What are the meaning of the lyrics?

Question

What is the metaphor behind the lyrics of The Shins "Phantom Limb"

Answer 1

I am a newly converted Shins fan - as in I just got the new CD yesterday and prior to that have only heard them a couple times. I read some of the lyrics yesterday, I was on their website and MySpace earlier this evening listening to some older songs and watching videos.

I have to say that I'm not really understanding his lyrics all that well myself; but I love the melody, arrangements and production. Some fan sites say that the songwriter was interviewed and said the song is about a teenage lesbian couple in a small-town High School and the challenges they face.

Audio and Video available at:
http://www.myspace.com/theshins

foals in winter coats
white girls of the north
file past one five and one
they are the fabled lambs of Sunday ham
the EHS norm

and they could float above the grass
in circles if they tried
a latent power i know they hide
to keep some hope alive
that a girl like i'm, could ever try
could ever try

so we just skirt the hallway sides
a phantom and fly
follow the lines and wonder why
there's no connection

a week of rolling eyes
and cheap shots from the trite
and we're off to Nemarcas porch again
another afternoon
of the goat-head tunes and pilfered booze

we wander through her mamma's house
the milk from a window lights
family portrait circa '95
this is that foreign land
with the sprayed on tans
and it all feels fine
be it silk or slime

so when they tap our Monday heads
two zombies walk in our stead
this town seems hardly worth our time

and we'll no longer memorize or rhyme
too far along in our climb
stepping over what now towers to the sky
with no connection

so when they tap our Sunday heads
two zombies walk in our stead
this town seems hardly worth our time

and we'll no longer memorize or rhyme
too far along in our climb
stepping over what now towers to the sky
with no connection

Answer 2

Supposedly it's about Lesbians. I haven't read the lyrics or listened to the song all that closely but in interviews and whatnot, that's what they've said. I guess the whole Phantom Limb thing references the one "limb" missing in a girl-girl relationship.

Fatpik

Answer 3

It's possible, but I am not 100%

Answer 4

It's about going to school at Eldorado High School and living in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Answer 5

say if you like a certain song and love to sing it, but theres some parts you just don't know and you wanna know....well you get the lyrics! :)

Answer 6

It depends

Answer 7

http:www.songmeanings.net