1
at your house the smell of our still living human bodies and oven gas
you pray to nothing out loud
two first names and an ampersand
embroidered proudly on a kitchen towel
you're a beautiful and violent word
with the skinny neck of a chinese bird
in a fading ancient painting
and if you're in heaven waiting
you made it there fighting
the tightest kite string
in a bad storm with lightning
and now these few presidents
frowning in my pocket
can persuade no god
to let me let you talk, oh
these few presidents
frowning in my pocket
can persuade no god
to let me let you off
even though i haven't seen you in years
yours is a funeral i'd fly to from anywhere
i thought i had a pebble in my sock
i pulled it off and shook out a wasp
it stumbled out lost, and without a pause
unstung as i was, still i stomped it
i thought, there is no paved street worthy
of your perfect scandanavian feet
while my crooked chinese fingers groped
the machinery of your throat
and now these few presidents
frowning in my pocket
can persuade no god
to let me let you talk, oh
these few presidents
drowning in my pocket
can persuade no god
to let me let you off
even though i haven't seen you in years
yours is a funeral i'd fly to from anywhere
you pray to nothing out loud
two first names and an ampersand
embroidered proudly on a kitchen towel
you're a beautiful and violent word
with the skinny neck of a chinese bird
in a fading ancient painting
and if you're in heaven waiting
you made it there fighting
the tightest kite string
in a bad storm with lightning
and now these few presidents
frowning in my pocket
can persuade no god
to let me let you talk, oh
these few presidents
frowning in my pocket
can persuade no god
to let me let you off
even though i haven't seen you in years
yours is a funeral i'd fly to from anywhere
i thought i had a pebble in my sock
i pulled it off and shook out a wasp
it stumbled out lost, and without a pause
unstung as i was, still i stomped it
i thought, there is no paved street worthy
of your perfect scandanavian feet
while my crooked chinese fingers groped
the machinery of your throat
and now these few presidents
frowning in my pocket
can persuade no god
to let me let you talk, oh
these few presidents
drowning in my pocket
can persuade no god
to let me let you off
even though i haven't seen you in years
yours is a funeral i'd fly to from anywhere
Lyrics submitted by oh ok
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
I don't think he killed her in a literal sense. Metaphorically, he killed the relationship... emotionally killing her.
The lines "i thought i had a pebble in my sock i pulled it off and shook out a wasp it stumbled out lost, and without a pause unstung as i was, still i stomped it" refer to him "killing" the relationship even though he didn't get hurt. The relationship is the wasp because it has the potential to be painful so he "stomps it" to avoid it.
At least that's what I got.
I'm in a band called Moirae. Haha.
But I disagree with you on that. I think the friend's funeral interpretation is closer.
"it stumbled out lost, and without a pause i'm stung as i was, still i stomped it"
is incorrect, "i'm stung" should be "unstung"
also
"these few presidents frowning in my pocket"
the 'few presidents' are dollar notes? or is that obvious ;)
"of your perfect scandanavian feet"
I thought this line was "of your perfect skin and avian feet" because it continues the bird theme from the first verse.
(and if it's not, scandinavian's still spelled wrong)
only a couple typos in this one:
...i thought i had a pebble in my sock
...i thought, there is no paved street worthy
good work on all of these lyrics by the way
and now these few presidents frowning in my pocket can persuade no god to let me let you talk, oh these few presidents drowning in my pocket can persuade no god to let me let you off
even though i haven't seen you in years yours is a funeral i'd fly to from anywhere
AAH! Scratch that. I messed up the order of the words in my mind, it changes everything. I interpreted it as "let you let me off" when really it's "let me let you off". It makes me think he's sort of glad the person's dead, they may have done something to deserve it. Maybe he's just imagining the person's death and it's about someone he doesn't really like. But there are so many compliments throughout the whole song. Confusing.
This is a really beautiful song.. I think it's about a lover that got away.. but i can't quite pin-point it. Obviously it's about someone he lost, or hasn't seen in a very long time. Good song.
i am a convicted killer, and i can say with absolute certianty that he killed her, or that he has been fantisizing about doing so for a long time.
also, i am not moirae, so dont berate her.
in a recent interview (with pitchfork, i think) yoni mentioned a song on the album that was about killing someone, i think he was talking about this one.
to me, it seems like he killed his girlfriend in the heat of an argument or something and then comes to really regret it when he realizes he'll never see her again. just my opinion, though. :)