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.
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Charlie Manson Blues
The Flaming Lips Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
The slaughter has just been sold,
To some people who won't get old,
Cause their skin is getting cold.
The room that's in the back,
That's where I lost it all.
In the room that's in the back,
[Chorus]
Cause I'm slipping into the Charlie Manson Blues.
I'm a stupid dressed Jesus son.
I'm slipping into the Charlie Manson Blues.
I'm a stupid dressed Jesus son.
Head burning up, chain-smoking,
Everybody here is choking.
Shrunken heads are joking,
And new-born skull is broke.
And the room that's in the back,
Is where I lost it all.
In the room that's in the back,
Let's go have a ball.
[Chorus: x2]
Whoa, Goddammit!
Shit!
The song "Charlie Manson Blues" by The Flaming Lips has a very eerie and haunting tone to it. The lyrics refer to a "seance" that has just taken place and how the "slaughter has just been sold" to people who won't get old because "their skin is getting cold," implying that they are dead. The room in the back seems to be the focal point of the song, with the singer having lost something important there. The chorus speaks of slipping into the "Charlie Manson Blues," with the singer comparing himself to a "stupid dressed Jesus son."
The lyrics paint a picture of a dark and twisted world, with shrunken heads and broken skulls being joked about. The singer's head is "burning up" and everyone around him seems to be choking on something. The repetition of the line "in the room that's in the back, let's go have a ball" only adds to the ominous tone of the song. It's unclear exactly what happened in that room, but it's clear that the singer has been deeply affected by it. The song as a whole is difficult to interpret, but it's clear that it's meant to be unsettling.
Line by Line Meaning
The seance has just been told,
The message of the seance has just been communicated.
The slaughter has just been sold,
The killing spree has recently been commissioned.
To some people who won't get old,
Those responsible for the slaughter are up for the task, and not prone to aging.
Cause their skin is getting cold.
Their cold demeanor suggests a lack of empathy towards their victims.
The room that's in the back,
The secretive, dimly lit location that is not widely perceived or known to many.
That's where I lost it all.
That's where everything went wrong for me, where everything started to fall apart.
In the room that's in the back,
In that secretive, shady spot.
Let's go have a ball.
Let's enjoy and take advantage of the opportunity that presents itself there.
I'm slipping into the Charlie Manson Blues.
I'm gradually falling into a state of madness and delirium, just like Charles Manson.
I'm a stupid dressed Jesus son.
I'm a foolish, perhaps misguided or naïve person, who is emulating the appearance, or bearing, of a religious figure.
Head burning up, chain-smoking,
Feeling overwhelmed, restless, and anxious, and dealing with it through excessive smoking.
Everybody here is choking.
The air is thick, unpleasant, and unhealthy, to the extent that everyone struggles to breathe, and it feels suffocating.
Shrunken heads are joking,
The atmosphere is so morbid and surreal, that even the heads of dead people have become a source of dark humor.
And new-born skull is broke.
Even new life is not spared from the curse of death and decay, as evidenced by the shattered remains of a newborn's skull.
Whoa, Goddammit!
Expression of frustration or disappointment towards a distressing situation or realization.
Shit!
Expression of disgust or negativity in response to something undesirable or distasteful.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: FLAMING LIPS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind