Friends are somewhere getting wasted
Hope they're staying glued together
I have arms for them
Take another sip of them, it
Floats around and takes me over
Like a little drop of ink in a
Glass of water
Get inside their clothes with my green gloves
Watch their videos in their chairs
Get inside their beds with my green gloves
Get inside their heads, love their loves
Cinderella through the room, I
Glide and swan 'cause I'm the
Best slow dancer in the
Universe
Falling out of touch with all, my
Friends are somewhere getting wasted
Hope they're staying glued together
I have arms for them
Get inside their clothes with my green gloves
Watch their videos in their chairs
Get inside their beds with my green gloves
Get inside their heads, love their loves
Now I hardly know them
And I'll take my time
I'll carry them over
And I'll make them mine
Get inside their clothes with my green gloves
Watch their videos in their chairs
Get inside their beds with my green gloves
Get inside their heads, love their loves
The National is an American rock band from Cincinnati, Ohio, formed in Brooklyn, New York City in 1999. The band consists of Matt Berninger (vocals), twin brothers Aaron Dessner (guitar, piano, keyboards) and Bryce Dessner (guitar, piano, keyboards), as well as brothers Scott Devendorf (bass) and Bryan Devendorf (drums). During live performances, the band are joined by longtime touring members, Ben Lanz (trombone, synthesizers) and Kyle Resnick (trumpet, keyboards, backing vocals). Carin Besser, the wife of Berninger, is not a band member but has written lyrics for the band alongside her husband since its 2007 album Boxer.
Founded by Matt Berninger, Aaron Dessner, Scott Devendorf and Bryan Devendorf, the National released their self-titled debut album, The National (2001), on Brassland Records, an independent record label founded by Aaron and his twin brother, Bryce Dessner. Bryce, who had assisted in recording the album, soon joined the band, participating as a full member in the recording of its follow-up, Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers (2003).
Leaving behind their day jobs, the National signed with Beggars Banquet Records and released their third studio album, Alligator (2005), to widespread critical acclaim. The band's fourth and fifth studio albums, Boxer (2007) and High Violet (2010), increased their exposure significantly. In 2013, the band released its sixth studio album, Trouble Will Find Me, which was nominated for a Grammy Award. In 2017 the band released the album Sleep Well Beast, which won the band a Grammy Award. Their eighth studio album, I Am Easy to Find, was released in 2019. Their ninth studio album, First Two Pages of Frankenstein, was released on April 28, 2023 and featured appearances from Sufjan Stevens, Taylor Swift, and Phoebe Bridgers. It reached No. 1 on the Billboard charts in the AAA & Rock categories. The band released a surprise album, Laugh Track, on September 18, 2023. It was mostly written and recorded alongside their earlier 2023 album.
Five of the band's albums were nominated by music writer Laura Snapes for inclusion on NME's 2013 list of the NME's The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
...The musical equivalent of a wet Sunday afternoon at a seaside town that they forgot to close down...
That doesn't necessarily mean it's something bad.
I used to get annoyed by mumbly lyrics. Then when I started to read a few lyrics I realized that it really doesn't matter what is said. Music is an art, like a painting, sometimes the brush strokes are sloppy and coarse, the figures ill-defined. What matters is the overall emotional impression of the composition. I forget who it was, but one musician interviewed was asked about the significance of some cryptic lyrics and he said he didn't know what they meant either. THey just kind of sounded good, went along with the mood. I've found that I enjoy music much much more when I don't worry too much about understanding the words. Besides, if it's that important,I can just click the lyrics tab on RP and there they are!!
I used to get annoyed by mumbly lyrics. Then when I started to read a few lyrics I realized that it really doesn't matter what is said. Music is an art, like a painting, sometimes the brush strokes are sloppy and coarse, the figures ill-defined. What matters is the overall emotional impression of the composition. I forget who it was, but one musician interviewed was asked about the significance of some cryptic lyrics and he said he didn't know what they meant either. THey just kind of sounded good, went along with the mood. I've found that I enjoy music much much more when I don't worry too much about understanding the words. Besides, if it's that important,I can just click the lyrics tab on RP and there they are!!
Precisely, it's true that meaningful lyrics can enhance a song. It is also true that the voice can be just another instrument in the mix and that the sound of those vocal notes can be pleasing regardless of the content of the words.
That said, I have no issue with RP playing lots and lots of The National.
Yep, @westslope, now I forgot what Fred said. But like you, The National are magnetic to me. Oh yeah - it was something about misery. Fred, have you listened to The Smiths yet? Or maybe Leonard Cohen? Bob Dylan? Neil Youngj?
Most of our lives are misery, and tlhen one day in 99 we fluke it, and everytlhing is surrounded by sparkles and stars - nothing we can do fails, everybody loves us.
OK, we wake up in the morning, in a sanatorium, being treated for bipolar disorder - but that one day of freedom from sanity, from ordinariness, seems worth it.
Try Morrisey's 'Some Girls Are Bigger Than Other Girls', Cohen's 'Everybody Knows', Dylan's 'Wiggle Wiggle Wiggle', Neil Young's 'White Boat Comin' Up The River' for some misery magically converted, like lead into gold, from drudgeworthy meaninglessness into hilarity.
Hilarity, proof against the farcical possibility, for instance, that the lunatic fascist Donald Trump could be elected, in effect, to rule the world.
We poor poets have no means to resist the unstoppable power of money that such monsters can wield - the last unction available to us is to be humorously miserable about the inevitable, crushing destruction that they desire to besmirch upon this once-innocent planet.
there are times when this is just what is called for.
don't always want everything "spelled out".
maybe that's just me.
Bob Dylan is my favorite artist, but ultimately, this is music, not poetry. The voice is an instrument. The content can absolutely take a song to another level, but at the end of the day, music sounds good or it doesn't. Lyrics are a distant second in terms of what makes a song good.
Have you never appreciated a song sung in a foreign language that you don't understand?
Agreed. Lyrics are important in they can catapult a good song to a great one. But I like listening to other cultures and language is not a barrier to enjoy a song.
To be bored out of our skulls by atonal mumbling?
quit your trolling...I keep getting snagged.
Stop mumbling already.
Totally agree. Like Rickie Lee Jones on her six albums after the first one.
And maybe mix up the melody? Ok, too much, sorry.
I used to get annoyed by mumbly lyrics. Then when I started to read a few lyrics I realized that it really doesn't matter what is said. Music is an art, like a painting, sometimes the brush strokes are sloppy and coarse, the figures ill-defined. What matters is the overall emotional impression of the composition. I forget who it was, but one musician interviewed was asked about the significance of some cryptic lyrics and he said he didn't know what they meant either. THey just kind of sounded good, went along with the mood. I've found that I enjoy music much much more when I don't worry too much about understanding the words. Besides, if it's that important,I can just click the lyrics tab on RP and there they are!!
Early REM lyrics were just a bunch on nonsense that Stipe rolled together. It took years before he started writing lyrics with meanings but the early stuff is some their best. The lyrics create a feeling not a meaning. Hell the Cocteau Twins didn't even use words early on. Burning Down the House (Talking Heads) and Loser (Beck) were intentionally nonsensical lyrics.
blotto wrote:
Because they suck.
dew34 wrote:
That doesn't necessarily mean it's something bad.
Not at all. Nicely said, and great remeberance of SPM and The Smiths.
so little talent,
Do you project often?
Agreed. Lyrics are important in they can catapult a good song to a great one. But I like listening to other cultures and language is not a barrier to enjoy a song.
Totaly agreed. When I was a teen I used to listen to pop and R'n'roll without knowing a word in english. And I remember to have crying or dancing with joy on so many songs without undestanding the exact subject but feeling the emotion. Is the same for this great song from the National, it give me a total emotion without searching to understand exactly what he is speaking about. Another love affair I think...