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.
Lent you outsiders and my new Badu
While you were thinking I didn't have a clue
Tough to sort files with your voice in my head
So then I bribed you downstairs with a Marlboro Red, uh huh
And now I feel so small discovering you knew
How much more torture would you have put me through?
You probably saw me laughing at all your jokes
Or how I did not mind when you stole all my smokes, yeah
And although my pride is not easy to disturb, yeah
You sent me flying when you kicked me to the curb
With your battered jeans and your Beasties tee
Now I can't work like this, with you next to me
And although he's nothing in the scheme of my years
It just serves to bludgeon my futile tears
And I'm not use to this, no no, I observe yeah, I don't chase
But now I'm stuck with consequences, thrust in my face, yeah
And the melodramas of my day delivery blows
And that surpass your rejection, it just goes to show
A simple attraction that reflects right back to me
So I'm not as into you as I appear to be
Although my pride, yeah, is not easily disturbed
You sent me flying when you kicked me to the curb
With your battered jeans, yeah and your Beasties tee, yeah yeah
Now I can't work like this, no with you next to me yeah yeah
His message was brutal but the delivery was kind
Maybe if I get this down, I'll get it off my mind, yeah
Oh, it serves to condition me and smoothen my kinks
Despite my frustration for the way that he thinks
And I knew the truth, when it came, would be to that effect
At least you're attracted to me which I did not expect
Didn't think you'd get my number down as such
But I never hated myself, for my age so much, yeah
And although my pride's, yeah, not easy to disturbed, yeah
You sent me flying when you kicked me to the curb, yeah
So with your battered jeans, yeah, and your Beasties tee
Now I can't work like this, no, with you next to me, yeah
And although my pride's, yeah, not easy to disturbed, yeah
You sent me flying when you kicked me to the curb
So with your battered jeans yeah and your Beasties tee
Now I can't work like this, no, with you next to me
While you were thinking I didn't have a clue
Tough to sort files with your voice in my head
So then I bribed you downstairs with a Marlboro Red, uh huh
And now I feel so small discovering you knew
How much more torture would you have put me through?
You probably saw me laughing at all your jokes
Or how I did not mind when you stole all my smokes, yeah
And although my pride is not easy to disturb, yeah
You sent me flying when you kicked me to the curb
With your battered jeans and your Beasties tee
Now I can't work like this, with you next to me
And although he's nothing in the scheme of my years
It just serves to bludgeon my futile tears
And I'm not use to this, no no, I observe yeah, I don't chase
But now I'm stuck with consequences, thrust in my face, yeah
And the melodramas of my day delivery blows
And that surpass your rejection, it just goes to show
A simple attraction that reflects right back to me
So I'm not as into you as I appear to be
Although my pride, yeah, is not easily disturbed
You sent me flying when you kicked me to the curb
With your battered jeans, yeah and your Beasties tee, yeah yeah
Now I can't work like this, no with you next to me yeah yeah
His message was brutal but the delivery was kind
Maybe if I get this down, I'll get it off my mind, yeah
Oh, it serves to condition me and smoothen my kinks
Despite my frustration for the way that he thinks
And I knew the truth, when it came, would be to that effect
At least you're attracted to me which I did not expect
Didn't think you'd get my number down as such
But I never hated myself, for my age so much, yeah
And although my pride's, yeah, not easy to disturbed, yeah
You sent me flying when you kicked me to the curb, yeah
So with your battered jeans, yeah, and your Beasties tee
Now I can't work like this, no, with you next to me, yeah
And although my pride's, yeah, not easy to disturbed, yeah
You sent me flying when you kicked me to the curb
So with your battered jeans yeah and your Beasties tee
Now I can't work like this, no, with you next to me
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It had never even occurred to me that this song could be about a younger guy... it seems really obvious, based on the age I imagine she was when she wrote this, as well as similarly-themed lyrics from a few other songs on Frank (mainly 'Amy, Amy, Amy') that it's about an OLDER guy she works with.
I understand how the references to his 'battered jeans and Beasties tee' could suggest that he's a teenager or a 20-something, but think about it.... Amy was working in the music industry. It's completely plausible that this guy was kind of an edgy rocker type who dresses younger than his actual age... for example, he could be one of her band members or a sound tech guy or even a really dressed-down record exec. Note how in the first verse she describes how she's trying hard to impress this guy with her diverse knowledge of music (with 'Outsiders' and 'my new [Erykah] Badu' being records from her own personal collection) and trying to seem more mature by asking him to join her for a smoke... it seems clear that this guy has been-there-done-that in the music biz and she wants him to think of her as more than just some inexperienced little girl. Unfortunately for her, that's exactly how he feels -- he acknowledges that she's attractive, sure, but she's just a kid.
The rest of the song centers around Amy's frustration with the fact that she can easily string guys along and take her pick without having to try too hard ("he's nothing in the scheme of my years" and "I'm not used to this - I observe, I don't chase"), but of course the one guy she really wants and looks up to has little interest in her and, contrary to what she's used to, HE has the upper hand (so to speak, since he's older and more experienced in their shared trade and, presumably, in his sexuality).
I just love this song. It was quickly one of my favourite tracks off of Frank... "You sent me flying... when you kicked me to the curb." ... How brilliant is that line? Before I listened to it, based on the song title, I was expecting a saccharine love song about how her romance uplifts her into the sky and far off into the heavens... but nope!
Sounds like she's got a crush on a younger man who doesn't really return her admiration.
this has happened way too many times... all my crushes seem to begin with a bummed cigarette.
i really dont think its about a younger man, i honestly think its about an older man that shes interested in and it doesnt work out because she's too young.
yeah the cigarettes could mean a younger guy. but for smokers out there how many people have bummed cigarettes out to a crush and didnt mind if they were all gone because they got to spend time with a potential boyfriend?
don´t think so she says "although his nothing in the scheme of my years" but it´s confusing...
amy was about 17/18 when she wrote this, younger man? most likely not, but most likely an older man, the majority of frank tells her story of relationships with older men.
i feel as though he was an older man. Basically, he was an older man who she liked, they had sex, and he is trying to let her know this is not a love connection, it was a fling. and the fact that she says the message was brutal but the delivery was kind, let me know it was an older guy because they are ever so smooth no matter what they may say. THANKS TORONTOBABYBLU for clearing up the outsidaz and new badu, I'm black and i didnt even know that LOL
my fave of her album 'Frank'...the lyrics are so beautifully honest!
It's about an older man who told advantage of her while she (naively) thought she was taking advantage of him.
nevermind, there is some age thing
I just got into Frank recently. Pretty cool album.
Don't really know what to make of this song, meaning wise yet. There is definitely an age difference involved. Don't really know if she's younger or older. I'd guess she's the younger one.
I think looking at the lyrics that she told the guy that she liked him. But the guy said that while he found her attractive, he just liked her in a friendly way and he might have brought up the age difference too.