Booksmart Devil

The song says so much with so little words... There's a lot of possibilities as to what the song can mean.

Obviously the streetwise angel and booksmart devils are conflicting ideas.

The silversun pickups tend to focus on teenage / mid 20s life and drama... So I assume that this song is no different.

Eventually, as a teenager, you reach a certain point in your life where maturity performs an overhaul on all the childish bullshit that exists in the drama with relationships at a young age. The booksmart angels and the streetwise devils become one and the same as the person matures and becomes more rational and less driven by emotion.

As you get older, you retreat from the ones that you would usually seek out, the "land-locked lover", and move on to be more open... The angels will seek the devils as they have now become one and the same because of their growing maturity.

Sobering from the illogical contructs of your past ways of thinking... Sobering from the impaired judgement of childhood... Sobering from a childish mind to an adult... converting into a streetwise angel (or booksmart devil) ;)

i think the key verse to this song is the third one. a land-locked lover can be defined as someone who is very introverted about their environment; they aren't very knowledgeable or aware of what is going on in the world around them and/or they have their own beliefs and explanations that they stand by- true or not- about the world (referring to anchored armor). so its saying to disreguard biased people's claims, or at least that what they say isn't always true.

the first two verses are saying to believe in streetwise angels (someone who is smart in the ways of the world, someone who has good common sense) and book smart devils (people who accel scholastically, who are academically inclined, etc.)

also take note of the use of the words angel and devil; devils are creatures that are "not to be trusted, they cause chaos and destruction" and when paired with book smart, i think it can be implied that they are referring to politicians, corrupted leaders, teachers, etc. so i think its saying that even though they're devils we're forced to believe in them because they have so much influence and impact on out lives, as do the streetwise angels (friends, family, "everyday people"). i think the term angel is applied to streetwise because usually common sense and knowing the ways of the world are used more than book smarts, and are also your saving grace.

the order in which the verses are sung can also be taken into account. in general people believe the streetwise angles more than they do the book smart devils, because the "angels" have more of a personal influence on our lives. the third verse follows it up as a warning that streetwise angels and book smart devils can very well fall into the land-locked lovers category.

the repition of the word sobering sums it all up; the fact that we can't always trust and believe in those who we would like to (or even have to) is a very sobering fact indeed.

i love the simplicity of the drum beat and the bends of the guitar riff. they are so soothing. and then the flat bass guitar tones and snare hit being the queue to begin the heavy distortion lead guitar solo is so eargasmic

my fave song by silversun pickups

'So retreat So retreat From land-locked lover With anchored armor'

What does that mean exactly, like i know the song is vague for good reason i'd just like to know what it means or at least how other interpret those lines specifically, thanks.

I think there's a bit of playing with words in this song,but I think that's interesting. :]

wow i think miss take totally got it right

I heard "somberly" instead of "so believe." It might alternate, but I'm not sure. But if you listen you can hear the "ly" much better than the "lieve."

Haven't listened to this album very often and didn't recognize it at first while listening to Pandora. This REALLY sounds a lot like the Pixies. The rest of Silvesun Pickups, not so much. But this one, ya, very Pixies in sound. Love the song.

This is just my take on a portion, but when you look at booksmart devil and streetwise angel they're actually oxymoronic, because when you think of a devil it's usually a slick, streetwise being and an angel is by the book. So then if you apply this to the song as a whole, it could be asking you to believe more in the unexpected and unreal, to open yourself to possibilities, which in turn can be "sobering". And the land-locked lover line adds to the idea of opening yourself up and getting away from a guarded or closed mindset. But this is just how I think of it.