John Roderick Explains <em>Putting The Days To Bed </em>Lyrics

Over the last two years, The Long Winters have quickly become one of my all-time favorite groups. The pop songs have crisp and precise production paired with articulate and emotionally insightful lyrics. If possible, I could sit for hours talking with frontman John Roderick about his songs and the ingredients that make these records truly incredible.  

Through a series of e-mail exchanges, Roderick has answered some highly specific questions concerning lyrics off the new record.  Putting the Days to Bed will be released July 25th on Barsuk Records.

I have placed the lyrics in the order they appear on the record. Enjoy.

Track 1: "Pushover" - "Unkind girlish walk, like a deed to the world without the talk"

JR: Well... you know there are some coquettish walks, some flabbergastingly captivating gaits, which cross the line. They aren't innocent, they're wielded like a flaming sword, and they have the power to own a man for a period. That doesn't mean they're a force for good in the world.
(MP3)


Track 3: "Teaspoon" - "You weighed your suitcase down, but it still wouldn't sink"

JR: This happens to all of us at one point or another. We have a small suitcase worth of stuff, thoughts, feelings, recent events, that we would give anything to just sink to the bottom of the sea, but it's always that suitcase that refuses to go down. You can't just leave it floating there, so you have to take the damn thing home again.


Track 4: "Hindsight" - "I'm baling water and baling water 'cause I like the shape of the boat"

JR: I'm afraid that this lyric is already perfectly self-explanitory. When I say it's self-explanatory I'm not trying to be difficult, it's just to me nothing could be clearer than a lyric like that. It's a lyric about the small-scale, almost charming, tendency we all have toward self-destruction. If we weren't humans, if we were able to judge like computers or Vulcans, the only logical criteria for a BOAT would be that it floats without leaking. How it looks couldn't be less relevant to how it functions. Our humanity is revealed by our love for lost causes, for three-legged dogs and rusted-out "classic" cars, and there's something pathetic about us for that reason. The same eye that loves art and music will plunge us into buying a house with a cracked foundation, while a perfectly solid, and cheaper, house next door is rejected for being not as "cute". I celebrate this quality in people; it's what makes us interesting, and lovable, and individual, even if it means that we're doomed, somewhat. Why be in a relationship with someone? For love, comfort, support and encouragement. How many of us are in relationships that provide none of those things, but which we fight for against all odds?


Track 5: "The Sky Is Open" - "My propeller tries to find the air"

JR: Overtly, this is meant literally: the pilot is so high up and the air is so thin that his propellor is cleaving into the ragged edge of a vacuum. Indirectly it refers to the propellor in each of us which is always chewing up the air, taking us higher, hungry for sky.


Track 7: "Clouds" - "False prophesy doesn't mean prophesies are true"

JR: I'm continually amazed at how easy it is for people to recogniz