I find it in an atlas
Or flipping over old news
Check what's in the trash bag
Well just another part of you
Well just another part of you
I beg your pardon, beg your pardon, beg your pardon
Oh-ah!
Blame me for where you are
Tell me what I gotta lose
That's a bit fancy
Well just another part of you
Well just another part of you
I beg your pardon, beg your pardon, beg your pardon
Oh-ah!
We read it
For three days
We read it
For three days
We read it
For three days
We read it
For three days
We read it
We were overlooked
Like a puzzle book
Dead in the eyes
Dead in the eyes
Watch us from the nooks, ah
We were overlooked
Like a puzzle book
Dead in the eyes
Dead in the eyes
Won't you find the next, ah
Well just another part of you
Well just another part of you
Well just another part of you
I beg your pardon, beg your pardon, beg your pardon
Oh-ah!
We read it
For three days
We read it
For three days
We read it
For three days
We read it
For three days
We read it
Or flipping over old news
Check what's in the trash bag
Well just another part of you
Well just another part of you
I beg your pardon, beg your pardon, beg your pardon
Oh-ah!
Blame me for where you are
Tell me what I gotta lose
That's a bit fancy
Well just another part of you
Well just another part of you
I beg your pardon, beg your pardon, beg your pardon
Oh-ah!
We read it
For three days
We read it
For three days
We read it
For three days
We read it
For three days
We read it
We were overlooked
Like a puzzle book
Dead in the eyes
Dead in the eyes
Watch us from the nooks, ah
We were overlooked
Like a puzzle book
Dead in the eyes
Dead in the eyes
Won't you find the next, ah
Well just another part of you
Well just another part of you
Well just another part of you
I beg your pardon, beg your pardon, beg your pardon
Oh-ah!
We read it
For three days
We read it
For three days
We read it
For three days
We read it
For three days
We read it
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Or flipping over old news
Check what's in the trash bag" - how the homeless are little more than a passing curiosity to most people
"We're just another part of you" - people need to face up to reality.
"I beg your pardon??!" double meaning, a) show us some respect! b) literally, a homeless person begs passers-by for their approval
"Blame me for where you are
Tell me what I got to lose
That's a bit fancy" - How people scapegoat the poor for society's problems
i love the anger and intentional griminess of this song and it fits the topic perfectly.
I find it in the atlas
or flippin' over old news
check what's in the trash bag
we're just another part of you
we're just another part of you
I beg your pardon? (beg your pardon?)
beg your pardon?!
WOAAAAAAAAAAH!
ready me for what you are
tell me what I gotta lose
'bout to get fancy
we're just another part of you
we're just another part of you
I beg your pardon? (beg your pardon?)
beg your pardon?!
WOAAAAAAAAAAH!
we read it for three days..
we ran over it
like a perfect fit
didn't need our..
didn't need our eyes
watched it from the next island
----------------------
In an interview in 2006, Karen O said:
"I wouldn't say that only the softer ballad side of me is who I actually am, as opposed to the more confrontational, irreverent side. They're both interwoven. It's not like one is acting and the other is for real. Both are what appeared and came out from the first performance we ever did to the last one, and I'm not exactly sure where it comes from and I can't ever actually predict what's going to come out. Both of them come from their respective places inside of me, but I think they are just two sides of the same personality. But one wouldn't exist without the other. They balance each other out."
IMO, Karen is talking about the conflicting pieces of the human personality that constantly pull you in different directions (depending on mood, setting, circumstance, synergy, etc.). This is basically what causes your persona to change, perhaps many times, throughout your life. Sometimes, a single piece (or a subset of pieces) will just fit you perfectly in terms of your level of consciousness, age, experience, and current aspirations. So you put that mask on because.. it just fits.
However once you do this, you sort-of forget about all the other pieces that are still there, even though they've been run over and hidden by the current dominating piece of the persona. You just jump on this one piece, as if it's your own private island, and treat all the others as old news and throw them in a trash bag.
Then one day, something happens that makes you remember the other pieces of your personality that have been pushed down for a long time. So you freak out, and things start to get very complicated (i.e. "fancy"). Now, you have you decide whether you're going to jump to the next island or deal with the other pieces and try to integrate them into your life in a balanced, harmonious way.
This is the conversation that's taking place here, in Fancy. It's the dominating piece of a persona running into the others that were previously-hidden and pushed into the unconscious. This is why almost every line is doubled on the vocals; this represents the different pieces of her persona violently clashing with each other. This is also why she wears a mask during this song in some of the live shows from the Show Your Bones era. It's a total expression of the friction that's created by the complicated nature of the human mind, and the potential for balance if the conflicting pieces can somehow become integrated as one.
"I find it in an atlas
Or flippin’ over old news"
--the mainstream is expressed everywhere--
"Check what’s in the trash bag
Well just another part of you"
--the mainstream is always changing, and when a new wave comes in, the old is forgotten/thrown away--
"We were overlooked"
--how the band was discovered and pulled closer to the mainstream--
"Won’t you find the next, ah…"
--wanting to get out of the spotlight/mainstream--
We read it for three days
I guess means that after 3 days to "awesome" it soon turns to crap.
(total guess)