| The National – Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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This ended up being very long but I think it's worth a read. I get some of the interpretations I read here, but I think most of them are ignoring a major theme in this song. I think this is about someone who is living in a very posh environment, as in a rich family or neighbourhood and doesn't fit in. Matt said vanderlyle is a word he invented which was to have a similar meaning to pennyroyal. Now pennyroyal means nothing, it's tea, but the sound of these word to me conveys something posh and high class. I think the first three lines are about wanting to escape, but the way your cake line is him finding himself once again doing as he's told. The second verse, with the chandeliers again is about that need to leave, hanging from chandeliers sounds to me like a a member of the high class "climbing the walls". Wanting out, not fitting in. But in the end the same walls will be there always. He refers to himself as a vanderlyle crybaby, and states that no matter how high the waters rise, or what surprises come up, the swans will be swimming, swans being in my mind this royal animal. I think the geeks are the people who are outside this world that he lives in, and he's explaining how most people like him do everything they can to stay in an environment like that, stringing themselves up and sacrificing everything to stay there. That's actually a recurring theme in matt's lyrics, line theory of the crows or racing like a pro and many more. |
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