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Meaningless Lyrics

Meaningless?
You mean it's all been meaningless?
Every whisper and caress?
Yes yes yes it was totally meaningless
Meaningless
like when two fireflies flouresce
Just like everything I guess
it was utterly meaningless
Even less
a little glimpse of nothingness
sucking meaning from the
rest of this mess
Yes yes yes it was thoroughly meaningless
and if some dim bulb should say
we were in love in some way
kick all his teeth in for me
and if you feel like keeping on kicking
feel free
Meaningless
Who dare say it wasn't meaningless?
Shout from the rooftops
and address the press
Ha ha ha it was totally meaningless
Meaningless
Meaning less than a game of chess
Just like your mother said
and mother knows best
I knew it all the time but now I confess
Yes yes yes how deliciously meaningless
Yes yes yes how effervescently meaningless
Yes yes yes how beautifully meaningless
Yes yes yes how profoundly meaningless
Yes yes yes how definatively meaningless
Yes yes yes how comprehensively meaningless
Yes yes yes how magnificently meaningless
Yes yes yes how incredibly meaningless
Yes yes yes how unprecedentedly meaningless
Yes yes yes how mind-blowingly meaningless
Yes yes yes how unbelievably meaningless
Yes yes yes how infinitely meaningless
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8 Meanings

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Cover art for Meaningless lyrics by Magnetic Fields, The

This song is magnificently meaningless.

Cover art for Meaningless lyrics by Magnetic Fields, The

I think this song is about denial. He's denying that a broken relationship was more serious than it was. The way that he keeps repeating the word meaningless and the 'yes yes yes' part make it sound like he's trying to convince himself.

and the lines, "and if some dim bulb should say we were in love in some way kick all his teeth in for me and if you feel like keeping on kicking feel free" are quite violent like he's trying to kick the meaning out of the relationship to save him from being too sad about the break up.

Cover art for Meaningless lyrics by Magnetic Fields, The

i actually see this a little differently...

to me it sounds like the other person has called off their relationship, describing it as meaningless; it had not been as full of love as he had felt it was. this song is his reaction, which is full of sarcasm and outrage.

"you mean it's all been meaningless? yes, it was totally meaningless!" you know? they went through so much and he just can't believe that the other person could feel this way.

Cover art for Meaningless lyrics by Magnetic Fields, The

This song is , without a doubt, about someone heartbroken giving too much meaning to a relationship with the other person who just walked away, and he couldn't believe it was meaningess: You can analyse the different parts with self-denyal, remembering, irony and acceptance throughout the song. The sound of this track seems to be really meaningless, as it was intended to be; but in the end he describes how he really felt, adding 'meaningless' ironicaly to what he really felt about it.

My Opinion
Cover art for Meaningless lyrics by Magnetic Fields, The

Just a note that I don't think that the whole "Meaningless" theme of the song is sarcastic, but rather a sort of ironic articulation based on a materialist/naturalist (philosophy involving the lack of supernatural existence) perspective. It was meaningless, just like when fireflies fluoresce, just like everything. But just because there is no "meaning" to anything in the grand scheme of things does not mean we can't interpret it that way. At least, that's just my interpretation of this song- it's a bit personal, but also is about the way we think about certain words like "meaning" on different levels.

My Interpretation
Cover art for Meaningless lyrics by Magnetic Fields, The

MaxDG1013 above has the closest to how I feel about this.

It seems clear that one interpretation of this is an ode to existentialist thought, that ultimately the ground of being has no meaning, just like everything, like the fireflies fluorescing. Yet that meaningless allows love to be at all, it is beautiful/profound/infinite/magnificent and mind blowing.

Of course, at the same time it's simply an achingly bitter lament from someone who's just had their heartbroken.

The fact that it's both at the same time ably demonstrates Stephin Merritt's songwriting chops.

Cover art for Meaningless lyrics by Magnetic Fields, The

I think the meaning of this not-meaningless song is pretty self-evident. To me, it's about two people who thought they were in love but weren't really, so it was all meaningless. I like the rhyming and the adverbs at the end. Good stuff.

Cover art for Meaningless lyrics by Magnetic Fields, The

Seems pretty clear to me--

He's been in some undefined relationship, and the other party has broken it off, claiming that it 'didn't really mean anything'.

He sarcastically agrees 'yes yes yes, it was totally meaningless' (it certainly wasn't to him), and then attempts to convince himself that he never cared all that much in order to lessen the pain of separation ('sour grapes', essentially).

Pretty heartbreaking :/

My Interpretation