Skips on The Record
At the Drive-In Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
To your stick shift mood
Can't get yourself ignition
Can't get yourself ignition
Grease-stained parking lot
Embed and loiter bottle tops
Dipped in the secretion
Of your syphilis flirtation
Must we go spell it out?
Roman candle, cradles, teething
Dressed in innuendos
"C" is for contraction
30 minutes apart
Umbilical agendas
In the coup de jat
"C" is for the cul de sac
Tiennamen reverse
Parking all the grandeur
In backseat afterbirth
Grease-stained parking lot
Loiter tops dipped in the secretion
Must we go spell it out for you?
Mao tse tung fervor
In his petty glance
In this cursive dysentery
The lyrics of "Skips on The Record" by At the Drive-In touch upon the themes of sexual frustration and the struggle to connect with one's own desires. The opening lines referring to being "pregnant with the keys to your stick shift mood" suggest an inability to take control of one's own sexuality. The image of a "grease-stained parking lot" and "bottle tops dipped in the secretion of your syphilis flirtation" conjures up a sense of seedy, desperate sexuality that is unsatisfying and unfulfilling.
The chorus of the song repeats the line "Must we go spell it out?" which can be interpreted in a couple of ways. It could be seen as a plea for understanding from a partner, a frustration that they cannot connect with each other's desires or communicate their needs. Alternatively, it could be interpreted as a condemnation of a culture that is too repressed to talk openly about sex and relationships, forcing people to struggle in secret. The final verse mentions Mao Tse Tung and "cursive dysentery", suggesting a broader societal failure to communicate and connect with one another.
Line by Line Meaning
Pregnant with the keys
You are holding the key to your own emotional state
To your stick shift mood
Your emotions are constantly changing just like how gears shift in a manual car
Can't get yourself ignition
You're stuck in a rut and can't seem to move forward
Grease-stained parking lot
A grimy and dirty environment
Embed and loiter bottle tops
You're surrounded by empty alcohol containers while just hanging around
Dipped in the secretion
You're surrounded by the lingering scent and essence of a toxic flirtation
Of your syphilis flirtation
The previous flirtation was unhealthy and destructive
Must we go spell it out?
Do we really need to explain this situation to you?
Roman candle, cradles, teething
The passage of time from childhood to adulthood
Dressed in innuendos
Nonsensical or hidden meanings
"C" is for contraction
The onset of childbirth
30 minutes apart
The duration between childbirth contractions
Umbilical agendas
The cultural and personal expectations of childbirth
In the coup de jat
Inevitable and climactic moment of childbirth
"C" is for the cul de sac
Being trapped in a confusing or frustrating situation
Tiennamen reverse
Political upheaval
Parking all the grandeur
Abandoning all hope for a sophisticated and glamorous future
In backseat afterbirth
Being stuck in a grimy and uncomfortable situation post-childbirth
Grease-stained parking lot
A reminder of a previous unpleasant state of being
Loiter tops dipped in the secretion
Effectively encapsulating the previous negative environment
Must we go spell it out for you?
Reiterating the frustrating reality of the situation
Mao tse tung fervor
An atmosphere of political and emotional intensity
In his petty glance
The malignant intentions held by a person in charge
In this cursive dysentery
Being trapped in a confusing and unpleasant state of being
Lyrics © Peermusic Publishing, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Written by: ADAM AMPARAN, CEDRIC BIXLER, OMAR RODRIGUEZ, RYAN SAWYER, JAMES WARD
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
kagaingas
pure gold
Ricardo C
teenage aimlessness, frustration and boredom. this sounds like when i was the only one of all my friends who went to summer school after senior year, and the loneliness of being there with no friends and walking home alone after school and all the girls i liked were gone. that time of loserly innocence before i sank into drinking and drugs and bad company. lots of stomach aches or this empty feeling up and down the torso area. thank you Lord Jesus, it's all over now. i have overcome with you (John 16:33). alleluia
Zack Staal
Ricardo Clemente right there with you
woodman steve
God I hope that won't happen to me, in all honesty I'm petrified of losing all my friends
Ricardo C
woodman steve a wise man once said, "The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek"
more importantly, read Psalm 66:8-12
God carries us through it all for His purposes of refining us for His work. but only if we have Jesus. i highly recommend seeking him. God bless
Odic
Glad you did it !
Ricardo C
Travis Edwards the only direction worth going in leads to the cross of Christ, man! thankfully Bibles are easy to find even online, and apart from a couple, the translations really don't differ significantly, when it comes to the core message.
anyway, to get there first understand and admit that all humans including yourself are sinners, like it says in Romans 3:23, and this is because humanity learned to sin from the first humans, as told in Genesis chapter 3. second, know that sin isn't just "making mistakes" but a whole condition that separates us from God and is, because sin can't coexist with God the same way a source of light can't be darkened unless it burns out, and God never does, so instead anyone living in sin at death will die forever, and stay in the darkness of hell (which is simply put, not some torture chamber God made for humans, but only for the devil and whoever chose to disobey God like he did [everyone, by default]), and this the Bible says in Romans 6:23.
third comes the good news. John 3:16 says that God loves us so much, despite our sin, that He gave His Son Jesus, who was God in the flesh, to die in our place, to take all our sin on Himself so He could purify the soul of whoever will believe in Him and trust in Him for salvation (eternal life in heaven, where God is). see also 2 Corinthians 5:21 for this. and finally, to place your trust in Jesus and be saved from sin forever, Romans 10:9-10 & 13 sum it up like this: believe in your heart, like a child, and just call out to Him and ask Him to do it. and if you really believe and then genuinely feel willing to turn away from whatever you used to do that against God, you can have assurance that you have His Spirit in you, and are sealed for heaven for good, with no way of losing it no matter what, and there are many verses on this i can't begin to list right now, but searching "assurance of salvation" will turn up all you need.
and doing this doesn't require Bible study or some religious rite. if you understand what i wrote here, you know all you need to know. in the Bible book of Acts (forgot the chapter so I'll sum it up...), there is a story about an Ethiopian who is interested in the Messiah that was supposed to come and was reading a portion of the Jewish book of Isaiah about this Messiah. then Phillip, one of Jesus' apostles, comes along and asks if he knows what he is reading. the man says he's having trouble understanding what the book is talking about, so Phillip goes on to explain that it's about Jesus and who Jesus is, basically like i stated it just now. after hearing that, the Ethiopian man is moved to believe and trust in Jesus, proven by his desire to be baptized immediately. baptism may come at any point after salvation, but a true believer will sooner rather than later have the desire to do so. if you have any questions at all, please seek out your nearest Baptist (just a name for people who interpret the Bible by what it actually says, without adding or subtracting) or nondenominational (these tend to have sound doctrine as well) church and anyone there, if it's a legit church, will be more than happy to answer your questions. the internet is great and all, but it's best to get these answers from someone in person. i hope that this has helped you, I'm not sure when I'll check these comments again, but just know that God loves you, and whoever else reads this, and He cares for your salvation. if He didn't, i wouldn't be typing this at 1am. God bless
musiclover01ization
One of my favorites off of Acrobatic Tenement.
HeavyProfessor
Perhaps my favorite song of all time. "Must we go. . . and spell it out"
delle capacità, il coraggio fisico, fisico
why so good?