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
Pilot Can at the Queer of God
The Flaming Lips Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Has she always lived here?
(I think she has)
Oh god
Has she always looked like that?
(I think she has)
Oh god
(I think she has)
Oh god
Has she joined the army?
(I think she has)
Oh god
Has she left here?
(I think she has)
In her grown up years
In her pilot years
(I think she has)
Like she came from outer space
Oh god
Has she turned queer?
(Yes she has)
In her grown up years
In a pilot dream
(Yes she has)
Like she came from outer space
And now she's got helicopters
(Yes she has)
And now she's got helicopters
(Yes she has)
And now she's got helicopters
(Yes she has)
And now she's got helicopters
(Yes she has)
And now she's got helicopters
(Yes she has)
And now she's got helicopters
(Yes she has)
The lyrics to The Flaming Lips's song Pilot Can at the Queer of God are quite cryptic, but they seem to be about a person the singer once knew. The repeated line of "Oh god" suggests a sense of disbelief or shock at what the singer is seeing or hearing about this person. At first, the singer asks if this person has always lived in the same place and looked the same way, suggesting perhaps that the singer has left and returned to find things have not changed. But then the questions become more alarming - has this person forgotten the singer? Joined the army? Left the area entirely? The refrain of "I think she has" adds to the sense of uncertainty and speculation.
The tone changes when the singer asks if the person has turned queer, and the answer is unequivocally "yes she has." The use of the word "queer" is noteworthy, as it suggests both a sexual orientation and an unusual quality that sets this person apart. The repeated line at the end about the person now having helicopters is again ambiguous, but it seems to suggest that this person has attained some kind of power or success. The final lines of the song, delivered in a chant-like fashion, are somewhat hypnotic, with the repetition reinforcing the sense of this person having undergone a major transformation.
Line by Line Meaning
Oh god
A prayer or an exclamation of disbelief and surprise.
Has she always lived here?
Does the subject of the singer's thoughts have a long-standing history in the location they are currently in?
Oh god
A prayer or an exclamation of disbelief and surprise, repeated for emphasis.
Has she always looked like that?
Does the subject of the artist's thoughts have a consistent physical appearance?
Oh god
A prayer or an exclamation of disbelief and surprise, repeated for emphasis.
God, has she forgot me?
Has the subject of the singer's thoughts stopped paying attention to or caring about the singer?
Oh god
A prayer or an exclamation of disbelief and surprise, repeated for emphasis.
Has she joined the army?
Has the subject of the artist's thoughts enlisted in the military?
Oh god
A prayer or an exclamation of disbelief and surprise, repeated for emphasis.
Has she left here?
Has the subject of the artist's thoughts departed from the current location?
In her grown up years
At a more mature stage of her life.
In her pilot years
During the time that she was a pilot.
I think she has
The singer believes that the subject of their thoughts has done the things they are wondering about.
Like she came from outer space
The subject of the singer's thoughts is unlike anything or anyone they have encountered before.
Has she turned queer?
Has the subject of the singer's thoughts come to identify as LGBTQ+?
In her grown up years
At a more mature stage of her life.
In a pilot dream
In a dream where she is piloting a vehicle.
Yes she has
The singer believes that the subject of their thoughts has come out as LGBTQ+.
Like she came from outer space
The subject of the singer's thoughts is unlike anything or anyone they have encountered before.
And now she's got helicopters
The subject of the artist's thoughts has obtained one or more helicopters.
Yes she has
The artist confirms that the subject of their thoughts has obtained helicopters.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: MICHAEL IVINS, RONALD JONES, STEVEN DROZD, WAYNE COYNE
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
SoloUni.
Oh god
Has she always lived here?
(I think she has)
Oh god
Has she always looked like that?
(I think she has)
Oh god
God, has she forgot me?
(I think she has)
Oh god
Has she joined the army?
(I think she has)
Oh god
Has she left here?
(I think she has)
In her grown up years
In her pilot years
(I think she has)
Like she came from outer space
Oh god
Has she turned queer?
(Yes she has)
In her grown up years
In a pilot dream
(Yes she has)
Like she came from outer space
And now she's got helicopters
(Yes she has)
And now she's got helicopters
(Yes she has)
And now she's got helicopters
(Yes she has)
And now she's got helicopters
(Yes she has)
And now she's got helicopters
(Yes she has)
And now she's got helicopters
(Yes she has)
Dave Lampton
This has remained my fav Flaming Lips song since the day Transmissions came out.
"She's got helicopters... yes she has!" :-)
Fallen World
Saw them in a small club in Portland Oregon around this time. The band members were all wrapped in Christmas lights.
James Evans
But "Turn It On" has to play first!
Ebay2play
I love the way this sounds on headphones. The sounds rotate around your head. Also, if you change the balance you hear thing you don't notice when it's all together. I think it's on the left side that there's the cool guitar that you can barely hear otherwise.
rumagoo82
I miss Flaming Lips with this sound.
knifeboi eurotooth
@rumagoo82 Im right there with you. They were always pretty awesome at making noise, but when they brought in Drozd, his more bombastic and tight sort of drumming definitely lifted the Lips sound to a dreamy level. This record is top class, and Clouds Taste Metallic is one of the greater records of it's generation, I think. Would be very exciting to hear a new take on this more trashy and naive rock sound.
Keith Fordyce
This song makes complete sense to me on an intuitive level even though it’s quite abstract in its depiction of realizations that you don’t really know even your intimate partners despite several years of close proximity. At least that’s my take this morning. Could I be wrong? Yes I can.
Leslie Leipard
I think this is one of a handful of artists that never get old for me. And everything new and old. I feel like I have just morphed with the bands taste. I am a little older. Whats not to love?
notreallybandfromottawa
Wonderfully weird. This is one of my favourite songs by the Flaming Lips.
Kolby K
wish they played this stuff live still