Lyrics You Don't Fully Understand

[Judge_yrself]

Hello! Long time lurker, very occasional poster!

Does anyone else have Manics songs where you get the general gist/meaning of the song, but the meaning of certain lines escape you?

For example, I get what No Surface All Feeling is about, but that last verse -

"Just one thing before I get to sleep
Nothing here but the stains on my teeth
No, not blood, just liquid from you
I only wish it was the truth"

- has baffled me for more years than I'd care to admit.

Also, as a complete lyric, Intravenous Agnostic has always been completely unlockable to me. I mean, I don't think I'm unintelligent haha, but this one always feels like Nicky's speaking in tongues.

Anyone else had similar Manics lyric experiences?

[Suicide Aldi]

Yeah the verse in NSAF has always baffled me aswell. I think intravenous agnostic is genuinely just nonesense though.

[kevoutus]

I think Intravenous Agnostic is just Nicky showing off his Scrabble skills.

[wannagetout]

Excellent idea for a thread.
Maybe Richey gave Nicky Ribena.
How about "I recognise dim traces of creation"? I think the gist is like...he's become so intensely concerned with existential/moral matters at the expense of caring for himself.

[Judge_yrself]

Yeah, I could imagine Intravenous Agnostic being Nicky showing off, except he doesn't usually write like that. Wasn't there something he said once prior to playing the song live along the lines of 'I write lyrics like this because I'm intelligent, and journalists want to fuck me but they can't?' Ha!

If we take Richey at his words that Die in the Summertime is about an old man's reminisces and preferred time for dying, then I've always looked at that line as being the old man saying 'I recognise the motivation I had when I was young to create, but it's not here now'. If growing up and aging is a straight line e.g. moving forward, going from start to end, progressing, then I always took 'I have travelled so far sideways' as saying 'I've never grown as a person over my life, I never did anything.' And then 'I recognise dim traces of creation' is saying 'I had these dreams of creating when I was young, I can sort of recognise that person, but they're not here anymore. That's not me anymore'.

I mean, I might be wrong haha...

[Europa Gluten Free]

I have no idea what the lines of From Despair to Where are after the first chorus. And I've never cared to look them up.

Here is what I hear:

Outside open my pride
Tatched together as if they're drugs
Do deen and enough to be seen
As it's they're planned as sore

The weak king like stone
Until life becomes less and less
One time never enough
Just cheap tarnished glitter

[counterlanguage]

Originally Posted by wannagetout

How about "I recognise dim traces of creation"? I think the gist is like...he's become so intensely concerned with existential/moral matters at the expense of caring for himself.

Something along the lines of 'I've come so far from what I used to be, or could have been.. and not in a good way.'

Nicky said "Intravenous Agnostic is about the emptiness and numbness of modern culture. It's about the way that everything seems to be fed to us intravenously, leaving us passive and disconnected from reality."

So yeah, existential angsty bollocks I remember thinking at the time that it was verging on self parody, like Nicky was trying mirror the disjointed style of stuff like Faster.

[Son of Stopped]

I've always read the booklets but I wish From Despair To Where was like that!

[counterlanguage]

To this day when I sing along to FDTW part of my brain still thinks there's a line that goes 'the waitresses they spit in my mouth.'

Same with Motorcycle Emptiness - 'Eagle Loaded and Swallowed.' WHAT?!?

Being serious though, there's a lot of earlier stuff I don't fully understand, probably because most songs have got 3 or 4 ideas cut and pasted together in one lyric. Like with Motown Junk - quite straightforward except for "Communal tyranny a jail that bleeds our wrists." Never clicked for me.

There are lines in the Richey era lyrics that are word collages that fit with the general subject(s) of the song, rather than actually meaning anything specific - the William S Boroughs influence.

[Judge_yrself]

The weak king like stone sounds like the start of a Manics prog album.

Yeah, agree there's something of self-parody about the lyrics to Intravenous Agnostic, but the music at least is killer.

[Judge_yrself]

Originally Posted by counterlanguage

Being serious though, there's a lot of earlier stuff I don't fully understand, probably because most songs have got 3 or 4 ideas cut and pasted together in one lyric. Like with Motown Junk - quite straightforward except for "Communal tyranny a jail that bleeds our wrists." Never clicked for me.

There are lines in the Richey era lyrics that are word collages that fit with the general subject(s) of the song, rather than actually meaning anything specific - the William S Boroughs influence.

Strip It Down is like that for me, and Sorrow 16. I love the spirit of those songs, and the lines are great in and of themselves, but they don't neccesarily add up to one clear meaning or subject. "Leper Cult Disciples of a still-born Christ" etc.

[less than zero]

Originally Posted by Judge_yrself

No, not blood, just liquid from you
I only wish it was the truth"

-

There’s a chance I’ve imagined this, but I thought I’d read an interview (maybe in Everything) where they said when Richey cut himself they came to pretend it wasn’t blood coming out, and I’ve always thought that’s what that line alludes to.

The line that baffles me is ‘the Bethlehem radio is crystal clear’ from All Alone Her.

[Son of Stopped]

Bethlehem radio was a WWII spy network I believe. So crystal clear means no reports etc.
Ah, the early 2000's. Trump's new running mate must seriously hate Bethlehem Radio!

[Glyn]

On a slight tangent but random googling recently turned up an early manics letter that had some lyrics included, and it unlocked for me two lines in the Stay Beautiful demo that I have struggled for years to follow. Apparently they are :
"M.Ps dress up, tv is danger
Westminster more ugly than a gas chamber"
I never would have guessed !

[Tim]

Here was i thinking manics fans pored over their lyrics and knew them comprehensively but i guess not, some of these misheard lyrics are hilarious.

Outside open mouth crowds
Pass each other as if they're drugged
Down pale corridors of routine
Where life falls unatoned

The weak kick like straw
Until the world means less and less
Words are never enough
Just cheap, tarnished glitter