| The National – Humiliation Lyrics | 11 years ago |
| I always thought "I've got baby to pound me" was in reference to a girl having sex with him. | |
| The National – Wake Up Your Saints Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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Four of the things he says here stand out to me, as they are similar lyrics to his other songs: 1) "I had a hole in the middle where the lightning went through I told my friends not to worry" from "Anyone's Ghost" on High Violet 2) "But when I look out the window I see girls on TV Living and dying in L.A. and it means nothing to me" mostly from "Lemon World" on High Violet 3) "You know you never should've listened to my father's advice" - something I see as a reference to "Karen" on Alligator 4) "I never tell my decisions to the ones I adore I just show up like a bible breather outside the door" - referencing "Demons" from Trouble will Find me (I know it came out later) Because of these repeats of lyrics, or references to other songs, I have to view this in the same light that I view a Jon Foreman song, such as "Vice Verses" or "Free"... where a poet goes through the same questions over and over again searching for answers to the same questions he has been asking for years. I think many listeners hear a song, and assume that the writer has put these questions out into the world, and in doing so, figured out the solutions. In most cases, I think they live their whole lives searching for the answers, and the songs become repetitive, if not in words, at least in meaning. Back to the above lyrics... 1) Questioning a girl's intentions and why they act the way they do, and how no man wants to be part of a girl's haunted past, but rather a part of their blessed present 2) In Lemon World, he is referencing war, and in this case, it seems more of a war within one's self, and the actual fakeness and distance of the things that happen in LA, or on TV 3) In Karen, he says they should ask her father for advice on changing the ways of a wayward soul... Here, I think he says they shouldn't have asked him, because they followed the advice, but it didn't work 4) "I am secretly in love with, everyone that I grew up with"... but I don't have what it takes to be open and honest with them about everything I feel, I just show up out of the blue when I need them or when it is convenient, without worrying if they are prepared for the visit or not I guess in the end, this song probably contains about 20 meanings, and I don't think I could ever figure them all out... He is a very talented writer... |
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