Don't don't don't let's start
This is the worst part
Could believe for all the world
That you're my precious little girl
But don't don't don't let's start
I've got a weak heart
And I don't get around how you get around

When you are alone you are the cat, you are the phone
You are an animal
The words I'm singing now
Mean nothing more than meow to an animal
Wake up and smell the cat food in your bank account
But don't try to stop the tail that wags the hound

D, world destruction
Over and overture
N, do I need
Apostrophe T, need this torture?

Don't don't don't let's start
This is the worst part
Could believe for all the world
That you're my precious little girl
But don't don't don't let's start
I've got a weak heart
And I don't get around how you get around

No one in the world ever gets what they want and that is beautiful
Everybody dies frustrated and sad and that is beautiful
They want what they're not and I wish they would stop saying,
Deputy dog dog a ding dang depadepa
Deputy dog dog a ding dang depadepa

D, world destruction
Over and overture
N, do I need
Apostrophe T, need this torture?

Don't don't don't let's start
This is the worst part
Could believe for all the world
That you're my precious little girl
But don't don't don't let's start
I've got a weak heart
And I don't get around how you get around

I don't want to live in this world anymore
I don't want to live in this world

Don't don't don't let's start
This is the worst part
Could believe for all the world
That you're my precious little girl
But don't don't don't let's start
I've got a weak heart
And I don't get around how you get around


Lyrics submitted by Irrational

Don't Let's Start Lyrics as written by John Linnell John Flansburgh

Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.

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Don't Let's Start song meanings
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  • +1
    General Comment

    "The lyrics have been heavily analyzed by the band's notoriously obsessive fans for a full generation now, and although at its heart it is some kind of a love song (or perhaps a breakup song), no one seems to have come up with a satisfying explanation for most of the more obtuse lines. It’s possible that many may actually just be nonsense written to fit the music, a notion bolstered by John Linnell’s oft-repeated explanation that the song is about “not let’s starting” (figure that one out as a grammatical construction). Among the twists and turns, the song is most noted for some of its dark lines immediately juxtaposed with gibberish, such as:

    No one in the world ever gets what they want and that is beautiful. Everybody dies frustrated and sad and that is beautiful. They want what they're not and I wish they would stop saying, “Deputy dog dog a ding dang depadepa Deputy dog dog a ding dang depadepa.”

    D, world destruction Over and overture N, do I need Apostrophe T, need this torture?"

    nosurfmusic.com/nosurfvinylessentials/reviews/theymightbegiants-theymightbegiants/index.html

    TheMonolithon December 25, 2013   Link

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