, let's allow it to remain). Regarding the “and time will win the world/in time we’ll win the world” line, either of us could be right, so let’s let it be until we can get our hands on an official copy of the lyrics. I also enjoyed the “Padraic My Prince” reference; “Padraic My Prince is underrated, no? There’s so much raw emotion in it, fiction thought it is. I’m torn between this song and “Four Winds” as to which is my favorite. It’s been fun helping out. Until next time. |
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| Bright Eyes – Cartoon Blues Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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This may be nitpicking, but I believe he says "I listened to a lecture"--past tense. If it were present tense, then he'd probably say "he says" rather than "he said" in the following line. In the version I have, which is from the Four Winds EP, he says "Now my days are distractions, sit wringing my hands," not "they brim in my hands." I'm not sure whether you misheard him or if you transcribed the lyrics from a live version. Also, I think it may be "In time we'll win the world," but this one I'm less sure about, as it doesn't make much sense to me. Win the world like a failed revolution? What's that mean? By the way, how'd you figure out the line "which one's your good ear"? I must've listened to that lyric a dozen times to no avail. The closest I got was something along the lines of "with one jokered ear". Thanks a lot for posting this song. It's one of the best on the new EP. |
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