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
Can't Stop the Spring
The Flaming Lips Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
You just keep on bleedin' on your clothes as they dry
All your teflon pancakes always make me too high
You're thinkin' that you're here but you're really up in the sky
There she was just walkin' down the street
Smoking with her hands and walking with her feet
Keeping her paint cans underneath the seat
You can crush the flowers
But you can't stop the spring
No matter what you say
So you can put the clouds up in your own little way
But the sun is gonna come up the very next day
It's gonna be so bright it's gonna blow you away
And once it's over your head will never be the same
The lyrics of The Flaming Lips song Can't Stop the Spring seems to convey the message of the inevitability of change and growth, and how even if we try to suppress it or pretend it's not happening, it will happen nevertheless. The opening lines indicate that even though someone might be a part of society, they can't escape from the effects of the inevitable growth and change. The line "You just keep on bleedin' on your clothes as they dry" paints a picture of someone who is trying to ignore the inevitable but is getting affected by it nevertheless. The next line "All your Teflon pancakes always make me too high" seems to be a metaphor for the comfortable life that the person is trying to maintain, but it is not sustaining them anymore.
The next verse is about a woman who seems to be living a life on the edge and is unconventional. She's smoking and walking with her hands and feet, keeping her paint cans underneath the seat and her hair dryer on her favorite piece of meat. The imagery here is quite surreal, but it seems to suggest that the woman is living life on her own terms, not afraid of taking risks, and not conforming to societal norms.
The chorus, "You can crush the flowers, but you can't stop the spring, no matter what you say" emphasizes the theme of growth and change being inevitable. Even if someone tries to suppress or control it, growth and change will happen.
Overall, the lyrics of the song convey a message to embrace change and growth rather than trying to suppress it. It is only when we accept and adapt to change and grow that we can truly live life to the fullest.
Line by Line Meaning
You can walk among us, but you can't walk on by
You may be present with us, but you can not ignore the situation.
You just keep on bleedin' on your clothes as they dry
You continue to suffer and leave the evidence on yourself.
All your teflon pancakes always make me too high
All of your smooth talk makes me skeptical and wary.
You're thinkin' that you're here but you're really up in the sky
You may believe that you're a part of this reality, but you're actually detached from it.
There she was just walkin' down the street
A woman was casually walking down the sidewalk.
Smoking with her hands and walking with her feet
She held a cigarette in her hand as she walked.
Keeping her paint cans underneath the seat
She kept her spray paint cans hidden under the seat of her car.
Keepin' her hair dryer on her favorite piece of meat
She bizarrely kept a hair dryer on her favorite meat.
You can crush the flowers
You have the power to destroy nature and beauty.
But you can't stop the spring
However, you do not have the ability to prevent new growth and life.
No matter what you say
Regardless of your protestations and reasons.
So you can put the clouds up in your own little way
You may attempt to darken or alter the situation as you please.
But the sun is gonna come up the very next day
Despite this, the sun will rise the next day as expected.
It's gonna be so bright it's gonna blow you away
The sun will be blindingly and overwhelmingly bright.
And once it's over your head will never be the same
After experiencing the brightness of the new day, your perspective and outlook will be forever altered.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: MICHAEL IVINS, RICHARD ENGLISH, WAYNE COYNE
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind