Now, I know there is another discussion about this, but I have so much to say about it I thought I'd create a new thread. Plus, the older thread has been a little sidetracked. Prepare to read a novel...

Many people believe that We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes is a concept album, while others believe it's just a kick ass album. I'm a huge supporter of it being a concept album. Now before anyone (even quotes from the band) says its not, it doesn't matter. Once an art piece has been created, it can be viewed and critiqued any way someone wants it to. Even if the artist never meant for something to be portrayed a certain way, it doesn't mean the artist didn't unintentionally create it that way. I decided to write up a lyric by lyric support for We Have the Facts being a concept album, and here it is. Sorry for any gramatical errors, it's 2:00AM here and I started at 12, so I'm a little tired.

1. Title Track - Obviously about a one night stand after a party. I won’t go into this one.

2. Employment Pages - By the next song, the two who had a one night stand at the party have moved in together. They are finding out that sex wasn’t the greatest thing to start a relationship on and are starting to break apart.
A. “I rearrange the furniture as you sleep.” - Metaphor for him trying to change and spruce up the relationship while she doesn‘t bother. Mainly, whenever someone “rearranges the furniture” they are trying to mix things up and stop the boring routine of life.
B. “We amplify the sound, and then the neighbors drop by and they ask us to turn it down again…” - They are fighting again, and we can tell it has happened before because the neighbors are again asking them to turn down the “noise.”
C. “We spread out and everyone is frightfully more aware. So impressed: the cocktail politics and obscure details.” - Their friends are impressed that they can keep the charade of their relationship up, even though these little details and nuances are showing how they are spreading apart.
D. “And it was true, that I was truly failing. But you were gone, and I was home calling around, but you were gone… Nothing was found worthwhile.” - He admits he is failing the relationship and he can see that she is never really there for it either. He keeps calling to her to try and fix things, but he can see the relationship isn’t worth anything.

3. For What Reason - The two have split apart. He feels he tried to work on the relationship, while she sat there and moved on. This is one of the heaviest storyline songs.
A. “This won’t be the last you hear from me, it’s just the start.” - He is telling her that it won’t be the last they see each other. He has developed an attachment to her while trying to keep the relationship alive and will even become a stalker to keep the attachment alive.
B. “I hope that he keeps you up for weeks like you did to me.” - He is telling her that he hopes she goes through the same thing she put him through. Refers to Employment Pages and the line “I rearrange the furniture as you sleep” because he believes she will eventually have to try and fix and spruce up the relationship while he just sits there and does nothing like she did to him in their relationship.
C. “I will hold a candle up to you to singe your skin. Brace yourself: I’m bent with bitterness.” - He is going to try and wreck her any way he can and make her life miserable for what she did to him.
D. “When your apologies fail to ring true…” The chorus delves into the part in the relationship where she tries to make amends with him. He know though, that she is fake like she was in the beginning.
E. “Tracing the plot finds skin touching skin. Absence follows.” - The have sex again. Sex is the only thing in their relationship they have and once its over, they separate again.
F. “In the end, I win every time… Sour tastes prevail as you play back the tape machine.” - He realizes that he will always hold a bitter feeling with her. Every time she plays her tape machine, he will have left a message, which will remind her of him over and over again. Since he has a stalker way about him, this will always have him on her mind, which allows him to win every time.

4. Lowell, MA - After a time, he realizes she is finally gone. He decides to take a road trip to try and clear his head. This trip lasts through Little Furry Bugs.
A. “You’ve been forewarned of the shakedown. Opinions stamped on the pulp of the tabloid newsstand gossip.” - He warned her that it wouldn’t be the last he heard from him, so now he is trying to ruin her name by spreading gossip about her.
B. “You swallowed the last of free MA. Car starts, four windows lowered away.” - After realizing he will never have her back and that he cannot be in MA without being reminded about her, he decides to leave and take a road trip. There are more lines in the song about the trip, but I’ll skip those.
C. “Don’t go holding out on me know. I thought you had come to expect more…” - His last bid farewell. He tries to reason with her one last time, but sees she is still with the man she left him for. He wonders why she doesn’t expect more out of a man, obviously thinking he is vastly superior to the other man.

5. 405 - There are two different views to this song. A. While driving, he recounts the good and bad parts of their relationship together. B. After going to Washington, he meets a new woman, but finds he cannot get over the original woman. In both views, A, B, and D stay the same.
A. “I took the 405 and drilled a stake down into your center and stated that it’s never ever been better than this.” - IMO, refers to the sex they had, which was really the only good of their relationship. He tells her that its never been better than when he has been with her.
B. “I hung my favorite shirt on the floorboard, wrinkled up from pulling, pushing, and tasting.” - Another reference to the sex. I don’t believe I need to dive into this line.
C. “You keep twisting the truth that leads me thrown askew.” - View A: He recounts how the original woman always lied and deceived him. Even though he is trying to follow her, he keeps being deceived by her lies. View B: His new woman is acting just like the old one, which keeps reminding him of her and how he still cannot get over her, even with someone else in his life.
D. “Misguided by the 405, ‘cause it lead me to an alcoholic summer.” - Explains when he first became an alcoholic. He has driven across the country into Washington (where the 405 highway resides), but even though he is so far away, he cannot stop thinking of her, which leads him into drinking.

6. Little Furry Bugs - While trying to engage with new people, he keeps getting reminded of her.
A. “You’ll discover that casual friends kept notes in their pockets to remember your name.” - He has distanced himself so far from humanity that even his “friends” can’t remember his name. He has become a recluse because of his obsession for her and not being able to have her.
B. “There’s a look in the faces tonight that’s untrustable as the hope that you’ll never return in a while, but you‘re always on time.” - He has become such a recluse that he can’t trust anyone. He keeps comparing his trust with people with the chance that he’ll have her back. Be careful with this line, because it states she’s on time for NEVER returning.

7. Company Calls - One of the main songs in the story, along with the Epilogue. He receives an invitation to her wedding. Before going to it, he gets drunk at a bar. IMO, he starts to refer to himself in the 3rd person once he’s drunk.
A. “I’ll take the best of your bad moods and dress them up to make a better you.” - Refers to himself. He wants to be drunk before he attends the wedding because he wants to numb himself and his emotions to try and make himself better. Even though this is twisted logic, since he’s an alcoholic he believes alcohol makes him a better person.
B. “I’d squeeze a heart through my fingertip, but I type too slow to make expressions stick.” - He is trying to write her a letter (or postcard) to tell him how he feels. He is trying to squeeze his entire heart into this letter, but he is too drunk to form a sentence.
C. “Set your sights! Destroy this partyline, ‘cause it’s so tired. Set your sights! Destroy this mock-shrine, ‘cause it‘s so tired.” - Again, he is referring to himself in the 3rd person. He is trying to tell himself to go and destroy her wedding and her mock-shrine of a relationship. The line “’cause it’s so tired” refers to Employment Pages again. He still believes their relationship is as tired as he was when he was trying to spruce it up and fix it.
D. “I’d keep a distance because the complications cloud it all. And mail a postcard sending greetings from the eastern block.” - He has arrived at the wedding, but realizes he needs to keep his distance because of the complications it could bring up. I believe he had decided that because he loves her so much, all that matters is that she is happy. He sees how happy she is with her husband and decides not to ruin it for her. Instead of going straight to her to tell her his feelings, he’ll just send a postcard (the letter he was trying to squeeze his heart into earlier) explaining it to her (in reality, he probably never sends it).

8. Company Calls Epilogue - The apex of the story. Further explains why he shouldn’t wreck her wedding and tell her how he truly feels. Since everyone can agree a wedding is going on, I’ll skip all dialogue that relates to it.
A. “I kept a distance, the complications cloud the postcards and blips through fiber optics.” - Just like in Company Calls, he is keeping his distance because the complications between them cloud everything. It is in this line that I believe he doesn’t end up ever telling her.
B. “Crashing through the parlor doors, what was your first reaction?” - Explains how he first arrived at the wedding completely drunk. Even though he has enough composure to keep his distance, he wonders what went through her mind when she saw him.
C. “Screaming, drunk, disorderly, I’ll tell you mine: You were the one. But I can’t spit it out when the date’s been set. The white routine to be ingested inaccurately.” - My absolute favorite line of the entire album. He wants to scream out that she is the love of his life, but he realizes she is happy and the date has been set, so he can’t change it and he should just let her be happy. “The white routine” is about how originally, brides wore a white wedding dress to show that they were faithful and never had sex before marriage. It symbolized that they were pure. In this case, she is deceiving everyone like she always does by wearing white and not recognizing their relationship.
D. “I’ll contest, but they won’t listen. When the casualty rate’s near 100% and there isn’t a pension for second best.” - He’d contest the marriage, but he knows she wouldn’t listen to him. He knows he has zero chance of reuniting with his love and he shouldn’t try because there would be no prize for coming in second.

Now, most people who believe We Have the Facts is a concept album (even unintentionally) believe the story ends here and that No Joy in Mudville and Scientist Studies have no relation to the story. This is perfectly fine and believable, because A. Even without these two songs, the story has finished and B. Ben has been noted to say that No Joy is about Lou Reed and that Scientist Studies is about trying to make it as a musician. I’ll go into some of the reasons why I personally believe the story continues.

9. No Joy in Mudville - He tries to get over her and act tough, but instead breaks down and decides to kill her.
A. “Last night I dreamt that I was you. I was dressed all in black with dark glasses and attitude. Such a pose I could simply not hold through days in a northern town that I had once called a home.” - I can’t deny that this refers to Lou Reed, but I believe he (the main character) is trying his best to act tough and move and imitate Lou Reed, but he can’t. He can’t change himself and his past in the same town he’s lived in his whole life.
B. “I’m packing my bullets and silvertones and heading east to a brownstone up three flights of stairs and it’s on…” - Now I KNOW Bullets and Silvertones are amps and guitars, but just bare with me here. Old fashion guns would be made into silvertones because they would be plated with silver. I hypothesize that he is referring to his weapon and ammunition and is going find her and kill her.
C. “If I could have had my way, this year would bridge ‘66 again…” - He explains to her that if he could have had his way this year, it would never have come to this. I hypothesize that their relationship started in ‘66 and that if they had gotten back together year ‘66 would be bridged to this one by their relationship starting back up.

10. Scientist Studies - After killing her, he realizes what he’s done and kills himself. I completely agree that this song is about trying to make it as a musician, but I can’t help being reminded of the story in the last few lines.
A. “I may have got an invitation but I wasn’t invited.” - Refers to him receiving an invitation to her wedding. Even though he received an invitation, at the wedding he was never invited by her. They never spoke and he could tell he wasn’t wanted.
B. “I thought this meant more than broken hearts and new addictions.” - He always thought their relationship meant something, but it turned out all it was good for was for a broken heart and a new addiction (alcohol).
C. “This is my first defense…this was my first defense…this is my last defense…” - I believe this refers to him killing himself. His defense from any more pain after her death is to kill himself. His first defense from pain was alcohol, but now his last defense will be to end his pain forever.
D. Even though it isn't a lyric, I'm using the music as a support here. In the beginning Scientist Studies is quite a calm song. Once it hits these lyrics (the ones I'm referring to), it starts to get harder and more emotional. I believe this is to mimic how rushed and emotional he is feeling after realizing what he has done and how violent the scene must be.


Alright, that was fun wasn't it? Feel free to give me any criticism you have. That's what this entire topic is about, isn't it?

I've heard that said about scientist studies before. I dunno if it was you who said it before or not-- but the point is, you stated it this time in a way which made me understand the reasoning a little better.

I really like the music/dynamics as a support for your argument as well, it really suits your case.

great summary.

Theres a few things (only a few) I don't agree with, but most of it, I think you hit the nail on the head.

Wow...that made me realize how complex some Death Cab songs are. It gave me a whole new perspective on this album. Great job, and I agree with everything up there.

Sledding, would you mind telling me what you don't agree with? I'd love to hear other opinions.

i dont think thats what the last two songs are about. its completely open for interpretation but i always thought Scientist Studies was about being a musician and not making enough money. "What ghosts exist behind these attic walls" is his writing space maybe, or hes always trying to draw on inspriation for songs and lyrics. "'cause I scrimped and I saved just to find
that they've been splicing my inventions." refers to people writing things and having other artists ripping off people's sounds/riffs/style.
"cold skin and bones and this latitude
we ain't payin' until the heat comes through.
so you slept in a stocking cap
and wool scarf." Talking about how they dont have enough money for the bills.
i think instead of going to kill her he becomes a musician. his last defense and first defense is his defense to pay rent and have a life, and its his job to entertain.

yeah some stuff doesnt make sense but its the same for both versions.
or we're probably all way off. maybe its not a concept album at all and just worked out like this.

DeemunCow, like I said, I agree that Scientist Studies is about trying to make it as a musician. When it comes to the storyline, I'm only focusing on the last verse or so, since it seems to really relate to the whole picture.

IMO, I doubt the man in the story becomes the musician in SS. The entire story is very dark and the only part of SS that seems dark is the last verse, which is the one I'm relating everything towards.

405 seems a little fuzzy to me.

heres what I say...it's a great album. who cares what hidden or unhidden messages or stories are in it. just listen to the music.

Interpreting songs, makes the music so much better...I personally just can't mindlessly listen to music, I might as well just listen to the sound of drills, or the blow-dryer.

quote:

Originally posted by SleddingIntoTraffic:
Interpreting songs, makes the music so much better...I personally just can't mindlessly listen to music, I might as well just listen to the sound of drills, or the blow-dryer.

I completely agree. I love looking into lyrics and learning the in's and out's of every song I listen to. I think it makes the song much more special.

I do too, but I don't think I've ever really gotten that much into a song (or album) to interpret every line. I dont know, just my opinion.

Concept albums are great. Its like listening to a book.

I really liked your interpretation. It was basically flawless, in fact, up to the last two songs. I agree with Deemun. The last two songs are about the main character getting past this relationship in his mind, as he knows is necessary. The last song contains the line, "I thought that this meant something more than broken hearts and new addictions," which is there to sum up how the relationship played out. I can definitely see how the sound of the song, especially the long high pitched sound at the end, could be perceived to be depicting some kind of violent finish, but I really don't think I can buy into that. I think it's more just about sucking it up and moving on, even if it's awful to look back on how much the relationship affected the character's life...