Your Cover's Blown

First of all, I've loved this song for years.

The way I interpret it is as a guy going through a messy break-up.

The song opens with him doing typical rebound/post-breakup healing activities: go out and do what you want, live a little, flirt with the girl around the way. Perhaps this is the euphoria of feeling freedom after leaving a long-term relationship.

Of course, break-ups are not always over in one fell swoop. It sounds like the guy still wants things to work in the next stanza:

Planning a break is such a tricky thing Because you move to the country, she comes back again And then you move to the city but she goes abroad Is she telling you something, is she getting bored?

It could also just be reminiscing of how the relationship started to deteriorate.

The next stanza has him back in "single and on the rebound" mode:

I'll make a rough plan to sleep around, I'm in a rut I need a change, I'm a lazy rat if I am honest My bold change of tact will fade out with the summer I've got no appetite and all the girls are bummers

Having sex with other women doesn't help him to forget about his ex. She is obviously popular and moving on:

My baby doesn't look at me The way I want her to She doesn't comprend

My baby's got it going on She's got a friend hid in every street in this town I want to go out but there's nobody home I'll go on my own

As for the chorus, I think that while going through this break-up he met a girl he was interested in. She's different than the other girls at the club and he's trying to get to know her, but she's independent and has her own thing going on. And, it seems, a very healthy social life.

Break-ups can be messy things. I think this song encapsulates those range of emotions perfectly. Even the way it's sung and the music itself sound happy and hopeful with undertones of sadness to me.

Here's what I think. Went to the party with a girl, and she's not what he thinks she is? She's got a lot of men in her life.

Listen lady, put your... phone down Cancel all operations Tell your friends to cool it Your cover's blown I want to see you alone

From that, when they're in the party, he wants to speak to her, but she's never alone "I want to see you alone", either on the phone, or whatever.

So, he knows her, in the place, but he can't / doesn't want to talk to her, because she's not that girl he thought she was.

I always thought this song was about a loser, who wreaks of desperation, who constantly tries too hard with the ladies, and who is getting a little too long in the tooth to fit into that dating scene anymore. The chorus in particular reminds me of the "blind date escape plan" that a lot of women employ with their friends, where they have a friend call 15 minutes into a blind date with a fake emergency just in case the girl is unhappy with the setup and needs an excuse to bolt, something our poor protagonist has probably experienced a few too many times:

"Hey lady, put your phone down Cancel all operations Tell your friends to cool it Because your cover's blown I want to see you alone Cancel all operations Tell your friends to cool it"

Or at least that's how I read into it. But then there are a ton of cryptic lyrics in there...

roflrofl. best belle and sebastian song.

This is by far B&S's best song. Absolutely wonderful--the Indie Bohemian Rhapsody.

b&s go to the discotheque!

best song ever

Can't express how much I love this song, and I adore EVERYTHING Belle & Sebastian have done (um... maybe not Beyond The Sunrise, but whatever).

You can just listen to this one over and over and it never gets old. It makes me want to dance every single time (and I usually do). It's so serious without being remotely serious, if you know what I mean, and that kind of tongue-in-cheek attitude is one of things I love most about B&S.

Heh, when I saw them in June and they played this, Stuart said it was the story of all his Saturday nights. I highly doubt that, but he looked so sincerely lonely and sad when he said it that I don't care. He's the best.

Yes. So. One of the best songs ever.

I think it is referring to a girl that actually likes other girls and her boyfriend doesn't get it.

Write down a list of things you want to do Leave it in work because you've got to live a little Pick up the girl in someone's borrowed Mini Take her to dinner, use her boyfriend's money

I have always thought that this song is about a boy who falls in love with a woman then finds out that she is working as a stripper. She's a very famous/popular stripper and is constantly at work. she tries to keep it from him but he finds out and doesn't know how to bring it up.