I've never actually heard this song, but I want to interpret it anyway since there's no clear interpretation, here.
They want trash / They want you batting a lash / I'll eat styes from elephants' eyes [teachers and elders teach kids to be a certain way as they grow in school, but The Shins's singer says he'll do as he pleases.]
They're in touch
With their inner crutch
They wont stab but they'll grab [they're not allowed to hurt their students with weapons, but they'll manhandle kids, still]
And that's just like the other [and it's not any better than hurting with weapons]
We get nerves
And we drown it in booze
We take lives from elephants' eyes [we do as we please...]
They're in bed
With their cutting lead
It wont stop if you shop
With the lovers of bloodshed [pain won't stop if you hang with the wrong people or do the wrong things.]
I went to school, and saw slides
Of where I'm meant to be
Where I'm meant to be [school shows kids videos, and the kids get the impression that that's how they're supposed to act, too]
We read time
Like a kid eating limes [like someone said before, time passes by so fast, we ignore it at first, but then it comes by and we don't even realize it.]
We're in town when bees are let out
We get laughs
Through an osmotic patch [??? i don't know]
We're attached to the past
Cause our future's a bleak one [no hope for the future...even with the brainwashing of school]
I went to school and saw slides
Of where I'm meant to be
I'm meant to be
I think this song is about societal norms imposed on us through education and the media, as well as the extreme control over society by major companies.
I think this song is about societal norms imposed on us through education and the media, as well as the extreme control over society by major companies.
They want trash
They want you batting a lash (Society, rather those that control it, doesn't want us to invest too much of our time being critical of it/them.)
I'll eat styes from elephants' eyes (I'll eat up bullshit)
They're in touch
With their inner crutch (They love money)
They wont stab but they'll grab
And that's just like the other (They are greedy and though they don't attack people, it can be just as harmful as if...
They want trash
They want you batting a lash (Society, rather those that control it, doesn't want us to invest too much of our time being critical of it/them.)
I'll eat styes from elephants' eyes (I'll eat up bullshit)
They're in touch
With their inner crutch (They love money)
They wont stab but they'll grab
And that's just like the other (They are greedy and though they don't attack people, it can be just as harmful as if they were, specifically to the poor and those that require the resources they are hording.)
We get nerves
And we drown it in booze (Simply, we avoid our problems. This doesn't necessarily have to be directly about alcohol and nerves, it can also apply to buying things to make ourselves feel better and other activities which only comfort but don't actually fix the problems at hand.)
We take lies from elephants' eyes (We'll believe anything that is told to us by 'important people')
They're in bed
With a car eating lead (These important 'controllers of society' are very closely related to the 'machines' which are secretly poisoning the rest of humanity. Much like how a car produces exhaust which doesn't seem to do too much initially, but as we all know is slowly poisoning our air.)
It wont stop if you shop
With the lovers of bloodshed (This basically goes back to the "They don't stab but they grab..." line, in which these people are actually harming humanity; yet we still spend money on products which creates them profit. Though even if we don't agree with their actions, we still don't stop fueling their rampage against humanity.)
I went to school, and saw slides
Of where I'm meant to be
Where I'm meant to be (Simply schools don't try to help people become smarter, but rather are there to impose lawful and passive behaviour while setting people up for jobs.)
We read time
Like a kid eating limes (We don't actually like being at work or school all day long and instead of doing things we enjoy we find ourselves always looking at the time to see when we will be 'free'.)
We're in town when bees are let out
We get laughs
Through an osmotic patch (We are essentially constantly trying to be entertained to the point that we don't really care about anything else)
We're attached to the past
Cause our future's a bleak one (This could mean a lot of things. We are afraid of dying. We are told that the world is becoming worse and we need to preserve the current order of things; with these powerful people at the top. Being a child was much simpler, which is a common theme in James Mercer's work. Or, and objective sort of view on the rest of the song that the world is getting worse for these reasons, and nothing is really changing the direction we are going in)
I've never actually heard this song, but I want to interpret it anyway since there's no clear interpretation, here.
They want trash / They want you batting a lash / I'll eat styes from elephants' eyes [teachers and elders teach kids to be a certain way as they grow in school, but The Shins's singer says he'll do as he pleases.] They're in touch With their inner crutch They wont stab but they'll grab [they're not allowed to hurt their students with weapons, but they'll manhandle kids, still] And that's just like the other [and it's not any better than hurting with weapons]
We get nerves And we drown it in booze We take lives from elephants' eyes [we do as we please...] They're in bed With their cutting lead It wont stop if you shop With the lovers of bloodshed [pain won't stop if you hang with the wrong people or do the wrong things.]
I went to school, and saw slides Of where I'm meant to be Where I'm meant to be [school shows kids videos, and the kids get the impression that that's how they're supposed to act, too]
We read time Like a kid eating limes [like someone said before, time passes by so fast, we ignore it at first, but then it comes by and we don't even realize it.] We're in town when bees are let out We get laughs Through an osmotic patch [??? i don't know] We're attached to the past Cause our future's a bleak one [no hope for the future...even with the brainwashing of school]
I went to school and saw slides Of where I'm meant to be I'm meant to be
I think this song is about societal norms imposed on us through education and the media, as well as the extreme control over society by major companies.
I think this song is about societal norms imposed on us through education and the media, as well as the extreme control over society by major companies.
They want trash They want you batting a lash (Society, rather those that control it, doesn't want us to invest too much of our time being critical of it/them.) I'll eat styes from elephants' eyes (I'll eat up bullshit) They're in touch With their inner crutch (They love money) They wont stab but they'll grab And that's just like the other (They are greedy and though they don't attack people, it can be just as harmful as if...
They want trash They want you batting a lash (Society, rather those that control it, doesn't want us to invest too much of our time being critical of it/them.) I'll eat styes from elephants' eyes (I'll eat up bullshit) They're in touch With their inner crutch (They love money) They wont stab but they'll grab And that's just like the other (They are greedy and though they don't attack people, it can be just as harmful as if they were, specifically to the poor and those that require the resources they are hording.)
We get nerves And we drown it in booze (Simply, we avoid our problems. This doesn't necessarily have to be directly about alcohol and nerves, it can also apply to buying things to make ourselves feel better and other activities which only comfort but don't actually fix the problems at hand.) We take lies from elephants' eyes (We'll believe anything that is told to us by 'important people') They're in bed With a car eating lead (These important 'controllers of society' are very closely related to the 'machines' which are secretly poisoning the rest of humanity. Much like how a car produces exhaust which doesn't seem to do too much initially, but as we all know is slowly poisoning our air.) It wont stop if you shop With the lovers of bloodshed (This basically goes back to the "They don't stab but they grab..." line, in which these people are actually harming humanity; yet we still spend money on products which creates them profit. Though even if we don't agree with their actions, we still don't stop fueling their rampage against humanity.)
I went to school, and saw slides Of where I'm meant to be Where I'm meant to be (Simply schools don't try to help people become smarter, but rather are there to impose lawful and passive behaviour while setting people up for jobs.)
We read time Like a kid eating limes (We don't actually like being at work or school all day long and instead of doing things we enjoy we find ourselves always looking at the time to see when we will be 'free'.) We're in town when bees are let out We get laughs Through an osmotic patch (We are essentially constantly trying to be entertained to the point that we don't really care about anything else) We're attached to the past Cause our future's a bleak one (This could mean a lot of things. We are afraid of dying. We are told that the world is becoming worse and we need to preserve the current order of things; with these powerful people at the top. Being a child was much simpler, which is a common theme in James Mercer's work. Or, and objective sort of view on the rest of the song that the world is getting worse for these reasons, and nothing is really changing the direction we are going in)