Liz Phair

Gunshy

4 Meanings

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Gunshy Lyrics

Rifle in hand and two in the bush
Three count delay, I may need a little push
Take out the garbage on Tuesday nights
Seems like the small things
Are the only things I'll fight
Seems like the small things
Are the only things I'll fight

Gunshy, Gunshy, Gunshy, Gunshy

Sea monkeys, do monkey's
Story of my life
Send three bucks to a comic book
Get a house, car and wife
Send three bucks to a comic book
Get a house, car and wife

(wife) Gunshy repeated 14 times

Submitted by

ruben On Jul 16, 2003

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Keep it true to the song

Fix what’s wrong, but don’t rewrite what the artist wrote. Stick to the official released version — album booklet, label site, verified lyric video, etc. If you’re guessing, pause and double-check.

Respect the structure

Songs have rhythm. Pages do too. Leave line breaks where they belong. Don’t smash things together or add extra empty space just for looks.

Punctuation counts (but vibe-editing doesn’t)

Correct typos? Yes. Re-punctuating a whole verse because it ‘looks better’? Probably not. Keep capitalization and punctuation close to the official source.

Don’t mix versions

If you’re editing the explicit version, keep it explicit. If it’s the clean version, keep it clean. No mashups.

Let the lyrics be lyrics

This isn’t the place for interpretations, memories, stories, or trivia — that’s what comments are for. Keep metadata, translations, and bracketed stage directions out unless they’re officially part of the song.

Edit lightly

If two lines are wrong… fix the two lines. No need to bulldoze the whole page. Think ‘surgical,’ not ‘remix.’

When in doubt, ask the crowd

Not sure what they’re singing in that fuzzy bridge? Drop a question in the comments and let the music nerds swarm. Someone always knows.

ruben

Submitter

2003-07-16 04:52:35

4 Meanings

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by romy05

19y ago

She seems to be talking about how people just settle into average lives these days and are too afraid to take risks.

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by SupahManDude

17y ago

I always imagined it was "see monkeys do monkeys", like stupid people do other stupid people, but I like this way too! It's definitely about not pursuing those dreams. It's about the public's willingness to accept conditions rather than changing them. The inability to pull the trigger and cause some change!

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by persimmon

17y ago

SupahManDude, I think the "sea/see monkeys, do monkeys" is a play on words. In the backs of old comic books (I remember Archie comics in particular), there were ads for sea monkeys as pets -- basically, they were tiny shrimp that a kid wouldn't be able to kill too easily. The ads always anthropomorphized the sea monkeys & portrayed them as a family of suburban husband, wife, & kids -- a just-add-water American dream. Liz's double-edged lyrics spotlight how such ads reveal a desperation to achieve that dream, if only by purchasing an idiotic imitation of a real life.

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by Dogma72

16y ago

well said persimmon

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