2 Meanings
Add Yours
Follow
Share
Q&A

Shutout Lyrics

throw off those gimmicks to the boys
let them send it all up in the air
there is crouching and wailing on stones down here
we must freeze off this ratmosphere
scraping out noise across nite wires
runs - for the distant cities
there is never a lock in the fall down here
as the big full pours away

in the shutout
in the shutout
how will we know the great doll?

something attacked the earth last nite
with a kick that man habit - eye
cut the sleep tight boys who dreamed and dreamed
of a city like the sky
there were faces bobbing in the heat
for some rising from her zone
moving, hitting, holding on
for the promise to carry us home

in the shutout
in the shutout
never a lock in the fall
in the shutout
in the shutout
how will we know the great doll?
2 Meanings

Add your song meanings, interpretations, facts, memories & more to the community.

Add your thoughts...
Cover art for Shutout lyrics by Walker Brothers, The

fucking incredible. and the shredding? oh yes. this should've just been a Scott Walker [EP] with the first 4 songs from Nite Flights.

Cover art for Shutout lyrics by Walker Brothers, The

I believe he's saying "freeze off this ratmosphere"; a very colorful play on words that conjures the dank and horrifying environment in which this narrative takes place.

I love the surrealistic yet very expressive ways he toys with language. "Something attacked the earth last night with a "kick that man-habit" eye". The whole song paints such a vivid and unsettling picture although remaining obscured, although it seems to hold an underlying theme of sexual torture:

"How will we know The great doll" : "all the ways we will violate (know in the carnal sense) this dehumanized body "the great doll".

There were faces Bobbing in the heat For some rising From her zone Moving, hitting, Holding on

seems to allude to sexual torture which is in keeping with the theme of the rest of Scott's four songs on this album.

 
Questions and Answers

Ask specific questions and get answers to unlock more indepth meanings & facts.

Ask a question...