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Figure 8 Lyrics
Figure eight is double four
Figure four is half of eight
If you skate you would be great
If you could make a figure eight
That's a circle that turns round upon itself
Figure eight is two times four
Four times four is two times eight
If you skate upon thin ice
You'd be wise if you thought twice
Before you made another single move
Figure four is half of eight
If you skate you would be great
If you could make a figure eight
That's a circle that turns round upon itself
Four times four is two times eight
If you skate upon thin ice
You'd be wise if you thought twice
Before you made another single move
Song Info
Submitted by
planes On Jan 27, 2002
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wow, this song is eerie and genius... haunting.
umm i mean the way he sings it.. i watched school house rock as a kid and love the music elliott made.. but listening to him sing this is something else.. hes the only person who could take such a simple kids song and make it sound the way he did.
agreed. and sure, others could do it, but it would never sound like he could make it sound, at least not for me. he had something rare.
haha
I think it does have something to do with life aswell, and how we try to make it perfect, but that doesn't really matter.
So mesmerizing.
Eight is also an infinity symbol. As far as symbolism, I think of a 'figure 8' as being like depression, in that it's set on an infinite loop ... "a circle that turns round upon itself." There's no way out, and even when you try to move forward, you always arrive back in the same place, like a cat chasing its own tail. This might be a bit of a reach, and I'm not saying it's the same symbolism Elliott saw; it would appear not, based on the "amusement of a pointless task" interview comment (though elliott was often cryptic about the meanings of his songs in interviews). Anyway, recently I was watching a documentary about depression, and someone described it as being locked inside a circle. This very simple metaphor hit me hard for some reason, and now I relate it to this song.
@NightNeverSleeps I love your interpretation so much and how it applies to depression and life in general.
@NightNeverSleeps I love your interpretation so much and how it applies to depression and life in general.
As for meaning: it is a song to familiarize children with multiplication, with a bit of haunting existential melancholy stirred in for good measure.
The original ends with "Place it on its side and it's a symbol meaning infinity..."
Currently my seven-year-old daughter's favorite song.
does anyone actually have him singing this? oh god, if you do.. please, I'm begging, please IM me and send it to me. my screen name is Stereo Change
hey, ataris, it's on www.elliottsmithbsides.com under the "son of sam singles"
uhh.... it's a schoolhouse rock song..... elliott didn't write it... but.... ok. it's really not that eerie (or genius) on multiplication rock...