Both as a standalone and as part of the DSOTS album, you can take this lyric as read. As a matter of public record, Jourgensen's drug intake was legendary even in the 1980s. By the late 90s, in his own words, he was grappling with massive addiction issues and had lost almost everything: friends, spouse, money and had nearly died more than once. "Dark Side of the Spoon" is a both funny & sad title for an album made by a musical genius who was losing the plot; and this song is a message to his fans & friends saying he knows it. It's painful to listen to so I'm glad the "Keith Richards of industrial metals" wised up and cleaned up. Well done sir.
Losing the star without a sky
Losing the reasons why
You're losing the calling that you've been faking
And I'm not kidding
It's damned if you don't
And it's damned if you do
Be true 'cause they'll lock you up
In a sad sad zoo
Oh hidy hidy hidy what cha tryin' to prove
By hidy hidy hiding you're not worth a thing
Sew your fortunes on a string
And hold them up to light
Blue smoke will take
A very violent flight
And you will be changed
Sand everything
And you will be in a very sad sad zoo.
I once was lost but now I'm found was blind
But now I see you
How selfish of you to believe
In the meaning of all the bad dreaming
Metal heart you're not hiding
Metal heart you're not worth a thing
Metal heart you're not hiding
Metal heart you're not worth a thing
Losing the reasons why
You're losing the calling that you've been faking
And I'm not kidding
It's damned if you don't
And it's damned if you do
Be true 'cause they'll lock you up
In a sad sad zoo
Oh hidy hidy hidy what cha tryin' to prove
By hidy hidy hiding you're not worth a thing
Sew your fortunes on a string
And hold them up to light
Blue smoke will take
A very violent flight
And you will be changed
Sand everything
And you will be in a very sad sad zoo.
I once was lost but now I'm found was blind
But now I see you
How selfish of you to believe
In the meaning of all the bad dreaming
Metal heart you're not hiding
Metal heart you're not worth a thing
Metal heart you're not hiding
Metal heart you're not worth a thing
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Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
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Yo La Tengo
This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
This reminds me a lot of myself.
losing a star without a sky losing the reasons why you're losing the calling, you've been faking and I'm not kidding
You only have a star, a true and honest love if you have a sky. And this love you lose, no matter how self-sufficient you might want to feel, this love is your 'reasons why'.
it's damned if you don't and it's damned if you do be true 'cause they'll lock you up in a sad sad zoo oh hidy hidy hidy what're you trying prove? by hidy hidy hiding you're not worth a thing
No matter what you do, you feel that you will end up hurted. But if you want to be happy you got to try, risk yourself, let fear and that armored heart of yours fade away. When you hide yourself from yourself and from others you're trying to change, to prove you can. prove to yourself and maybe to others as well. But you should be honest to be less judged, or to not care about it, in that zoo. You cannot live with your heart close, it's not what you might call a life.
sew your fortunes on a string and hold them up to light blue smoke will take a very violent flight and you will be changed
A string, like the string from the guitar? Blue smoke, like in a gig? Sounds like it's about herself, but it's very open to other interpretations also, of course. The string of destiny maybe, the string that shakes and you shake with it and you feel you will fall, all the time. That lifestyle, that shell is changing you violently. And no matter how hard you try not to end up like this, seems inevitable (it's damned if you don't and it's damned if you do).
I see this song as a song without a real chorus, but if there's any, it's this part: I once was lost but now I'm found was blind but now I see you how selfish of you to believe in the meaning of all the bad dreaming
So powerful, so true, so much from the real inside of us.. of her. Now that you've found yourself, that was so foolish thinking that things would never change, so foolish and so selfish, like you're the only one with troubles, like none of the others around you care.
It's very hard but the heart of people should be wide open as they pursue for something, for a relationship, for what they do. This song would even exist without that.