In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
La La holds inside of her
The horrible dream of being somebody
Thinking about her dream makes her feel
Like it's stupid
A dream whose coming true
Is a must, a must
It would be so much easier
If she was a real girl
The preschool students ask her
What she is
She thinks, "I don't know"
She say, "What do you think?"
Listen to On Fire and pretend someone could love you
Listen to Lady Day and pretend they knew the half of it
Listen to Birthday and pretend someone could love you
Listen to Nick Drake and pretend they knew the half of it
The horrible dream of being somebody
Thinking about her dream makes her feel
Like it's stupid
A dream whose coming true
Is a must, a must
It would be so much easier
If she was a real girl
The preschool students ask her
What she is
She thinks, "I don't know"
She say, "What do you think?"
Listen to On Fire and pretend someone could love you
Listen to Lady Day and pretend they knew the half of it
Listen to Birthday and pretend someone could love you
Listen to Nick Drake and pretend they knew the half of it
Lyrics submitted by robot_rock, edited by Rockvy
Dr. Troll Lyrics as written by
Lyrics © ROUGH TRADE PUBLISHING
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
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Great version of a great song,
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It's extremely existential story about a little girl. She listens and lives through her imagination and her music to cover her inability to connect with her generation.
Venues: Tell me why some of the songs are told in a perspective of a woman? Jamie: It’s just because they’re about a woman. Venues: I thought maybe you wanted to be a woman. Jamie: There’s actually a song about that on Knife Play called “Dr. Troll.” I went through a really long period of [pauses] “gender confusion” or something like that. I had been considering a sex change for a long time and was really considering if that was the right thing or not. It was just something I was thinking a lot at one point in my life.
"Birthday" is referring to the song "Birthday" by Sugarcubes
Also, "Dr. Troll" is the nickname of Lauren Andrews.
i think its about someone with gender identity issues or androginy that feels that because she/he is maybe somewhere in the middle of being a boy or a girl noone would be able to love her/him.
at one point i thought it might be about an experience jamie had because he says "preschool students ask her what she is"
...and he was a preschool teacher and he is kind of androgenous (his nickname is ponygirl)...
and kids are sometimes very quick to pick up on things like that. ive been told by kids sometimes when i don't act like a male sterotype that i act like a girl or sound like a girl...
but im not really sure...that's just the way i interpret it
This song fucking hurts my ears.
I love it, but it would be better without the high frequency ear drum bursting noise that occurs randomly through out it.
Have a listen to the Fag Patrol version of this song -- it's an acoustic version and it doesn't have the sweet whine in it.
The high frequency ear drum-bursting noise is the most beautiful part, though.
I think the On Fire is most likely referring to the album "Prayers on Fire" by The Birthday Party seeing as he mentioens them a couple of lines before.
They're also mentioned in the song Luber on the same album
this song is about gender dysphoria. it has been a constant companion and reassurance that i am not alone in this, even when the feelings grow impossible to bear. that's what xiu xiu's all about, right?
it's most definitely about the internal experiences of someone who doesn't match their gender assigned at birth
the references at the end are:
galaxie 500 - on fire (album) lou reed - lady day (song) sugarcubes - birthday (song) nick drake