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
Raining Babies
The Flaming Lips Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
If I breathe, you know, I'm gonna lose it
It's just a drop in the biggest ocean I know I've ever seen
And in a moment it's big enough to drown the whole world
This is my present to the world
And I want you to take it
This is my present to the world
All I know is I don't know it
It's rainin' babies from the sky down on me
Tiny drops on my windshield
And in a second it's rainin' rainin' all over the whole world
The lyrics to The Flaming Lips's song "Raining Babies" are full of intricate metaphors and imagery that create a mesmerizing listening experience. The first verse speaks of the delicacy of the singer's thoughts and their fear of losing them if they breathe. They compare their thoughts to a drop in the largest ocean they have ever seen, only to have it grow and drown the entire world in a moment. It's a metaphor for the power of one's ideas, no matter how small they may seem, to have the potential to affect the world in significant ways.
The second verse then shifts focus to the present they wish to give to the world. They plead with the listener to take it from them, emphasizing the importance of what they have to offer. The lyrics follow a theme of giving, whether it's giving oneself to their thoughts or giving something to the world, the power of giving is the central message of the song.
The chorus then brings back the metaphor of rain, but instead of just a drop, it's babies falling from the sky. It's a surreal and captivating image that adds to the theme of the power of small things having enormous consequences.
Overall, "Raining Babies" is a song that invites the listener to contemplate the power of their thoughts and the importance of giving to the world. It's a song that encourages us to recognize the potential of the small things that make up our lives and to see them as essential contributions to the world.
Line by Line Meaning
What I'm thinkin' is so delicate
The singer's thoughts are incredibly fragile
If I breathe, you know, I'm gonna lose it
Any disturbance could cause the singer's thoughts to disappear
It's just a drop in the biggest ocean I know I've ever seen
The singer's thoughts are small and insignificant compared to the vastness of the world
And in a moment it's big enough to drown the whole world
Despite being small, the artist's thoughts have the potential to have a huge impact
This is my present to the world
The artist is giving something of personal importance to the world
And I want you to take it
The singer is eager for the world to accept their gift
Take it from me, please please take it from me
The singer is pleading with the world to accept their gift
All I know is I don't know it
The artist is uncertain of what they truly know
It's rainin' babies from the sky down on me
The artist's thoughts are flooding their mind like rain from the sky
Tiny drops on my windshield
The artist's thoughts are small but numerous
And in a second it's rainin' rainin' all over the whole world
The singer's thoughts have the potential to spread and impact the entire world
Contributed by Declan W. Suggest a correction in the comments below.