Pavement – Gold Soundz

General CommentI'll quote the CRCR booklet with words from S.M himself:

"I really do not like myself much and feel guilty for even expressing myself," Stephen says, qouting." That's the classic line everyone comes out with. I fell like that, and I'm sure the Kurt Cobains of this world also feel like that. What are you supposed to say? 'I Hate Myself and I Want to Die.' That's a great title. It's a shame he didn't use it. What can you do? Love yourself and start to live.

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  @Hier Proctor

General Commentwell my girlfriend and i both really love this song and had a heated discussion about the meaning of the true meaning of the song. and pretty much she came up with this:
the song tells a story, like most do obviously, but this is about relationships and what and what not to do.

so basicly he is remebering his girlfriend in the first verse and the good times he had with her and all that good stuff.

well when it gets in the chorus:
I keep my address to yourself 'cause we need secrets
We need secrets crets crets crets crets crets back right now
this means he is giving his personal secets to her to keep, he is basicly trusting her and all that good stuff.

the next verse states that his girlfriend leaked his secrets, "trials over, weapons found"

the chorus now changes to "keep my adress to myslef" which supports the second verse theory.

the third verse is him using alcohol as a depressent and just remebering her and her good vibes.

good song, good metaphors

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  @bwb909

General CommentThis is my favorite song.

Well, it's tied with "Live Forever" by Oasis, "A Perfect Sonnet" by Bright Eyes, "In My Life" by The Beatles, and "Philosophy" by Ben Folds Five.

Anyway, I believe the song to be about normal people getting older, or going through their mid-life cris(es).

"Is it a crisis or a boring change?"

To me, the entire first two verses and choruses are like two people trying to make their normal, average lives seem special, or different ("Keep my address to myself because it's secret"), as they get older. The final verse, one of my favorites in any song, just talks about normal empty people and the real emotions that are going on to connect them. Married couples, people that are longing. I don't think SM literally means "That I won't EAT you when I'm gone", I believe he's speaking figuratively, as with most other Pavement songs. I honestly thought it said "Need" as well. In the end, I think it's just a tune about a normal, married couple getting older and going through all the emotions that come with conforming. Think about it - they're no longer young, they have a house, kids, job, their dreams died, they're bored all the time ("And if I go there, I won't stay there, because I'm sitting here too long") and now at the age where they waste so much time taking everything so seriously ("And I've been wasted, advocating that word for the last word, last words come up all you've got to waste").

And yet, the music and lyrics still make it seem so spectacular, so happy. Go back to those Gold Sounds - your youth, your freedom. That's what makes this song so god damn incredible to me.

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  @Grottola

General CommentThis song like others by Pavement is about a turning point, action or inaction, overcoming cynicism and losing contact with the reality of a moment. The narrator expands moments by stepping outside himself and self-judging, but this kind of introspection leaves him powerless, inert.

"Keep my advent to yourself/because it's nothing I don't like"

Vague statement of indecision - so what is it you DO like? The narrator is questioning whether to embrace a change that has come into his life. "Is it a crisis or a boring change?" He seems to not want to decide.

"Believe in what you want to do/And do you think that it's a major flaw/when they rise up in the falling rain?"

In the face of the cynicism of the person he's addressing, he asks is it so awful to try to overcome stasis (rise up)?

"And if you stay around/with your knuckles ground down/the trial's over, the weapon's found"

If you stay to what you know and what's comfortable and don't renew your life and situation, you have no one to blame but yourself. Fait accompli, you are to blame.

This song seems mostly to be an internal dialogue for the narrator, but we can't ignore that it's intermittently staged as a man talking to a woman with whom he had a relationship that is now either dying or long dead.

"I've been sitting here too long."

The relationship is dead; stasis must be overcome. Either a) because the childish cynicism that made for "gold soundz" in the "August sun" is no longer sustainable or b) because the old love has devolved into the kind of relationship where many discussions are about getting the "last word" in.

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  @mycrows

General CommentI've always got the idea of this 'team' from this song, though. Like Stephen Malkumus and this girl against the world, although maybe that's based on my own connotations I get from this song from me and my boyfriend. But these lines;

Because I never want to make you feel
That you're social
Never ignorant soul
Believe in what you want to do

make me think of him telling this girl that he doesn't think of her as just being another generic person, one of many; that she's not ignorant and has her own mind, and he encourages her to always do what she wants to do.

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  @obstacle2

General Commentim positive it's "need" not "eat"...."eat" doesn't make sense at all...

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  @Morvit

General Commentim positive it's "need" not "eat"...."eat" doesn't make sense at all...

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  @Morvit

General Comment"and you can never quarantine the past".
that.s right kid.
i LOVE this song.

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  @oxycontin

General Commentmiddle class:

i cant tell if you're joking but it's not cunnilingus.

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  @mybodyisacage

General Comment"So drunk, in the August sun.
And you're the kind of girl I like
because you're empty, and I'm empty
and you can never quarrantine the past."

This brings back all the memories with you that we never got the chance to make.

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  @xLackOfColorHere
  0

  I know exactly what you mean.

  Flag Iknowriteon November 27, 2009  

  0

  I forgot I posted this comment. I returned to this song to write something about it, cause it still gets me every time I hear it.
  
  But as silly as it may sound, it makes me feel good that someone, whoever you are, feels exactly like I do. It makes me think. What's your story?
  
  Mine is, I met this girl, we talked, and clicked so well. She made me all these promises, especially about how we'd spend the summer together...kissing under the boardwalk, wasting nights talking, and coincidentally, drinking. So this verse really rings true to me. But none of this ever happened.
  I also discovered this song around the same time we met, and it reminds me of all the feeings I felt in my chest when the phone rang and I heard her voice for the first time.
  
  I am now with someone else, and as much as I love her, I'm starting to feel like I'm too empty for her. It bothers me how she can so easily throw away the past. She doesn't understand why I cry for loves lost and doesn't get what I mean when I tell her she shines so bright.
  
  I fear that I won't be able to find anyone who feels the same kind of love as I do.

  Flag xLackOfColorHereon December 09, 2009