Joy Zipper is an indie pop duo from Long Island, New York, made up of Tabit… Read Full Bio ↴Joy Zipper is an indie pop duo from Long Island, New York, made up of Tabitha Tindale and Vincent Cafiso. Partners in songwriting, as well as in real life, the duo have been crafting summery, ethereal dream pop since the late 1990s. The band is named for Tindale's mother.

Their songs are underpinned with darker scarred lyrics (suggested in interviews to have been inspired by the death of Cafiso's father) causing them to be famously compared to, 'a candy apple with a razor blade inside'.

Musical influences of the band vary from 1960s rock outfits The Beatles, The Velvet Underground and most associated, The Beach Boys, to early 1990s noise rock pioneers My Bloody Valentine, and The Breeders.

The single "Baby You Should Know" has been featured on Fox Television's The O.C. and "Go Tell the World" was featured in an ad for Nike Soccer and in a season two episode of Grey's Anatomy.

Joy Zipper covered the Pixies "Wave Of Mutilation" for American Laundromat Records compilation "Dig For Fire - a tribute to Pixies" (2007).

In 2008 Joy Zipper covered the title track for the American Laundromat Records produced Cure tribute "Just Like Heaven - a tribute to The Cure". The Wedding Present, The Submarines, Dean & Britta and Tanya Donelly also appear on the project.

Pillow
Joy Zipper Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

I want to roll a big fat pillow
And smoke the feathers
Needing comfort and support
I want to cover my body
Covers to cover my fear
And hide from my feet
Which appear to be as ugly
As the yellow tooth

Of the man in my nightmare

Oral symphony
Outside my door
In the recipe
I should have added more

Seasoning is fine
Takes a thousand years

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of Joy Zipper's song "Pillow" depict a deeply emotional struggle with fear and the longing for comfort and support. The first line, "I want to roll a big fat pillow and smoke the feathers," is a metaphor for escapism, indicating the desire to retreat into an alternate reality where fear and anxiety do not exist. The need for comfort and support is echoed throughout the song with the lyrics, "needing comfort and support, I want to cover my body, covers to cover my fear."

The second stanza of the song brings another metaphor, "oral symphony outside my door," which can be interpreted as the noise of the outside world, the pressure of societal expectations and fears of not measuring up. The recipe mentioned in the lyrics could be interpreted as that of life, suggesting that there is always room for improvement and that finding balance is a continuous work in progress. The final line, "takes a thousand years," suggests that the journey towards self-discovery takes time and patience.

Overall, the song's raw, emotive lyrics speak to the universal human experience of fear and the search for comfort and healing, as well as the realization that this process can be a lifelong journey.

Line by Line Meaning

I want to roll a big fat pillow
I desire to create a large cushion for myself

And smoke the feathers
To burn and inhale the contents of the pillow for relaxation

Needing comfort and support
In search of comfort and assistance

I want to cover my body
My goal is to wrap myself up

Covers to cover my fear
A cover to provide protection from fear

And hide from my feet
To shield myself from my own feet

Which appear to be as ugly
My feet have an unappealing appearance

As the yellow tooth
Similar to the unsightly yellow tooth of a man from my nightmare

Oral symphony
A pleasant arrangement of sounds and notes

Outside my door
Coming from the vicinity of my entrance

In the recipe
Within the instructions for preparing something