Crosseyed and Painless Lyrics
tyring to act casual.
Can't stop,
I might end up in the hospital.
Changing my shape,
I feel like an accident.
They're back,
to explain their experience
Looks too obscure to me
Wasting away
And that was their policy
I push the fact in front of me
Facts lost
Facts are never what they seem to be
Nothing there,
No information left of any kind
Lifting my head
Looking for danger signs
There was a formula
Sharp as a knife
Facts cut a hole in us
There was a line
There was a forula
Sharp as a knife
Facts cut a hole in us
Whenever we close our eyes
Lifting my head
looking around inside
It's like the taste of medicine
Working by hindsight
Got the message from the oxygen
Making a list
Find the cost of opportunity
Doing it right
Facts are useless in emergencies
Whenever we close our eyes
Lifting my head
Looking around inside.
Facts are lazy and facts are late
Facts all come with points of view
Facts don't do what I want them to
Facts just twist the truth around
Facts are living turned inside out
Facts are getting the best of them
Facts are nothing on the face of things
Facts don't stain the furniture
Facts go out and slam the door
Facts are written all over your face
Facts continue to change their shape
I think this is an argument about the nature of human beings. Humans tend to shape things in order to fill holes. They label, the examine, they change. We have removed ourselves from evolution in this way.
Byrne I think is arguing that our need and obsession with doing this is actually doing the opposite. Its making us lose ourself, and making our understanding less complete. The whole album I think is about this to a degree.
The definition of post-modern.
The definition of post-modern.
@istareatthesun Just came here to say this makes zero sense.
@istareatthesun Just came here to say this makes zero sense.
"They label, the examine, they change"
"They label, the examine, they change"
"Its making us lose ourself, and making our understanding less complete."
"Its making us lose ourself, and making our understanding less complete."
These two contradict each other like hell.
These two contradict each other like hell.
We are "losing our self" because we are labelling(giving things names to get a better UNDERSTANDING of them).
We are "losing our self" because we are labelling(giving things names to get a better UNDERSTANDING of them).
We are "losing our self" because we are examining(A fucking thing to help UNDERSTANDING be done).
We are "losing our self" because we are examining(A fucking thing to help UNDERSTANDING be done).
We are "losing our self" because we are changing(progressing, after UNDERSTANDING past problems to not repeat them like a fucking idiot or...
We are "losing our self" because we are changing(progressing, after UNDERSTANDING past problems to not repeat them like a fucking idiot or to solve them.)
And apparent this is making our "understanding" less complete, whatever to hell that vague phrase means. If this is what Byrne was actually trying to say... That's dumb.
Byrne likes to play with abstract ideas, and art images. He commented in a NY Times interview that he liked to do things like collect photos of hands, blow them up and then arrange them on a wall “until they make sense to me”.
That said, I think he was playing with the idea of actually becoming formless, being disembodied; the intellect would have no physical clues, and start deconstructing and obsessing about “Facts.” Just my feeling, I´m probably way off the mark…
I imagine this is a snapshot of hectic life in the NY party circa 1980, at least from David Byrne's neurotic personae. He can't relax, and is trying to take refuge in intellectualizing the situation.
I also agree with istareatthesun's more general point, this song is about the inadequacy of the abstraction to deal with the physicality of the body in crisis mode. Culture can't catch up -- I'm still waiting.
well there is definitely a difference between fact and interpretation
Going into conniptions from overanalysing one or any situation.
This is one of my favorite Talking Heads songs, and I can't explain why. Well, it sounds great! But do I understand what it means? Hell no.
Its meaning is like an amorphous blob. Try to hold onto it, and you discover it's an impossible task. The harder you work at grasping it, the more it slips through your hands! Almost as if it has a rudimentary sort of intelligence...an instinct to escape from being pinned down.
I wonder whether (metaphorically?) that's what this song is about. The harder you think about something, the more inexplicable it seems. There are facts, and there's truth. Is it possible to close the gap separating what's factual from what is truthful? Is there any point in trying?
It is my opinion that David Byrne, in this song and others on the album, is expressing his distrust of 'facts' and the resulting desperation for truth and paranoia of being lied to (the album title Remain in Light speaks for itself here). Facts that have been twisted, fogged, or even outright fabricated, and then fed as truths to the society/flock of sheep that are all too happy to eat them up without once questioning them.
Well judging by the multiple references to medical related situations, and the opening two lines, I'd say he was facing a medical crisis, and in denial.
i love everyones interpretations. currently listening to this amazing album.
Always thought the title and the first verse combined to describe something sexual going on with the protagonist. "Crosseyed and Painless" could be orgasm. "Lost my shape": an erection. "Trying to act casual": how else would you be if you were showing arousal when you are (maybe) in a social situation? And as the Levitra ads tell us, you "might end up in the hospital" if this condition lasts too long. (I know this was written before the advent of ED medication.)