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Clap Your Hands Lyrics

In this park they play
They let the pigeons stay
They give them names and feed them bread
They live in Philadelphia

You have no chance, old man
Your queen is cornered, I'd say
Shoot a bird off the board
Don't need your cane for this job

Click y our heels, dance dance
Grab a girl, dance dance
And don't remind me
Why I'm here, dance dance

Clap your hands, dance dance
Feed the birds, dance dance
And don't remind me
Why I'm here, dance dance

You're out of breath, I see
You need a rest, maybe?
A little afternoon nap?
Let's tear the lid off this thing

One more step to go
One last dip and that's it
I've got more people to see
My friends, it breaks my heart

Click y our heels, dance dance
Grab a girl, dance dance
And don't remind me
Why I'm here, dance dance

Clap your hands, dance dance
Feed the birds, dance dance
And don't remind me
Why I'm here, dance dance

Move through the grass
On your hands and your knees
These things change, my old friends
Times change, don't they?

Float through the air
Let your heart carry you up up and up
Let's lay you down

Click y our heels, dance dance
Grab a girl, dance dance
And don't remind me
Why I'm here, dance dance

Clap your hands, dance dance
Feed the birds, dance dance
And don't remind me
Why I'm here, dance dance
2 Meanings

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Cover art for Clap Your Hands lyrics by Pale Young Gentlemen

I absolutely adore this song. I wished more people knew about it and this band. But anyway, that's not alluding to the meaning of the song.

I think this is about people who try to forget their worries and problems ("And don't remind me why I'm here") in small but absorbing tasks like dancing, feeding pigeons and "grabbing a girl".

The lines that have always gotten me are: "You're out of breath, I see You need a rest, maybe? A little afternoon nap? Let's tear the lid off this thing

One more step to go One last dip and that's it I've got more people to see My friends, it breaks my heart"

I think it's about how we get wrapped up in menial tasks we forget the real world is out there, i.e., we have to face our problems. We can escape them for a little while ("A little afternoon nap?") but in the end you have to face whatever's worrying you ("my friends it breaks my heart.")

Just my opinion. Fabulous song, I love it.

The imegry I get is that of an old man in his last moments of life. perhaps passing away in a park, here to die but still trying to enjoy his last moments. You can kinda connect all the lyrics to that theme.

Examples

"need a nap?" Old age, tired, etc.

"Float through the air let your heart carry you up up and up" afterlife "lets lay you down" Bury him.

Just my view, awesome song =)

hey, does anyone know where i can find piano tabs or sheet music for pale young gentlemen music?

I get a similar vision-

An old man is sitting on a park bench feeding pidgeons and playing chess with nobody in particular, when fog rolls in and the the spectre of Death arrives in his black coach. The old man realizes that his life is over, and pleads for Death to spare him.

This is the last straw- Death is tired of people fearing him, and wasting their last moments on earth in pitiful groveling when they know they are going to die anyway. He picks the old man up by the collar, and decides to show him how...

Cover art for Clap Your Hands lyrics by Pale Young Gentlemen

"They live in Philadelphia!!!"

 
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