Oh No

In the salsify mains of what was thought but unsaid All the calcified arithmetists were doing the math It would take a calculate blow to the head To light the eyes of all the harmless sociopaths

Oh, arm and arm we are the harmless sociopaths Oh, arm and arm with all the harmless sociopaths Calcium mines are buried deep in your chest Oh, calcium mines you buried deep in your chest

Ooh, you're deep in a mine Ooh, calcium mine, oh

Let's get out of here, past the atmosphere Squint your eyes and no one dies or goes to jail Past the silver bridge, oh the silver bridge Wearing nothing but a onesies and a veil

Ooh, deep in a mine Ooh, calcium mine

Arm and arm, we are the harmless sociopaths Arm and arm with all the harmless sociopaths In the calcium mines buried deep in your chest Oh, the calcium mines buried deep in your chest

Ooh, deep in a mine, oh no Calcium mines, oh no

So let's get out of here, past the atmosphere Squint your eyes and one dies or goes to jail past the silver bridge, oh the silver bridge Wearing nothing but a onesie and a veil oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no

I love the beautiful assonance throughout this song. "Oh arm and arm we are the harmless sociopaths" and "calcium mine" sound so good. Before reading the lyrics I couldn't quite pick out the exact words, but they all bled into each other and flowed together so wonderfully. It's similar to how we think foreign languages sound beautiful because we're focusing primarily on the phonetics, rather than the literal meaning.

Andrew Bird may be the most excellent lyricist I have ever known, and if anyone knows of any better, do tell because I'd like to know their work as well.

I KNOW! i've been listening to it every night on repeat until i fall asleep. I read that it's about how he saw this baby crying at an airport...not in the annoying way...but in the so sad it's beautiful type of way. The crying made him think of how easy it is/ how socially acceptable it is to wear your emotions on your sleeves when you're young and how sad it is that with time humans basically become emotionally empty.

i love this song so fucking much

We don't have to wonder what Andrew Bird meant -- he blogged about the writing process for "Oh No" on NYTimes.com. It's a rare look inside his amazing mind... http://measureformeasure.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/26/words-will-tell/

i like this song, and how he describes his intuitive process in the NY Times. Its funny saying, "Harmless Sociopaths."

My thought on Andrew Bird's interpretation of sociopath-hood is like "gain for no remorse for your actions," except without the "gain" part because you are just empty. One should think of it as a metaphor for feeling nothing when you are suppose to at any rate of a situation. I get this image of when someone is gloomy and they are just starting into a wall. Maybe its depression setting in or that feeling of boredom is capitalized in his work. It's like he could be committing any sort of sociopath related action and that blank stare would set in like the loop of a waltz which is his chorus undertaking "arm and arm..."

I feel like the song is trying to say, "if I could feel something, I would," in any form of ambiguity.

He doesn't mention it specifically in his blog, but I thought the calcium references were a way to describe our general inability to cry when we need to, so the calcium builds up in your heart until you find yourself buried in a mine, there is calcium in tears? men have trouble crying which is what I think that line about 'squinting your eyes' is about If people could cry when they are angry then we wouldn't do destructive things that would put us in jail either literally or figuratively

These are not the lyrics..

I was just coming to say that after years of loving this song I think I understand what he's trying to say. I think he says Calcium Ions (deep in our minds)

"In neurons, voltage-dependent, calcium-selective ion channels are important for synaptic transmission through the release of neurotransmitters into the synaptic cleft by vesicle fusion of synaptic vesicles.

i thought it was calcium mines Syd Baretts' deep in your chest :)

lovely song, could never've guessed that that was what it was about

Sort of a follow up on what iamnotmozart said:

Bird was on a plane, and behind him was a little boy just saying "Oh.. No.." and his mom said "It's okay! We're just going home!" but the kid just kept saying "Oh... No.."