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Swimsuit Issue Lyrics

I'm just here for dictation
I don't want to be a sensation
Bein' on 60 Minutes
Wasn't worth your 15 minutes

Don't touch my breast
I'm just working at my desk
Don't put me to the test
I'm just doing my best

Shopping at MaxFields
Power for you to wield
Dreams of going to the Grammys
Till you poked me with your whammy

You spin the discs,
Now you're moving your wrist
I'm just from Encino
Why are you so meano?

I'm just here for dictation
And not your summer vacation
You really like to shmooze
Well now you're on the news

I'm from Sherman Oaks
Just a wheel in the spokes
But I ain't giving you head
In a Sunset bungalow

Roshumba, Judith, Paulina, Kathy,
Vendella, Naomi, Ashley, Angie, Stacey, Gail
I'm swimming
I'm swimming
I'm swimming
19 Meanings

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Cover art for Swimsuit Issue lyrics by Sonic Youth

I think the lyric at the end is "US woman", not "ICE women". To me, it's about sexual harassment... she's working an office job and her boss is feeling her up and propositioning her for sex. The "us women" part at the end is a declaration of solidarity.

Definitely agree!

@vaguelyhumanoid It's also Kim's quire 'wry' attack on Thurston under the pretext of 'every woman in the workplace'

Cover art for Swimsuit Issue lyrics by Sonic Youth

I agree with peacefrog. This song is great. Kim is amazing. I love the whole feminist thing behind it.

Cover art for Swimsuit Issue lyrics by Sonic Youth

i am not sure but sonic youth lyrics are mostly about drugs i think swimmsuit issue for swimming in the drugs?

@greatbeyound I'm glad that there's another intelligent person out there who can also read between the lines of the Youth

Cover art for Swimsuit Issue lyrics by Sonic Youth

The lyric at the end is definitely "I'm swimmin'". The correct lyrics are up on the SY website.

It seems pretty clear that this song is a rebellion against the image of the modern woman as a means and not an end in herself, as an object and not a person.

Cover art for Swimsuit Issue lyrics by Sonic Youth

The lyric at the end is definitely "I'm swimmin'". The correct lyrics are up on the SY website.

It seems pretty clear that this song is a rebellion against the image of the modern woman as a means and not an end in herself, as an object and not a person.

Cover art for Swimsuit Issue lyrics by Sonic Youth

Kim's making it clear to a guy that she isn't just a typical fuck-around-with-me-anytime girl. She isn't any of those girls.

My Interpretation

@V1NYL She's just a girl in a band, though, surely

Cover art for Swimsuit Issue lyrics by Sonic Youth

I agree with SYGIRL..... i think kim is delivering that message by using the perspective of a woman stuck in a typical LA 'industry' job...in this case an asst to some asshole record exec..... the refs to encino and sherman oaks furthers the notion that the voice is coming from a chick who is just trying to work and do a job, getting by living in the valley which isn't exactly luxury if you're making the typically shit kind of wages an assistant gets paid...... and the naming of all the sports illustrated models at the time is just the amazing kim gordon knowing how to show the media's obliteration of what a woman is supposed to look like.... something like that.

@joeydemento > superstar <

Cover art for Swimsuit Issue lyrics by Sonic Youth

According to the David Browne bio, this is about a sexual harassment case at Geffen Records where a top executive made a secretary watch him masturbate.

Cover art for Swimsuit Issue lyrics by Sonic Youth

I always thought it was "us women" because of the nature of the song, but it probably is "I'm swimming", which also makes sense, albeit less on-the-nose (it is called Swimsuit Issue...). Fascinating song to listen to now, in the era of Weinstein and Trump; SY were always so far ahead of their time, both musically and lyrically.

@spaceotter I don't know what your 'at this time' is really meant to convey. Women have been the brunt of assault ever since there were two genders. Specifying a contemporary account doesn't mean that they were 'ahead of their time'. Nobody is a time traveler. Sonic Youth were phenomenal as a unit. Let's leave the gushing to others less evolved, shall we

Cover art for Swimsuit Issue lyrics by Sonic Youth

FUCK YEAH POWER TO THE WOMEN!

@quietwar RIGHT ON

 
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