A lot of the bands that I listen to have inscrutable lyrics: Minutemen, Guided by Voices, Sonic Youth, Meat Puppets – a lot of the songs more or less describe an abstract thought; but they really don’t tell a story.
No problem, then.
But a lot of Pavement songs seem to be about something specific; but if you try to figure out what you get pretty befuddled, and the harder you think about it the worse it gets. Some good examples of this would be songs like Grounded or Zurich is Stained.
But the one that really drives me nuts is Type Slowly.
Okay, whaddaya think?
I have three thoughts about this one.
I work with a lot of older people including people who are demented, and to me this song reminds me of the ramblings of a demented man, waiting to die talking to his wife during a moment of relative lucidity. Some other songs on the same album, like Old to Begin and Shady Lane are clearly about aging and death.
But then again probably not this song.
Okay . . . there are a number of innuendoes about sex in this song: “our midnight vacation,” “One of us is a cigar stand . . . one of us is a lovely blue incandescent guillotine”
And there are more - you’ll see if you look. So is this just another song about sex?
Probably not.
Okay, my third thought. This song came out in 99 when AOL was so popular. A lot of the lyrics in the song sound to me like bits and pieces from AOL chat rooms and message boards from that time. If you have ever experienced those AOL chat rooms they often don’t make any more sense than this songs does.
Examples: “snipers posted bills,” “trolls,” “liberals say they don’t exist,” and of course “type slowly.”
So maybe this song is about life in an AOL chat room, which is, of course, a lot of nonsense.
Pavement drives me crazy.
A lot of the bands that I listen to have inscrutable lyrics: Minutemen, Guided by Voices, Sonic Youth, Meat Puppets – a lot of the songs more or less describe an abstract thought; but they really don’t tell a story.
No problem, then.
But a lot of Pavement songs seem to be about something specific; but if you try to figure out what you get pretty befuddled, and the harder you think about it the worse it gets. Some good examples of this would be songs like Grounded or Zurich is Stained.
But the one that really drives me nuts is Type Slowly.
Okay, whaddaya think?
I have three thoughts about this one.
I work with a lot of older people including people who are demented, and to me this song reminds me of the ramblings of a demented man, waiting to die talking to his wife during a moment of relative lucidity. Some other songs on the same album, like Old to Begin and Shady Lane are clearly about aging and death.
But then again probably not this song.
Okay . . . there are a number of innuendoes about sex in this song: “our midnight vacation,” “One of us is a cigar stand . . . one of us is a lovely blue incandescent guillotine”
And there are more - you’ll see if you look. So is this just another song about sex?
Probably not.
Okay, my third thought. This song came out in 99 when AOL was so popular. A lot of the lyrics in the song sound to me like bits and pieces from AOL chat rooms and message boards from that time. If you have ever experienced those AOL chat rooms they often don’t make any more sense than this songs does.
Examples: “snipers posted bills,” “trolls,” “liberals say they don’t exist,” and of course “type slowly.”
So maybe this song is about life in an AOL chat room, which is, of course, a lot of nonsense.
@moik A very good attempt at teasing meaning from that song. And well written.
@moik A very good attempt at teasing meaning from that song. And well written.
@moik Thanks for your encouraging words
@moik Thanks for your encouraging words