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Modest Mouse – Cowboy Dan Lyrics 16 years ago
Anyone think Cowboy Dan may be Isaac?

"Because Cowboy Dan's a major player in the cowboy scene
He didn't move to the city, the city moved to me
And I want out desperately"

Might be about someone (Isaac maybe?) who is important in their own way,
and how they live off that importance, always striving for more. Even though they really are nothing special.

"Well, Cowboy Dan's a major player in the cowboy scene
He goes to the reservation, drinks and gets mean
He hops in his pickup, puts the pedal to the floor
And says, "I got mine but I want more"
Because Cowboy Dan's a major player in the cowboy scene
He goes to the reservation, drinks and gets mean
He drove the desert, fired his rifle in the sky
And says, "God, if I have to die, you will have to die"
Cowboy Dan's a major player in the cowboy scene
He goes the the reservation, drinks and gets mean
He didn't move to the city, the city moved to me
And I want out desperately"

Love these line most :D
He is trying to drive, but he can't get his engine to turn over.
Even if he wasn't to drunk to drive, he still couldn't do anything.
Metaphor for feeling trapped in life without being able to do anything, even if one did stop making stupid descions?

"
Can't do it, not even if sober
Can't get that engine turned over
Can't do it, not even if sober
Can't get that engine turned over
No, no, not even if sober
Can't get that engine turned over"

Not sure about the tall grass?

"Standing in the tall grass
Thinking nothing
You know we need oxygen to breath
Oxygen to breath
Standing in the tall grass
Thinking nothing
You know we need oxygen to breath
Oxygen to breath"

Saying that for all the good dan has tried to do nothing has happened worthwhile.

"Every time you think you're walking
You're just moving the ground
Every time you think you're talking
You're just moving your mouth
Every time you're looking
You're just looking down"

Repeat to end.

submissions
Modest Mouse – The Whale Song Lyrics 16 years ago
Love this song, favorite on the new EP. Just makes me think of Modest Mouse when Isaac really seemed to enjoy his music.

Maybe he is saying he feels trapped, wishes he got out before it got away from him?

"I guess I am a scout
So I should find a way out
So everyone can find a way out"

Sounds like just the act of being famous, and these guys are pretty well known, and how he wishes he could go back to the way things where. They where happy and got what they wanted before he knew he didn't want it. (There are multiple references to the past in this album)

"They keep us in
To pull us out
I'm rising up
Wish I was sinking down
And it's not like
There was warning
We were happy
And it's not like
There was mourning
In the warning"

Repeat
Repeat

Not sure what the neighbor is, but repeating the idea of getting out before it was to late, more reference to a happier past.

"Instead of seeing a neighbor out
God, I wish I would've found a way out
It's the last time
We were happy"
Ever happy"

Repeat to end.





...
Maybe its about monkeys.

submissions
Modest Mouse – Perpetual Motion Machine Lyrics 16 years ago
Agree with this comment :D

submissions
Modest Mouse – 3 Inch Horses, Two Faced Monsters Lyrics 16 years ago
"I think the song runs in the rough progression of a story.

Starts with him doing something wrong or not accepted.
Tongue tip tied to the roof of my mouth
(Bad naughty little angels come rushing out)

Then goes to the reaction and general consequnce to those actions.
guess you guessed that I'd catch hell
(I just caught a cold but now I'm feeling well)

Stating what he's heard. The irony is that it percieved as something good (living for ever) but in the next verse he says, don't wish that on me
I don't know but I been told
(You never die and you'll never grow old)

Someone who thinks he is on a bad path is wishing him a kind of luck, assuming living forever is a good thing. Replies sarcastically, with a kind of scolding that shows power.
You said, "I hope you live forever"
(Don't you wish that on me
You said, "Don't be clever")

Dunno.
Looked like we were photographed
(At gunpoint, so I had to laugh)

Repeat.
I don't know but I been told
(You never die and you'll never grow old)

The climax of the song, everything is coming to a head.
Watching and seeing what the two faced monsters actually do with their lives.
It's the big show, it's the big show
Three inch horses watching them drown
In the tar pit we're kneeling down
They see us talking out both sides of our mouthes




...
Our it could be something completely different

Two faced monsters
"

submissions
Modest Mouse – History Sticks to Your Feet Lyrics 16 years ago

I think this is talking about good times in the present, while someone is stuck in the past, and about some adventure to find the mystery in life now, not in the past.

"At the movies, eyes iced over
Walking sideways through them gutters
And you realize that the floor sticks to your feet like history
Well, don't you look at me like life don't hold you anymore mystery"

I think this is talking about how life gets difficult at times, and just hiding thinking of how things used to be doesn't change anything. Being optimistic doesn't change your troubles, just weather or not they really are troubles.

"Bag of splinters boiling over
On your back, expose your belly
Optimism doesn't change the facts
Just what you're gonna see"

Goes back to the present, walking, not even knowing where they are.
The adventure they go on in the present.

"Like it was stated that we're walking
Salt and coal
Plants solidify sunshine
How this start, I don't know
Cars and feet and then tire change, shoe stores
The sun's diary pulled up from deep canary holes
And when we read it our skin it becomes warm"

Repeat

Maybe talking about how the past was fun, all the time's where great, but he is ready for more.

"All those red marks on our shoulders
Self back-patting, homemade trophies
Well, the past only exist as tiny bricks we burn to release all it's memory
I've had enough with rolling boulders, I want more moss on me"

Saying shit happens to everyone but life goes on, just take what you can from the past and let it rest. Not sure about the snakes?

"Clocks to splinters, but time goes forward
And when them trees drop leaves your feet collect their memories
I guess all us snakes find our tail pretty damn tasty"

Repeated to end.
Love this album, great shit.

submissions
Modest Mouse – The Cold Part Lyrics 16 years ago
Maybe a departure from a previous life, the act of just leaving everything and everyone behind.
Doesn't want the blame for running, because the life was in a bad existence either way.

submissions
Modest Mouse – 3 Inch Horses, Two Faced Monsters Lyrics 16 years ago
I think the song runs in the rough progression of a story.

Starts with him doing something wrong or not accepted.
Tongue tip tied to the roof of my mouth
(Bad naughty little angels come rushing out)

Then goes to the reaction and general consequnce to those actions.
guess you guessed that I'd catch hell
(I just caught a cold but now I'm feeling well)

Stating what he's heard. The irony is that it percieved as something good (living for ever) but in the next verse he says, don't wish that on me
I don't know but I been told
(You never die and you'll never grow old)

Someone who thinks he is on a bad path is wishing him a kind of luck, assuming living forever is a good thing. Replies sarcastically, with a kind of scolding that shows power.
You said, "I hope you live forever"
(Don't you wish that on me
You said, "Don't be clever")

Dunno.
Looked like we were photographed
(At gunpoint, so I had to laugh)

Repeat.
I don't know but I been told
(You never die and you'll never grow old)

The climax of the song, everything is coming to a head.
Watching and seeing what the two faced monsters actually do with their lives.
It's the big show, it's the big show
Three inch horses watching them drown
In the tar pit we're kneeling down
They see us talking out both sides of our mouthes




...
Our it could be something completely different

Two faced monsters

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