Web in Front

I loved the midget in the video. This song got me into the Archers big time. I still wonder if the Mexicans who stole my car are listening to the CD.

This is, without a doubt, my favorite archers of loaf song.

I think he's talking about trying too hard with a girl (overdone overdrive overlive override), lying to her and fucking everything up. There are obvious references to chemical magnetism (the pin, the rust the magnet etc) and how his magnet was wasted because he fucked everything up. I think she is supposed to be the web in front because, think about it, what does a web do? It sticks to something, in this case, a favorite lie (the whole last verse is abut this). I don't think this is adequate however because of the second part of the first verse (you're not the one who let me down / but thanks for offering / it's not a voice and I'm not around / but thanks for picking it). I doubt this is the real explanation for the song, but its a start.

I do believe SmackMasterPhillips was on the right track. However, it's the other way around. The pin in the backbone is simply a way to represented a building relationship, as if to say pin-by-pin all the way down. The "spoke it down from there" bit is easy, because words are normally a necessity in a relationship. "Lost your friction..." refers to the lie itself. He blames himself for allowing himself to get hurt by the girl, thus "You're not the one who let me down" and the "Thanks for offering" part states that she HAD, in fact, done something that hurt him. It's also apparent that he left the girl when he says "It's not a voice (as in a voice in her head) and I'm not around, but thanks for picking it up on the radio (to state the song is for her). The rust pouring from the faucet represents all the lies that had built up on the magnet in his head, the magnet was "extra thick, extra long (an analogy to Pinocchio perhaps), the way it was wasted (having wasted the magnet is what he blames himself for). And of course, after a break-up, things tend to get weird, but he wants to make it clear that it's not his fault. "You're the favorite lie" states that she is simply a fake, and "the web in front of a favorite lie" is her getting caught in her own lies, as lies do build up to a point of no escape. The song also suggests that she kept her mouth shut about it, but when it did come up, she messed up on the lie, thus "and a mouth kept shut, and a tongue twist tie". To sum it up, because she let her lie build up (after keeping quiet for so long), when she tried to lie about it she screwed up and got caught in her own lie.

"You're the web in front of a favorite lie" The key here is that it's "A favorite lie", not one specific to the Archer or to the girl he's addressing - the lie is happiness. In this case, it's happiness with this girl - he is getting caught in her web as he pursues this "lie". "Stuck a pin in your backbone, spoke it down from there" To stick a pin in something is to stop it. He's coming to the realization that this relationship is escalating on the basis of something not real - of this "favorite lie". The Archers stop this, and he talks her down - he's breaking up with her. "All I ever wanted was to be your spine." He just wants to support her.

anyone pick up on the recurrent metallic and automotive references? Sure "magnet" and "radio" are obvious, but also: "Pin", "Spoke", "slide for a mile", "overdrive", "picking up on the radio", "rust". It seems to me that there is a playful and slight personification of the "you" in the song as a car. this doesn't exclude the lyrics as speaking about a relationship, probably with a woman, but sorta complements it to me.

The more I read over it, the more I see it this way--especially in lines like "sampled your rust from a faucet, I know" which seems to me a figurative and beautiful way of talking about an old car that is left in rain and rusts over a long time.

Not sure what part corresponds to the "spine" of a car. Thought of maybe a car frame, or along with the radio reference, the dashed increments of the old analog radios that have dials.

Oh, and it just occurred to me that the "magnet in my head" lends some meaning to the narrators address of the radio, since a magnet will distort a radio, or isn't there a magnet in the parts of a radio?

Actually, its getting clearer to me now that a big part of the song is talking about a radio in a figurative way. "Stuck a pin in your backbone" would be again a really beautiful way of seeing the station indicator against the markings of the various radio stations; further, the "loss your friction and slid for a mile" would be about the inarticulate static of the radio, or possibly the wearing down of the markings on a radio display, and turning that dial a lot to find something that picks up.

Ok, so reading it once more, I'm convinced that both the narrator and the you are personified parts of a radio head unit. Hence the "magnet in my head". Now maybe the "web in front" might be seen as having something to do with a chewed up cassette tape.

I love this song, WHY ISNT ANYONE COMMENTING? First song I got from them, and I love it. Not sure what all of the lyrics mean but its so much fun to sing.

yeah its like a straight indie song in that theres a lot of fast metaphors and its pretty open too interpretation, but i feel its about dissapointment in how things turned out with a gal. love the delivery on the pickin it...... up part

uhm......

Stuck a pin in your backbone. Spoke it down from there. All I ever wanted was to be your spine. --All I ever wanted was to help you stand as your own person

Lost your friction and you slid for a mile. Overdone, overdrive, overlive, override. --Obvious

You're not the one who let me down, But thanks for offering. It's not a voice and I'm not around. But thanks for picking it...

Up, on the radio. --Someone hurt me worse than you recently...then just banter to rhyme.

Sampled your rust from a faucet, I know. I've got a magnet in my head, A magnet in my head. Extra thick, extra long, the way it was wasted. --I don’t know, but I really like those lines.

And there's a chance that things'll get weird. Yeah, that's a possibility. Although I didn't do anything, No, I didn't do anything. --There is always the possibility that something will end abruptly, or feelings will change. But I didn't do anything wrong.

All I ever wanted, All I ever wanted, All I ever wanted was to be your spine.

(repeat)

And a mouth kept shut and a tongue twist tie. You're the web in front, you're the favorite lie. (?) You're a buck my lip, you're a lash my lie. (?) You're the web in front of a favorite lie. --You’re something distracting. You are a lie I am telling myself

yes! i mostly agree with the last explanation. he was hurt by someone else and now he's just being careful with this girl. he warns her that things might not be so perfect as you picture them to be in the beginning of the relationship. and if things go wrong, it might be no one's fault, that's just the way it is with love.

i wouldn't go and analyze the song word by word, some parts can't be taken literally.

Just to build on what you guys have said, I think the song is going through his states of mind. It kind of goes from "I fucked things up, argh," to "I just wanted to be with you," to "you know what? I didn't really care that much about you anyway. Everything I thought was a lie." The web in front is what hid those lies.