Mild apprehension
Blank dreams of the coming fun
Distort the odds of a turnaround
Gut screams out next to none
So turn it on
Tune it in
And stay inert
You say "I've got the backbone"
The back way to escape the gun
Climbing a tree with a missing limb
And not saving anyone
And now it hurts
To stay at home
And see
Flash
The mirror ball's throwing mold
You can't get a grip if there's nothing to hold
See the flash catch a white lily laugh and wilt
But if you must smash a glass first fill it to the hilt

Plants
As far as I know are still
Still bending toward the light
And if we dance
Until the heart explodes
It'll make this place ignite
And even if this hall collapses
I can stand by my pillar of hope it's just
A case of flash delirium

Here's a growing culture
Deep inside a corpse
Ages stuck together
Takin' it to the source
Timeless desperation
Pictures on a screen scream
"Hey people, what does it mean?"

Comfort keeps us nice
So quick to donate everything (nothing arrives)
Die wolken drifting blinding smiles circling (einkreisen)
And time's tingling spines
Attaching hands to floor
The rosy-tinted flash

The hot dog's getting cold
And you'll never be as good as the Rolling Stones
Watch the birds in the airport gathering dirt
Crowd the clean magazine chick lifting up her skirt

(Why close one eye and try to
Pledge allegiance to the sun
When plastic ghosts start terrorizing everyone
Geometric troops aligning
Carried up to the burial mounds
My earthbound heart is heavy
Your heartbeat keeps things light
Like the violence forever threatening the night
And even if this hall collapses
I can stand by my pillar of hope and trust)

Lines when I close my eyes and just
Aim blindly at the sun
And hear love
When the ghosts start singing terrorizing everyone
Geometric troops aligning
Carried up to the burial mounds with gold
It's a heavy load but your
You rhythm makes it light and explode
Like a violent star keeps threatening the night
And even if this hall collapses
I can stand by my pillar of hope and trust
That our heads won't bust

Sixty six fifty five red battleships
Forty earth-like planets
Three holes two tits
One fork in its side
Zero tears in their eyes

Sue the spiders
Sink the Welsh
Stab your Facebook
Sell sell sell
Undercooked
Overdone
Mass adulation not so funny
Poisoned honey
Pseudo science
Silly money
You're my honey

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Lyrics submitted by owenp277

Flash Delirium Lyrics as written by Benjamin Nicholas Huner Goldwasser Andrew Wells Vanwyngarden

Lyrics © BMG Rights Management

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Flash Delirium song meanings

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+6
General Comment
One of the reasons I find MGMT at once fascinating, entertaining and disturbing (which is exactly the effect I think they intended) is because, unlike most pop bands today, they're not literal, and their lyrics are hard to interpret.

I'm going to assume that, as with many good poets, they line their songs with multiple layers of meaning, so an eel can at once be a sexual metaphor (i.e. a penis) while also standing for, as some have said, inner-inspiration or a previous song (like "Electric Feel").

My interpretation based upon the combination of the lyrics and the video is that this is an anti-war song and an anti-modern culture song. MGMT is saying, "There's a disgusting war on, and even those people who are opposed to war or military culture are just kind of tuning out and immersing themselves in meaningless distractions, such as Facebook and consumer culture and scantily clad models in magazines, rather than truly speaking out and being outraged, as 60s culture did."

In other words, there's been no vocal, viable alternative or opposition to war except a plastic, self-obsessed, consumerist culture.

For instance, "blank dreams of the coming fun distort the odds of a turnaround" could mean that youth culture's fascination with banal fun (Facebook, television, beauty models) makes it unlikely there will ever be a "turnaround" to society that will result in an end to the wars and aggression.

Instead, we're "inert."

So why bother striving for some nobler purpose when consumerism seems to negate meaningfulness?: "why close one eye and try to pledge allegiance to the sun when plastic ghosts start terrorizing everyone"

However, there's hope for us yet, as nature always aims for something better, some kind of growth and progress... "Plants as far as i know are still, still bending toward the light and if we dance until the heart explodes it'll make this place ignite"

That said, the poster who interpreted the lyrics and the video as a reaction to the negative reaction from fans and music critics to their new album was probably on the right track, too, and I think both interpretations probably hold merit.

One of the reasons I find MGMT at once fascinating, entertaining and disturbing (which is exactly the effect I think they intended) is because, unlike most pop bands today, they're not literal, and their lyrics are hard to interpret. I'm going to assume that, as with many good poets, they line their songs with multiple layers of meaning, so an eel can at once be a sexual metaphor (i.e. a penis) while also standing for, as some have said, inner-inspiration or a previous song (like "Electric Feel"). My interpretation based upon the combination of the lyrics and the video is that this is an anti-war song and an anti-modern culture song. MGMT is saying, "There's a disgusting war on, and even those people who are opposed to war or military culture are just kind of tuning out and immersing themselves in meaningless distractions, such as Facebook and consumer culture and scantily clad models in magazines, rather than truly speaking out and being outraged, as 60s culture did." In other words, there's been no vocal, viable alternative or opposition to war except a plastic, self-obsessed, consumerist culture. For instance, "blank dreams of the coming fun distort the odds of a turnaround" could mean that youth culture's fascination with banal fun (Facebook, television, beauty models) makes it unlikely there will ever be a "turnaround" to society that will result in an end to the wars and aggression. Instead, we're "inert." So why bother striving for some nobler purpose when consumerism seems to negate meaningfulness?: "why close one eye and try to pledge allegiance to the sun when plastic ghosts start terrorizing everyone" However, there's hope for us yet, as nature always aims for something better, some kind of growth and progress... "Plants as far as i know are still, still bending toward the light and if we dance until the heart explodes it'll make this place ignite" That said, the poster who interpreted the lyrics and the video as a reaction to the negative reaction from fans and music critics to their new album was probably on the right track, too, and I think both interpretations probably hold merit.

Reason:

FunkyFastFreddyon June 17, 2010 Link
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