Shiny

The song is about a boy falling in love for the first time at a carnival, and he believed at first that his lover was just as inexperienced as he was, but she isn't. All the "beery boys" know her too well. She lied by saying she was innocent. The shine he speaks of is the light of innocence in her eyes. How can someone have such innocent eyes and clearly be so worldly.

The whole song is a tribute to the loss of innocence. How things and people that appear to be so fun, bright, and childlike (like carnivals) can, as you grow older, prove to be just a facade.

I've always thought of the shininess of her eyes as being a reference to drug use... but after looking up the whole "eye dilation" thing in relation to when you find a person attractive, suddenly I hear this song in a new way!

you see, when you view a person you are interested in, your eyes will automatically dilate, and sometimes become covered in a thin layer of tears, giving your eye a shiny, wide look. this is something you can't control, so if you really dig someone, they'll be able to tell -- if they know what to look for. so, deny your feelings all you want, but your eyes will give away your lies every time.

so now, whenever I hear this song, I think of it as the narrator being involved with this girl, and they have a fling during a summer circus or fair, and she winds up leaving the guy, claiming never to have felt anything serious towards him, but he finds himself reflecting on their time together, and the way her eyes always seemed to shine... which leads him to believe she was lying about not feeling the same way he did.

... although, I figure the song really is about drug-use induced eye shininess, but my theory is at least an interesting new take on it. =P

My personal interpretation is somewhat (entirely, really) different than everyone else’s, apparently. The way I see it, the narrator is an army man, and is obviously romantically involved with one of the other men in his regiment. The song just doesn’t make any sense to me, otherwise. The two get up to something in a carnival/fairground, and the tawny gypsy girl sees them from where she is sleeping and alerts the authorities, who, naturally, come running and arrest the two (I suppose they’re in some place/time where their actions would illicit such a reaction). The other boy lied, and now our narrator is fulfilling the consequences; maybe he is in jail or somewhere similar, being punished, and thinking about how the fellow he loved (or at least trusted) betrayed him. Or perhaps the other boy lied and took it upon himself, and the narrator is remembering his eyes as shiny, or perhaps visiting him in his penitentiary or something [I am sure you all get the idea].

As well, it does not make sense that the narrator would switch subjects from his brother-at-arms to the gypsy girl halfway through the third verse. He begins the stanza by discussing the girl, but then doesn’t seem to mention her again.

I find it funny that it never occurred to me that this could’ve been his relationship with the girl, or any girl in general. It just seems like such a strange way to go about phrasing it, if that is indeed the intention of the song.

Maybe I’m just thinking about it too literally. Either way, it’s my point of view and I like it. Cheers!

Wow, I always thought this song was about rape? In the first verse, where he talks about "I may have gone too far, may have gone too much too long I'm a dull and witless boy"... thought this illustrated rape. Also, in the second verse, he talks about 'fumbling with her blouse'; this also fed into my personal interpretation. And that, coupled with the "Tell me why you lied, and what it is you do to keep your eyes so shiny" - I always figured she was lying about what really happened between them, maybe she said he raped her when he didn't, and he doesn't understand why, but she is able to keep an innocent face/ those innocent eyes.

This song sounds like a confrontation with the "Tawny Gypsy Girl", maybe at a carnival. He fell in love with her.

The Shiny reference is a reference to watery eyes or weeping. I think he's confronted her about cheating because of the flirting with the Sullen Beery Swine and the Boys in Denim Vests. And he's afraid it could all be in his head, referenced by calling himself a dull and witless boy.

He's just not sure if she's really crying or faking it.

That's my take.

Beautiful song either way.

wow im surprised no comments, such a beautiful song.

My favorite song of the moment, absolutely amazing

I love their lyrics...so much. :)

Makes me want to learn to play the accordian.

i want to be a tawny gypsy girl. haha.