Truckers Atlas

Since no one else is commenting, I'm just going to say that "I don't feel and it feels great" is one of the best lines ever written.

Haha, this is my favorite modest mouse song. I've tried to analyze it pretty well, but I guess here's my last shot.

It's not a simple conclusion. It's an obvious one. This song is filled with symbolism.

The main idea of this song is that Isaac is a trucker. He is riding around with, possibly, a friend. The thing is, truckers are notorious for being involved with speedy drugs. Isaac is most likely selling ice to other truckers along the way, or at stops that he needs to make.

The beginning drumming is very sporadic and speedy, reminiscent of muscle spasms or jittering your legs.

"..to unload my head" You do ice and you get the clearest, most sober head in the world.

"sex on the rocks all warm and red" That imagery is pure bliss, euphoria, passion, heat.

"and we bled" Most likely nosebleed

"and the writing in the stalls said 'we write our maps in the stalls'" the 'we' who wrote on the stalls signifies either Isaac and his roadbuddies or truckers in general. This song has one main element, using a map as a surface for snorting. When you >draw< out a line of crystal meth, it can be thought of as "writing" on the map.
Drivers are snorting meth in the stalls of truckstop/convenience store bathrooms to keep them awake.

"I'm going to get off scot-fucking-free and we all did" Isaac made profit from selling ice of course. What better to do with the remaining product than use it for yourself and a road buddy? He's going to 'get off' on ice without having to pay. A good play on words makes this line seem like they're not getting into any trouble also.

"The buzz from the bird on my dash road locomotive phone" This lyric breaks down, literally, into this: The buzz is the incessant calling he is getting from customers. The bird (slang for a kilo of tweak) is causing the dash phone to buzz (or ring). All the tweakers want their shit, so they constantly call him. They know he's got a kilo. He's carrying a shipment, hence the 'road locomotive' description.

"I don't feel and it feels great I sold my atlas by the freight stairs" This is pretty literal. The atlas described here is his meth.

"I do lines and I cross roads I crossed the lines of all the great state roads" He snorts and travels..

"You got yourself a trucker's atlas You knew you were all hot, well Maybe you'll go and blow a gasket .. beeline you might drive three days and three nights to the tip of Florida" The 'trucker's atlas', here, again, isn't meant to be taken as a literal atlas. It is some amount of meth that the subject bought off of Isaac. Whoever bought it is getting cocky, he thinks he can snort it easily. Isaac's shit is (apparently) good. 'Blow a gasket' and 'b-line...' refer to the insane tweak the customer is probably going to get after snorting.

"Do you speak the lingo? Oh no, you don't know" Isaac is asking someone if they tweak. Oops, they don't. Nevermind.

This song's highest point is the end. Notice one thing about this song and most of the other songs on LCW.. It's 11 minutes long. The ending is mainly instrumental and 6 minutes. This symbolizes the insane amount of time methamphetamine lasts.

And to really, further potentiate the methamphetamine interpretation, look at many of the other songs on LCW. They could easily be shown to be about meth too.

Convenient parking - distribution of rocks. Out of Gas - "You will come down soon, too." Long Distance Drunk - "Hang it up now or never" (addiction) Shit Luck - Not only is 'Shit' slang for meth, but this song symbolizes the downward spiral addiction brings. The title is almost an oxymoron, a very good play on words.

and the most obvious of all

"Styrofoam Boots/It's all nice on ICE alright"

So tell me isaac's tweaking habits didn't influence this song or much less this (wonderful) album :)

seems like in every mm song there is at least one line that i think is one of the best lines ever written

The drum beat to this song is so unique. When hes like, "do you speak lingo?'' i Think of his drumbeat and is sounds like lingo for drums. I dont know I'm fried.

road locomotive is a tractor trailer. ie a big rig.

trucks use cbs to find out where cops are

so road locomotive phone. truckers talk about were cops are. the most common place for cbs are either on the dashboard or attached to the top panel of the windshield. so thats where the buzz on the dash comes from.

birds are also at times reffered to as radar detecors. when cops are around they sing like birds.

depending on the driver the definition to the above differs.

as far as doing lines (regardelss of drug) truckers get paid by the mile. so the more miles drice, the more money you get paid. which is why for every 15 hours you drive, you have to get 8 hours of rest. but people pad logs... ie driving 3 days for cali to florida, which is easily done.

beyond that the drug references arent hard to read into

Guys I honestly believe its him doing drugs off of a map or atlas maybe while he's traveling or just in his car. Maybe he's using the whole travel thing as a metaphor.

The line of coke started at one point of the map and ended where Colorado is on the map so he is "going" to Colorado to unload his head. He does this multiple times to different destinations.

Actually he does say "I don't feel and it feels great" at about 4:20.

no i havnt noticed that, but if there is any similarities it would be more like guerilla radio sounds exactly like truckers atlas, since this song came out long before guerilla radio.

This song is definitely about cocaine. The "I don't feel and it feels great" is explaining the sort of euphoric numbness you feel while on coke, and the "I do lines" just gives it away. Also, the whole song is sort of like a cocaine experience: it starts all schizophrenic, fast-talking and loud, and then eventually goes into a soft-spoken part which just repeats the first. Brilliant! The "trucker's atlas" metaphor for it is beautiful too.

truckers do not have automatic driving trucks.. goddamn that's ridiculous.