Transcribing lyrics for 9

[Wheels]

Originally Posted by jontam

Hi Administrator, in the song 'Rootless Tree' I think the lyric goes 'Killers, we invent and believe' as opposed to 'Killers reinvent and believe'.
If i'm wrong, feel free to flame me!

I'm pretty sure it's reinvent. Possibly an anti-war line? Suggesting that people going to war tend to reinvent the world to justify it and then believe that distorted truth to all them to kill. Actually could be a reference to any killer, not just in war I guess.

[Spamlet]

Originally Posted by Wheels

I'm pretty sure it's reinvent. Possibly an anti-war line? Suggesting that people going to war tend to reinvent the world to justify it and then believe that distorted truth to all them to kill. Actually could be a reference to any killer, not just in war I guess.

Right on. I think it's in reference to killing the relationship to save himself from being crushed by it.


Jon, there's a very clear "r" hit hard in all the live versions. I agree that he doesn't stress it as solidly in the studio version. Listen to the other ones, though, and you'll hear it.

Everyone-Also in "RT"(in the cool semi-hidden "love you" vein): almost buried at the very end during their round, Lisa actually hauntingly adds a whisper sung "help me" at least once. Probably came about from the two of them trading off between singing "Hell" and "let me".

"BD2/Elephant": Borneo and Emmett, you are both correct! In the live ones he sings "I could be true yeah". In the recorded version there's a prolonged "s" at the begining of the word so he officially sings "I could be strue, yeah!"

Maybe he meant to say "so true"? Everyone always mentions him leaving the occasional 'bum note' in. Guess he doesn't mind a missed lyric either!

Naw, I'm just kidding. Whether it was an oversight or a heat of the moment in the booth thing he does sing "I could be strong, yeah" on the album version. So dealer's choice, Emmett, since he's never sang it that way before or since. In the same way, live he sings "Well, I could throw her out" instead of what sounds much more like "throw it out" on the record.

"The Rat within the Grain"- I finally heard the studio version and can concur with the word in question being not "out" as it really quite sounded live but "now" which everyone else had correctly thought.

Emmett, I noticed you didn't have this song up yet so for convenience's sake here it is again:

This would not have happened if I hadn't missed my plane.
I would've been there when they told you I'm the rat within the grain.
Within this big misunderstanding now, I'm being misunderstood.
I'm thinkin' someone's trying to fu*k with me and set fire to my wood.

Well I wouldn't want you to want to be wanted by me.
I wouldn't want you to worry you'd be drowned within my sea.
I only wanted to be wonderful, and wonderful is true.
In truth, I only really wanted to be wanted by you.

It's a stupid situation now where everything goes wrong.
If you can't tell if I am lying: then you do not belong.
In my bed, go rest your head upon the bones of a bigger man.
And he can cover you with rockwool and you can close up like a clam.

'cause I wouldn't want you to want to be wanted by me.
I wouldn't want you to worry you'd be drowned within my sea.
I only wanted to be wonderful, and wonderful is true.
In truth, I only really wanted to be wanted by you.

So go play with your piano and write a mediocre song
About this shell of mediocrity
And pretend there's nothing wrong.
I never thought you were a chicken sh*t:
I never thought of you at all.
Until you asked me to be part of it
And now you're showing me a wall.

I wouldn't want you to want to be wanted by me.
I wouldn't want you to worry you'd be drowned within my sea.
I only wanted to be wonderful and wonderful is true.
In truth, I only really wanted to be wanted by you.

In truth, I only really wanted to be wanted by you.

Lada da da etc...

In truth, I only really wanted to be wanted by you.

There are numerous other unreleased tracks which I've painstakingly transcribed scattered all about the forum. I could also re-post a few of those in this thread for you to add. Yes or no?

[jontam]

Thanks for the corrections, guys.
It was just the way I heard it on the album, because I haven't heard a live version. My mistake!

[flyaway]

As a rule it's fairly silly to follow the live versions when transcribing the actual LP lyrics, mainly because Damien does like to mix them around abit. He sang "Please slow down your hair" in "The Animals Were Gone" on Jools last night, - He did it a few times when I saw him live too.
Maybe he likes to catch people out so people can't sing along. Or maybe he does what I do, and when you're singing occasionally sing the wrong word because they sound phonetically similar in your mind.

[Spamlet]

Originally Posted by flyaway

As a rule it's fairly silly to follow the live versions when transcribing the actual LP lyrics, mainly because Damien does like to mix them around abit.

I agree. I only ever advocate deferring to the live stuff if he's never once changed the lyric/word in question before AND since recording it.

[flyaway]

Originally Posted by Spamlet

I agree. I only ever advocate deferring to the live stuff if he's never once changed the lyric/word in question before AND since recording it.

I'd say that seems very sensible!

[nyrice45]

Just wanted to add some thoughts on the lyrics

In rootless tree it is definitely "dont stain your bed"- no doubt about it-
also as far as the "fractured the times"- it was "tides" in the live version i think- and that makes sense as it is kind of a saying- im not sure i understand the change to "time"

I think in Animals its "I hope we didn't break it" and its definitely "some boxers and on the lawn"

end of elephant im pretty sure its "you've (or your) already gone, why am i clinging..."
and the line is "why would she take me, thorny"-

in accidental babies its not boom- im 99.9% sure its boon - heard it live 2x and now just listened to the cd

[Rootless]

Am I the only one who hears "Then end this ordeal" after "hate me hate me hate me" in rootless tree? When I saw "Hate me so good" it sounded right too. So I've listened back to it a number of times, and when I think either one it sounds right at the the time

[Spamlet]

Emmett:

In Me, My Yoke + I: "Won't you read my, Won't you read my, Won't you read my, Won't you read my book...(inaudible)" Can anyone make it out?

I finally did get a chance to work on that and perhaps not so surprisingly he's saying "Me and my yoke and I are gonna make you stroke". Which you'll recall was also part of the climax of Juniper's original recording of the song.

[Timeé]

yes of course. i made it out first time "wont you read my book", on the live recording and the album. i sing it that way anyhoo.

i think its less subtle spamlet: i think its "me and my yoke gonna make you choke".

[Niko]

I'm with Timeé - I've always thought it was "gonna make you choke" since first hearing the Juniper version. As in "choking the chicken", naturally

[Charlie Brown]

Thanks for transcribing the lyrics! Before I read them here, I thought he said "and take it out on your crotch" instead of "I take it I'm your crutch" on Elephant. lol That makes much more sense!

[administrator]

ahh... i've been avoiding this thread... can't overstress how much i hate transcribing lyrics!

in relation to '9 crimes', surely it's "is that alright, yeah?" rather than "is that alright? yeah"... it's the way irish people speak i think, maybe not in america...

i'll go through it all later...

spamlet, thanks again, and sorry i had forgotten 'the rat within the grain'.

are there one or two lyrics that we just can't figure out? i could ask him, but i don't want to bug him with too many lyric questions.

[Niko]

I'm with you, Emmett - I've always thought that in 9 Crimes it was "Is that alright, yeah?" rather than "Is that alright? Yeah". The whole question is "Is that alright with you?" - so if it's "Is that alright? Yeah", then he'd be answering his own question...

[Wheels]

Definately "Is that alright, yeah?"

[Timeé]

Originally Posted by Niko

I'm with Timeé - I've always thought it was "gonna make you choke" since first hearing the Juniper version. As in "choking the chicken", naturally

i thought it was something nastier as in the yoke would make the girl choke.
ask hendrik he's into all that filth

[Niko]

Yeah, I think it's one of those lines with multiple meanings. Gotta love those fellas.

[Spamlet]

Originally Posted by administrator

ahh... i've been avoiding this thread... can't overstress how much i hate transcribing lyrics!

in relation to '9 crimes', surely it's "is that alright, yeah?" rather than "is that alright? yeah"... it's the way irish people speak i think, maybe not in america...

i'll go through it all later...

spamlet, thanks again, and sorry i had forgotten 'the rat within the grain'.

are there one or two lyrics that we just can't figure out? i could ask him, but i don't want to bug him with too many lyric questions.

Emmett,

Yes. Please do ask. I think the only thing you and I both really wanted/needed to definitely pin down for certain is that he says "leave it, cleave (or clean?) it, bleed it" in "Rootless Tree" or something similar rather than just "leave it" 3x in a row. I actually did ask him about this last week but he was proving too drunk then to remember his own lyrics so I told him to nevermind. BTW, I meant to mention in my story-post that we talked fondly about you and how you probably have the only known copy of WDYKAL? and he said you were "a grand guy".

Niko, Wheels et al.,
I see what you're saying about the "yeah" as part of the question. I do have a few friends who are actually from Ireland [btw, both the British (innit? Alright?) and the French do presumed agreement too (n'est pas?)]. I thought about it that way initially. But I feel like that would suggest the self answer even more. It's a kind of negation: asking but not really asking for permission. It's the same as saying "OK, honey, so I'm gonna go f*ck these girls!" and "So honey, I'm gonna f*ck these girls, OK?".

I guess what I was proposing is that he's not really answering his own question at all the other way. It's like when you try way too hard to convince yourself of something and you say "Am I really gonna do this? and then answer "Yeah!" to psych yourself up even though you still aren't actually sure you will. It's a desperate attempt at self-justification. Because on the last line is when he finally comes back to reality and admits that, of course, she's not going to be ok with it. Besides which, on the "yeah"s both Damo and Lisa are almost whispering them with a downglide for the majority of the song where as when you add them as part of the question the question mark (and upward inflection) still doesn't come until after the "yeah". Try this for me my Irish brothers and sisters: say "You wanted me to go to the store, yeah?" out loud. Now be honest. Did you hear the upward inflection before or after the tacked on last word?

Niko (and perhaps Timee), I can't speak to all the live versions but I'm listening to the studio version from the Juniper "collected rarities" CDs right now and it's definitely "stroke" on there. The first time it's a little harder to glean but the second time he says it completely in the clear and you can individually hear an "s" followed by a "t" followed by an "r" as plain as day. When's the last time you heard it? I know I really misheard several lyrics as a kid that a few years later when I actually stopped to listen, instead of just continuing blithely singing along wrong, I was like "WTF! How did I not catch that it was ____ instead?"

NY Rice, In the live versions he's definitely said "it" but on the record it's "yet". As far as "the times" vs. "the tides" in "RT", if you'll notice live he's been singing and "fracture the times THAT we go blind..." which I believe makes the change much more understandable. There's just the hint of the final "t" before "we" on the album but he's forever tucking barely audible "well"s, "and"s n' such at the beginning of sung lines.

It's still "boom".

[administrator]

Thanks again everyone.

Spamlet, do you think it might be "me and my yoke gonna make you choke"? Or are you sure it's "Me and my yoke and I are gonna make you stroke"? That's a tough one!!

In Rootless Tree, I find it really hard to hear anything other than "leave it, leave it, leave it...", but someone else told me they heard "leave it, cleave it, bleed it" as well..

Also in Rootless Tree, is it "It's nothing in you" or "There's nothing in you"..?

And in the line 'I know not of you (but) of all that's been told"... I don't hear a "but"...

I haven't heard the "help me" yet either, but I'll keep trying! I think you have hearing superpowers of some kind!

In Dogs, "We drive her round" or "We drive around"?

And Spamlet, I can't hear the "when" in "I become a child man (when) she moves my world".

Thanks again for the lyrics to "The Rat Within The Grain". There are still some tracks I have to get around to. I sent you a PM about other transcriptions you might have done.

Thanks again everyone, your help is much appreciated (and much needed!)

[Spamlet]

Originally Posted by administrator

Thanks again everyone.

Spamlet, do you think it might be "me and my yoke gonna make you choke"? Or are you sure it's "Me and my yoke and I are gonna make you stroke"? That's a tough one!!

In Rootless Tree, I find it really hard to hear anything other than "leave it, leave it, leave it...", but someone else told me they heard "leave it, cleave it, bleed it" as well..

Also in Rootless Tree, is it "It's nothing in you" or "There's nothing in you"..?

And in the line 'I know not of you (but) of all that's been told"... I don't hear a "but"...

I haven't heard the "help me" yet either, but I'll keep trying! I think you have hearing superpowers of some kind!

In Dogs, "We drive her round" or "We drive around"?

And Spamlet, I can't hear the "when" in "I become a child man (when) she moves my world".

Thanks again for the lyrics to "The Rat Within The Grain". There are still some tracks I have to get around to. I sent you a PM about other transcriptions you might have done.

Thanks again everyone, your help is much appreciated (and much needed!)

Emmett, I recommend you listen via a good set of headphones at relatively high but not absolute top volume if you haven't tried that yet, plus the techniques I PMed you about if it's being played on your computer.

I'm still hearing "stroke" on the new studio one too and am pretty confident that's always been it. I'll go away from it for a bit though, and come back with fresh ears and tell you if it changed.

You know, I decided that yes, he is saying "it's nothing in you" (even though I honestly just don't understand why/what that means) and I meant to confirm that but it hadn't been brought up again and I didn't want to bother anyone with that since we had enough other little things already being debated. I hear either cleave (or the very slight possibility of one clean later) and bleed pretty distinctly I'm 99.9% sure it's those rather than just "leave it". as I do the "but". Believe it or not, I'm actually now hearing Damo do it once before the climax and Lisa's "help me(up)" are repeated as many as 6 times at the end. It's like a pattern of "let me up", "let me out" and then a whispered "help me(up)"

In "Dogs" I think it's "her 'round" it was definitely that in the faster, early live version but here it's extremely tough to tell. Doubt even he'd know. Your call. The "when" is definitely there but it's quickly tucked right into the "she" because he paused for a split second breath first. Again, you'll hear it crystal on the early live version but I'll go double check against the recent live ones to see if all of these things still hold up but I'm pretty sure they did.

Barring that, I guess I just pray for someone's backup who'll partially prove I'm not completely insane.

[Niko]

Originally Posted by Spamlet

Niko....When's the last time you heard it?

This morning. But as has been mentioned on a couple of other threads, I am hearing impaired so mishear things on a regular basis. Just trying to help with the debate to ensure maximum accuracy.

[Spamlet]

Niko,

I apologize then, my friend, because I've completely missed those mentions and was certainly not attempting to poke fun at your handicap.

Your efforts are much appreciated. I used to be the only one on this crusade, and most thought it was over-obsessive to be nitpicking and stressing over one word. It's good to not be standing alone any longer, thanks again for the support.