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Disposable Dixie-cup drinking Wilco – I Am Trying to Break Your Heart

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Dixie-cups are small paper drinking containers

While it’s not explicitly stated what our narrator is consuming it this point, it’s a nice juxtaposition from the first line. “disposable Dixie-cup drinker”; the scale of what the narrator consumes has vastly diminished, from an aquarium to a Dixie-cup.

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Susi

3 years

I think the line has to do with the reality. Across the song he makes observations of truth, and maybe he recognizes he shouldn’t glorify his drinking by comparing it to an Olympic Pool and recognizes his lesser reality

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Let's undress just like cross-eyed strangers
This is not a joke, so please stop smiling
What was I thinking when I said it didn't hurt? Wilco – I Am Trying to Break Your Heart

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Our narrator wants to put aside all emotions and just have sex with this girl, just like how two strangers would during a one-night-stand. Despite these urges, he still can’t keep harsh memories of betrayal and humiliation from arising.

“This is not a joke, so please stop smiling” suggests that the narrator confessed some of his discontents to his girlfriend in earnest, but she was so uncomfortable/out of love with him that she didn’t take him seriously, thereby affronting him. The question he makes to her at the end continues the theme of his missing her. He is regretful that he said that their break-up didn’t hurt, when in fact it’s likely the reason that he is an “American aquarium drinker.”

“Cross-eyed strangers” may be referring to being drunk or not caring how the person looks or both. It may also elude to how when first meeting a person you may find them a lot more attractive than you would later after knowing their personality. Again this is just my interpretation of that one line.

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Our narrator wants to put aside all emotions and just have sex with this girl, just like how two strangers would during a one-night-stand. Despite these urges, he still can't keep harsh memories of betrayal and humiliation from arising.

"This is not a joke, so please stop smiling" suggests that the narrator confessed some of his discontents to his girlfriend in earnest, but she was so uncomfortable/out of love with him that she didn't take him seriously, thereby affronting him. The question he makes to her at the end continues the theme of his missing her. He is regretful that he said that their break-up didn't hurt, when in fact it's likely the reason that he is an "American aquarium drinker."

"Cross-eyed strangers" may be referring to being drunk or not caring how the person looks or both. It may also elude to how when first meeting a person you may find them a lot more attractive than you would later after knowing their personality. Again this is just my interpretation of that one line.

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359

3 years

“allude”. To elude is to avoid something, be evasive of. (I know it’s just a typo.)

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Please beware the quiet front yard
I warned you
Before there were water skies Wilco – She's a Jar

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The band used to play Exquisite Corpse on the tour bus, a poetry game where you write a line and then someone writes underneath it, round robin style, without seeing any of the other lines. Tweedy has said this was one of the lines that came from this game.

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Toss and turn these bitches burn, cast into the fire Captain Murphy – Mighty Morphin Foreskin

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With a new burning obsession, the chicks can’t sleep, until they are consumed by the “burning” idea, or go crazy.

This could also have a secondary meaning: “these bitches burn” could refer to the burning or stinging sensation associated with herpes and other STDs.

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Chuck Finley

11 years

This is also likely a reference to “The Ritual” where he talks about “Burn[ing] the virgin”

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Roll around town, top down, puffing stanky Thai Captain Murphy – Mighty Morphin Foreskin

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CM is saying he can often be found riding around town in some kind of convertible smoking some Thai, – a specific strain of weed.

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Switch stance, face plant Death Grips – Culture Shock

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In skateboarding, surfing, and snowboarding, a switch stance refers to standing on the board with your non-dominant foot forward. So, if one usually skateboards with their right foot forward, their “switch stance” would be skating with their left foot forward. Most people inexperienced with their switch stance will feel so uncomfortable on the board that they will fall off immediately – hence the face plant.

After he introduces some anarchy with an upside down cross and anthrax, MC Ride suggests that our culture is going to do a face plant because it’s not ready to handle the changes he will supposedly instill.

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Marked this as missing something ?

5 years

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239

8 years

I think he’s actually saying that people change their point of view and end up taking a fall for it. They switch their stance and face plant because all they’re doing is following the trends online and update their views to whatever is popular.

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At ten, I shaved my head and tried to be a monk Weezer – Across the Sea

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“I went to my parents' Zen master and I said, ‘Life is shit, I want to shave my head and do this,’ ” Cuomo recalls. “He’s like, ‘You know what? Being a monk is shit too, so I can’t advise that for you. What you should do is really listen to yourself and see what path would make you the most excited and just go do that, however crazy it seems.'And it took me about five seconds and I was like, 'I want to be a rock star.’ ”
- Rivers Cuomo for the LA Times

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The Lonesome Crowded West The Lonesome Crowded West

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The Lonesome Crowded West is Modest Mouse’s sophomore album, the follow up to April 1996’s This Is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think About. The two towers in the artwork are of The Westin Seattle Hotel. In an August 2007 interview with Entertainment Weekly, frontman Isaac Brock discussed the artwork:

This cover makes a very direct connection to the title, because you have these giant apartment towers, but there’s no actual human beings in them. It’s crowded but lonesome.

The Lonesome Crowded West was met with positive reviews, and included on multiple “best albums of the 1990s” lists. The album took the #29 place on Pitchfork’s list, and #59 on Spin’s list. In June 2012, Pitchfork released a 45-minute documentary on the album.

The Lonesome Crowded West was initially released in CD and LP format, with “Baby Blue Sedan” being exclusively released on the LP edition. The album was later reissued on Brock’s label, Glacial Pace, in 2014.

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*The Lonesome Crowded West* is Modest Mouse's sophomore album, the follow up to April 1996's [*This Is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think About*.](https://genius.com/albums/Modest-mouse/This-is-a-long-drive-for-someone-with-nothing-to-think-about) The two towers in the artwork are of [The Westin Seattle Hotel.](https://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/seawi-the-westin-seattle/) In an August 2007 [interview with *Entertainment Weekly*,](https://ew.com/article/2007/04/06/cover-art-modest-mouse/) frontman Isaac Brock discussed the artwork:
>This cover makes a very direct connection to the title, because you have these giant apartment towers, but there’s no actual human beings in them. It’s crowded but lonesome.

*The Lonesome Crowded West* was met with positive reviews, and included on multiple "best albums of the 1990s" lists. The album took the #29 place on [*Pitchfork*'s list,](https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/5923-top-100-albums-of-the-1990s/?page=8) and #59 on [*Spin*'s list.](https://www.spin.com/2005/06/100-greatest-albums-1985-2005/) In June 2012, [*Pitchfork* released](https://pitchfork.com/news/46894-pitchforktv-presents-documentary-on-modest-mouses-the-lonesome-crowded-west/) a 45-minute documentary on the album.

*The Lonesome Crowded West* was initially released in [CD](https://www.discogs.com/Modest-Mouse-The-Lonesome-Crowded-West/release/4512354) and [LP](https://www.discogs.com/Modest-Mouse-The-Lonesome-Crowded-West/release/786757) format, with ["Baby Blue Sedan"](https://genius.com/Modest-mouse-baby-blue-sedan-lyrics) being exclusively released on the LP edition. The album was later [reissued](https://www.discogs.com/Modest-Mouse-The-Lonesome-Crowded-West/release/6263650) on Brock's label, Glacial Pace, in 2014.

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