The Electric Version Lyrics
Lights and magnets, bolts and wires
Strayed from the road, this very one
The sound of tires is the sound of God
The electric version
The power and blood will pulse through your song
Streaming out of the magnets
Twelve whole seconds of history might
Lead you from where you went off the track
Welcome back
You alone create the full
Spectrum of light
So what could go wrong?
Streaming out of the magnets
Make believe you are an only child
Here are the clothes
Please put them on
A new parade of faith and sparks
The electric version harks
Back to the day when there was no wrong
Streaming out of the magnets
Newman thinks a lot about his work. He's very self-conscious about how he executes an almost apathetic, before-and-after, wildly free-association songwriting technique, and about the very crucial role his audience plays in what's (in theory) a work of art that stands on its own ("The card you're dealt by the crowd goes wild" - significant, yet seemingly written from a mood of detached caprice)
A car-accident, or a crazy mechanical machine fueled and powered by electrical blood which comes suddenly crashing into your life, strikes me as suitable for the ethos he's going for, and also as a suitable characterization of the band itself. It's a phenomenally over-powered, well-produced album by a super-group from Vancouver that got huge at a time when Americans were reacting to the artificial excesses of the late 90s by fixating either on ostentatiously "Indie" groups like Death Cab for Cutie (who ultimately insisted that they never claimed to be "indie" in the first place) or relapsing into gritty Garage-revivalism (starting with the Strokes and leading to the early Black Keys and White Stripes).
His message is that you sort of half-consciously assign your own significance to the words based on whatever it is you need to get out of the songs, maybe something that you're missing in your life ("make believe you are an only child; here are the clothes, please put them on") and he and the band just channel that shit straight at you for all they're worth. That's their job. You bought the album and you're responsible for the consequences, which is empowering, and yet you'll only be able to enjoy it "just as long as it sounds lost, streaming out of the magnets"
:) More importantly: every time they sing "Still To Come" it calls to mind "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite" for me. What can you say? It's just totally perfect.
first song ive heard by these guys (and girl haha)
i like it im goin to look into this band more!!!
great song........
One comment? That is bullshit. This song is crazy catchy. Electric Version is definitely my favorite album and this is one of my favorite songs from it.
I get a vibe of being carefree from it. Kind of a whole "The universe tends to unfold as it should" thing.
I also kind of get this idea of getting in a car and just driving somewhere... anywhere.
I agree with you, h3nrym0rgan, this song is really, really, catchy. First time I came in contact with it was through Rock Band, and after that, it has been on my mind all the time. Great song, I suspect it has something with mechanics to do. Shrugs
Obviously it connects faith and mechanics ("a new parade of faith and sparks," "the sound of tires is the sound of god"), but the chorus kind of reminds me of electronics class. You generate electricity by inducing a coil of wire with a magnet.
this song is insane to sing in rock band..I thought I was going to run out of air!! good song btw, very catchy and cute!
i was thinking that its.. about a guy and his love for mechanics and electricity. like "the screech of tire is the sound of god" would be like its music to my ears.
Actually I think that all of you are taking these lyrics to seriously and thus missing the whole point. The song is not really about God, it's not even about cars. What this song is stating is that technology, all the wonders of the 21st century that we now live in, are the real divinities in life. What they're saying is how all of these wonders, cars, lights, planes, TVs, and so many others things are taken for granted, that the entire world and society is taken for granted. I really don't think it's about a mechanic or the type...
Actually I think that all of you are taking these lyrics to seriously and thus missing the whole point. The song is not really about God, it's not even about cars. What this song is stating is that technology, all the wonders of the 21st century that we now live in, are the real divinities in life. What they're saying is how all of these wonders, cars, lights, planes, TVs, and so many others things are taken for granted, that the entire world and society is taken for granted. I really don't think it's about a mechanic or the type of God in the sky, but the "God" that humans have built on earth, the tangible kind (aka civilization).
Wow. I never thought of it that way. But that makes great sense. We really do take technology for granted. And it really makes sense.
Wow. I never thought of it that way. But that makes great sense. We really do take technology for granted. And it really makes sense.
I think it has to do with music. There are magnets in headphones/earbuds, so to me that's what "streaming out of the magnets" means. Said magnets could also belong to a cell phone. To me it has to do, at least partially, with the feeling you get when you hear a great rock song you haven't heard in a while, even if just in passing ("twelve whole seconds").