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Montparnasse Lyrics

Hurt and baffled I simmer and freeze
I'm squeezing my words like I'm icing a bomb
Blame me if it gets you to sleep
But mind how you go as you get 'til you're gone

Your heart could easily power three of me
Should my love get lost in the delivery

May brings a supermoon gold and relentless
And the dog bats of Melbourne fall from the blue
Swerving casinos and swatting at memories of you

Don't talk like we were stuck in a lift
Why would I be missing you so violently
We're all the hero when directing the scene
But therapy for liars is a giant ice cream

Your heart could easy power three of me
Should my love get lost in the delivery

The lights on your father's bridge on the harbor
Montparnasse dawn for the sleepless insane
Caught in our personal rain again and again
Serious love for the longest of lives
Not a regret when these mumbles are through
Gatecrashing weddings and swatting at memories of you
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Cover art for Montparnasse lyrics by Elbow

So many great lines in this song:\n\n"I\'m squeezing my words like I\'m icing a bump" (NOT "bomb")\n\n"We\'re all the hero when directing the scene\nBut therapy for liars is a giant ice cream"\n\nAnd the repeat of the phrase "swatting at memories of you"\n\nTo my mind this song is about a failed relationship, possibly long-distance, or possibly the two traveled together and so the locations mentioned bring up memories. I love the way Garvey\'s lyrics are impressionistic, he adds little details that give things a specificity.\n\nThe phrase "your heart could easily power three of me" (not "easy") is basically saying that this lost lover had "a big heart", it could also be referring to them being strong. But the kicker in the whole song is "therapy for liars is a giant ice cream". Wow. That is a genius lyric, and if you\'ve ever been in a relationship with a narcissist or compulsive liar, then that line should resonate with you powerfully.\n\nI love this song. It\'s got such melancholy and is bittersweet, mourning a loss but also recognizing the bad with the good.

@alf1053044 \r\n\r\nI forgot to add, I also love the line "Don\'t talk like we\'re stuck in a lift" - meaning, awkward, stilted, disconnected small talk, or no talk at all. Meaning he can feel the distance between them.

@alf1053044 I agree with you that the song is about a failed relationship, a messy break where his partner would rather blame him than face reality, and is reframing the relationship as negative to process it. But I'm confused by your confident corrections which all seem wrong to me. Why would it be "icing a bump"? The lyric "could easy power three of me" is a very typical British slang/contraction that we use, it may be regional, but it's not a mistake. And the lyric is "Don't talk like we were stuck in a lift", which to me is referring...

 
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