So Says I

Album: Chutes Too Narrow (2003)
Charted: 73
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Songfacts®:

  • Regarding the lyrics: "Cause this is nothing like we'd ever dreamttell Sir Thomas Moore we've got another failed attempt cause if it makes them money they might just give you life this time," Thomas Moore was an Italian humanist during the renaissance who said that we were born greedy and that if our parents devalued gold and wealth then we would be less selfish and greedy. >>
    Suggestion credit:
    Annie - New York, NY

Comments: 10

  • Lilly from Chicago, IlThe band performed this song in an episode of Gilmore Girls called "Girls in Bikinis, Boys Doing the Twist".
  • Bernard from Auckland, New Zealand"So Say's i,"
  • Nate from Kirkland, WaThis song, at its core, is about human nature. We are a brutal kind. It seems to be contrasting different forms of government to show the flaw in mankind.

    "The fatal flaw of the red age." I think refers to the 20th century failed experiment of communism.

    "and the big ones just eat all the little ones" I think refers to capitalism.

    "That sent us back to the drawing board." eludes to revolution as an experiment. (French revolution, American revolution, Russian, Chinese, etc...)

    Sir Thomas More wanted utopia which revolutionaries promise. (Everything would be alright if we could just overthrow and fix our government). The real problem is that people are flawed.
  • Trey from Kalamazoo, MtThe Shins are the greatest band of our time. That doesn't mean they're the best though, just for the 21st century.
  • Allison from A Little Ol' Town In, MiI usually don't listen to modern stuff but this is an awesome song. I can hear some almost Pink Floyd-ish stuff in the shins. Definitly an underrated band
  • Craig from Madison, WiSpecifically, More was a Catholic statesman, not just a Christian. Not to be nit-picky but it was important enough to him to cause his execution/martyrdom. He had a run in with Henry VIII about the whole concept of the Church of England in general. The King, of course, won the debate with the old Big-Axe Rebuttal. In 1935 he was made a saint. What all this has to do with the song, I do not know.
  • Cameron from Langhorne, PaIn the lyrics included with the CD, it is Sir Thomas More not Moore. Sir Thomas More was the author of "Utopia", a book about an ideal form of government. This makes sense given the music video on the Sub Pop Records website for the Shins, which features penguins that alternate between Communist and Capitalist societies, and also considering the lyrics "Our lust for life had gone away with the rent we hated", "Tell Sir Thomas Moore we've got another failed attempt" etc.
  • Scooter from Philadelphia, PaWow great song, the way they sing conversation of your own, can't get it out of my head.
  • Spencer from Rhode IslandAwesome song. At their concert I went to this was the song they played as their encore.
  • Annie from New York, NyI made a mistake above, he was a CHRISTIAN humanist, not italian. sorry about that.
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