Fun for an hour when the hr's gone-
Can one trick nights feed 40 days?
In my bed at the break of dawn she
Shivered like a vein slashed bright and new-
She's got the radio active, it makes
me feel ok (I don't feel ok)
Grip- force the vials, strip the locks, smash
The set and slash the beds, and when it
Looks like a wife's ex-plot, we'll cover
All the rugs with cheap perfume
Like a docent's lisp
Like a damsel's spit
Like a dry gin's twist (of lime)
Like a poor old sir
Like a poke's dull spurs
Like a pastor's flock (no church)
Can one trick nights feed 40 days?
In my bed at the break of dawn she
Shivered like a vein slashed bright and new-
me feel ok (I don't feel ok)
Grip- force the vials, strip the locks, smash
The set and slash the beds, and when it
All the rugs with cheap perfume
Like a docent's lisp
Like a damsel's spit
Like a poor old sir
Like a poke's dull spurs
Like a pastor's flock (no church)
Add your song meanings, interpretations, facts, memories & more to the community.
This song may very well be about murdering a hooker.
I think you have to consider the song in the context of the whole album. Throughout the album, 'our singer' explains to us the death of a relationship; perhaps not a specific relationship but certainly the mental acceptance of a droll traditional relationship. If you've grappled with the mental anguish of ending a perfectly workable long-term relationship for the promise of charting a new course, you can probably relate to the whole of S&E on this level.
Some key indicators in this song include "She's got the radioactive" .. it makes me think that perhaps you don't need a wife at home for the regular unfulfilling sex when one night of dirty, passionate 'radioactive' sex (obviously in this case a prostitute, given the 'hour') could 'feed 40 days', taking care of the urge until next time. In some ways, perhaps there's some merit in prefering one night of passion-fueled sex to the regular (if you're lucky) boring familiar sex? The second verse conjures in my mind the destruction of that relationship and whenever you miss that ex-partner, you cover it up with cheap perfume and move on.
Another great song to sing while drunk, especially the end. Pavement does it again.
I love this song. It has a darker undercurrent then most pavement songs. Parts of it seem to be about some sense of guilt someone might feel after being with a nervous prostitute ("can a one trick night feed 40 days", the singer, I assume, being that nights trick). The image of her shivering like "a vein slashed bright and new" is particularly harrowing. I also get the sense of a bad acid trip, the vials metioned might contain LSD. Whatever it's about it sounds sinister and I love that. And your right devastator, it's also a good one to hammer out while your hammered.
This is one of my very favorite pavement songs.
great on 'slanted', great live. both 'she shivered like a vein slashed bright and new' and 'when it looks like a wife's ex-plot, we'll cover all the rugs in cheap perfume' are gaudy-bright romanticism in their weight and rhythm. fucking great lines, and then the way the guitars rise and hover at the end of those lines to lead us to the chorus is genius. magoo did an interesting version where they dropped the chorus into slow-mo...but nowhere near as good as the original.
I think it's about someone taking one last hit before they try to get the monkey off their back.
things make things be like things.
heroine or whatever affecting them. the radio affecting him. making some heroine getaway vacation something look like a wife's ex plot. the power of perfume to make things smell like things. the power of the word "lime" to suddenly change an image in your head.
a docent is a guide or a teacher
Like a poor old soul.
Not poor droll soul.
sir.
sir.
not soul damn it.
not soul damn it.