This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
lights out for the cynical sharps for their wide-eyed foils and all attendant props supporters of flash and pan-fried fucks who grease like cops throwing round their weight and i feel dangerous and vexed swinging two ton second guess and every motion just cuts too cruel too cruel and the implication is that you're implicated like a caustic acrostic spelling out your name lights out cos i can see in the dark sidewind m way to the mark of fuse lines gas-wet for a spark i crash i burn i've fully lost it anyway and you're nowhere lights out loser
Lyrics submitted by PLANES
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings

Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo

Page
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
There aren’t many things that’ll hurt more than giving love a chance against your better judgement only to have your heart crushed yet again. Ed Sheeran tells such a story on “Page.” On this track, he is devastated to have lost his lover and even more saddened by the feeling that he may never move on from this.

Midnight
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Midnight” is a song about finding a love that is so true that it provides a calming feeling through every storm. Ed Sheeran reflects on his good fortunes in landing someone with such peace and support and speaks of not fearing the dark days because he knows they’ll all end in the safety nets of her arms.
“Well, good morning there / What a way to start the day / With everything laid bare,” Ed Sheeran sings in the first verse, enthusiastic to be waking up beside his woman. He apologizes for missing her calls in the second verse and promises to return them because for him, speaking to her is the most important thing. “Well, I get lost inside my head / In this chaos, you’re my calm / And I will find my feet again / ‘Cause еven the worst days of my life will always еnd / At midnight in your arms,” sings Ed Sheeran in the chorus, revelling in his good luck.

Another Love
Tom Odell
Tom Odell
I think the meaning is pretty clear. This person got really burned in a previous relationship, and because of this is unable to love and show care in his present one, even though he so badly wants to. It's lovely song, and very sad. You can really feel how defeated and frustrated he is with himself.

Sunglasses at Night
Corey Hart
Corey Hart
In the 1980s, sunglasses were a common fashion for people who wanted to adopt a "tough guy" persona (note all the cop shows from that era -- Simon & Simon, Miami Vice, etc. -- where the lead characters wore shades). So I think this song is about a guy who wears shades as a way of hiding his insecurity after learning that his girlfriend is cheating on him. He's trying to pretend that he's a "tough guy" to hide the fact that his girlfriend's affair is disturbing him.
An Acrostic is a poem where the first letter of each line when put together spell a word or phrase. Interestingly this song is not written as an acrostic.
Example of an acrostic:
Furious rhythm Unclear lyrics Great melodies Angry vocals Zany dancing Incredible band
I know that "Caustic" means sarcastic, or biting and "Acrostic" means something like a verse that the letters form a regular sequence of letters in the alphabet. That's pretty much all I know.
Heh Heh, nice acrostic. I would have to say that the actual meaning of these lyrics is fairly irrelevant because of the biting and anger-infused tone they bring to this awesome song.
Hm, well, it kinda sounds like a description of a tv game show of sorts... but then again, it sounds like the "I" is burning the fuse and then caught by the cops... Very cryptic. A small correction: I'm pretty sure it's "throwing round their BODY weight."