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Blue Tulip Lyrics

They're waiting to hate you
So give them an excuse
They say that it changed you
I know that can't be true

I came in the entrance the makeup girl went through
And waited for ages, I waited there for you

Hats off to my distant hope
I'm held back by a velvet rope
And he's behind the wall the smoke machine has made between us
And if he does exist, if camera clicking, green room guests swirl round the man whose real life can be touched
Then I will do just that much

Hats off to my distant hope
A little lie, a puff of smoke
My street tonight's on fire with hope
You'll be there, you'll see us
I've got my ear against the screen
I'll feel your feelings crackling
For every single inch of me, I'm going to make you mean it
With every single cell of me, I'm going to make you mean the words you sigh
You lie

Goodbye
Goodbye
Song Info
Submitted by
smileforthecamera On Jul 16, 2008
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Cover art for Blue Tulip lyrics by Okkervil River

I think Will said something around the time they released Stage Names that he'd been obsessing over the idea of the groupie lifestyle- and of course, the big figure of the double album, Shannon Wilsey, started out her story as a groupie. So I guess this is like the sister-song to Girl In Port off the last album, written from the groupie's point of view.

Cover art for Blue Tulip lyrics by Okkervil River

Well this is clearly the stand-out of The Stand-Ins. Thank you smileforthecamera and Appers66 (you're almost certainly correct with your interpretation and it being a "response" to "A Girl in Port," the six-minute triumphal stand-out of THAT album). I also think there's a possible religious double entendre (fully intentional) that deflates the worshipped status of rock stars. ("If he does exist..." etc.)

A few corrections: "A little lie" is actually "A ray of light"

and "Feelings crackling Through me..."

Cover art for Blue Tulip lyrics by Okkervil River

This was called "Tomb of an Unknown Rocker" before it was put on the album. Might help with the meaning a bit.

Cover art for Blue Tulip lyrics by Okkervil River

It seems kind of like "On Tour With Zykos" - a relationship, or at least a yearning for one, separated by one's rise to fame.

Cover art for Blue Tulip lyrics by Okkervil River

This song is really pretty I think it's one of my favorites so far.

"They're waiting to hate you So give them an excuse They say that it changed you I know that can't be true"

I think when he says that he means that they hate her for a reason, but it's not true, so give them an excuse means go ahead and kill yourself, they'll hate you, and then, they really will have an excuse.

"I came in the entrance the makeup girl went through And waited for ages, I waited there for you"

I think here he is dead as well, but he's in heaven, and if she suicided she'll prolly go to hell, so he waited at the entrance for ages for her to meet him there, but she didn't come.

"Hats off to my distant hope I'm held back by a velvet rope And he's behind the wall the smoke machine has made between us And if he does exist, if camera clicking, green room guests swirl round the man whose real life can be touched Then I will do just that much"

I think that this is my favorite part of the song, here I think that he means he hoped so much but his hope could not do anything about it, and when he says "He" I think he is referring to God. and theres a wall of smoke separating them, him being in heaven and her in hell, and he's saying that if god is doing that and his real life can be touched, that being what it takes to save her, then he will go just that much.

"Hats off to my distant hope A little lie, a puff of smoke My street tonight's on fire with hope You'll be there, you'll see us I've got my ear against the screen I'll feel your feelings crackling For every single inch of me, I'm going to make you mean it With every single cell of me, I'm going to make you mean the words you sigh You lie

Goodbye Goodbye"

I think again, this time he is referring his hope to not her being in heaven but actually loving him. I think that she had smoked and that is what she was doing when she said it to him. But he had hope she loved him and he had hope he'd see her. by my ear against the screen means that he can not see her but hear what she is feeling. and he feels her feelings fall appart because she is dead. and if he does get her to join him, he will make her mean the words she said, which are that she loves him. But she doesn't so he weds her.