well its been a pretty slow day on the L and I am bored at home, so here goes me being pompous enough to try to find the meanings, suggestions, and other thoughts behind the lyrics of the dither songs. This has probably been done before, oh well. I guess the most logical way to go about it is by the order in which they appear on the album.

Cpt. USA
First off its something Rob has been wanting to express for a long time. The use of the mexican voice in saying it is suggestive maybe.

captain america said you gotta be like me or you're gonna wind up dead

I think this is saying the american dream or the american philosophy or whatever you may want to consider, is so pervasive that it almost forces you to adopt it or you will face dire consequences, ie winding up dead being the ultimate symbol for dire consequences.

flat broke down and tired, you sleepy head won't you go to bed, let me run your life, lies

I think this is referring to somebody who has fought the system and has payed great consequences. They're saying to him/her that "why are you fighting, just let us give you your ideals and beliefs and you will be much more happier, have more things, and have to think about what you believe less." The ultimate in expressing that it takes great effort to resist the group mentality and everyone almost invariably questions their rebellion, which is when they are most gullible to give in. Then in the last word the person who is against the conformity says no, these are all lies, I have to find my own way, live my own life.

Clark Kent ran for president , no one knew about the secrets locked in his head. Friends tried to take his life, accusations flew, flew like cryptonite. Times still looking good, what you gonna say to make everything alright, lies.

This verse tries to accomplish a lot in a short amount of time. The choice of Clark Kent for the character running for president is an interesting one, interesting not because its a super hero, but because its a different super hero than the one that the song is named after. Also the fact that its the human side of the invincible super man. I am taking clark kent here to stand for a couple of things first off the fact that he is super man seems to represent the good aspect of western philosophy, pure unadulturated good. But in a human form, so it is succeptible to things that normal humans are, and in fact attempts are made on his life. It is not made clear whether or not the attemps on his life were made with krptonite ie they could be deadly, but that is somewhat irrelevant. We do know however that it was his friends that tried to kill him. the only way that the part about "nobody knew the secrets locked in his head" would make sense being there, was if this (the secrets) is in fact the reason they tried to kill him. Also getting bak to the fact that he is clark kent which is the human counterpart to super man and not in fact actually captain america tends to indicate a struggle against him and captain america, but I think the struggle is a symbolic one in fact. maybe captain america was the friend that tried to take his life, who knows. but anyway we have already established that captain america most likely represents the american dream, or the capitalistic vision, whatever. so you have the symbol for the ultimate good in clark kent having a conflict with the american dream. It never states that clark actually wins the presidency which is interesting and may have to do with the fact that being totally good will not win you a presidency. Times still looking good what you gonna say to make everything alright, lies is just saying that the "times" possibly meaning the new york times, or the media in general are still looking good, in spite of the fact that clark kent was almost killed by his friends. what you gonna say to make everything alright, lies is pretty straightforward, just the same old political spin doctor thing.

may be right, may be wrong, I'm in the middle anyway

I think this tends to suggest that rob feels disconnected with partisan politics, or the tenedency for two extremes that pervades western society in general, and wishes that you didn't have to be on one side or the other but could be somewhere in the middle, just following what you feel.

buckshot shooter had a barrel of fun with a smoking gun heard round the world. War, war of the worlds, what a wonderful way to wake, suicide.

I think the buckshot shooter represents some great catastrophe that finally wakes us up to the fact that indeed everything is not alright. Hence the next line what a wonderful way to wake. The sad fact that the thing it takes to move us into action is something catastrophic, the figurative and at times literal killing of ourselves.

pay your fine ,do your time, let me run your life, lies

a bit perplexing in where it is put in the song, if it was alone and out of context it would almost assuradley seem to suggest that you pay your fine and do your time and then they run your life by making you do pay those prices. that if you dissent about what you think is right and wrong you still get thrown in jail. But because of what it comes after, it also seems that it might suggest that instead of trying to rehabilitate the buckshot shooter we throw them in jail and attach some arbitrary monetary fine. but then the let me run your life, lies part doesn't completely make sense here, and if this is indeed the way it is meant you just have to take that part as being just thrown in there because its in the rest of the verses.

captive america we gotta be like you with a bubble in your bed

I am not really sure how the actual lyrics go to this, it could actually be as it says in the moe.links lyrics, but I can't make out an I, and it is in need of a noun, as captain america can't be it. so you can kinda see where it could be "we gotta" instead of "read I gotta". Anyway, this is basically first of all affirming the notion of a captive america being the meaning of the song. Also it may be like I said earlier a questioning if the energy it takes to fight off the captain america syndrome is worth it. A bubble in your bed is kinda perplexing, but may be something like the boy in the bubble type thing where being a captive american puts you in a protective bubble, the only problem being that captain america controls the bubble presumably.

buggin your telephone like you're not alone

I again disagree with the moe.links lyrics, but could be wrong. Buggin your telephone seems to make more sense as it is talking about the big brother idea. The fact that they would bug your telephone to make sure you are following their ideas is scary, but a very real threat

bred and corn fed, won't you got to bed let me run your life, lies

the benefits of complying is that you get material things, but is this any different with the cow that agrees to its very slaughter by recieving the gift of corn. Are we anything more than corn fed cows bred to fulfill a purpose that is not ours, but somebody else's, is what I think this seems to be saying.

Yeah I am probably over analyzing, but hey, thats what I do, I'm an economics major. I'll do the rest later, I actually originally intended to do them all in one e-mail, but this one was so long I realized that was next to impossible.

Jacob (it doesn't matter what I say) Rabon

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