Eyesore

So after having months to think about it, here's what I've come up with. I almost don't want to post it.

I think the Eyesore is music. Or at least the things that get in the way of music, like ego and sales.

"Spill and heat consume both of the lights They were flashing white and ecru pale"

I suppose the lights are meant to represent both inspiration and interpretation, two of the less cynical routes for song craft. Of course, the lights could represent any two components in the craft of a song.

"Gradually they lost our information Sickly and ungracious, you turn to dirt"

The music has lost touch with the people that listen to it, and in it's hobbled state it's turning towards vulgarity and "grime" in production, instead of displaying any kind of integrity.

"But those cruel tricks could not avoid Me loving you a lot I just could not Tell against your will"

And yet there's still an ear for the dirt that makes it out. There's still that want for music, even if it is insulting them.

"Give out your number now"

The number being the place in line in distribution for this new sound. In the context of the first verse, it's a cynical way of addressing what the next thing to listen to is.

"We were sneaking in to the aquarium Gold leaf in your teeth has left a trail This compared to being would be a mistake Watered down and replaced without a tell"

Even as they attempt to escape the view of pop culture, the commercial potential keeps the listener and the music from being discovered. Giving in to that commercial appeal is a fate worse than death, of giving up individuality and putting yourself up in an industry that is all about replacement of human resource.

The return to the chorus after that feels more tragic in the face of this, where it becomes acceptance of the lost identity of music, and seeing it off it takes it's place in line to be put up next for the masses.

"Overboard ahead of me You're not lying next to me"

This is the point where I feel it becomes purely biographical: they realize that they're in the same line they derided and mourned earlier in the same song, and just how close they now are to the end of that line. The strain of public exposure preys on them.

"Just below your swaying palms"

The body's tools in the creation of music, here seperated from any romantic notions of craft, as if...

"Hidden by a bank machine"

It's also worth considering that a lot of what Women is doing instrumentally is almost like some alternate history of rock music, where the structure is malfunctioning and the major key tonality that dominates music is consistently being undermined, either with subtlety (Pat's guitar line in Shaking Hand) or not (January 8th, Drag Open) Eyesore immediately stands out as being the most consistantly pop all the way throughout. This also explains why it lead as the single.

Art.

I took these lyrics and compared to live versions of the song like the levis show and pitchfork's special, and came up with these refinements.

(spilt) and heat consume both of the lights They were flashing like an echo pale Gradually they lost our information Sickly and ungracious, you turn to dirt

But those cruel tricks could not avoid Me loving you or not I just could not Tell against your will Give out your number now

We were sneaking in to the aquarium (cold knees / cold beach) in your sleep we left a trail This compared to (being) would be a mistake Watered down and replaced without a tail

But those cruel tricks could not avoid Me loving you or not I just could not Tell against your will Give out your number now

overboard ahead of me you're not lying next to me just below the swaying palms hidden by a bank machine

I'm pretty sure it is aquarium, also pretty certain about the whole last stanza, 'gradually', 'ahead of me', and 'swaying'

some versions have additional lines in the outro including:

i can feel it in my teeth i can see you at my pier

Only two things I'm unsure of: "aquarium" and "le bagne."

An astonishingly good song. To think I've been listening to this for almost a year without grasping the lyrics. Now that I know them, I don't know what to do with them ... I wonder what they mean.

I think the first two lines might be:

"spill and heat consumed both of the lights they were flashing white and ecru pale"

A "spill" is a small stick or piece of paper used to light a candle (or anything else) from a fire. The first line is saying that two lights were lit using a spill. The second is saying one of the lights was flashing white and the other was flashing pale ecru.

A couple other lines are bugging me, but on the whole you guys did a great job. This song is tough.