Amputations Lyrics
"If we seem nutty to you
And if we seem like an oddball to you
Just remember one thing
The mighty oak tree
Was once a nut just like me"
[Verse 1]
And if it was just how you wanted
You'd be glued to his bones and his brainstem
And changing your image and attitudes
Won't bring him back into your bedroom
[Chorus]
Amputating
As he's waiting
Amputating
He's unresponsive cause you're irresponsible
[Verse 2]
Little swinger, your bottle is thinking too much
Cause you're aiming to please way off target
And I'll tell you what you must already know
Of amputating that too slow
[Chorus]
Amputating
As he's waiting
Amputating
He's unresponsive cause you're irresponsible
Amputating
As he's waiting
Amputating
He's unresponsive cause you're irresponsible
Amputating
As he's waiting
Amputating
He's unresponsive cause you're irresponsible
[Outro - Glenn W. Turner]
"I pray to God that one day, He will grant me the power
To reach out and hold my hand over your head
And give you instant belief, cause you don't have instant belief
You've been hooked, you've been crooked
You've been lied to so many times, that you're suspicious-minded
And when the right thing comes along, you don't believe in it
When I'm coming in knocking on the front door
You're out the back door looking for four leaf clovers
And when you find it, you think somebody planted it there to fool you
'What's the angle?' You look for an excuse
In this modern day and age we have instant coffee and instant tea
Instant disbelief, that's the reason we will never become anything
It is because we will never believe in ourselves
We will always listen to the mass majority
If everybody's making fun of you and criticizing you
Then you know you're on the right track
'Cause most people ain't got it"
About
Track #6 from Death Cab For Cutie’s debut demo album You Can Play These Songs with Chords, “Amputations” also appears as the 8th track on their follow-up album, Something About Airplanes.
• This must be the 1998, “Something About Airplanes” demo, not the “You Can Play These Songs With Chords”, compilation-album version, which trimmed down and also embedded differently the Glenn quote. YCPTSWC is more heavy-hitting and more sonically distinct of the two. But I think this fits into the context of SAP in a way that necessitated the changes in the meaning of the lyrics and the sound.
• The lo-fi sound they’re bring to your ears is really distinct on both tracks; natural sounds, Ben’s vocal has a rare-for-death-cab grittiness, punching snares, big-time crash cymbals, toned and fuzzy guitars, including a harmonic that shreds the chorus, along with a needling riff, staggering progression, lop-sided timing, and that tiny-toned piano cut, and that vocal sample, over that atmospheric reverby guitar…
• This song would find itself at home next to some Heat Miser and Pavement, very 90’s sounding DCFC
Q&A
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