The Piano Knows Something I Don't Know

This song is about what poets, artists, etc a long time ago used to call "the Muse". The Muse was always depicted as a woman and is simply the personification of artistic inspiration. In the middle part of the song he is describing the muse as smoke, steam and haze meaning one minute it's there the next gone. Also she is laughing and smiling at him as if to tease him. Anyone who's ever tried top write a song, book, poem etc knows exactly what he's describing. When the idea is right on the edge of your mind but it seems you can't quite capture it. That's why he says he lost more songs to floods, meaning there were many songs he created that never came to fruition. Saying "the piano knows something that I don't know" makes me think of a songwriter plucking out a tune, perhaps a haunting tune, on the piano keys and trying to form a song from it. In my opinion the beginning and end is the song he is working on, a beautiful haunting melody that isn't finished and that he doesn't quite know what to do with. As to the meaning of that song, well that's a whole other story :)

if you don't like the lyrics, then don't comment it. oh, i'm sorry, i don't remember this site being called "ratelyrics.com" hm, oh yea! that's right! it's called "songmeanings.net", and look at that! right about the text box it says, "what does this song mean to you?" fucker.

"She’s the smoke, she’s dancing fancy pirouettes. Swan diving off of the deep end of my tragic cigarette. She’s steam, laughing on the window panes. The never-ending swaying haze, oh that ever smiling maze oh that ever smiling maze, a ballet." pirouette is this ballet dance move. swans (and ballet) represent grace and elegance. so maybe he's referring to her using metaphors like swans and ballet, and adding in "tragic cigarette" because cigarettes are the downfall of many. also, steam never lasts/stays. maybe he's saying that she never stays, or is always constantly changing. and lastly, haze can mean either a fog-like substance or to abuse, so maybe this girl is abusing the writer somehow. "oh that ever smiling maze" leaves me confused, but a ballet is sometimes used as acts/plays. hm, i don't know about the rest of the lyrics, but i WROTE WHAT THIS SONG MEANT TO ME LIKE I WAS SUPPOSED TO. that was for the fucker.

another thing: if you listen to the beginning of this song while looking at the moon (it's about 3AM right now), it looks really eerie. i don't recommend doing it.

Am I the only one that loves this new album? I know they changed from the sound they were but so did Paramore. So did the Beatles. Everyone changes. It's been what 3 years since AFYCSO? I'm sure they've has changed since then. I LOVE this song. I feel like while he's talking about a girl he could also be talking about fame and h-wood. How everyone expects perfection. "I've lost more songs to floods" He keeps freaking out and crying and changing the songs he had.

I love Bden's vocals in this. He sounds so good now.

@ midnightinfernos: you are right about the frame story. I dont remember in which interview exaclty, they were talking about the songs and about this one they said they had two stories in one. So it should be interpreted like that.

"She’s the smoke, she’s dancing fancy pirouettes. Swan diving off of the deep end of my tragic cigarette. She’s steam, laughing on the window panes. The never-ending swaying haze, oh that ever smiling maze oh that ever smiling maze, a ballet."

When I first heard this verse, I imagined a girl dancing in some sort of old night club while a pianist (aka Brendon, my piano man :P ) was playing this song... but now I listen to it again and again and just imagine the cigarrete smoke lifting off the "end of his tragic cigarrete" fading away, making piruettes. But of course I dont think the guys in panic want to talk about smokes so literally, so now I think he really is talking about the inspiration itself. Inspiration being a "she" playing around him, smiling at him, vanishing when she feels like it, making him loose his ideas though "he's lost more to floods". The "curiousity of old crows", it think is about feeling that you were born in the wrong era, I'm not sure how to express that. And what the piano knows is how to express those ideas that "she", the inspiration, wont tell him.

"I can’t prove this makes any sense, but I sure hope that it does."

The first part, the "hairy" part... well, I haven't figured that one out yet... lol

ps. Sorry if there are grammatical mistakes, english is not my first language.

I wont cut my beard, I wont change my hair. ---His way of telling fans he wont change for them. It grows like fancy flowers but it grows nowhere. My hair, my hair. ----Why is that so important to his fans anyway? If I could build my house just like the Trojan horse, I’d put a statue of myself upon the shelf of course. ----Not sure, but i think hes being sarcastic and saying hes so great he'd obviously put a statue of hiself up in his great house, great like a trojan horse. Of course, of course...

She’s the smoke, she’s dancing fancy pirouettes. ---fancy is used again, im thinking everything is not as great as it seems... maybe shes the smoke is like shes there for a while and its great, but then she goes like smoke dissapears. Swan diving off of the deep end of my tragic cigarette. ---Not too sure. But swans are elegant and so is ballet, and cigarettes are opposite. She’s steam, laughing on the window panes. ---Steam/smoke .. same thing. "Laughing on the window panes".. maybe teasing him? shes there sometimes then shes not, and she knows he wants her there? The never-ending swaying haze, ---No idea. oh that ever smiling maze ---Lost in her smile? oh that ever smiling maze, a ballet.

Everything’s gone missing. I’ve lost more songs to floods. ---Northern downpour link? or could be related to crying and his losing his songs because hes crying and doesnt know what to write anymore.. not sure on that one. I can’t prove this makes any sense, but I sure hope that it does. Perhaps, I was born with the curiosity of the likes of those of old crows. The likes of those of old crows. And perhaps the piano knows The piano knows something I don’t know. ---Again, hes not sure what to write, not sure of life. I wont cut my beard, I wont change my hair. It grows like fancy flowers but it grows nowhere. My hair, my hair. If I could build my house just like the Trojan horse, I’d put a statue of myself upon the shelf of course. Of course, of course, of course, of course, of course... of course, of course, of course, of course

Its probably all wrong, not very good at this stuff :^)

"I wont cut my beard, I wont change my hair. It grows like fancy flowers but it grows nowhere. My hair, my hair." when you have a garden (fancy flowers) in your front lawn, it's mostly just for show, not for anything productive- you trim it to prevent it from becoming overgrown. i think this is saying that it serves no purpose other than 'to put up an appearance', but he isn't cutting it because he ISN'T putting up an appearance but cares solely on his own opinion

"If I could build my house just like the Trojan horse, I'd put a statue of myself upon the shelf of course. Of course, of course..." like it previously said, the trojan horse was used as a surprise attack. the soldiers hid in it until the other side brought them inside. putting a statue of himself on the shelf is like putting a part of himself inside the 'gift'. when you go inside his house, you are surprised by the part of him he's showing you.

"She�s the smoke, she�s dancing fancy pirouettes. Swan diving off of the deep end of my tragic cigarette." the smoke is there momentarily, but gone after only a moment. the smoke also comes from the cigarette. a swan is graceful and beautiful, referring to the fancy pirouettes. i think he's referring to himself as tragic and she's the one making something good out of his bad situation, but that only lasts for a moment. it's like, she's the silver lining, but she soon disappears.

"She�s steam, laughing on the window panes. The never-ending swaying haze, oh that ever smiling maze oh that ever smiling maze, a ballet." steam, once again, disappears. the laughing can also connect this girl to being a bright spot in his life. the 'never ending swaying haze' could simply be the thought about her, which leads to the next lines. he's thinking of the ever smiling maze (which could be a puzzle to him, maybe wondering why she's so optimistic). a ballet also connects the swan (used in many ballets) and pirouettes, making her out to be something graceful and entertaining (not necessarily a dancer).

"Everything�s gone missing. I�ve lost more songs to floods." smoke and steam disappear, and everything to him has gone missing- possibly referring to the girl. floods can destroy precious things, and come and go so quickly. maybe he's comparing her to a flood. he could have thought about his possibly love for her, but she was gone so quickly that all his thoughts were overwritten by anger and confusion.

"I can�t prove this makes any sense, but I sure hope that it does. Perhaps, I was born with the curiosity of the likes of those of old crows. The likes of those of old crows. And perhaps the piano knows The piano knows something I don�t know." he doesn't know what his feelings are because he can't make sense of what he's feeling, but he thinks he has a pretty good idea. he's curious about the girl that left him. crows tend to symbol death. he's morbidly curious about what happened to the girl. the piano sets the tune, and it set on paper. he's the singer- lyrics can easily be changed around to the tune. the piano knows the story set in stone (kind of like the belief that 'everything happens for a reason' and 'it's all part of the big plan').

"I wont cut my beard, I wont change my hair. It grows like fancy flowers but it grows nowhere. My hair, my hair. If I could build my house just like the Trojan horse, I�d put a statue of myself upon the shelf of course. Of course, of course, of course, of course, of course... of course, of course, of course, of course"

this, of course, is purely speculation. :)

hmmm.... maybe "she" is the music, and he doesn't know why he is compelled to do this???

i dont know. i haven't heard this, and im just going off of the words... im just super excited to be the first on to comment!

this does seem great tho. id love to hear it if devinxdisaster happens to have a link or maybe some insight? or anyone?

ghost in the snow; It was posted in a link in Panic's 'final challange' thing.

And I doubt that these are the the lyrics in it's entirety, but it kind of sounds like someone's trying to tell a story, but they're missing part of it so they too, don't fully understand it. Just a thought.

actually i have this... toneroom.uscellular.com/Browse.aspx

This song starts off sounding like a Disney movie song, lol. And it has a very musical-esque feel to it...like it's part of a soundtrack or something. Then it kicks into a very musical style sound.

I LOVE "She’s the smoke, she’s dancing fancy pirouettes. Swan diving off of the deep end of my tragic cigarette." Some good lyrics in this one.

I think this song is about writing his lyrics and coming up with these songs. It's like,he singing these songs, but there's more to it. "The piano knows something I don't know."