| La Dispute – Objects in Space Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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Powerful closer. The narrator lays out everything that holds meaning from their relationship and accidentally builds a sort of memorial out of it. "Found notes Camping supplies A book you bought in the desert “Identifying Wildflowers” Pictures from vacations From parties Kitschy gifts we bought from rest stops On that road trip out West Objects Everything itself And then memory" The book she used to identify the flowers on the road in SCENES. The kitsch they both collect from desert rest stops in Stay Happy There. "Where we were, where I was, where I thought we’d end up In this house or on the highway Driving somewhere near Christmas In the desert or anywhere else" More references. The narrator puts it all into boxes and eventually moves out. Some of them end up on the side of the road, some in the attic, as they push & pull him through the history of their relationship and maybe even to the storm in HUDSONVILLE & the 1981 parts of SCENES. Very powerful song. |
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| La Dispute – Scenes from Highways 1981-2009 Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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Edit - Can confirm the song switches perspectives from the narrator's parents (in 1981 maybe) and the road trips of him and his s/o. "Father alone on the highway" is a line from Extraordinary Dinner Party. The bosses daughter was possibly his mother, and the interviewee was his father. The baby is the narrator, as in HUDSONVILLE. |
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| La Dispute – Extraordinary Dinner Party Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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This song struck me as odd at first as it sounded almost happy which is something I had not expected one bit. "I thought of the day in a tie in the kitchen I sat and I watched you put make-up on" One of the memories he's thinking of after the collapse. "Thought of the day in the basement when I played house" For Mayor In Splitsville reference. "Saw my grandpa at his workbench building grandma’s bookshelf" This line is the #1 factor that tells me the baby in HUDSONVILLE is the narrator of this song. References the workbench. "Father alone on the highway" I actually hadn't noticed this line before - SCENES definitely switches perspective from the parents of the narrator and then to the narrator and his marriage and s/o. The narrator is the baby in that song as well. |
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| La Dispute – Woman (Reading) Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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Such a good song. Narrator of our story admires his s/o as he did in (In Mirror). The narrator is finally actually leaving and the relationship is almost entirely over. The other commenter nails it as for the home you build within another person. |
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| La Dispute – The Child We Lost 1963 Lyrics | 10 years ago |
| This song is one of the 2 left field songs (the other being First Reactions). It doesn't seem to have any connection to the storyline other than mental & emotional relation. | |
| La Dispute – Stay Happy There Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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Big big big reference filled song. Personally favorite as well. "If I could play back every moment to you now Spent lovesick and swollen on Mornings mincing garlic on the counter by the sink If I could hit the instant replay on only every good day Would any of it catch you by surprise?" If he could play back the memories they made in the house, all of the tiny dots. "When you say, "something is missing now" That's what came back to me Normal mornings like that set the knife down and forget where I'd left it Making breakfast Put coffee on the stove then scour every counter for the knife" In the moment of collapse, the morning mincing garlic came back to him - funny what you think of after a collapse. She says something is missing in the relationship, he starts to panic and tell her to just sit down at the table and be calm and talk to him about it. "But doesn't it seem a bit wasteful to you To throw away all of the time we spent perfecting our love in close quarters and confines? Isn't it wasteful? And I am terrified that it doesn't feel painful to me yet Somewhere on top of the high rise there's a woman on the edge of a building at the ledge And traffics backing up on 35" Doesn't it seem wasteful and awful to throw away everything they've built and experienced together (like all of the memories in the house). A woman is on the ledge of a building (referenced only in this song) and traffic is backing up on 35 because of the bridge collapse. "Somewhere a storm touches down north in Hudsonville" This is weird because the storm in HUDSONVILLE 1965 took place, well, in 1965. "Somewhere the coffee starts to boil on the stove and Somewhere the wind blows" The coffee in HUDSONVILLE boils on the stove as stated in the song multiple times. "Somewhere the river levels finally getting low" When I first heard this line, before the album came out, I was blown away that they referenced the chinese folklore Said The King To The River storyline, but alas - the river flooded from the storm and it's finally lowering. However the STKTHR theory is a neat take on it as well. "Says the city lacks the funds to fix the bridge" They can't afford to fix the collapsed bridge on 35. "And from here in the kitchen I can hear the neighbors in the alley hanging linens And the men collect the trash bins in the street You're speaking to me but I can't understand you The coffee is burning and All of the times that we spent That road trip out west Through desert for the rest stops the kitsch we both collect That winter the whole weekend we huddled by the stove The cabin I had rented The unexpected snow That visit for Christmas On television binges We'll see friends in Brooklyn Drive south to Richmond There's traffic on the bridge A woman on the ledge And everywhere the wind Everything is happening at once" References to all of the road trips they'd taken. References the desert, the Christmas trip, all of it. Then references the traffic on the bridge before it collapses, the woman on the ledge of the building, and the wind from the storm in HUDSONVILLE. Ridiculously perfect song. |
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| La Dispute – 35 Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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"I only know that the rent is still late" This line actually makes me believe it's during the timeframe of our main narrator. He was jobless and the rent was due, as stated in Splitsville. |
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| La Dispute – 35 Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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This throws me off a bit as well as it's not really clear as to when this occurred - in 1965 during the storm in Hudsonville, which would make sense, or just an event that occurred during the main narrator's marriage. Regardless, as stated it's mentioned in plenty of other songs - HUDSONVILLE, Splitsville. Stay Happy There. One big metaphor for failing, collapsing marriage. So it definitely applies to our main narrator/couple even if it doesn't take place during the same timeframe. |
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| La Dispute – For Mayor in Splitsville Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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Incredible song. "Funny what you think of after a collapse While lying in the dirt the first thing that comes back is never quite what you’d have guessed And if you could have, you probably would’ve said you’d check if all your limbs were intact still and Then try to get out" Collapse of relationship, collapse of bridge. Y'know. It's funny how things you'd never had thought of otherwise come to mind. Not sure what's going on with the limbs not being intact and trying to get out. "How he sort of smiled like it’s only a joke but he was lying There was something else inside of his eyes All those secrets people tell to little children Are warnings that they give them Like, “Look, I’m unhappy. Please don’t make the same mistake as me.” The dad comes in and tells him, basically, married life sucks. Don't ever get married. But that's not really what he says and he just kinda chuckles about how our narrator thought he had it bad in the game of house. "How you’re suddenly somewhere, in the desert, in the nighttime, and it’s getting close to Christmas And then her and that movie voice she uses when she reads, “Welcome to the Land of Enchantment” from a highway sign And it’s late so you take the next exit" Referencing one of the many road trips taken in an attempt to find somewhere or something to remedy their failing relationship (which has now basically failed entirely). In Stay Happy There, a visit for Christmas is mentioned, as are rest stops in the desert. "When that trip ended we came back the rent was due I was jobless I guess in retrospect I should’ve sensed decay" The narrator had apparently lost his job as well and should've sensed that the relationship was getting worse and they attempted to sort of bandage it by rearranging furniture. Like I said, incredible song. |
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| La Dispute – Scenes from Highways 1981-2009 Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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Where things get kind of confusing, not 100% as to if this applies to the main narrator or if it's just another kind of left field story but the implications of a decaying relationship makes me believe it is. "you were riding those nights on the highway always hiding out inside a songwriter's dream there like a scene from a song, "born to run" or maybe "running on empty" ones where they would leave certain nights when you'd fight you couldn't stick around" These & previous lines (and mainly the last one) make me believe when the couple would fight one of them would leave and drive. "certain nights when you'd fight it was fine but it shook you when the baby would cry why did you always turn around in the end? to hear the shattering of glass on the door again? so loud the baby couldn't sleep anymore? what didn't you find that you were looking for?" This completely fucks me up. The married couple, I believe, they don't have a baby - they definitely don't actually. So is it the main narrator's parents, as in HUDSONVILLE? Or just a completely random couple? The talks of falling for a daughter also lead me to believe it's not the main couple.. "somewhere you don't feel the hours pass by you identified the flowers on the road i rolled the windows down and shut off the radio" In Objects In Space, the narrator's s/o bought a book entitled "Identifying Wildflowers" which confirms the idea that this song applies to the the main couple/narrator. "i pulled over to the side and felt no time off the highway with the landscape aglow still not sure what we were trying to find i only know we went home" Mentioned in Stay Happy There, they go on road trips and such trying to find something to sort of remedy the failing relationship. Not sure what it was but they ended up giving up and going home. So this song either changes perspective or there's some real weird fuckery going about with this apparent baby. That and the hardware store interviews and falling for the bosses daughter, it totally throws me off. But the last couple lines absolutely apply to our main couple, who's relationship is now failing and they can't find a remedy on the roads. |
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| La Dispute – Woman (In Mirror) Lyrics | 10 years ago |
| Important song (although I find it to be rather slow and boring) as it takes us to the current couple in the house & our main narrator. The couple loves each other (and the narrator, as stated, is in complete adoration for the other s/o) and they build memories within the house. Small things like watching her get ready, and Thanksgiving dinner, were tiny dots on what he thought was to be an endless timeline - small memories that'd fill their long-lasting marriage. | |
| La Dispute – First Reactions After Falling Through the Ice Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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One of the two (First Reactions & THE CHILD WE LOST) left field songs on the album I think - that aren't really related to the main storyline except for relations emotionally and mentally, ie: "We took opposite steps Tried to even the stress Picked a safe direction but You never know the way the ice thins" Kind of like what two people in a marriage would do (metaphorically of course). They tried to level the stress in the marriage and it failed. Crazy emotional song though and very cool concept. |
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| La Dispute – Hudsonville, MI 1956 Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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There are bridges over rivers There are moments of collapse There are drivers with their feet on the glass You can kick but you can't get out There is history in the rooms of the house Total reference to the bridge on 35. The coffee maker hisses on the stove This is one of many references to coffee on the stove. So you went down to the back steps then to the basement There were bookshelf plans on the workbench And a flashlight shining bright all night Try not to think about your son and your wife And the lightning that scattered the night sky And the wind bursts that tore up the power lines At the workbench in the basement Where you sat and tried to wait out the night The workbench is references in Extraordinary Dinner Party as well which kind of leads me to believe that this is all occurring to the family of the narrator of that song's parents in 1965. Maybe meaning he was the child referenced? That actually makes a lot of sense. There are moments of collapse Like the bridge on 35. |
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