Doctors leaving for the holiday season
Got crystal ice picks no gift for the gab
And in the parking lots
Is the sedan he bought
He never complains when it's hot
He fowled a swollen daughter in a sauna
Playing contract bridge
There soaking up the fauna doing blotters
I don't know which, which, which
Boys are dying on the streets
I know the medical world could knock you out
Sell the coins that you jayed last Thursday
Dine by candlelight and hold your savings tight
You'll never know when the bridge falls apart
Hespoke of latent causes, sterile gauze's and
The bedside morale
He trapes around the table talking sentences so incomplete
Boys are dying on these streets
Got crystal ice picks no gift for the gab
And in the parking lots
Is the sedan he bought
He never complains when it's hot
Playing contract bridge
There soaking up the fauna doing blotters
I don't know which, which, which
Boys are dying on the streets
Sell the coins that you jayed last Thursday
Dine by candlelight and hold your savings tight
You'll never know when the bridge falls apart
Hespoke of latent causes, sterile gauze's and
The bedside morale
He trapes around the table talking sentences so incomplete
Boys are dying on these streets
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perhaps Wowee Zowee's best.
Greedy american doctors.
Definitely one of, if not THE, best Pavement song out there. I read somewhere that it's Malkmus' "tribute to his doctor", who bought German cars, or something.
I thought the line was "he phoned the fallen daughter", though; I got my lyrics from http://www.lyricsfreak.com/p/pavement/106286.html . The version there fits better.
IMO, this song is about doctors at those American hospitals (having healthcare, my mind goes towards America) who have lost sight of what they wanted to get out of their jobs, who "never complain" about how bad their lives are but feel entitled to sympathy for it, and are leading lives of rich wastrels which they're terrified will fall apart. deep breath In the meantime, the people who need help aren't getting it.
Hmmmm, doctors.. Interesting. Didn't know that. But whatever it is about, this song TOTALLY works on the chicks - seriously. Try it for yourself, dude. :Z
I'm pretty sure it's actually:
He FOALED a swollen daughter in a sauna....
To "foal" means to give birth.
This might be my favorite song, from this, my favoritist of bands. I think it's about upper class decadence and the tragedy of wasted youth.
There's also a great, "Crooked Rain" version of this song. Go find it right now!
the crooked rain version replaces "soaking up the fauna" with "smoking marijuana"... sounds like the preverse is talking about a crazy cult or something.
Wow, it really is about doctors. I've listened to this one several times and not really noticed that. And I'd say SM really nails it with the point he brings up. You imagine that people become doctors because they want to get rich, not necessarily because they want to help people... and yet their job is to help people when they need it most, so they must get pretty disconnected from any sense of purpose.
Some Pavement songs are weirdly topical. Like how Elevate Me Later is about political correctness.
& btw... "Grounded" HAS to be the greatest song title ever!!
Shouldn't it be "They're soaking up the fauna..."?