The Flaming Lips are known for their lush, multi-layered arrangements, spacey lyrics and bizarre song titles. They are also acclaimed for their elaborate live shows, which typically feature animal suits, puppets, streamers, video projections and complex stage light configurations.
In 2002, Q magazine named The Flaming Lips one of the "50 Bands to See Before You Die". In 2006, Oklahoma City named a street Flaming Lips Alley in their honor.
The group recorded several albums and EPs for Restless Records in the 1980s and early 1990s. After signing to Warner Brothers, they scored a #9 hit on the Billboard Alternative charts (and #55 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart) in 1994 with "She Don't Use Jelly". Although it would be their only hit single, the band has maintained critical respect and, to a lesser extent, commercial viability with sonically majestic albums such as 1995's Clouds Taste Metallic, 1999's The Soft Bulletin, 2002's Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots and 2006's At War with the Mystics. The Flaming Lips' 12th studio album, Embryonic, was released in October of 2009. A complete cover of Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon was released in May 2010. The Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends, their collaborative album which features artists like Ke$ha, Bon Iver, Nick Cave and Erykah Badu, was released on Record Store Day, April 2012.
Their next studio album, tentatively titled The Terror, will be released in January 2013.
Their song "Do You Realize??" is the official State Rock Song of Oklahoma.
www.flaminglips.com
Buggin'
The Flaming Lips Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Buzzin' round
Well they fly in the air
And you comb your hair
And the summer time will make you itch the
Mosquito bites
The buzz of love
Is busy buggin' you
Well they fly in the air
As you comb your hair
And they're splattered up and down your windshield
The headlights
Well, they bite
Yeah they bite
But you can't see them there
But they bite
Yeah, they bite
But you can't tell they're there
Does love buzz?
Because that's what it does
Well, they fly in the air
As you comb your hair
And the summertime will make you itch the
Mosquito bites
And they fly in the air
As you comb your hair
And they splattered up and down your windshield
The headlights
Fly in the air
Comb your hair
Fly in the air
Comb your hair
The lyrics to The Flaming Lips's song Buggin' are somewhat ambiguous, but appear to be about two themes: bugs and the buzz of love. The first stanza is about bugs, categorically mentioning them and how they fly through the air and can be found in your hair. The specific references to mosquito bites and summer indicate that this may be a summer song, exalting both the pleasures and the annoyances of the season. The second stanza introduces the "buzz" of love, using a sort of wordplay with the bug theme: "the buzz of love is busy buggin' you." The example of the buzzing comes back as a comparison to the bug imagery when the lyrics talk about how the love is "splattered up and down your windshield," akin to bug guts. The final stanza brings the two themes together again, appearing to ask if the buzz of love is something akin to a mosquito bite.
Overall, The Flaming Lips' lyrics in Buggin' are poetic and enigmatic, but give the listener a sense of a particular feeling or experience, rather than a concrete narrative. The use of bug and summer imagery is evocative and aligns with the band's aesthetic of psychedelic, colorful visuals and sounds. The referencing of the feeling of itchiness from mosquito bites could be seen as a metaphoric comparison to the discomfort of love, or alternatively, as some sort of liminal state between pleasure and pain. It's open-ended enough to leave room for interpretation, with plenty of the immersive soundscape that the Lips are known for to build associations and emotional landscapes for the listener.
Line by Line Meaning
All those bugs
The various metaphorical bugs that bother us in life
Buzzin' round
The constant buzzing or mental distractions that we encounter
Well they fly in the air
These distractions are everywhere and we can't escape them
And you comb your hair
As we go about our day, we try to keep ourselves together, like combing our hair
And the summer time will make you itch the mosquito bites
Just like mosquito bites in the summer, these distractions can irritate and bother us
The buzz of love
The distraction and euphoria of being in love
Is busy buggin' you
Being in love can be overwhelming and distracting
And they're splattered up and down your windshield
The consequences of love can get messy and affect our view of the world
The headlights
The things in life that we focus on and drive towards
Well, they bite
Our desires and focus can have negative consequences
Yeah they bite
Repeated reminder that our focus can lead to negative consequences
But you can't see them there
The negative consequences aren't always apparent until it's too late
But they bite
Reinforces the negative consequences of our focus and desires
Does love buzz?
Questioning the true nature of love and its effects
Because that's what it does
Positive or negative, love has a powerful effect on our lives
And they fly in the air
The metaphorical distractions and consequences are still present
As you comb your hair
We still try to keep ourselves presentable and together
And the summertime will make you itch the mosquito bites
Just like distractions, love can also be irritating and bothersome
Fly in the air
Continues the metaphor of constant distractions
Comb your hair
The daily struggle of trying to keep ourselves presentable and in control
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: MICHAEL IVINS, STEVEN DROZD, WAYNE COYNE
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@jeffchavarria4219
All those bugs
Buzzin' round
Well they fly in the air
And you comb your hair
And the summer time will make you itch the
Mosquito bites
The buzz of love
Is busy buggin' you
Well they fly in the air
As you comb your hair
And they're splattered up and down your windshield
The headlights
Well, they bite
Yeah they bite
But you can't see them there
But they bite
Yeah, they bite
But you can't tell they're there
Does love buzz?
Because that's what it does
Well, they fly in the air
As you comb your hair
And the summertime will make you itch the
Mosquito bites
And they fly in the air
As you comb your hair
And they splattered up and down your windshield
The headlights
Fly in the air
Comb your hair
Fly in the air
Comb your hair
@jeffchavarria4219
All those bugs
Buzzin' round
Well they fly in the air
And you comb your hair
And the summer time will make you itch the
Mosquito bites
The buzz of love
Is busy buggin' you
Well they fly in the air
As you comb your hair
And they're splattered up and down your windshield
The headlights
Well, they bite
Yeah they bite
But you can't see them there
But they bite
Yeah, they bite
But you can't tell they're there
Does love buzz?
Because that's what it does
Well, they fly in the air
As you comb your hair
And the summertime will make you itch the
Mosquito bites
And they fly in the air
As you comb your hair
And they splattered up and down your windshield
The headlights
Fly in the air
Comb your hair
Fly in the air
Comb your hair
@brianmaines9304
wow cool song, keep up the good work
@sarahcase404
i love this song
@goldsmice
better version than the vinyl imo...this is the one from the Austin Powers 2 soundtrack, which I used to listen to on my Discman while having crushes on various girls in 8th grade.
@SmellMySodds
Couldn't have put it better myself.
@johncurtis6988
Brooo the truthhhh
@holloify_tensa_zangetsu
Hahah I'm walking my dog now, and the song was buffering and so I forgot and once it .started I. Jumped thinking it was a bug 😂😂
@hawaiidispenser
Sounds like it could have been inspired by the chorus on What is Life by George Harrison.
@ripelivejam
I think i prefer this one cuase it sounds crunchier and more propulsive and a nice juxaposition against the twinkling pretty stuff on the top.
@colefreeman4093
It is possible that bon Iver was inspired by this