The Leanover

I LOVE THIS SONG.

however, the lyrics make absolutely no fucking sense. this band is hilarious and awesome.

Are these the official lyrics? Otherwise, I hear some different lyrics:

• "high heels" makes more sense than "high hills", especially in the line "stand up in the high heels".
• "and the time ticks slightly back" fits my interpretation below more than "in the time takes sliding back". Especially with the later line "twelve o'clock"

Sounds to me like the lyrics are running in reverse, starting with the relationship that's fallen apart, and winding back the clock to reveal previous stages in the relationship. Starts with "if i lose you in the street", the fear that it's over. Moves backward into a fight "wassup with your friends?", then back into the spawning of doubt: "raining in my room, sweet and sleepy/keep us together". Moves back again into some sweeter, personal relationship references: "forever you can be me, swim". Toward the end we have "contact", possibly the lovers' first contact.

I would agree with startingfromrocks comment about all the music references. In my interpretation they fit in with the soundtrack running through the relationship, mixtapes, songs that mean something to the lovers etc.

i really think these lyrics make more sense than any of their other songs! it's about some overbearing guy (that's what "the leanover" refers to, or maybe some kind of "lean-to"-style love nest) who the singer is at first romantically longing for and is scared of losing, but then she starts to doubt the nature of his "contact" and finally decides she doesn't like it.

or, even more explicitly, it's about fellatio: kind of boring for the woman, sometimes.

I like the fellatio allegory. It can be boring for the woman, but then what does the phrase "I don't trade" mean? In my experience, a trade is the only way to get it done properly. Great song!

i think the lyrics are maybe about the start of a relationship, or thinking back to the start after you've broken up. It seems wistful and nostalgic. Music is a big part of it. Makes me think of making mixtapes for your intended when you first meet. There's loads of music references in the song: "MBV" = My Bloody Valentine, "black steel" = the song by Public Enemy (or Tricky), "i like you mostly late at night" = Robert Wyatt lyric (from Sea Song), "Virginia plain" = the Roxy Music song, "recorded at the automat, san franscisco mixed with uh oh" = the automat was a recording studio in san fransisco where many bands such as The Clash and Echo And The Bunnymen made albums, "recorded at the power plant" = a liner note about a recording studio(?), "i can't stand the rain" - the song by Anne Peebles (or Missy Elliott), "raining in my room" - the song by Swell Maps, theres probably loads more. Perhaps "i don't trade" refers to trading records?

I think as with most of the LWB lyrics, this seems to be a jumble of really personal references, things that friends might have said, bits taken from the paper or popular culture and really lovely poetic asides - like reading someones notebooks or picking through their brains. But i might be completely wrong of course. Regardless, this song is wicked!

The many references to other songs is cool. Good catch.

I can read this song to be about prostitutes. The relationship stuff sounds good too.

I don't really read any explicit references to oral sex, except the word "swallow". I can see how the musical references fit into waiting/boredom, like thoughts going through someone's head during sex :)

at the end: "waiting, contact, shake it baby / watch him, contact, shake it baby" This sums up the three stages of finding a john waiting ("days like television" and the references to time ticking or sliding). contact shaking it ("bounce, twirl", "kiss me come here, close the door")

I could imagine some kind of mixed up conversation between girls and a pimp. A lot of the lines are encouraging something to happen.

-- In the live version it sounds like she says "If the high heels don't trade, don't trade!"

also, with the music references: "Budokan" seems to be an arena in Tokyo where a lot of famous bands have played and released live recordings from.

Man, I really thought I had something, but it turns out the dates don't match at all. I'll share it with you anyway.

I knew she was saying "If I lose ya" but it also sounded like "Fallujah," the site of a bloody campaign in 2004 in the US-Iraq War (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Battle_of_Fallujah), and so also "if I lose ya in the street" it sounded like it could be "a Fallujan street." The combat in Fallujah was in an urban area, so if you were there fighting, it would be in the streets.

Then, toward the end, she starts saying "Contact!" which is what you might shout if you spot an enemy soldier (see this use: http://articles.latimes.com/2004/jul/18/world/fg-killing18). She also seems to be getting upset and possibly inconsolable toward the end of the song.

So it sort of sounded to me like the song could be about the speaker losing someone she cares about in the Fallujan streets--buuuut it's not.

It could still be about someone dying to enemy gunfire somewhere, but, alas, the Fallujah angle is gone.

me encanta, estoy a punto de aprendermela toda haha