Both as a standalone and as part of the DSOTS album, you can take this lyric as read. As a matter of public record, Jourgensen's drug intake was legendary even in the 1980s. By the late 90s, in his own words, he was grappling with massive addiction issues and had lost almost everything: friends, spouse, money and had nearly died more than once. "Dark Side of the Spoon" is a both funny & sad title for an album made by a musical genius who was losing the plot; and this song is a message to his fans & friends saying he knows it. It's painful to listen to so I'm glad the "Keith Richards of industrial metals" wised up and cleaned up. Well done sir.
Apehead's brother wants to beat up Paul
The boys have gone to watch
Some of the girls are down at the mall
Justine's got cherry cola and scotch
Later on it's everyone around to Beck's
Her parents are away in New York
Sara, well, she just can't bear
The stupidity, the boredom, the grind
She stays at school so that she can hear
The sound of the life of the mind
And it's noisy up there
It rocks me like a mother
Rosa Parks and DNA
Joan of Arc and JFK
But it's noisy up there
(Noisy up there)
It rocks me like a mother
Oh, oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh
She's cut 'em all out of her social circle
Won't introduce them to Lincoln or Frost
Doesn't want to let them get to know Keats or Studs Terkel
They'll never know what they have lost
But Sara, well, she just can't bear
The stupidity, the boredom, the grind
She stays at school so that she can hear
The sound of the life of the mind
And it's noisy up there
(Noisy up there)
It rocks me like a mother
Copernicus and Fortune's Wheel
Plato, Glenn Gould, and the New Deal
And it's noisy up there
(Noisy up there)
It rocks me like a mother
Sara already knows pretty soon she'll be leaving
Well, she's hoovered up whatever she can find
But she doesn't want to hear about
Pregnancies, foam fights, TV, take-outs, have sex, weddings
The sound of the life she'll leave behind
Yeah, it's noisy up there
(Noisy up there)
It rocks me like a mother
Oh, oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh
And it's noisy up there
(Noisy up there)
It rocks me like a mother
Oh, oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh
The boys have gone to watch
Some of the girls are down at the mall
Justine's got cherry cola and scotch
Later on it's everyone around to Beck's
Her parents are away in New York
Sara, well, she just can't bear
The stupidity, the boredom, the grind
She stays at school so that she can hear
The sound of the life of the mind
And it's noisy up there
It rocks me like a mother
Rosa Parks and DNA
Joan of Arc and JFK
But it's noisy up there
(Noisy up there)
It rocks me like a mother
Oh, oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh
She's cut 'em all out of her social circle
Won't introduce them to Lincoln or Frost
Doesn't want to let them get to know Keats or Studs Terkel
They'll never know what they have lost
But Sara, well, she just can't bear
The stupidity, the boredom, the grind
She stays at school so that she can hear
The sound of the life of the mind
And it's noisy up there
(Noisy up there)
It rocks me like a mother
Copernicus and Fortune's Wheel
Plato, Glenn Gould, and the New Deal
And it's noisy up there
(Noisy up there)
It rocks me like a mother
Sara already knows pretty soon she'll be leaving
Well, she's hoovered up whatever she can find
But she doesn't want to hear about
Pregnancies, foam fights, TV, take-outs, have sex, weddings
The sound of the life she'll leave behind
Yeah, it's noisy up there
(Noisy up there)
It rocks me like a mother
Oh, oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh
And it's noisy up there
(Noisy up there)
It rocks me like a mother
Oh, oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh
Lyrics submitted by mike, edited by ApproachLights
The Sound of the Life of the Mind Lyrics as written by Benjamin Scott Folds Ben Folds
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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There is still an amazing amount of hope and will in the lyrics; and the lyrics themselve rank and easy five. If only music was stronger it would be one of those great radio songs that you hear once a week 20 years after it was released. The imagery is almost tear-jerking ("City lights lay out before us", "Speeds so fast felt like I was drunk"), and the idea of starting from nothing and just driving and working and denigrating yourself for a chance at being just above poverty, then losing in the end is just painful and inspiring at the same time.
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Girl who would rather read books about history than get caught up in the bullshit that comes with being a teenage girl Brilliant lyrics and music
Not just history; seems she's fascinated in all areas of academia ("Plato", "DNA", "Frost", etc).
Does anyone know what's being described in the third verse? I can't seem to figure out what's meant by "pretty soon she'll be leaving" and "the life she'll leave behind." Is it Sara's apparent suicide, or her going away somewhere?
@thesandwich5 I thought this was an oblique hint at suicide also. I mean, maybe she's just going off to college, but that just doesn't feel like it fits to me.
I love how you can tell that these lyrics are from Nick Hornby. Classic Lonely Avenue.
To me, Sara bears a striking resemblance to Claire from "Claire's Ninth". I personally relate to both of these songs, and I imagine that Claire and Sara are the same girl. After my parents divorced, I started tuning out things around me and focused on school and I couldn't be bothered with the bullshit.
The lyrics are about Hornby's friend, author Sarah Vowell. As interpreted by Folds: "... the world can sometimes feel like a thuggish place, not all that friendly. And up in your mind you can have your books, you can have any thoughts that you want, and that is kind of the story of his friend's life. There's a big rock show going on outside and that's awesome, but she's kind of up in her head, which is far more dangerous and noisier. It's like Keats and Emerson and all these people are playing a rock concert in their heads. That's kind of what he's talking about."