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Is anybody more than eighteen
When they heard it in a magazine? Cloud Nothings – Can't Stay Awake
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He wants to verify that they’re over eighteen. He’s a law abiding citizen and age discriminates to obey the law!

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I need my picture in a magazine
So I know that you will talk to me Cloud Nothings – Can't Stay Awake
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He’s shy and wasn’t gettin' any love, so he need to get famous to get babes.

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All the other women they get treat so rude
Cry, cry, cause you make them blue Wild Belle – Keep You
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I’m not the only one you are doing this to! You hurt every woman in town. He seems like a “manwhore”.

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335e9ad2ed0906150d0e6bf50eca4296

236

8 years

“All the other women THAT YOU treat so rude”

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And if the sun comes up, if the sun comes up
If the sun comes up and I still don't wanna stagger home LCD Soundsystem – All My Friends
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Late night ‘blackout’ strolls home from the bar are some of the most poignant, inspiring, and epic moments in our lives. Sometimes it’s even difficult to motivate yourself to continue walking.

If he gets hung over into the next day…

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220

9 years

This shows how they used to party all night long.

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The nightmare lies in the morning
When the birds are bleeding Sleigh Bells – End of the Line
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Usually one awakes to a pleasant morning with birds chirping. The rather grim description of bleeding birds presents a stark contrast and an ominous message.

Equally horrific birds from Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds”:

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Our dirty bodies The Thermals – A Pillar of Salt
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We were born to sin
We were born to sin! The Thermals – A Pillar of Salt
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Humans are inherently flawed. He exclaims that no matter how hard we try, we will lead to ruin and shame. We all sin!

According to the Bible, Adam and Eve committed their first transgression in the Garden of Eden as depicted in this fresco done by Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel.

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6 months

The author is in no way agreeing with church dogma that humans are inherently flawed. In fact he is doing the opposite.

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And I used to fly like Peter Pan
All the children flew when I touched their hands Radiohead – Bones
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He used to be young and spritely, like Peter Pan Unfortunately, things have taken a turn for the worse. He’s lost all faith and with it, his charisma.

He may also be referring to the popularity of the band among younger listeners. At one point, they had an effect on the younger crowd, but he worries that he’s lost the ability to reach them.

This reference to Peter Pan is fitting as Peter Pan is known for never growing up. When you are young, you feel like you have all the time in the world, but after you’ve lost your youth, you feel like you would do anything to recapture it.

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Ah, this is killing me
Ah, this is killing me Radiohead – Black Star
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He has finally in the end found himself in a situation where he was “damned if you do and damned if you don’t.” His struggles with love, trying to help his love, losing his love, and becoming himself on the verge of a similar mental situation has taken a major toll on him. The whole situation is metaphorically killing his spirit. This is an experience so painful it rivals death itself.

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I try to stay awake, but it's fifty-eight hours
Since that I last slept with you Radiohead – Black Star
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He tries to persevere and resolve the situation but it’s been 58 hours since they had sex, and we all know that sex gives the endorphin rush that he needs to revitalize and continue the conversation.

Tellingly, it’s a fact that those suffering from depression also experience low sex drive. This implies the speaker’s wife is experiencing some sort of depression.

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19d

I don’t think the narrator would be thinking about sex in this situation. This is most likely referring to the fact that the partner has not slept in 58 hours and the narrator doesn’t want to sleep without them (and it’s taking an effort to stay up) either out of empathy or out of fear that the partner may do something to harm themselves while the narrator is asleep

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Default_avatar_100

32

2 years

The line is neither about sex nor insomnia. Depression doesn’t deprive you of sleep, what it does is throw your sleep cycle out of whack. Partner stays up long after the narrator needs to go to bed, perhaps til nearly the light of day cracks. By the time she crawls into bed, it’s time for the narrator to get up for work. This explains the choice of “58” as the number of hours, rather than the more conventional multiples of 12 eg 48, 60, or 72. If the works a 9-5 job and commutes an hour each way, then 58 hours would the time elapsed between leaving for work at 8am on one day and returning at 6pm the third.

Meanwhile she sleeps through the day, and even after getting up just hangs around in a fog. This ties back to the opening line, where she’s still in her dressing gown when he gets back. Their sleep schedule reflects the disjointedness of their emotions and lives overall.

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Luca
2 years

I always thought this line suggested he doesn’t want to sleep unless he’s with her, hence he tries to stay awake but it’s tough after 58 hours.

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C08e7a65dbc39b8589cfe93a15d328b3

197

3 years

This might be a stretch but I think this line may also be referring to not being able to be around their partner due to travel from work resulting in them not having slept in the same bed for 58 hours.

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Default_avatar_100

102

3 years

I don’t think this is about sex, actually. Next to the fact that it would be kind of unfitting to complain about not having enough sex in the situation the song describes, it also doesn’t make sense regarding the “I try to stay awake” part of the line.

Instead, I’d suggest that the whole verse is about the protagonist staying awake together with their partner, trying to understand why they can’t sleep (“what is eating you”) and therefore not having slept since 58 hours, which was the last time both partners slept (together, but in the literal meaning). Not sleeping for 58 hours causes much more trouble than not having sex for 58 hours.

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