Maps

I think this song is in the form of dialogue. One person is talking about packing up and leaving and the other person is saying "wait." The second person is telling them how much they love them, implying that they want them to stay. I think it is called maps because there is a decision about which direction to go in life, to stay or to go away. Just my interpretation.

The song is about the lead singer, Karen O, going on tour and the insecurities she had with her then boyfriend Angus Andrew from Liars.

"Maps" refers to her fans in the different places around the world that they are going, and the whole "they don't love you like love you" means that them adoring her isn't like the love from her boyfriend.

The interesting bit is that all this, the chorus, is what she wants her boyfriend to SAY TO HER as she is leaving him. She wants her boyfriend to basically beg her not to go on tour, or to come back from tour, to tell her that he loves her more than her fans ever could, more than her adoring public, more than the crowds at every gig (the "Maps", the places they are visiting).

While on tour she missed her boyfriend terribly and this song is about he insecurity that he wasn't missing her as much as she was missing him.

i heard its about her ex and he was supposed to come to that recording but he wasn't there so she knew he was done with her... Maps stands for "My Angus Please Stay".

This is the actual meaning from the actual singer! nme.com/news/yeah-yeah-yeahs/29608

I fell in love with one of my best friends (I'm bisexual and she's straight) and listening to this during that period in my life made it all about me loving this girl, being her shoulder to cry on and always taking care of her but she still didn't consider me more than a friend. She went off with guys that constantly did her wrong and broke her heart, and every time I picked up the pieces. I was so desperate for her love and I couldn't for the world understand why she didn't give me a chance rather than keep seeing those guys when they obviously didn't care for her like I did. I had a crush on her on and off for a couple of years, but I only told her how I felt once and I did that after she'd had sex with a guy without really wanting to. I just told her "I know you consider yourself straight and I respect that, but I wish you could realize that I'm the person I've always been, I've always been your friend when no one else has and I would never jeopardize that so please trust me when I say that none of those guys love you like I do". Anyhow, I'm over her now but this song says everything about my longing for her to find a bigger space for me in her heart. So that's what it's about to me. Peace!

I find it clearly evident that this song is depicting the angst of being in love with a cartographer who spends countless hours absorbed in his maps, neglecting his paramour.

M.A.P.S is actually an acronym for "My Angus Please Stay"

ppl need to shut up about who's a true fan and blah blah blah. it's music. if you like it listen to it and who gives a fuck about anything else. can't we all just enjoy it for what it is?

:)

I highly doubt this song is about being 'gay.' It really does sound like long distance love to me: "Pack up... i'm straight - i'm not"

I'm straight can imply her frame of mind.. she's not thinking straight.. she thinks she's ok or 'straight' and then realizes that she's not because the distance is going to be burdensome.

"Wait they don't love you like I love you" only further justifies this because she's telling her beloved that regardless of the distance nobody is going to care for him or her the way that she does.

"Made off, don't stray well my kinds your kind we'll stay the same" is basically another example she uses to express her love, they're two of the same kind so she's asking her lover not to stray. Stray is a clever pun because in this case she's asking him not to stray emotionally, or physically (stray in terms of physical distance.. or leave).

The rest of the song just reinstates the elements that she's been trying to put accross.