Tables and Chairs Lyrics
and they won't pretend that they're too busy or that they're not alone
and if we can call them friends then we can call
holler at them down these hallowed halls
just don't let the human factor fail to be a factor
at all
or any sudden pressure change
cause i know
that it's starting to get warm in here
and things are starting to get strange
and they're drinking roses from the can?
and how, how i wish i, i had talked to them,
and i wish they fit into the plan
we were so tired of being mild
and we were tired...
in the crumbled financial institutions of this land
there will be tables and chairs
there'll be pony rides and dancing bears
there'll even be a band
cause listen, after the fall there will be no more countries
no currencies at all, we're gonna live on our wits
we're gonna throw away survival kits,
trade butterfly-knives for adderal
and that's not all
ooh-ooh, there will be snacks there will
there will be snacks, there will be snacks.
we were so tired of being mild,
and we were (we were so) tired...
don't you worry
about the atmosphere.

i'm in love with him...seen him perform 4 times now. When he plays this song he tells you that it's a story of how lovely things will be after the apocalypse! There will be tables and chairs...snacks...and all your real friends will be there... And I think "Armchair Apocalypse" is gonna be the title track on his next album!!!

In the live concert that is linked from andrewbird.net - before this song he says...
"This song is about the Apocalypse, and how great it's gonna be, when we can start over"
I love that outlook

i was driving to housesit at my grandparents house which is at least ten miles from where i live. the current price of gas is high, so this trip that i find myself taking frequently is costing a lot. i'd been having a rotten week, people were acting subtlely annoyed with me, and the moment that andrew bird began talking about his excitement about SNACKS i laughed. i felt better. thanks andrew.

trade butterfly-knives for adderal we were tired of being mild
i think this song is about it being the last day of earth (in some form or another) and the narrator has to choose the one person he wants to spend the rest of his remaining time with, and in doing so he has other realizations about just what "friends" are.

"if we can call them friends then we can call them on their telephones/and they won't pretend that they're too busy or that they're not alone"
This part is really delightfully simple and sweet.

pheonix: thanks for the spot, now that i listen to it, it's definitively mild and not mired. and adderal does fit in.
do i run rare? (

right, guess i'll just pick up where i left off, seeing how songmeanings hates me ever so much:
do i run rare? (loving the newsom reference) i love that part as well, in fact, the first "verse" is what made me obsess over this song for so long.
"just don't let the human factor fail to be a factor" is just amazingly pretty
as for my take on the song, it is of course horribly subjective and quite possibly one hundred percent wrong, but i see it as some sort of post-economic-apocolypse party song. once all the rules and regulations go to hell we all just kiss, hug and turn into one euphoric world state.

*on red telephones **there'll even be a band
i think the album sort of builds up to this song and that this is about heaven of some sort.

"...
...
...
I know we're gonna meet someday-"
That part is awesome.