Little Eyes

I really, really love this song...

To me is about a guy who lays next to his sleeping girlfriend, contemplating the beauty of her sleep, deeply in love... as she murmurs and twiches in her sleep, he think he knows what she's dreaming about... sh'e dreaming about the two of them, and sort of a nightmare... she barely open her eyes, and sees her lover eyes closely watching over her... safe again, relapses in her sleep...

There's no more pure expresion of love to me than admiring your girl in her sleep... Oh boy, do I miss that.

I love this song too, but I think it's about a teenager. A mother or father singing to their teenage son or daughter. The parent is worried about the risks their child is taking and the way they're living their life, but there's a sense of acceptance, as though they know there's really nothing to do about it. What made me think this is the lyrics about going out at night then sneaking back in a sleeping all day, and also "little eyes are open but they don't see very far" seems to describe the teenage condition of egotism. I might be completely wrong, but that's just what I got from it.

kids' response to "Little Eyes": http://www.yolatengo.com/kids.html

Oh oh oh oh...how could this song not have a comment yet. I'm ashamed.

YLT always have such unique noises in their songs, and this is one of the best.

Has anyone see the kid interpretations on the band's website?

This song is just one of this amazing many of of YLT's inspiring works.

This song takes me to a night at the beach.

I have been listening to this song for weeks without knowing any lyrics. Even without knowing what it's about, it takes me to another place. To a calm and mellow place that I love to be.

Like most fo their songs, I LOVE IT. Its so catchy in a weird way. I can't stop listening to it. What does thsi song mean though?

I love this song as well, and I am happy that there are some people to share this sound with.

Although the song conveys peaceful feelings, the lyrics make me think of a guy, who lives with his girlfriend, but he is simply no more in love with her, he loves her like a sister and he says she can't see what is changing, she has little open eyes but she can't see deeply into their things. i got the feeling of disillusion. so he walks, through the city and through the night, listening to his heart, which loves Her but not in a Lovers way.

it is such a beautiful song. 3/3 livia

To me, it seems like the song is about a beautiful, naive and somewhat young person,with beautiful little shut eyes. He/she cannot "see" or understand the full scope of life "little eyes are open but they don't see very far", the person only understands some of The person does not completely understand the consequences of his/her actions thus "you only hurt the ones you love/ not the ones you're thinking of". Also, Georgia's repetition of "little eyes are open" emphasizes the fact that"they're sinking back again" and closing his/her eyes to ignore the environment surrounding him/her so that he/she does not have to do anything about it. The person with little eyes is like the ostrich with it's head in the sand, unable to notice anything and retreating from all of the problems. "Don't you know you're sleeping much too long?" Georgia questions the inability of the person to notice that he/she is ignoring his/her problems. The speaker only wants this young person to "wake up", notice the repercussions of his/her consequences and how his/her apathy is detrimental to the speaker. I am unsure about the meanings of the verses but I hope this helps somebody! Feel free to disagree, I would love to have a discussion about the lyrics.

Awesome song - this is probably my second favourite Yo La Tengo album (behind Electr-O-Pura, with Blue Line Swinger my favourite track).

Anyway, I came here because I was wondering what was being sang, and upon reading, came to the conclusion that this track is about rebellion.

There are two people and the first is trying to fathom what's driving the other to act so recklessly; wonders why he/she's so angry/tense and is worried that soon, something bad may happen. This idea is eating away at the first person but the other just doesn't see it and it's putting a rift between them.

The first verse (see lyrics above) implies that the first person is being kept awake by worry for the rebel and tries to psycho-analyse but can't comprehend (keep up).

Second verse: pointing out a memory of how stupid stuff nearly cost them - or someone else - dearly. But it's okay, the rebel counters, because they survived.

The chorus indicates that the rebel is aware of the problem but doesn't see it as one, as if believing nothing bad could ever happen to him/her (the immortality of youth!), and just as the rebel begins to see the first person's point of view, he/she switches off again, refusing to listen.

"Moving on but not gaining any ground..." self explanatory: fighting against a system which only really exists as a notion - no victory can ever truly account as being such.

Third verse: kept awake again for sheer dread. The rebel wonders why the first person can't stop stressing over things, not understanding that he/she's the root cause.

Obviously, I didn't write the lyrics so may be wrong as to the interpretation, but hopefully, fans will now have another idea to bat around.

Thanks for reading.