What are the lyrics to the chorus of If I Don't Write by the Dismemberment Plan?
August 4, 2011 5:52 PM   Subscribe

The song "If I Don't Write" on !, the Dismemberment Plan's first record: what are the lyrics in the chorus? Why did I never think to ask here?

I've been listening to this album for 15 years. If I Don't Write is one of my favorite songs on one of my favorite albums by one of my favorite bands. And yet I cannot understand the words two the chorus.

I have looked this up before. Even now-defunct Dismemberment Plan fan websites never had good lyrics for this song. Yes, I have checked all over the internet, all the usual lyrics places (you will note that almost all lyrics websites misspell the word "sapphire" in the first line; that's how you can tell they're all just copying each other), and yes I have googled various key phrases as hard as I can.

It's the line preceded by "I'm sure people have their [talk, I think]" and succeeded by "But it makes no difference what they say". If anybody can understand it, or is familiar with the band and already knows, awesome. If anybody wants to listen to it and try and decipher it, also awesome — song is on youtube here, but it's a muddy live recording. It's on !, like I said, and a really clear, crisp version is also on the new Live in Japan album they just released. Yes, I've heard it; still can't understand it.

Any help or leads appreciated. You will have solved one of the great mysteries of my life.
posted by penduluum to Media & Arts (10 answers total) 6 users marked this as a favorite
 
Best answer: "i'm sure people have their talk /
say that i snow folks in and walk"

that's my best guess, anyway. here's a live performance of the song where you can hear it pretty well. he leaves out the "that" in the video, though.
posted by jjoye at 7:53 PM on August 4, 2011


Travis is on Twitter. Or you could ask the Dismemberment Plan account.
posted by backwards guitar at 8:30 PM on August 4, 2011 [1 favorite]


Though I can't help you with the actual line in question, I'm pretty sure the first one is "I'm sure people have their types". Just what I hear, anyway.
posted by this one is danny at 11:30 PM on August 4, 2011


You know what, I must have listened to that album dozens of times (it's my favourite Plan album), that's one of the best songs on it... and I have no effing idea. I'm fairly sure the preceding line is "people have their talks", but beyond that I'm not sure.

I will listen to the song a few times this afternoon and get back to you if I manage to nail it before anybody else!
posted by Ted Maul at 2:05 AM on August 5, 2011


btw i sent an email to the address on the band's website asking about this; i'll post it here if i get a response.
posted by jjoye at 7:47 AM on August 5, 2011 [1 favorite]


Response by poster: Thanks to everybody for their help and their leads! Hopefully one of us will get a definitive answer soon.
posted by penduluum at 4:35 PM on August 5, 2011


Best answer: I also emailed! I edited out the name of who I assume is jjoye, but this is Eric's (the bassist) reply:

"Dan,

I assume you're friends with [jjoye]? (he wrote, too, about this)

I sent the request to Travis, but I'm 95% sure these are the right lyrics:


First chorus:

There's not much more to discuss
There's you and me, but there's no us
So if you could just get out of my way

I'm not sure where I'm going to go
What I'll do, but this I know
If I don't write, then I'm ok

Second chorus:

I'm sure people have their talk
Say I snowed folks in and walked
But it makes no difference what they say

We had four whole months of fun
and you don't cook it when you're done
and if I don't write, then I'm ok

Third chorus:

I'm sure people have their talk
Say I snowed folks in and walked
But it makes no difference what they say

We had four whole months of fun
and you don't cook it when you're done
and if I don't write, then I'm ok

Some things just fall apart with time
stop acting like I committed some crime
and if I don't write, then I'm alright, I'm ok, I'm ok...


Though it'll be funny if Travis writes back and I've had it wrong all these years!

Eric"

In other words, jjoye pretty much had it!
posted by papayaninja at 2:47 PM on August 6, 2011 [1 favorite]


i got a similar reply and came here to post it when i saw papayaninja beat me to it. i'm generally pretty bad about mishearing lyrics so it's nice to see i was right for once..
posted by jjoye at 7:02 PM on August 6, 2011


Response by poster: Haha that's totally wonderful. I thought it sounded sort of like that, but didn't want to say what I thought it sounded like out of fear of influencing possible answers. It feels really great to have this loop closed.

papayaninja, jjoye, thank you so much for tracking that down! Eric's an incredibly nice guy; I kind of knew of him in a friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend's-roommate way several years ago. Eric, if you end up reading this, you're fucking awesome. And just like I never thought of asking AskMe, I also never thought of just directly asking the band. Thanks again, everybody who answered.
posted by penduluum at 7:36 PM on August 6, 2011


Ha, sorry to steal your thunder, jjoye. But you get the bragging rights for knowing what was being said. And yeah, it's awesome that they're emailable and whatnot.
posted by papayaninja at 7:58 PM on August 6, 2011


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