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
Talkin' 'bout the Smiling Deathporn Immortality Blues
The Flaming Lips Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Man can't only live in his dreams
Oh, it seems so hard.
If I'd lived a thousand times before
And if I'm gonna live anymore
Always brings me down
Thinking that it'd be a lot better
Everyone wants to live for ever, whoa
The feeling in my head starts heading south
It seems it stops the fever from shootin' out of my mouth
Life gushing all around
Everyone wants to live forever
Thinking that it'd be a lot better
Everyone wants to live forever, whoa
Everyone wants to live forever
But no one ever gets it together
And, everyone wants to live forever
whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa
The Flaming Lips's song "Talkin' 'bout the Smiling Deathporn Immortality Blues" is a very thought-provoking and introspective piece that delves into the desire to live forever. "Imagination, that's the way that it seems" suggests that one's desire to live forever may only be a product of their own imagination, while "Man can't only live in his dreams" proposes that one can't simply rely on their own fantasies to sustain them. The dichotomy between the illusions we create for ourselves and the harsh reality of mortality is a constant theme throughout the song.
The lines "If I'd lived a thousand times before / And if I'm gonna live anymore / Always brings me down" convey a sense of fatigue with the idea of endless life. The notion of living a thousand times before implies that death is not the end, that one would have to endure an infinite amount of cycles of birth, life, and death. Living forever is not necessarily a desirable outcome, according to the lyrics.
The song ends with the repeated line "Everyone wants to live forever / But no one ever gets it together," illustrating the futility of trying to cheat death. Despite the desire to live forever, everyone is ultimately powerless in the face of mortality.
Overall, "Talkin' 'bout the Smiling Deathporn Immortality Blues" is a complex meditation on the human desire for immortality, and the realities that come along with it.
Line by Line Meaning
Imagination, that's the way that it seems
The song starts by stating that imagination is the way the world appears to us through our thoughts and dreams.
Man can't only live in his dreams
The line suggests that man cannot solely rely on imagination and dreams to make a living.
Oh, it seems so hard.
It may seem challenging to live in a world where imagination is not enough.
If I'd lived a thousand times before
The singer is contemplating the possibility of having lived multiple lives in the past.
And if I'm gonna live anymore
He is also thinking about the possibility of having more lives in the future.
Always brings me down
The idea of living multiple lives, or even just the thought of the uncertainty of life, is bringing him down mentally and emotionally.
Everyone wants to live forever
The song is pointing out the universal desire for immortality or eternal life among people.
Thinking that it'd be a lot better
People believe that living forever would improve their lives or make things better for them.
The feeling in my head starts heading south
The singer is experiencing a downward spiral of negativity and depression.
It seems it stops the fever from shootin' out of my mouth
The dark thoughts and feelings are being expressed as if they were a sickness or fever in his body.
Life gushing all around
Despite the negative thoughts, life and vitality are all around him.
But no one ever gets it together
The song points out the fact that nobody has figured out how to live forever.
whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa
The repetition of 'whoa' emphasizes the underlying fear and uncertainty of life and death that the singer is expressing.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: JONATHAN DONAHUE, MICHAEL IVINS, WAYNE COYNE
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Blissed
Just saw you on tv, sounded great. Keep up the good work!
Firguy the Foot Fetishist from 4chan
I'm glad they didn't leave this song out of the Greatest Hits album. It's a great opener for their shoegaze album and it bears a striking resemblance to Daniel Johnston's Walking the Cow.
Segi gise
agree! <3
Matthew Fgs
It also reasembles sonic Youth schidzophrenia
The Based Garden
ZERO DISLIKES