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Fake Frowns Lyrics

Bent at the knees, a last resort
Backfired and made things worse
Once on the bus, it was quite possible
You’d be the jailhouse queen
Jury and judge were screaming to hang
You spat the sweat from brow
He shrugged his shoulders, nothing would work
It had to end right now

I can’t drive straight
Counting your fake frowns

Focusing in, details a must
Trying to make each one count
All on your fingers stopping at ten
Magistrate keyed in now
Jury and judge were screaming to hang
You spat the sweat from brow
He shrugged his shoulders, nothing would work
It had to end right now

I can’t drive straight
Counting your fake frowns

I can’t drive straight
Counting your fake frowns

We can’t keep your interest now
Increasing pixels and sound

We can’t keep your interest now
Increasing pixels and sound

Jury and judge were screaming to hang
You spat the sweat from brow
He shrugged his shoulders, nothing would work
It had to end now
19 Meanings

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Cover art for Fake Frowns lyrics by Death Cab for Cutie

I think it’s generally about the court of public opinion — be it talk shows on TV, social media on the internet, etc. It was a bit prescient in that respect because these days, it really is hard to hold people’s interest for very long with “pixels and sound”, so we have to resort to more and more shocking content to grab that fleeting attention.

My Interpretation

@alex613751245 no way im scrolling through all these 23 year old comments and see one twelve minutes old

Cover art for Fake Frowns lyrics by Death Cab for Cutie

they rule! i love this song. its great. i am making the first comment! so happy! i've made more for them. go check. all their songs are awesome

Cover art for Fake Frowns lyrics by Death Cab for Cutie

this song is amazing...one of their best!

Cover art for Fake Frowns lyrics by Death Cab for Cutie

great song. one of my favorites by them.

Cover art for Fake Frowns lyrics by Death Cab for Cutie

so catchy and addicting i luv this song

Cover art for Fake Frowns lyrics by Death Cab for Cutie

I get the feeling from the first verse that he tried proposing to his girlfriend and it went really wrong afterward. Anyways, good song.

Cover art for Fake Frowns lyrics by Death Cab for Cutie

I don't understand the line "you spat the sweat from the brow." What does everyone think that means? It's also ironic that this song is about fake frowns, most people think of smiles as being fake.

"you spat the sweat from the brow"

just another way to say you sweated. probably a lot of sweating.

like, your pores spitting out sweat. or something.

Cover art for Fake Frowns lyrics by Death Cab for Cutie

he proposed and she said no so now he is driving back home and is pissed off and thinks the whole relationship was crap, i think?

Cover art for Fake Frowns lyrics by Death Cab for Cutie

yeah i think that this song follows off of amputations like same girl, same guy she wants to get back with, same narrator, but now its all falling apart since he proposed, which he thought in a desparate moment woudl get this girl back, but it didnt work, she sort of fled physically or emotionally, and now hes driving back home...i dunno i could be totally off, that's sort of a simple explanation...doesn't explain the jailhouse queen and jury and judge screaming to hang lines, maybe she killed someone? who knows, the lyrics are great, so dense and mysterious that you want to figure them out and then you sort of dont because you know that the explanation is oging to rob them of some of their magic. so i'll stop there.

p.s. eifel, this is one of my favorite songs!

 
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