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Brill Bruisers Lyrics

Out on the waves
Over the railing asking the crowd
Send you back
To stage its sail it's sailing away
They left behind
Looking for searchlights leading the charge
The mass appeal
To brilliant bruisers taking the wheel

And the sea was alright and it was alright, it's
It's all we know now to never go back

Now the grenade
And it's seconds before the bang
Wanted to keep
Much of that leader of your gang
Born at the hearts
Of brilliant bruisers where we find them
And 'til we do
We'll have to drift until we find them

And the sea was alright
And it was alright, it's
It's all we know now to never go back

With the junkyard science
To hang on
And do a bang-on
Impression
Will young sorrow
It's tied in
Firing of the sirens
Go in fighting
To crying
The rising star dying
Of this own virus
It's tied in
The firing of the sirens

And the sea was alright
And it was alright, it's
And now we know how to never go back
And the sea was alright
Yes it was alright, it's
It's all we know now to never go back
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Cover art for Brill Bruisers lyrics by New Pornographers, The

Well, I've been trying to post the correct lyrics for a few weeks with no success, so, for anyone interested in knowing what's actually being sung:

Out on the waves, Over the railing, asking the crowd To send you back To stage instead of sailing away They* left behind, looking for searchlights leading the charge The mass appeal To brilliant bruisers taking the wheel

And the sea was all lighters, it was all lighters It’s how we know, now, to never go back

Like a grenade I have mere seconds before the bang Wanted to keep My job as the leader of your gang Wanted the hearts Of brilliant bruisers, where do we find them? Until we do, we’ll have to drift until we divine them

And the sea was all lighters, it was all lighters It’s how we know, now, to never go back

With the junkyard science To hang on We do a bang on impression Of the young sorrow It’s tied in, the firing of the sirens Going from fighting, to crying, to rising star dying From its* own virus It’s tied in, the firing of the sirens

And the sea was all lighters, it was all lighters And now we know how to never go back And the sea was all lighters, it was all lighters That’s how we know, now, to never go back

*not 100% certain of these words

@bravely You are right about it being lighters. I heard AC Newman say it in an interview. It is about looking out into the crowd at a rock show and seeing a sea of lighters.

Cover art for Brill Bruisers lyrics by New Pornographers, The

I don't really care what the lyrics are. This song is perfect. The vocal hook is pure genius, and there's enough variation that it doesn't feel repetitive or gimmicky. Love in song form.

Cover art for Brill Bruisers lyrics by New Pornographers, The

Here's my best guess:

Out on a wave Over the railing asking the crowd To send you back to stage instead of sailing away They're left behind The bruisers' searchlights leading the charge The mass appeal The brilliant bruisers taking the wheel

And the sea was all light To do with the light It's how we know now to never go back

Lob a grenade And only seconds before the bang roll in to keep Much of that the leader of your gang hold at their hearts Oh brilliant bruisers, where will we find them? Until we do, we'll have to drift until we find them

And the sea was all light To do with the light It's how we know now to never go back

With the junkyard science To hang on And do a bang-on Impression Of the young sorrow It's tied in The firing of the sirens Go in fighting To crying The rising star dying Of its own virus It's tied in The firing of the sirens

And the sea was all light To do with the light It's how we know now to never go back

And the sea was all light To do with the light It's how we know now to never go back

Cover art for Brill Bruisers lyrics by New Pornographers, The

There's a cool podcast called "Song Exploder", and in one of the episodes they talk to Carl Newman and John Collins about the writing and recording of this song. It's definitely worth a listen, only about 12 minutes long: http://songexploder.net/the-new-pornographers

The TL;DR is basically:

• Carl was playing around with the three chords that make up the bulk of the song, and the instrumental demo had the file titled "Rock You" ala "We Will Rock You" based on the heavy backbeat he had in mind. • Perhaps based on this, the lyrics ended up revolving around notions of rock stardom - "The sea was all lighters," etc. • I think he states that the lyric in the bridge is actually "A fire in love with sirens".

I also end up hearing in the first verse "...send you back to stages set and sailing away", which could totally be wrong, but I like the twist on the phrases "The stage is set" and "Set sail" in a single phrase.

 
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