Heretics Lyrics
Held our breath for too long till we're half sick about it
Tell us what we did wrong and you can blame us for it
Turn a clamp on our thumbs, we'll sew a doll about it
And tell us all about it
We'll sew a doll about it
Where credit is due
For the damage that we've done
We have brought upon ourselves and others
With a slow and vicious gun
And although pratfalls can be fun
Encores can be fatal
Thank God it's fatal
Thank God it's fatal
Not shy
Not shy of fatal
Not shy of fatal
Thank God
Thank God it's fatal
Thank God it's fatal
Not shy
Not shy of fatal
Not shy of fatal
It's not all that bad
Are we not having fun
You make your mountains of handkerchiefs
Where the mascara always runs
So be careful when you're done
You're bound to get post-natal
What did I just hear you say?
No, we don't want to hear the sound of a door
No, we don't want to hear the sound of a door
And we don't want to read the signs that you bore
You know the kind of sign you hang on a door
Saying, "We'll be back. What a crack."
Now don't you think we might have heard that before?
Now don't you think we might have heard that before?
Held our breath for too long till we're half sick about it
Tell us what we did wrong and you can blame us for it
Turn a clamp on our thumbs, we'll sew a doll about it
seriously, this song is amazing. and yeah it never left my head till about 3 or 4 days after, although it felt really awkward to sing along to "thank god it's fatal". i guess that fits the meaning of heretics (according to merriam-webster, heretics are dissenters of an accepted belief or doctrine). the song embraces death so passionately that it's kinda morbid. but maybe that was his intent - in situations involving euthanasia & suicide, some consider death as a relief from pain and suffering. both euthanasia and suicide could be considered as a heresy, since there is some violation of accepted doctrines/religious beliefs.
i've also noticed this pattern of embracing death/mortality in 'Fiery Crash'. in that song, prior to his plane taking off, he says "to save our lives we've got to envision a fiery crash; it's just a formality".
i think all of these ties in with the first 4 lines of this song: "Born host to a tongue, So sing a song about it, Held a breath for too long, Till we're half sick about it". he's basically singing about expressing the other (more controversial) viewpoint.
I think this is a crack as those people who use suicide as an excuse to get attention. That's how I see it, anyway. Like "Although pratfalls can be fun, encores can be fatal" shows how they did it once for the attention, then tried again and...well, you know.
I think it fits.
To me the song is clearly about his wife having a miscarage and hime being somewhat happy about it.
"Your bound to get post-natal" is what lead me to believe it's about a miscarage. Also "We don't want to see the signs that she bore..." "We don't want to hear the sound of a door..." a childs heart beat.
and then what made me think that he's happy about it is firstly the song name "Heretics" and him saying "It's not all that bad, are we not having fun?" and saying "Thank God it's fatal..." and also the expressions he uses, to me, they kind of give off an air of "so what", like the expression "turn the clamp on our thumbs we'll sew a doll about it" kind of saying, this bad thing has happened so what are you gonna do about it?
maybe i'm wrong but to me that's what he's talking about.
favourite song off new album!
i'm pretty sure it's "post-natal" not "post-needle". and possibly "turn the clamps on our thumbs".
Hey, the first listen I thought he said "pussy" and then I thought "the hell'd you say?" Then he immediately said nearly the same thing. Spooky funny
Hey, the first listen I thought he said "pussy" and then I thought "the hell'd you say?" Then he immediately said nearly the same thing. Spooky funny
what the FUCK does this song mean. It never leaves my head.
Are we sure the last line isn't "We'll be back? What a crack." - That always made more sense to me but maybe I'm missing something.
I never get Andrew Bird lyrics, but that doesn't stop them from being amazing... :)
This song is amazing for sure. I don't really know what it means, but I have noticed that Andrew Bird talks about death a LOT in his songs.
It's not "sound of a draw," it's "sound of a door." Here's something: "heretics" are nonbelievers, the song embraces death, and it ends by saying "We'll be back? What a crack." Maybe it's about the absence of an afterlife, in which case "thank god it's fatal" is pretty ironic.