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
She Don't Use Jelly
The Flaming Lips Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
She'll make you breakfast
She'll make you toast
But she don't use butter
And she don't use cheese
She don't use jelly
Or any of these
She uses Vaseline
Vaseline
And I know a guy who goes to shows
When he's at home and he blows his nose
He don't use tissues or his sleeve
He don't use napkins or any of these
He uses magazines
Magazines
Magazines
Magazines
I know a girl who reminds me of Cher
She's always changing
The color of her hair
But she don't use nothing
That you buy at the store
She likes her hair to be real orange
She uses tangerines
Tangerines
Tangerines
Tangerines
Tangerines
Tangerines
The lyrics to The Flaming Lips' song She Don't Use Jelly are quirky and humorous in their portrayal of different individuals and their peculiar habits. The song is led by a melody that is driven by a jangly guitar and features a catchy, repetitive chorus that centers around the use of unconventional items in everyday settings. In the first verse, the singer describes a girl who has an affinity for ghosts and makes breakfast for others, but doesn't use traditional condiments like butter, cheese, or jelly. Instead, she uses Vaseline. In the second verse, we meet a guy who attends shows and prefers to blow his nose into magazines as opposed to traditional means like tissues or napkins. The final verse introduces a girl who frequently changes the color of her hair, but does so using tangerines instead of hair dye.
The song's lyrics are playful and seem to be poking fun at societal norms and expectations. The use of everyday items like Vaseline, magazines, and tangerines instead of more common products draws attention to the absurdity of our reliance on certain consumer goods. The song also highlights the individuality of the characters portrayed, suggesting that while they may be unconventional in their habits, they are still unique and interesting in their own right.
Line by Line Meaning
I know a girl who thinks of ghosts
I know a girl who frequently thinks about ghosts and paranormal activities
She'll make you breakfast
She's capable of preparing breakfast for you
She'll make you toast
She's capable of toasting bread for breakfast for you
But she don't use butter
However, she never uses butter on her toast
And she don't use cheese
She never uses cheese on her toast
She don't use jelly
She doesn't like to spread jelly on her toast
Or any of these
Or any other kind of topping or spread
She uses Vaseline
Instead, she likes to apply Vaseline on her toast
I know a guy who goes to shows
I know a guy who likes to attend concerts or live shows
When he's at home and he blows his nose
When he's at home and needs to blow his nose
He don't use tissues or his sleeve
He never uses tissues or his sleeve to blow his nose
He don't use napkins or any of these
He never uses napkins or any other type of paper to blow his nose
He uses magazines
Instead, he blows his nose into magazines
I know a girl who reminds me of Cher
I know a girl who is like Cher in terms of constantly changing her appearance
She's always changing
She's always changing something about herself
The color of her hair
Specifically, she changes the color of her hair frequently
But she don't use nothing
However, she never uses any commercial hair dye
That you buy at the store
She doesn't use any store-bought hair coloring products
She likes her hair to be real orange
Instead, she prefers to have her hair be naturally orange
She uses tangerines
She uses tangerines as a natural way to dye her hair orange
Tangerines
She repeats this line several times to emphasize her use of tangerines
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: Michael Ivins, Ronald Jones, Steven Drozd, Wayne Coyne
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind