This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
Wasting your days
Chasing some girls
Alright, chasing cocaine
Through the backrooms of the world
All night
Wasting your days
Chasing some girls
Alright, chasing cocaine
Through the backrooms of the world
All night
Sounds, smash hits
Melody maker, NME
All sound like a dream to me
All sound like a dream to me
All sounds like a dream
Sounds, smash hits
Melody maker, NME
All sound like a dream to me
All sound like a dream to me
All sounds like a dream
Step out of your toga
And into the fog
You are a prince on the ocean
In a pinch
In the sky
In your eye
Step out of your toga
And into the ocean
Look, they got your prince
On the fall
In a pinch
In the sky
In your eye
In the sky
In your eye
In a pinch
In the sky
In your eye
I wrote a song for America
Who knew?
I wrote a song for America
Who knew?
Who knew?
Chasing some girls
Alright, chasing cocaine
Through the backrooms of the world
All night
Wasting your days
Chasing some girls
Alright, chasing cocaine
Through the backrooms of the world
All night
Sounds, smash hits
Melody maker, NME
All sound like a dream to me
All sound like a dream to me
All sounds like a dream
Sounds, smash hits
Melody maker, NME
All sound like a dream to me
All sound like a dream to me
All sounds like a dream
Step out of your toga
And into the fog
You are a prince on the ocean
In a pinch
In the sky
In your eye
Step out of your toga
And into the ocean
Look, they got your prince
On the fall
In a pinch
In the sky
In your eye
In the sky
In your eye
In a pinch
In the sky
In your eye
I wrote a song for America
Who knew?
I wrote a song for America
Who knew?
Who knew?
Lyrics submitted by laughing_man
Kaputt Lyrics as written by Daniel Bejar
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Downtown Music Publishing, Songtrust Ave
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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But seriously, does this have the greatest music video ever? Yes.
what does the video mean to you?
'Kaputt' means 'dead or unfinished' so it could be a dream that he once had but died..?
I agree. the women in the fog, the flying whale, the old man and the small things like the water turning into women all could hint at this being a dream. and he say repeatedly "sounds like a dream to me". but i don't know about the computer. maybe he was dreaming of being with the woman on the computer with those women. then kaputt the dream was broken when it stopped loading and his mom walks in. back to reality. But not for long, he is soon in the desert.
I believe it's "I wrote a Song For America" and not just "song for America" in those last two lines. Anyways, I'm glad to see the lyrics to the newer songs on this fabulous album popping up here.
So, meaning... sounds like Bejar going back to his teen years and fantasizing about being a rock star- doing blow, being in NME, Melody Maker, having hit songs. The bits at the end about "step out of your toga" seems to represent, to me, Rome, so debauchery, hedonism, etc. which is kind of the repeating theme of the lyrics. Bejar seems to like remembering times past in many songs. The lyrics "Listening to Strawberry Wine...it was 1987, it was spring" in Watercolours into the Ocean on Rubies; "circa 1993/it was a good year/it was a very good year" on My Favorite Year. So more of that on Kaputt.
thanks for the corrections. he does sing "i wrote a song.." but it's so fast.. and you're right about him reminiscing here and on the other albums (though he'd probably deny it).. just had a thought.. perhaps the modern condition is that we've been doomed to reminisce..<br /> <br /> btw, you've probably seen the video already.. since when did destroyer have music vids?
vid is incredible. Hopefully the appearance of a Destroyer music video after 15 years of releasing music isn't a sign of impending hiatus!
you can so see the Scott Walker realism influence in this song, I almost sing "tonight we'll sleep with the girls from the streets" when I hear this song. Kudos to Destroyer for making me state that there is good music being made today, you just have to look for it and not listen to the mainstream.
To me this song is all about the transformation into adulthood. The ingenuous of adolescence fueled by music and drugs with women on the mind. Listening and obsessing about music dreaming about becoming a rock star. The "toga" to me represents stepping out of college and into the "fog" or unknown. "Prince on the ocean" is kinda saying you can inherit the vast world of opportunity. The "pinch" the "sky" and the "eye" are the tribulations, prosperity, and indictment of life respectively. The line "look, they got your prince on the fall" is saying that your peers and idols are taking chances and sometimes failing. The world is your oyster but they are plenty of trials and tribulations along the way. "I wrote a song for America" he is giving good advice to young people of America the land of opportunity. "who knew" dude is Canadian. This is all my interpretation of course.
What DOESN'T this song mean to me?
genius
Who doesnt like cocain and girls? and you could never go wrong with a saxophone this song is too perfect