| The Walkmen – Louisiana Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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To be honest, I don't think this song is upbeat at all. I think, in classic Walkmen fashion, it sounds really powerful and uplifting, but the message is much darker, creating almost a painful iron that they're so beloved for. I think the song is about a man getting overwhelmed with pressure. He talks about having his hands full and going on this trip or vacation or something, but while he's on this trip, everything still feels stressful and ominous, and nothing really gets better. The lyrics suggest and interrupted sleep schedule ("slept through half a day", "sleeping in the sun"), and nervousness about the future ("footsteps in the hall", "there's thunder and there's lightning a hundred miles off"). The trumpets in the interlude and at the end further contribute to the irony when you look at the song this way, and you can almost hear the strain that the singer is under. That's my take on it, anyway. I love the Walkmen, and it's entirely possible that I attribute more to them than they intend. But I'll be damned if they aren't one of the strongest lyrical bands around. |
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| The Walkmen – Emma, Get Me a Lemon Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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I think it's too easy to dismiss music as sexual or drug-induced. There seems to me to be a deeper meaning to this song than just someone being reluctant to go screw some women. In a nutshell, this song is about the banality that relationships can devolve into. The first verse details the singer asking a woman to get him a lemon or a lime, common peripheries for mixed drinks. He says he's going to "wait here," which means to me that he's not really engaged or interested, he's just waiting on a nice drink. The second verse has to do with keeping a dog from barking. Again, the singer wants something taken care of but is too disinterested to go do it himself. The line in the chorus "There's so many ways we can waste our time" just drives this point home. The singer feels that in the relationship he's just wasting his time, that all the fire is gone. The song details an old and passionless relationship. |
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