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Clap Your Hands Say Yeah – Into Your Alien Arms Lyrics 14 years ago
Right on. It wasn't me, though, I just copied them from some Japanese site (not sure where they got the lyrics - maybe there is a book in the Japanese pressing), which I thanked under my correction for Ketamine & Ecstasy. I DID, however, listen to the recordings and make minor corrections where Alec had an obvious word change. I also added punctuation to my heart's content and altered their line breaks to fit my sense of poetry :]

submissions
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah – Ketamine and Ecstasy Lyrics 14 years ago
Ketamine and ecstasy
Your words are hanging in the trees
While the university just rises
Your last pursuit now deaf and mute
It seems that I will have to do
Me trying to hold onto you and
you trying not to put up a fight

Have I become a stranger to this country?
Was there ever even any country at all?
I want what you want of this you can be sure
Here comes the rain again
To wash away what we have learned

We'll find each other substitutes
And loose the dogs upon their shoes
You say the car can steer itself tonight
Morning arrives with the nightmare clouds
Devouring fter-hour crowds
Anyone can see we're meant to be where
we don't really belong

Have I become a stranger to this country?
Was there ever even any country at all?
I want what you want of this you can be sure
I want what you want of this you can be sure
I want what you want of this you can be sure
Here comes the rain again
To wash away what we have learned

thanks music.auone.jp

submissions
Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks – It Kills Lyrics 17 years ago
I always thought it was "a voluntary rest home with an extra you". I don't have the album sleeve, so I don't know what's official or not, though.

submissions
Faraquet – Song for Friends to Me Lyrics 17 years ago
I love this song. The trumpets rock.
But.. I know that most people consider this their least favorite from the album. I think the switching between 8/8 and 7/8 is what turns people off. Come on now, this song is sweet.

submissions
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah – The Sword Song Lyrics 18 years ago
This song is available on iTunes and the Japanese version w./ bonus track (not all Japanese versions have it, though)

submissions
Architecture in Helsinki – Heart It Races Lyrics 18 years ago
left off the "planet races the moon" part

submissions
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah – Some Loud Thunder Lyrics 18 years ago
I get the feeling there are a handful of characters here, and the album follows a main character from start to finish.


Our hero pours his heart out to a woman (emily jean stock)
But she turns him down (mama, won't you)
He meets another in the war (me & you watson) overseas
But they are separated when he's shot (love song).
He goes crazy, has psycho nightmares (satan said dance)
On his medical leave, he sees the futility of war, regrets the fighting, and misses home. (goodbye to mother and the cove)
So, once he's back, he mouths off to get himself discharged (arm & hammer) so he can be with her again.
But they're not welcome in the states anymore (yankee), like the Vietnam troops experienced hate
They decide to spend their lives in a boat on the sea (wet dynomite, underwater).
He reflects on his life there (five easy pieces), he's conflicted about the things he's done.
Visiting a (maybe a war buddy? maybe his own son feels so distant?) family, he has flashbacks. This song may come before 5EP)




I think the distortion is symbolism; it's symbolic of authority, or dissent to authority. The whole first song might be from the POV of a President, a war general. Maybe it symbolizes an uncontrollable force like a march to war. I don't think this song involves the main character. There's some violent imagery, which I believe is symbolic of terrorist threat, and how such scare tactics motivate negative reaction.

The war invades the life of our character in Emily Jean Stock. This is symbolized with the expanded drums and loudness between the verses. Maybe he is being pursued by the Army here. I think going to war may have scared Emily, and that's why she rejects him, even though media says the war is going well. He rejects her in return when he meets someone else (I will call her Amanda, see Arm & Hammer) in Love Song ("drop dead, Stock")

I think that Satan Said Dance is a hallucination or dream of the character. We hear the crippled elephant music during Mama, and of course again after Satan. I see that as showing that Love Song + Elephant are linked, and this is interjected in between.

Yankee is probably even more of a lash-out against war than Arm & Hammer is. I think the title "Arm & Hammer" represents the disconnect between a government (the arm, which swings) and it's military (the hammer, which is the acting force). It means that the government might not have a true or unclouded knowledge of what it's hitting, because it doesn't make direct contact with the enemy (nails).

I think that "Wet Dynomite" was written to be on this album, but was scrapped in favor of Underwater. These songs definitely go together. The "not one thing left to say" bit is referenced again in Sword Song, and they both mean no longer referencing the past.

Underwater is a song of peace, antithesis to Some Loud Thunder. Just to note, the arpeggio melody at the end of this song is hauntingly similar to the Sword Song arpeggio (different keys, though). Another note, the eBow melody fits well over Some Loud Thunder.



My tracklist fits "Me & You, Watson" between "Mama" and "Love Song"; "Wet Dynomite" between "Yankee" and "Underwater"; "The Sword Song" either last or 2nd to last, I can't decide yet.

submissions
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah – The Sword Song Lyrics 18 years ago
There's a man at the home where we are
Just a man, like I am -
Human head, human heart, insane
Armageddon - the same small step to heaven
He's gone too far, too far

Now can you remember the last day
When no one had nothing left to say?
And everything stayed just the same
Stayed just the same

Your little mission wasn't helping nobody?
Uh, didn't it help you?

Well, now
Tell me father, don't you bother now!
Here's my head, here's my sword!

Don't you bother, don't you bother now!
Here's my head, here's my sword!

(I know that "insane" sounds like it should be attached to armageddon, but Alec often drops words onto next-lines so they fit vocally)
I listen to this album way too much.
I tab Some Loud Thunder songs on clapyourhandssayyeah.net

submissions
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah – Me and You Watson Lyrics 18 years ago
Brackets differ among versions

The sound of the fog horn
[That/It] tears me from my sleep
I'm much too tired for the waking
But too wired for the sheep
And the anvil's on the table
And the sword is on the door
Now it's time to pick up bread crumbs
That you spilled upon the floor
Let's go!

Me and you, Watson
Me and you, Watson
Me and you, Watson
Me and you, Watson

Now I can't forget to put to put the pipe
In my mouth, for the smell will tell
The neighbors that I'm on the beat again
So please don't pause in any strange [and/or] darkened corners,
that's where I'm looking first
I'll rip the groceries from your arms
And empty the contents of your purse

Me and you, Watson
Me and you, Watson
Me and you, Watson
Me and you, Watson

This water's something salty
[Soil] In the backseat
[I know what, I know what he's got/but I better heed, please him]

Well the joke is on me,
as it somehow always seems to be
I went looking for some hard clues,
Of the inner-city trees
And [there was/you were] no one to be found
And [there was/you were] nowhere to be seen
And it's getting late at night
Now, what's this? Grab a cup of tea!

Me and you, Watson
Me and you, Watson
Me and you, Watson
Me and you, Watson

Now I'm sitting in my room again
Still waiting for your call
I got a blister on my forehead
For when I leaned against the wall
And my notebook's full of memories,
Too sad for when to tell about the time when you were next to me
[And] Shakin', shakin', shakin', shakin'

Me and you, Watson
Me and you, Watson
Me and you, Watson
Me and you, Watson

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