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morgana

hello. i was just wondering if there is a specific place/website/area of this forum that you keep lyric discussions? i was curious about some of the references in the songs and didn't know where to search for answers.

k.thx.bye.

happynoodleboy

morgana

well, i was curious about "half jack" mostly. what is jack? i get the jack and jill reference in the song, and i understand that the song is describing the divisive nature of the character in the song. is it supposed to be a direct interpretation of the nature of the character in the nursery rhyme? is the singer/character implying that jack somehow pulled jill down with him, that the "jack" side is their ultimate undoing? have i been drinking too much lately?

uh. yeah.

happynoodleboy

UglyBoy · Part German, Part Italian, All Fascist

tis about the daddy...

at least thats what ive come to believe...

-JTHM

ataraxia · The weak shall perish.

jack is amanda's father.

happynoodleboy

morgana

*points at happynoodleboy* see, you've been hitting the bottle too.

Wink

thanks all, i didn't know that it was a literal reference. have a cookie now.

*passes out cookies*

happynoodleboy

[quote="morgana"]*points at happynoodleboy* see, you've been hitting the bottle too.

Wink

thanks all, i didn't know that it was a literal reference. have a cookie now.

*passes out cookies*[/quote

no bottle necessary. i am like this all of the time.

Pacofish · Real Men Wear Stilts

half jack: if you look at the lyrics page on the website: http://www.dresdendolls.com/downloads_n_lyrics/lyrics/halfjack.htm you'll see it says "for my father" below the title. also look at all the references to family. let's go through the whole song, shall we?

I'm half my mother's daughter and the other half?
a fraction's left up to dispute. like...who the baby' daddy is?
...
half accidental. pregnancy reference?
...
it's half biology... that sounds to me like a reference to the ongoing debate over if personality is "nature or nurture", whether we are born with our personalities (nature) or if we learn them throughout our lives (nurture). This song seems to be about an aspect of the speaker's personality with which she is displeased. It may be learned, but it may be inherited. hence half biology. and that's the basic meaning of the song.
...
half hill and half jack. the simpelest (and poetical) understanding of the difference between female and male or between any two opposites that come together to produce a new entity.
...
like they say the blood is thicker (than water) it's really all right there. what does that saying mean? it means that your family is closer to you than any other relationships (whether you like it or not).
i see my mother in my face/but only when I travel. Why only when she travels? is she too overwhelmed by her mother in her presence that she sees only the contrast between her and her mother? what about her father's influence? the rest of the song is just story, but clearly jack is her father and she resents his inevitible influence on the way she is and wants to change it, but it's so difficult because whether she likes it or not, he's a huge (up to 50%) influence on her.

-Paco
what I want to know is if anyone has figured out the lyrics to the songs that aren't on the lyrics page... like the rare songs we ganked from the brigade site. I've got most of the Mouse and the Model worked out...but not all.

ataraxia · The weak shall perish.

MockTurtle · "Really you are quite dull!"

I've been working on trying to figure out the lyrics to those early demos of Amanda's. So far I've got all but a couple of lines of Bad Habit (not hard, seeing as 95% of it is exactly the same as the album version), all but one word of Sandy's Song, and about two thirds of Mary's Surgeon. I've also got all but one line of Blake Says, which Amanda has done at least once solo recently.

Maybe trying to figure out the lyrics to obscure songs deserves a new thread, separate fom trying to figure out what known songs actually mean? There was a thread a while back trying to work out how the lyrics on the live version of Mandy Goes To Med School differ from the ones on the site.

So here's my interpretation question...what is Ultima Esperanza about, exactly? Some of it I can get, but othe parts are a total mystery.

Twygis

I've had some trouble with a couple of lines in Bad Habit: "and pain opinions are sitcom feeding / they dont know that their minds are teething." I'm just not sure what this all means.

ataraxia · The weak shall perish.

MockTurtle · "Really you are quite dull!"

In the second verse:

But in his velvet mind
He believes ??????????

And I'm not entirely sure of the last line in the third:

And when it's two o'clock he (feels like crying)?

ataraxia · The weak shall perish.

here, i'll just do the whole thing.

blake says no one ever really loved him
they just faked it to get money from the government
and blake thinks angels grow when you plant angeldust
he shakes his head and blinks his pretty eyes
but trust me he's no valentine
though he said he would be mine
his heart is in alaska all the time

blake stays underwater for the most part
he collects loose change from all tomorrow's parties
and when blake dates girls with tattos of the pyramids
he breaks their hearts by saying it's not permanent
but in his velvet mind
he believes with all his might
we'll all go to alaska when we die

blake makes friends but only for a minute
he prefers the drugs he orders off the internet
and blake's been having trouble with his head again
he takes his pills but never takes his medicine
like andy in his prime
he likes his shirts to shine
and when it's two o'clock it feels like nine

blake says he is sorry he got through to me
if it's ok he'll call right back and talk to the machine
blake says it looks like acid rain today
he takes the fish inside he's very kind that way
but just like caroline
he doesn't seem to mind
the globe is getting warmer all the time

it's still cold in alaska

MockTurtle · "Really you are quite dull!"

Aha, I was right about everything else, at least (although the mp3 I have has an extra "but darling trust me" instead of the "blinks his pretty eyes" line). Thankyou. I love that song. Mind you, it's probably just as well that Village Voice reviewer who didn't like the Doors reference in The Perfect Fit hasn't seen all the Lou Reed/Velvet Underground connections in this one.

Pacofish · Real Men Wear Stilts

thank you ataraxia. you filled in the gaps. now it all makes perfect (not really very much) sense. I'm still missing bits of Delilah, and a word from Sorry Bunch.

...
Sorry Bunch

We’re a sorry bunch
The jury’s out to lunch on this one, darling.
Well I could have lost a _______
You should look where you are going, guy;
I could have lost my life
but I would lose 100 fights
just as long as you were on my side

We’re a sorry bunch
the odds of that are such a drag my darling
so if you were lost in thought
well it won’t help now to say you’re sorry
cuz it could have cost us all
but I would skip 100 parties
just as long as you were in my room
just as long as somebody knew
just as long as you were in my room
just as long as somebody knew that we were . . .

Here’s to alcohol; Here’s to chemicals;
Here’s to all of the things that we drink
when we want to sing like no one’s listening.

just as long as you were on my side
just as long as nobody knew . . .
...

as for Ultima Esperanza, i think it's at least basally about finding love on the internet. In Spanish Ultima means "last" and Esperanza means "hope". So her name means "last hope" like Fox's/Jude's last hope to find love. I don't know, that's what I get from it.

Re: Bad Habit: "pain opinions are sitcom feeding" that's a tricky one to disassemble word for word, but what I think it means is that people's opinions on other peoples' pain comes from their fake sympathy, the kind of faux-understanding they get from sitcoms. so any kind of advise or sympathy that she could get for her pain is just bullshit, cuz most people have never experienced for themselves what it's like to feel that way, or to cut.
"they don't know that their minds are teething": same thing, they think they understand or that they know what it's like, but they really have no idea and are talking out of their asses. they have a very minimal understanding (like teething is very minimal use of teeth cuz the animal/person hasn't had them for very long) and don't know it. fuck 'em.

MockTurtle · "Really you are quite dull!"

ataraxia · The weak shall perish.

delilah:

there's no end to the love you can give
when you change your point of view to wonderful
very good
you may be flat but you're breathing
and there's no doubt
he's at home in his room
probably watching porn of you from the fall
it's last call and you're the last one leaving

and you thought you could change the world
by opening your legs
well it isn't very hard
try kicking them instead
and you thought you could change his mind
by changing your perfume
to the kind his mother wore
oh god delilah why
i've never met a more impossible girl

in this same bar where you slammed down your hand
and said "amanda, i'm in love"
no you're not
you're just a sucker for the ones who use you
and it doesn't matter what i say or do
the stupid bastard's gonna have his way with you

you're an unrescuable schizo
or else you're on the rag
cause if you take him back
i'm gonna lose my nerve
he's gonna beat you like a pillow
you schizos never learn
and if you take him home
you'll get what you deserve
i never met a more impossible girl

at four o'clock he got off and you called up
"i'm down at denny's on route one
and you won't guess what he's done"
is that a fact delilah
larry tap let you in through the back
and use his calling card again for a quick hand of gin
you are impossible delilah
the princess of denial
and after seven years in advertising you are none the wiser

you're an unrescuable schizo
or else you're on the rag
cause if you take him back
i'm gonna lose my nerve
he's gonna beat you like a pillow
you schizos never learn
and if you take him home
you'll get what you deserve
i never met a more impossible girl

so don't cry delilah
you're still alive delilah
you need a ride delilah
let's see how fast this thing can go

sorry bunch:

we're a sorry bunch
the odds of it are such a drag my darling
i could've lost her hand
you should look where you are going
god i could have lost my life
but i would lose a hundred fights
just as long as you were on my side

we're a sorry bunch
the odds of it are such a drag my darling
you were lost in thought
well it won't help now to say you're sorry
they could've dropped us off
but i would skip a hundred parties
just as long as you were in my life
just as long as nobody knew that we were...

here's to alcohol
here's to chemicals
here's to all of the things that we drink
when we want to sing like no one's listening

just as long as you were on my side
just as long as nobody knew

i'm not 100% sure about sorry bunch, and it varies a bit every time it's played [as many songs do], but that's what i've got.