Gardenhead/Leave Me Alone

"Follow me through a city of frost covered angels I swear I have nothing to prove I just want to dance in your tangles To give me some reason to move But to take on the world at all angles Requires a strength I can't use So I'll meet you up high in your anger Of all that is hoping and waiting for you"

That is the most beautuful and wonderful group of lyrics I have ever read. Seriously...they leave you speechless. That is pure poetry. The first time I read/listened to this song, these lines nearly brought me to tears, just because of how jaw-droppingly gorgeous they are. Jeff Magnum is some sort of God, that much I know.

This song gets me every time, and I wanna share what I think the song is about.

There are beads that wrap around your knees That crackle into the dark Like a walk in the park, like a hole in your head Like the feeling you get when you realize you're dead This time we ride rollercoasters into the ocean We feel no emotion as we spiral down to the world And I guess it's worth your time Because there's some lives you live And some you leave behind It gets hard to explain The gardenhead knows my name

This part seems to obviously be about someone that he did drugs with. He would watch the Gardenhead come home at night, and so on. I've also heard that the Gardenhead was the guy that lived across from Jeff Mangum's house, so yeah. This part is just describing getting high (The effects of drugs, and afterwards). I also think he's called the Gardenhead because it's kind of like "Pothead", except he does a variety of drugs, making him a Gardenhead.

Leave me alone, for you know this isn't the first time In fact, this is twice in a row

The narrator wants his Ex-girlfirend to leave him alone. She keeps trying to get back together with him, but this has already happened twice in a row. It's not working out.

That the angels have slipped through our landslide And filled up our garden with snow

This means that their relationship was stopped. The landslide represents their rough and rocky relationship. And what happens to a garden when it gets snowed on? It stops growing, meaning the angels managed to get through and stopped their love from growing and getting any further.

And I don't wish to taste of your insides Or to call out your name through my phone

I don't want to have get with you, have sex with you (oral sex obviously), or call you.

For the glory boys at your bedside will love you As long as you're something to own

The guys that you're having sex with (one night stands and what-not) only want you for sex. Nothing else. They don't want a relationship.

Follow me through a city of frost-covered angels I swear I have nothing to prove

Again, he's referring to the Angels preventing them from having a relationship, and he's trying to prove to her that he hasn't been seeing anyone else. Perhaps his ex is accusing him of seeing other people, even though they're broken up now.

I just want to dance in your tangles To give me some reason to move

I only want to see you, or have sex with you, just because I can. Just so I can go out.

But to take on the world at all angles Requires a strength I can't use

But to do something that we both know won't work out is hard, because I just can't do it. I can't make this relationship work.

So I'll meet you up high in your anger Of all that is hoping and waiting for you

I'm coming over now. This isn't working out, but you continue to think and hope that it will.

So yeah, that's my interpretation :)

The Gardenhead knows my NAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

that word lasts for 15 seconds. I highly doubt that is his natural voice, and it was probably artificially lengthened.

But it might be, and if it is, Jeff Mangum is definitely a demigod of sorts. Either way, it's the coolest vocal phrasing I've heard in any song.

i think this song is about a breakup.

"There are beads that wrap Around your knees that crackle into the dark Like a walk in the park like a hole in your head Like the feeling you get when you realize you're dead This time" this part is talking about the feeling you get when you realize you're actually broken up and not going to get back together.

"we ride roller coasters into the ocean We feel no emotion as we spiral down to the world" talking about the attitude some people have towards life. people are often too apathetic to stop themselves from subconcious self-destruction. they just keep doing themselves wrong until things just break, and they dont feel bad or upset until then.

"and I guess it's worth your time Because there's some lives you live And some you leave behind It gets hard to explain" here, he's saying how you might think after it's over that your love had been wasted that whole time (you know, cause now it's all over), but remember that it was worthwhile, because it's better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all.

"Leave me alone, for you know this isn't the first time In fact this is twice in a row " they've broken up before. this is the second time, and seems like the final time.

"That the angels have slipped through our landslide And filled up our garden with snow And I don't wish to taste of your insides Or to call out your name through my phone " i dont know, that angel part seems too happy for my theory, but the last two lines there sound like denial. like he doesnt want her back. or atleast wants to believe he doesnt. she may be trying to say she wants to get back together, but he's saying he doesnt want to get into all that again.

"For the glory boys at your bedside will love you As long as you're something to own " there are other boys he thinks she could easily get. he thinks, though, that they dont love her like he did/does, but that they'd be better for her(and him) since they caused eachother such emotional pain before

i dont know, the last verse is probably about how he actually wants to get back together too (even though he maybe knows deep down that it's bad for them)

I believe this line "This time we ride rollercoasters into the ocean we feel no emotion as we spiral down to the world" is an allusion to the song Nowhere Fast by the Smiths. morrisey sings "And if the day came when I felt a natural emotion, I'd get such a shock I'd probably jump in the ocean."

Because there's some lives you live And some you leave behind It gets hard to explain The gardenhead knows my name

Perhaps the gardenhead is a reference to the hedge at the end of the garden from the Zen story?

I agree with fuzziwig that there may be more than just a breakup song here. but more so than depression I get a sense of frustration "you ride rollercoasters into the ocean, you feel no emotion as you spiral down..there are some lives you live and some you leave behind" maybe hinting at an unfulfilled destiny, going through life's motions without any gusto or passion. "like the feeling you get when you realize your dead." maybe he means not really "dead" but utterly bored, living life without meaning.... that's the sense I get from the "gardenhead" portion of the lyrics anyway..

WOW this is my favorite song and no one has posted anything!

i'll post... this song is about an evil woman.

Well the "Gardenhead" is a little man who lived across the street from Mangum after he dropped out of college. That's jinda what Mangum said on a live XFM session. I suggest you download this session, it's pretty good aside from the cheesy radio DJ. You can find it on elephant6.com

well i for one believe that a song has many meanings-and even if Mangum said that the gardenhead was a little man across the street -i want to find a ..more interesting interpretation of this song. anybody?