i hope i don't seem to clueless or anything but:
1) what is britt referring to in "cherry bomb" ??
and
2) what does humanizing a vacuum entail?
Posted 14 years ago
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Spoon Message Board » Spoon News
lyrical questions
(18 posts)-
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haha--"humanize a vacuum" and "cherry bomb" are both sexual sounding references, aren't they? these are questions i would ask if i wasn't a blubbering fool around them.
cherry bomb has always made me think of a cigarette cherry. humanize the vacuum sounds like something a young boy might try.
Posted 14 years ago # -
The first time I heard "I humanized the vaccuum" I thought the same thing I think you're thinking. But then I realized that he could be singing about the vaccuum being an empty space, a void, that he humanized by just being around.
Cherry Bomb has got to be a girl's bad temper. She has a short fuse that leads to frequent blow outs and he can't be around that anymore.
Posted 14 years ago # -
I agree with Underdog. He says I spent the night in the Map Room, I humanized the vacuum. To me it's just him sitting in his recording room writing about depression and how much the relation to a vacuum his situation is. Humanizing is just speaking metaphorically.
Posted 14 years ago # -
I'm just guessing here, but another possible meaning might be the Zen idea of worshipping everything in the universe (the void) that isn't you, which is theoretically still human, just the inverse of yourself...so it would basically be a poetic way of saying "introspection".
[you.re enfranchised and entrenched, but know that it.s yours: real life.s a compromise]Posted 14 years ago # -
I always wondered if "spent the night in the map room" wasn't a reference to Raiders of the Lost Ark. That's the only map room I ever heard of, but of course, I'm probably being way too literal.
I also wonder if "I'm looking through you, I know who you are" in "My Mathematical Mind" is a reference to the Beatles song "I'm Looking Through You."
Posted 14 years ago # -
You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb - I read somewhere that the "cherry bomb" is a bicep tattoo that was meant to be a symbol of the relationship shared the the singer and the girl. It works with the sleeve line, but only if it's the girl who got the tattoo...
Black Like Me - I just thought it meant he was so lonely and depressed that the vacuum was his only "friend", or maybe that he talked to the vacuum for something to do. But if it really represented the void he felt inside himself, that would drastically increase my respect for Britt's lyrics. Not that I don't like them already; sometimes they just seem kind of random.
Posted 14 years ago # -
You guys must be young...a Cherry Bomb (aka Cherry Salute) is an exploding firework that was banned because it were considered to powerful and dangerous. They looked like cherries with green stems.
I am not sure about whether or not he was making a reference to that Beatles song (I'm Looking Through You), but let's pretend it is true.
Posted 14 years ago # -
um cherry bombs arent banned lol but they are a type of firework and i think huminized the vacuum means he had sex with it lol i love it
Posted 14 years ago # -
"Original potency Cherry Bombs are now considered illegal explosive devices in the United States. Possession, manufacture, or sale of cherry bombs in the USA is illegal."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherry_bomb
I am sure you can probably find illegal ones that are similar to the originals, but if you find legal ones they are probably only similar in name.
I can't remember, but doesn't Dignan throw a Cherry Bomb out the window of a car in the movie Bottle Rocket? Two Austin projects mentioning Cherry Bombs...hum...
Posted 14 years ago # -
I don't know about the movie, but lyrically that makes a lot of sense.
For that matter, what is "Mountain To Sound" about? All I'm getting are the themes of A. loud music late at night and B. waiting at an airport. I don't even know what the title grammatically means.
Posted 14 years ago # -
Yeah, confusing names seems to be Britt's penchant. Though, it's also kind of neat and funny that he references his other songs in the songs, like "I summon my love back to me" and "that's when I knew They Never Got You" in Beast and Dragon, "listening to the mountain to sound" in Lines in the Suit, et al.
\"...back when you were nineteen/still in school/ and waiting on a light/on the corner by Sound Exchange\"Posted 14 years ago # -
Mountain to Sound might be a reference to the scenic byway in Washington State that goes from Seattle out into the center of the state. I kinda doubt it, but he may have seen the signs and thought that sounds cool and simply incorporated it into a song or wrote a song around it. Bob Pollard is a king of that kind of song writing. As far as themes, you forgot erectile dysfunction. I am not sure that Britt was trying to tell the listener anything in that song...while it is fun to ponder song meanings, they often do not have a specific meaning for the artist. Sometimes words just sound good together or sliced up phrases create an interesting image...
The character does yell "Cherry Bomb" as he tosses one from a moving car. There is an Austin connection in the sense that Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson went to UT in Austin...but I was being silly. I doubt that Britt was sitting around watching Bottle Rocket when he got inspired to write the song...but who knows?
Posted 14 years ago # -
Um, the Cherry Bomb reference seems really obvious to me. Haven't you heard the term "wearing your heart on your sleeve"? It essentially means you don't hide your emotions, you put it out there very clearly for people to see. I've always thought Britt's "cherry bomb" was a reference to his (ex) girlfriend continually wearing her heart on her sleeve, and he is telling her to blow it out, keep it safe, and not be so vulnerable any more. I could be wrong, though.
Posted 14 years ago # -
Yikes, that is pretty close. However, one important thing is that the melody is not sampled but rather the beat. Hard to stake claim to a beat.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Yes, the "humanized the vacuum" line sat strangely with me as well, but I figured it was just me./ UNTIL the bonus track, 'Deep Clean," came. As if the title doesn't evoke a vivid enough image, the lyrics make matters weirder: "What we need here is a vacuum. Just turn the lights low. Cause I'm in for a deep clean. There are things you don't want to know." Indeed. Turning the lights low to set the mood, eh Britt? And isn't it entirely possible that he could be singing about himself in third person on 'Don't Make Me a Target' when he speaks of he who "smells like the insides of closets upstairs, the kind where nobody goes"? Sure, it could all be metaphorical. But the possibility of Britt having a fetish with household cleaning appliances shouldn't be dismissed either.
Posted 12 years ago # -
I think "cherry bomb" refers to feelings. The relationship has ended and this girl needs to move on. Blow out her cherry bomb for Britt. Perhaps a bit over simplified but i like that.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Cherry bomb is obviously an ode to John "Cougar" Mellencamp. That's what that whole song is about.
Posted 12 years ago #
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