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Famine Affair Lyrics

I don't want you anymore
I don't love you anymore
Go away, go away, go away, go away
You're a bad thing, terrible thing

You destroy my head
You uncalibrate my skull
Go away, go away
You're a bad thing, useless thing

You marginalize me
You sabotage me
Go away, go away, go away, go away
You're a bad thing, you horrible thing

You steal my light
You suffocate my life
Go away, go away
You're a bad thing, miserable thing

Like some childish demon
Who takes pleasure from its sting
You're a bad thing, bad thing, bad thing

You act aloof, say that I'll crawl back
You must be sick

Thought she was my Annie Hall
Or at least Ali MacGraw
Now I feel so wilted
It's a famine affair
The whole attempt was shoddy
Just put trash in my body

He was nostalgic for the ground
Hope down the drain
Still flew to your tragedy
In a glass-bottom airplane
Looping like a retard
Are you still playing the race card?

She said, "You're not boring
I'm just bored with you"
The psychology behind it is ruthless
Wish it weren't true
Wish we weren't so complicated
Wish you weren't so medicated

I don't want you anymore
I don't love you anymore
Go away, go away, go away, go away
You're a bad thing, terrible thing

You don't let me sleep
And when you do it's just teeth-falling-out nightmares
Go away
You're a bad thing, useless thing

You marginalize me
You sabotage me
Go away, go away, go away, go away
You're a bad thing, you horrible thing

You've been trying to make me ugly
So you'd have a reason to leave
So you could say you were just, like, abandoning the ruins
You bad thing, miserable thing

Like a childish demon
Who keeps insects on a string
You're a bad thing, bad thing, bad thing

You act aloof, say that I'll crawl back
You must be sick
11 Meanings

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Cover art for Famine Affair lyrics by of Montreal

According to Sigmund Freud, "teeth falling out nightmares" represents castration as a punishment for masturbating.

Cover art for Famine Affair lyrics by of Montreal

Should be "The whole attempt was shoddy", not "The whole attempt with shawty"

Lyric Correction
Cover art for Famine Affair lyrics by of Montreal

'After you'll see that I'll crawl back' sb 'you act aloof, say that I’ll crawl back'

This is an early favorite of mine off this album, my tastes change the deeper I get into an album but this one just tore my soul apart the first time I heard it

Cover art for Famine Affair lyrics by of Montreal

Both changed, thanks.

Cover art for Famine Affair lyrics by of Montreal

Wow I just have to comment on this song. I just love the mood in this song. Now I can't get it out of my head.

Cover art for Famine Affair lyrics by of Montreal

Though I'm still unsure as to it's meaning, but I interpret the lyrics as Barnes talking to his mind, or his analytical and controlling self.

My Interpretation

A lot of their lyrics seem to make oblique references to meth use. If you listen to Skeletal Lamping, so many of the lyrics are bizarre and overtly sexual, which goes hand in hand with meth use. "I'm calling your ass up at 3 in the morning saying wake up young dragon (meth smoke), let's go get compromised." The hour of the night seems to suggest that too.

Anyway, it would seem like this album, he's off the meth and this is someone he did it with and he wants to push her away. The part of not being...

Er, hour of morning. Der.

@NuocMama

I was thinking the same thing. The song name itself can be attributed to meth (affair that causes a famine).

"Wish we weren't so complicated/wish you weren't so medicated" could be a reference to the fact that meth is available as a medication under the name Desoxyn.

Cover art for Famine Affair lyrics by of Montreal

Also, as brilliant a musician and songwriter as he is, he seems like a colossal asshole. (Someone I know who met him can vouch for this fact, that he's funny but a dick.) When I first heard him singing these lyrics, it made me chuckle as I sort of imagine HE'S the horrible thing, being horrible to this girl, and that it's quite nervy of him to suggest, as many men tend to do, that it's her fault and he's been totally good and blameless.

Cover art for Famine Affair lyrics by of Montreal

Famine Affair has picked up on probably the most important point; the line "You don't let me sleep and when you do it's just teeth-falling-out nightmares" isn't just in there because it sounds good, it is a reference to Sigmund Freud and his slightly perverted views on the human brain and its workings. I interpret this song to be about a relationship the protagonist has with a female (which is the "affair" the song title refers to). The "famine" that the song title alludes to is the fact they aren't having sex at all, yet the man is still drawn to the lady and she knows this...

"You act aloof, say that I'll crawl back. You must be sick."

Because they aren't having sex, this in turn makes the guy feel "ugly" about himself and this gives her a chance to leave the relationship. And the guy is having to jerk off as he isn't getting his leg over, which takes us back to the Sigmund Freud reference and his teeth-falling out-nightmares.

Cover art for Famine Affair lyrics by of Montreal

@NowCowLevel: Yes! Re: Famine! I hadn't thought of that. Anyway, you can tell KB does a lot of drugs and is a very sexual, experimental person. Meth definitely turns people into sex fiends and sort of stokes stream of consciousness creativity. Not that I'm advocating it! But he talks about wanting to make her (him?) ejaculate till it's no longer fun (plastis wafer) and cum 200 times a day (gallery piece) in other songs, which seemed like a dead give-away, and he talks about putting trash in his body. If it were heroin, he'd be able to sleep just fine.

Cover art for Famine Affair lyrics by of Montreal

@NuocMama : kevin barnes has openly said he doesn't do drugs. he said he has tried them in the past once or twice, but doesn't like the way he feels or thinks while on drugs. all this incredible stuff he comes up with both musically and lyrically isn't the side effect of drugs; rather side effects of being born a genius...

 
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