Coat Check Dream Song

jesus christ. his music could part a sea.

"Coat Check and I lost the number"

this is ironic, because i lost my number for coat check at the bright eyes concert in february.

This is what i get from the song

it is largely based on the subject of global warming. The directions (N, S, E, W) are the four winds of heaven the cars crashing in the west refers to the public transportation movement The ice giving out it obvious The lights going out is energy conservation The sun shining is the increasing temperatures due to global warming

Short sleeves in the winter also refers to the increase in temperature and decline in seasonal change.

lullably sounds from the engine refers to americas dependence on machines and the use of fossil fuels. the coffin is styrofoam because it is a by-product

the murderer still on the lam is the governments constant negligence the iron refers to business and industry which is why it controls democracy

then again, im sure im looking to deeply into this

I always smile when i hear the line " Back in the east the light went out" I live in Pakistan and we've been having major power issues...we lose like 6 hours of electricity a day. It probably has nothing to do with that of course, its just a funny coincidence. Anyway, i think this song is very dreamlike. You can sort of form a vision of all these things happening, cars crashing, the Midwest in all its unsustainable first world splendour, Mans flawed idea of progress, the planets spinning in their orbits(is that the most beautiful description of the solar system youve ever heard or what?)...and finally the polar icecaps collapsing...its really beautiful

I think this song is about how terrorism and the ensueing paranoia put an end to individual freedom. The first verse shows the twisted and inflated mind of the terrorist. Fortunately many end up in The Hague's I.C.C., but nevertheless the sad outcome is war and loss of individual rights: 'Democracy's shackled hands'. Think of the loss of privacy through all those measures of control! 'A murderer still on the lam' refers imho to Bin Laden. And isn't the inside material of cars usually styrofoam? In that case the line could be referring to just another carbomb-driver on the interstate. The terrorist's acts have led to war, to 'cities encircled in iron', i.e. tanks and barbed wire, and all this while the world around us falls apart: war in the East, the melting of the ice in the North, the West gripped by fear and chaos (crashing cars), and continueing absence of rain in the South. Armageddon indeed! And the irony is that it's all done in the name of Freedom, but ultimately with the opposite and devastating results.

Miki-Kiwa - Regarding the line "I slept with that dealer all summer..." I don't think the woman he slept with was actually a dealer of ecstasy or simply referencing the good sex -- rather, I think that the play on words implies that the relationship they had was like an addiction...it could either mean that their relationship was really intense like an addiction...or...that she really meant nothing to him but a dispenser of sex...

As for the rest of the song, I really have no idea what to make of it...it seems like a lot of disjointed thoughts. I think it's a stretch to say that it's really super focused on anything but maybe more of a rumination on different things (personal, societal, spiritual/mystical...)...a dream song, if you will :-P

Any one know what Saada Tekmel B'Lhouria Houria means....... translates to. or anything on the CD jacket cover.

I know that "Up in the north the ice gave out" refers to global warming, but what is "Out in the west the cars are crashing" referring to?

Between the first and second verses, he sings "And in the South, the sun is shining. Back in the East, the lights went out"

His voice on this song reminds me a lot of Matt Pond Pa. Probably one of my favorites on the album.