| Say Anything – Have at Thee! Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| The song is clearly about trying to trick yourself after a break-up that you're not at fault, so you can move on with your life. The funny, if not so tragic, part about this song is the whole song makes it so evident that it is Max's fault. He idolized this woman so much "Have at thee, empty God I've been leaning on," that he thought she was perfect and that she could do no wrong, so when she did end up failing in some way, it was a horrible transgression. As if somehow she had tried to make herself into this God that Max had created all by himself. It's kind of pathetic. He figured she was the answer to all his problems when that's not how love works. So when he screwed the relationship up by cheating on her (again fueled by his perception of this woman as a perfect being, feeling insecure, and undeserving, if you listen to the other songs earlier on in the album), he sought a refuge, that this perfect being would forgive him, but he was wrong, and so he drinks and makes excuses. | |
| Death Cab for Cutie – The Employment Pages Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| It's a party. He's going to a friends house in an urban part of town while his girlfriend is asleep (I assume she disapproves). "Rearrange the furniture" is a billiards term meaning to shoot in a way that sets up the balls favorably for you and unfavorably for your opponent. They make noise as party-goers do, and the neighbors ask to turn it down. He goes home after talking about stupid stuff like politics and other random stuff, and everyone is frightfully more aware of how pointless what they're talking about is. When he gets home his girlfriend is gone, and he calls around the house and the streets but doesn't find her. So he goes back to the party. | |
| Death Cab for Cutie – Company Calls Epilogue Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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My interpretation of the song is very similar to others, but I'd just like to break it down for everyone. "Synapse to synapse: the possibility's thin. I'm dressed up for free drinks and family greetings on your wedding, your wedding, your wedding date. The figures in plastic on the wedding cake that I took were so real." Our narrator is running through his memories, numbing himself (synapse, to synapse), and realizing that he has no chance at getting his old love back. He's dressed in a suit, or tuxedo, and is simply there to drink and numb himself while the woman he loves is getting married to someone else. The figures in plastic that he took represent his almost childish desire to ruin the wedding and tear holes in their love like the love he had was torn. "And I kept distance: the complications cloud the postcards and blip through fiberoptics, as the girls with pigtails were running from little boys wearing bowties their parents bought them: "I'll catch you this time!"" He kept his distance from her after they broke up while she kept him updated on all the great things happening in her life. The young girls and boys represent innocence in spite of the dark reality going on around them. "I'll catch you this time!" is indicative of the narrator's desire to win the bride back. "Crashing through the parlor doors, what was your first reaction? Screaming, drunk, disorderly: I'll tell you mine. You were the one, but I can't spit it out when the date's been set. The white routine to be ingested inaccurately." I'm not sure if this is during, or after the ceremony, but our narrator bursts out screaming, trying to tell her that she was the one for him and that he should be her groom, but that he simply couldn't say it when she had gotten engaged. The white routine, being the wedding, is played out wrong and is taken in inaccurately as opposed to how it maybe should have played out. "Synapse to synapse: the sneaky kids had attached beer cans to the bumper so they could drive up and down the main drag. People would turn to see who's making the racket. It's not the first time." This stanza is after his outburst and after they have kicked him out. He describes the car with beer cans attached to the back to rattle, saying "Just Married" on the back. Synapse to synapse represents yet again, his numbness. People would turn and look and see that the couple had just got married. It's not the first time it's happened (obviously). "When they lay down the fish will swim upstream and I'll contest, but they won't listen when the casualty rate's near 100%, and there isn't a pension for second best or for hardly moving..." The narrator imagines the bride and her newly married groom having sex, or "laying down." The fish swimming upstream being symbolic of impregnation. I'm not entirely sure how he would contest that, but maybe he means he'll contest his imagination, but "they," being his imaginary caricatures of them wont listen and continue on. The casualty rate being near 100% is a reference to pregnancy, more specifically sperm, as is the "pension for second best, or for hardly moving." The chorus is then repeated, and then acoustic chords, sans drums, are played as the final two lines of the chorus are sang. "You were the one, but I can't spit it out when the date's been set. The white routine to be ingested inaccurately." This represents his admitting defeat. At least, that's how I view it. |
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| The Fratellis – Everybody Knows You Cried Last Night Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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In my opinion, from hearing it, and from my (limited) experience, it sounds like he's calling a girl a whore and making fun of her, not talking about a literal whore. It sounds like he tried to woo her once and got rejected and now she's coming back to him and he's rejecting her and telling her she's a whore, which makes her cry. "Whistle for the boys now don't be shy Give us all a song and a reason why" It sounds like he's egging her on. He's kind of like, 'go on, show me I'm right.' "Baby got the bones and a hand me down Says her heart is black but her eyes are brown" I don't exactly know what the first line means. Maybe it's a reference to she got her whoriness from her mother or something, but the second one I think is a reference to the fact that she's trying to gain some pity. You ever meet people like that? Where they're like, 'Oh I'm such a terrible person!' Just to hear that they aren't. And you just want to go, 'Yes, yes you are a terrible person.' I think the eyes are brown thing alludes to the fact that she's so full of shit her eyes are brown. "Give the boys a flash and they'll love you so Give the girl some cash cause your mother said so" The first line is obvious, he's ironically naming the upside of being a whore and the second line names the downside of being chivalrous. "And take em out to look at the queen And any old girl who's in between" I don't exactly understand these lines. I don't know if he's comparing her to a queen and any ol' girl who's in between, or if he's just describing an odd date or something. I figure every time he says them, he means whores, and by whores, he means the girl. "Lay yourself down by the side of the bed Oh you naughty girl you know you tickle me red" And this is where he uses her. He also uses 'tickle me red,' which means she amuses him in how much he hates and despises her. Basically, he hates her so much, it's funny. "You look so dumb and you sound so twee And you can only wish that you was married to me" I don't know if he has sex with her at this point, or just gets her naked and leaves, but either way, he's embarrassed and degraded her. She thinks she loves him now, but he tells her she could only wish she was married to him. "Well, that's what you get Oh don't get upset" According to him, she deserved it. She shouldn't have acted like such a whore. "Ridiculous you Waiting in the queue oh whoopee doo" The first line is simple. But the second line can be taken in two ways. He could either be saying SHE was waiting in his queue, like another stupid girl he just uses. OR, HE could have been waiting in her queue. Basically like, she had rejected him prior, so he was just waiting for her to be open while she was serving everyone else. He ends it with 'oh whoopee doo,' which I figure means I decided to give up on her. "You could have been The best that I've seen" These lines represent the idea that she COULD have been with him, had she not been such a tramp and a bitch. "Under the red light Everybody knows you cried last night" And now she cries under the light of the fact that she's a whore, and I think he's bragging about it, or she's trying to ask everyone to feel sorry for her. "Give us all a go till your face turns red Little Greg said you went home instead" More whorish deviancy, but his friend Greg says she stopped. "If you stick around you'll get an alibi And we'll try and keep your pretty face bone dry" He's just mocking her attempt at trying to be clean again. Alibi are used by suspects, obviously, and so he's basically saying people will always suspect her of being a whore, and everyone can try to deny it, but it's always there. You have no excuse. "Rent a honey rent a honey one two three Chasing all the boys from your door cant be easy" He continues to mock her attempt to act clean again. She's developed the reputation and now she can't shake it. "Well, Ruby said you was wrecked But your was never well 'haved the last time I checked" The girl get's incredibly depressed (or she gives up and goes out for a night of whoring), and he doesn't care at all. I feel this is basically just a revenge song. Don't get me wrong. I love this song, and it makes me really happy that it exists. Some girls can be cruel, and sometimes they deserve a little cruelty back. I know a girl like this, actually, and she completely ruined me, and I really wish I could basically say all these things to her. But I'm too well mannered for that. |
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