It's a sharp shock to your soft side

In one of those moods again where I want to blog multiple times a day. Right now I should be going to my community college to sort out classes, but this song gets me every time.

It's Soft Shock by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. This song is undoubtedly, for me, a very moving song. And for the longest time I couldn't figure out what the lyrics meant.

Here are the lyrics:

Unknown, talk to unknown
Ever, lasts forever
Well it's a sharp, shock to your soft side
Summer moon
Catch your shut eyes in your room
In my room
In your room
In my room

Louder, lips speak louder
Better, back together
Still it's a shock, shock to your soft side
Summer moon
Catch your shut eyes in my room
In your room
In my room
In your room

Whats the time
Whats the day
Go and leave me
Whats the time [Repeat x2]
Whats the place
Go and leave me

Out,

Leave me out [Repeat x3]

The first verse is where the title comes from too. I've tried to decipher and analyze the lyrics so many times. 


What I've come up with so far:


It's about two lovers and the narrator (the singer) is realizing that what they had is coming to an end. "Unknown talk to unknown" could mean the singer and her lover; "Ever, lasts forever" could imply that the singer thought that it would last forever-even further, it could mean that whatever they had is going to last forever even if it ends because it happened and the memory of it will last on. 


The next line, the title of this post "Well it's a sharp, shock to your soft side" is very profound and meaningful for me. Even though the singer has anticipated what is going to happen (the breakup) it still stings and is still very shocking. The soft side could be the vulnerable state you enter when you go into a relationship. No matter the anticipation, it hurts nonetheless. The title of the song "Soft Shock" is also very meaningful. It is impossible to be shocked gently-a shock always hurts. Karen O is not saying that the shock is soft or gentle; she is saying that the shock is hurting a soft part of all human beings. No matter how much we want to shield our soft, vulnerable, emotional side, we can't. The shock will penetrate any shield or fortress trying to protect it. 


The next lines "Summer Moon, Catch your shut eye in your room, in my room, in your room, in my room" is still very confusing for me. Perhaps the summer moon is the singer who is trying to catch the shut eyes of her lover. She knows there's no point in trying to catch his eye because his eyes (emotions) are shut from her. The alternating "in your room, in my room" can be interpreted so many ways too. It could possibly mean that they used to be a unit but now the unit is split into two again, no longer sharing the room. 


After the 1st verse, Karen O whispers "try to talk." This in itself is an obvious line to decipher, but the significance is the way she says that line. She whispers it which, to me, implies that the communication is gone, like the love. 

"Louder, lips speak louder" insinuates that there is talks about getting back together. For me it also reveals the singer's desperation to get back with her lover. She will listen to anything he says to get back together. 

In this verse, the alternation of "in your room, in my room" is significant because in this verse she starts of saying "in my room." Even after she realizes it's ending she can't stop calling it her room. I'm not too sure. 

The last verse "What's the time, what's the day, go and leave me, what's the time, what's the place, go and leave me" She knows he's going to leave her, but I can't get further on it than that. 

That's what I have for that song, of course my interpretation is not the only one, but that's how I take it. That songs speaks to me so much. Maybe because Karen O sang the line "It's a sharp shock to your soft side" which isn't a common thing to sing in a song, yet is so common in life. 

-GJW

It's gonna be a sharp shock to my soft side, not yours.