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Four Of Two Lyrics
Underneath a big clock at the corner of 5th Avenue and 22nd Street
I stood and waited for a girl I knew at the spot where we agreed to me
It was four minutes of two
At four of two I stood waiting for the girl
I was four minutes early for the date we had planned
I was planning to say I was in love with her
Just as soon as she showed for a two o'clock date
And the clock said four of two
At four of two I was staring into space
She was not yet late according to the clock
I was feeling nervous so I kept looking at the clock sticking out of the side of the building
And it still said four of two
At four of two I began to feel tired and I rubbed my eyes and again I checked the time
It seemed as if the sky was growing dark
But I felt reassured when I looked at the clock and it still said four of two
I laid my head down on the sidewalk so in case she were coming I would have a better view
But no one was there so I stretched out and closed my eyes for a second or two
It was four minutes of two
At once I awoke to a futuristic world
There were flying cars and gigantic metal bugs
I'd grown a beard it was long and white
But I knew that the girl would be coming very soon
For though everything had changed there was still that clock
And it still said four of two
I stood and waited for a girl I knew at the spot where we agreed to me
It was four minutes of two
I was four minutes early for the date we had planned
I was planning to say I was in love with her
Just as soon as she showed for a two o'clock date
And the clock said four of two
She was not yet late according to the clock
I was feeling nervous so I kept looking at the clock sticking out of the side of the building
And it still said four of two
It seemed as if the sky was growing dark
But I felt reassured when I looked at the clock and it still said four of two
But no one was there so I stretched out and closed my eyes for a second or two
It was four minutes of two
There were flying cars and gigantic metal bugs
I'd grown a beard it was long and white
But I knew that the girl would be coming very soon
For though everything had changed there was still that clock
And it still said four of two
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Such a poignant song. Unrequited love sucks, eh?
This kinda reminds me of Strong Bad's vacation at That Clock: "Ok, the best thing about this postcard is that if you look at the clock, that's the exact same time I first laid eyes on the clock, 2:55, and like...oh, wait, it's still 2:55--ok, the clock's broken, but still it's like the best thing I've ever seen in my life!"
I like this song, it's one of my favorites from that particular album. I like the Rip Van Winkle reference
According to John Linnell:
"It's about a clock that doesn't fucking work".
...and a girl who doesn't show up
...and a girl who doesn't show up
Originally the ending was considerably more grim (basically in the end the narrator is driven insane by all the waiting and strangles himself). But when they decided it should be on No! they naturally had to rewrite the lyrics but a bit.
I thought that the song might be about a mural of a clock...similar to the Strong Bad note above. I pictured the ending as him weakly lying on the ground as an old man next to the rubble of a building with the clock still painted on a piece of the wall that had fallen years ago. The clock would lying on top of a pile of rubble.
I always thought it was referring to how long it feels when you're waiting for someone to show up for a date.
to me the song means that Linnell was going to proposed to a girl but doesn't show up, but according to the clock, he's four minutes early. When it becomes dark he looks at the clock to see it's still four of two (obviously meaning it's broken or a mural). He then stays there for years and becomes an old man in the future and looks at the same clock (Still broken after all those years) and shows that he's four minutes early.
I'm not really sure if anyone above this post has alluded to this or anything, but...
the girl was on time. the song's speaker was late. ouch.