the imagery in destroyer songs is so vivid and the wordplay is so thickly layered that it's hard to have a central point of view on any possible meanings.
and yes, BigglesTh9 is right, "typical me, typical me" is a reference to the smiths song "i started something i couldn't finish" and he is referencing past albums.
you'd have to actually live in vancouver (dan bejar's hometown) to get most of the references. for example, 'thornton park' is a reference to a real park in strathcona, east vancouver.
'dock of the bay' is a reference to the otis redding book.
"(wealthy) american underground" is, as explained by bejar in an interview, about how he recently and embarassingly came to the conclusion of just how rich American hipster culture is -- as in financially rich, not culturally. his remarks and general dislike of hipsterdom is more of an ode to songwriting, not social critique.
"look to the west!" is another lyrical reference to led zep's stairway to heaven. "proud mary" is a reference to the creedence clearwater revival song of the same name. "golden slumber" is a reference to the beatles song "golden slumbers" off "abbey road."
the imagery in destroyer songs is so vivid and the wordplay is so thickly layered that it's hard to have a central point of view on any possible meanings.
and yes, BigglesTh9 is right, "typical me, typical me" is a reference to the smiths song "i started something i couldn't finish" and he is referencing past albums.
you'd have to actually live in vancouver (dan bejar's hometown) to get most of the references. for example, 'thornton park' is a reference to a real park in strathcona, east vancouver.
'dock of the bay' is a reference to the otis redding book.
"(wealthy) american underground" is, as explained by bejar in an interview, about how he recently and embarassingly came to the conclusion of just how rich American hipster culture is -- as in financially rich, not culturally. his remarks and general dislike of hipsterdom is more of an ode to songwriting, not social critique.
"look to the west!" is another lyrical reference to led zep's stairway to heaven. "proud mary" is a reference to the creedence clearwater revival song of the same name. "golden slumber" is a reference to the beatles song "golden slumbers" off "abbey road."