| MGMT – Alien Days Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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To me, it seems like the song criticizes modern society, and how we are betraying our natural tendencies and practices to participate in "alien days" "Sometimes the windows combine with the seams in a way that twitches on a peek [ I think peek makes more sense than peak ] at the place where the spirit was slain" - This one's a bit of a stretch, but I feel like the windows may be outlooks of life and the seams are what connects them, not entirely sure, but they unite in horror and "twitch" when they merely glimpse, or "peek", at "where the spirit was slain" (spirit here probably means will to live, and society is where it was slain) one foot leads to another - Life is causality, that which proceeds comes from what precedes night's for sleep, blue curtains, covers sequins in the eyes; that's a fine time to dine - Obviously saying that we should be sleeping at night, and not staying up. I think the 'dine' in this context refers to consuming of information or recollection. divine who's circling, feeding the cards to the midwives - Honestly no idea what this line mines who love those alien days, the nonstop alien days, mmm the alien days - I feel like the "Alien days" refer to modern lifestyle where we are living regularly day to day "alienated" from our tribal heritage and trying to detach ourselves from our natural tendencies. "must've skipped the ship and joined the team for a ride a couple hours to learn the controls and commandeer both my eyes" - Perhaps the ship represent the biosphere as a whole, and the team is humanity. The part where it talks about learning the controls reinforces our "alien" lifestyles where we use technology and must adjust to operating it. be quick dear, times are uncertain, one month crawling, next year blurring decades in the drain - Obviously a reference the finiteness of life, though the style seems like something a parent would say, and perhaps mocks the urgency to live in our culture monograms on the brain decide what's working and what's moved on to the last phase - Probably a statement about prototyping and experimenting, whereby we use symbols or "monograms" to represent physical phenomena when the peels are down it feels like traveling in style - May be referring to convertibles, which are typically owned by the rich, though at the end of the day they are just cars all the same. you don't need wings to hover forty ton stones for a mile - A reference to modern architecture, speaking of feats which were previously unthinkable. and in the summer, virgin visions - virgin visions may be visions of "virgin" or tribal life, as foliage and wildlife are active in the summer mindless humming - may be a reference to the tedious monotony of everyday life, or perhaps even the humming of engines and generators numbers can't decide if the day's supposed to smile - Likely referring to calendared holidays, or maybe weather forecasts, whereas in tribal-hood we didn't have such things and lived each day for itself today find infinite ways it could be plenty worse; it's a blessing but it's also a curse - there is a forced optimism on viewing our social roots and how we view "primitive" living to be unpleasant, but while we find solace in that, it also alienates us from our roots as well. those days taught me everything I know; how to catch a feeling and when to let it go - Not entirely sure, but likely an argument on how tribal people are more in tune with their feelings and instincts, or were at least less conflicted about their emotions how all the scheming, soulless creatures can't find dreamer's honey in the hive if it's right beneath the nose - Probably a reference to financial greed, specifically marketing, and how those who practice it miss out on the simple pleasures. MGMT have certainly criticized corporate control and operation in many other songs. and when the light is new the sky shows trembling cartoons - Not sure what new light is, perhaps dawn, but I feel the trembling cartoons refer to clouds and the shapes they form you don't need smoke to cover most of the world in a gloom - a final statement of how every is pessimistic and unhappy but here comes racer number 7 watch my fingers ripping out the lines if it looks like we could lose - kind of a shift compared to the last lyric, but I feel as though this line comes from a person who is trying to remove competition, and thus are greedy. |
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