Modest Mouse: King Rat Meaning
Song Released: 2007
King Rat Lyrics
We spun like birds on fire right down towards the residence and I
I took all that I desired, even crooks have to pay the rent.
We swam like rats on fire right, right down the reservoir
We took all that we could carry but we tried...
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1TOP RATED
#1 top rated interpretation:Overall language of the lyric couples criminal slang with striking imagery to tell a story. One reading of the story is that the narrator is a criminal who is in deep denial about the consequences of his actions. Another level of meaning could be about art itself. And yet I think there is a deeper meaning about life, the universe and god, a deity that Isaac Brock calls into question, angrily, in this song (as well as others).
* We spun like birds on fire right down towards the residence and I
I took all that I desired, even crooks have to pay the rent
We swam like rats on fire right, right down the reservoir
We took all that we could carry but we tried to carry more *
Others have pointed out that birds like to steal shiny objects. Birds are also slang for women, and later words like “rag doll” and “open like an organ” seem to tie into the vulnerability of a woman. To flip one the bird is to give one the finger and so there is an element in “bird” of that attitude of “not caring”. “Spun like birds on fire” is a strong image of disaster, telling us right from the start that this song is about a disaster. Birds in an oil spill sometimes are on fire, spinning shows they are out of control. Fire is also slang for coke or really good drugs and also means fast.
Fire is only repeated in the first stanza. The rats are also on fire. Fire is a symbol of desire also… the birds and the rats both being on fire could mean they were high, they were quick, or they were visual (like others interpretations have suggested) or it could mean they were full of desire.
Rats can be criminals and they can be also those who inform on others. Like the birds, the rats seem to involve the criminal nature of the participants, but also they are natural creatures. They are small vulnerable creatures and they are full of desire. They are doing what comes naturally.
“Even crooks have to pay the rent” is saying, well it’s natural to steal as one has needs”. Later on in the song that phrase is turned on itself to mean something a bit different, that there are consequences of those actions. But at first it is just natural that the crooks would steal. That is how they are.
“I took all I desired” and “we took all that we could carry” show that there is gang of thieves involved and the residence was the target. Some of the language appears literal. Taking residence (as the target for the theft) makes one visualize a literal reservoir used to escape from the scene of the crime. The image is of a descent on the target, followed by loading up, and then trying to load up some more before the escape.
The reservoir can be a hoard or a storage place too. They are on fire, but the reservoir will be safety. Yet later, the “deep water” turns out to be denial…. There is no safety.
As for Reservoir – there are a lot of cultural references in Brock’s lyrics and this may also be a reference to the film “Reservoir Dogs” which is about a botched diamond heist. Like Reservoir Dogs, Brock’s storytelling is NOT linear. “Birds on fire” could even be a sly reference to the film “City of Fire” that “Reservoir Dogs” was accused of ripping off. The story of a crime and the “rats” who rat on each other could also echo the story of cultural ripoffs in the creative world.
Taking all they can carry, “but we tried to carry more” is not only a reference to greed, but a reference to carrying even more crime and guilt, or biting off more than you can chew. If the crooks are the artists, they will fail in making art because they don’t know what they are doing.
But if the criminals are seen as human beings, full of natural desire, the residence could be earth itself. The reservoir could be the oceans, or it could just be all the sources of energy in the world. We took on more than we could carry, “but we tried to carry more”. We pushed all the natural resources past their limits.
And you know you know you know it all went wrong
And you know you know you know it was all wrong
“You know it all went wrong” is the regret that the plan didn’t work. It all was wrong could be conscience or it could mean that it was just a wrong plan. Not necessarily that it was wrong because it was a crime, but more that it was wrong because they bit off more than they could chew.
In art, the theft could never really be right because it would never achieve the status of real art. It would always be fake, less than, so it would be wrong.
And if the residence is earth and we are the criminals, then it went wrong because we have global warming and all kinds of poison in our environments and it was wrong to try to “carry more than we could carry.”
* We choked on street tap water well I'm gonna have to try the real thing
I took your laugh by the collar and it knew not to swing
Anytime I tried an honest job well the till had a hole and ha-ha
We laughed about payin' rent 'cause the county jails they're free
And you know you know you know it all went wrong
And you know you know you know it was all wrong *
This seems like a flashback explanation of what lead up to the heist for the criminals or it could be the next scene in the story. “The street” is residence of the criminal. The real thing is the good stuff.
If this is carried into the meaning of “art” well, then the stealing of the cultural ideas could be “street tap water” but real art is the “real thing”. But if it is the human condition on earth, it means we are always wanting better than we have. In fact, we want to be gods ourselves.
“Took your laugh by the collar” shows a conflict between someone who thinks they are being laughed at, and another person or maybe even all of society, but the other person or society at large backs down from the confrontation. “Your laugh” “knew not to swing”. You knew better than to fight me. If it was an artistic theft, then the overall attitude of the artist kept society from realizing it was a theft. Whether it was artistic crime or overall crime, the criminal learns they do not have to pay because they keep the consequences away from themselves with their attitude.
When looking at the human condition, this may be the first line Brock addresses to God. “Your laugh by the collar” means that the human already guesses the whole thing is a joke and tries to address it directly, but “it knew not to swing”. In other words, it doesn’t swing back, so the human doesn’t yet realize the universe is a setup and keeps on going, again, no real consequences are happening from the human actions, even though there is a sense that something is off kilter.
The narrator cannot work an honest job. The allure of theft is that it begins to seem the only way. And artistically that could mean once you start ripping off other artists you will never really be a real artist.
The crime becomes unavoidable. But from the point of view of the human, every time we try to get more out of the earth, they are going to have to basically pollute or misuse resources to get what we want. Again the consequences are unavoidable.
Basically, “paying the rent” could mean “going to jail” when you are a criminal. This ties “paying the rent” into the inevitable consequences of one’s actions. But the criminals are laughing about it, which leads to the denial of the consequences. Like petty criminals, we humans continue to deny the possibilities of what are actions are going to lead to.
* Deep water, deep water
Senseless denial
I went down like a rag doll as you would, child
Deep water, deep water
Senseless denial
I went down like a rag doll as you would, child *
Deep water is the reservoir. Either it’s the swag from the heist – the reservoir or well of resourses - or it’s the denial, itself, the feeling of being safe. In essence that is the payoff of the crime from the very beginning. The inevitable consequences are the real payoff – not the swag.
If you put a rag doll in water, it quickly becomes water logged and sinks; that image is striking. Rag doll also provides a sense of vulnerability. There is a feeling that the outcome was inevitable and anyone would be felled by the same sense of circumstances. Once you deny the possible consequences, you are sunk. If this is the criminal speaking, he is noticing his denial of the trouble he was in led to his sinking, but he is also disavowing responsibility, saying this was inevitable and ti would’ve happened to anyone.
The human is sometimes seen as the child of God, but in Brock’s work we become more like a throw away play thing.
* Oh, lucky lucky lucky lucky me again
I said it looks like I've got to use my feet again
Well I just spent my last one-hundred dollars
God I'll pay my bill again *
The criminal speaking is feeling that this was inevitable and uses sarcasm to outline that fact. “Lucky me” He’s been in this position before and he knows what will happen. “Using my feet” he has to jet, he has to escape again, he has to run. Or he has to work to get out of the trap.
But he’s out of money and in truth out of luck. So he has to “pay my bill” – even crooks have to pay the rent means now that there are consequences. Now he is having to face the consequences, the irony being that he knew all along that this would happen.
So here are we humans realizing we are running out of natural resources and we have to think on our feet and come up with solutions.
* Oh, I don't care
Oh, how I just don't care *
This line is sung with a lot of bitterness and passion. It’s not so much that he doesn’t care; it’s more like he feels that his fate is inevitable and it is dragging him down like the water in the chorus weighs down the “rag doll”.
And the humans often seem to not care. We stay in denial about the situation on our planet and we don’t’ really do anything about it.
* Deep water, deep water
Senseless denial
I went down like a rag doll shooken and shy
Deep water, deep water
Senseless denial
I went down like a rag doll rat of a child *
The chorus changes. “Shooken and shy” and “rag doll rat of a child” give us an image of a toy as it is shaken by a terrier, who were also known to hunt rats. Maybe the “reservoir” or loot was being guarded and there was a stake out… Now the “senseless denial” has gotten the narrator into a situation of being defeated, but not just saying “you would do it too” now the line is reminiscent of a beating.
In another sense, the toy rag doll, or the small vulnerable natural creature known as Man, has been cruelly used by God who allowed the whole situation to get out of hand. By not answering our challenges and letting us know we couldn’t get away with our hubris, God is as much responsible for this problem as humans are. We were just doing what was natural to us, by “carrying more than we could carry”.
* Well king rat has me on his list again
I can never be on the fence again
I found out it's all loud
Open like an organ and it
talk, talk, talk, talk again
he promised me that when I cheated him
But I could open my eye well...
lucky, lucky, lucky, lucky, lucky,
lucky, lucky, lucky, lucky, lucky me again *
In the criminal story line, king rat could be the crime boss. Some have said society itself. Or it could be that after being “shooken” or beaten, the criminal himself is going to be the “rat of rats”, the criminal who rats on his compatriots.
But most likely “king rat” could be basically God himself. And now we are on his list for the consequences of our actions. We are being punished.
For the criminal, “I can never be on the fence again”… might mean I can never unload these goods. Or now that he’s “on the list” he can’t pretend to be legit or get a steady job while waiting for the money from the big heist. Or if he is an artist, realizing that all art is theft, he can’t really do it anymore. He has to stop using his art as a lie.
But for the human it means we can never trust God again. We got set up and punished again, and we can never be on the fence about god or the nature of the universe. We know now.
“It’s all loud” everything is known. Truth will out. All the evidence of a crime is there and it speaks for itself. Also, you cannot hide anything in true art.
And in the human condition in the end speaks for itself. We were set up.
“Open like an organ” – what is an organ? Usually we use organ for the male member, but it doesn’t open… a mouth is an organ that opens and so is a vulva. This line is about vulnerability, but then “it talks, talks, talks”… so everything speaks the truth in the end. That is the consequences.
Maybe in the criminal as he is ratting on his gang, he knows once he talks, he is just going to keep talking. Or the evidence of the crime just speaks louder than words and the entire crime is out in the open.
In the human condition, the earth opens up and speaks and tells the tale of what we have done
“He promised me that when I cheated him” refers back to king rat. The criminal is basically screwed. And that is what he was promised when he “cheated him”, that he would be screwed.
God has the universe sewed up. Everything you do has consequences and the whole universe speaks to this. You cannot cheat “God” (the king rat) or fate. But God had promised us that, that our human condition was “original sin” and that it would come back to haunt us. When we tried to take all we desired and more, we were promised that it would come back to us.
“But I could open my eye well” – the criminal pretty much knew this would happen all along from the minute he got involved in the overall plot. The eye is also an organ, and it could’ve talked to him all along, and in the end it did. It told him the truth; he opened it and finally looked, out of denial.
“Lucky me” is him being sarcastic about his inevitable fate. To be human is essentially to be unlucky. The luck of the human has been to be able to finally learn the lesson of our inevitable condition – like natural creatures we took what we desired, by so doing we have “sunk like the rag doll” and we have to “use our feet again”.
* Deep water, deep water
Senseless denial
I got fed like a fish, full of open smiles
Deep water, deep water
Senseless denial
I got fed like a fish on the cardboard smiles *
The final chorus changes his story again. First chorus he is defensive saying: you would’ve gone down too. The second chorus he is “shaken and shy”, and maybe he was just beaten into submission. But in the final chorus he admits to being “fed like a fish”. A fish is a mark, someone who is conned.
The open smiles could be what he was fed. But it could also me he was also “full of open smiles” himself. Fish wanted to be fed cluster about with their mouths wide open ready to swallow the bait. He was open to being conned. The deep water of denial, the lure of the heist was the bait that drew the criminal in.
The “cardboard” smiles were that the smiles were “open” but they were fake. Open is like the “organ”, it seemed like they all were vulnerable together, but they were not. The others’ vulnerability was false.
The open smiles that the fish were fed were the truth, the truth that talks, talks, talks again, like the “organ” in the earlier verse. The lie contains the truth. The truth contains the lie. Again the human is a creature, this time a fish rather than a bird or a rate, one that has swallowed false truths.
The fish had to get feet to leave the ocean, and now we have to grow feet to evolve out of the human situation.
* Well Well...
What do you have to say for yourself?
I said, well well
Well?
I said well, well, well, well!
Well opened the song and “well” is mostly a word we use as punctuation in conversation. The “well” also seems like a pun on “reservoir” and “deep water” both being used as a symbol of the false safety, the idea that “all is well”. By answering the interrogation “what do you have to say for yourself?” he is answering by invoking the whole scene, the story of the song. First we tried to get something, then we almost got away with it, then we realized that we were inevitably screwed. That’s basically what he is saying for himself. It was a setup and there isn’t much you can say about it.
Lucky, lucky, lucky, lucky me again.
I hardly knew I should use my feet again
What do you have to say for yourself?
What do you have to say for yourself?*
He underscores his “luck” or his humanity. “I hardly knew I should have to use my feet again” indicates the same passionate bitterness of “Oh I don’t care” and the denial of “as you would child”. How could I be expected to know that I would have to use my feet again. How could I realize that as a natural creature, the fish, had to learn to have feet and walk on land, now I’m going to have to figure out how to escape the earth or the condition on earth that I created.
But since “I hardly knew” he turns the question back at the interrogator. Since the title of the song is “king rat” I think the final interrogation is from Brock, the human, to God.
What do *you* have to say for *yourself*, “King Rat” a.k.a. God, or whoever set up the rules of the universe which “you know you know you know it was all wrong”.
The universe is a setup. We should’ve seen what we were doing, but we couldn’t because our “crime” was inevitable. We tried to do good but we were not stopped from our crime and in the end we took it as a joke that we would have to pay consequences. Doing what has come naturally we have depleted our natural resources like criminals and denied our responsibility until the inevitable conclusion. We can’t say much for ourselves because the earth is opening up and speaking and saying it “all loud”.
In another way the question haunts us as humanity because we “could open” our “eye well” if we had chosen to. In another way, we ourselves are the “king rat”. -
To me this song is about materialism and a desire to have the best things. The king rat will do anything in her/his power to "pay the rent." The last 100 dollars is a facade towards items and the deep water is the trap that people fall into.
Just my interpretation of the song -
This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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I feel the song is about him being a street punk that's working the door at a local bar where he proceeded to drink to much cheap beer. Everyone cuts up and tells it how it is so much that even he wants to punch them sometimes but nobody ever does until he starts getting on King Rat's last nerve. King Rat punches him bold faced and knocks him on the ground but luckily everyone jumped in and saved him. He got back on his feet and the only thing he could say to King Rat was, "Well, what do you have to say for yourself?!"
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Overall language of the lyric couples criminal slang with striking imagery to tell a story. One reading of the story is that the narrator is a criminal who is in deep denial about the consequences of his actions. Another level of meaning could be about art itself. And yet I think there is a deeper meaning about life, the universe and god, a deity that Isaac Brock calls into question, angrily, in this song (as well as others).
* We spun like birds on fire right down towards the residence and I
I took all that I desired, even crooks have to pay the rent
We swam like rats on fire right, right down the reservoir
We took all that we could carry but we tried to carry more *
Others have pointed out that birds like to steal shiny objects. Birds are also slang for women, and later words like “rag doll” and “open like an organ” seem to tie into the vulnerability of a woman. To flip one the bird is to give one the finger and so there is an element in “bird” of that attitude of “not caring”. “Spun like birds on fire” is a strong image of disaster, telling us right from the start that this song is about a disaster. Birds in an oil spill sometimes are on fire, spinning shows they are out of control. Fire is also slang for coke or really good drugs and also means fast.
Fire is only repeated in the first stanza. The rats are also on fire. Fire is a symbol of desire also… the birds and the rats both being on fire could mean they were high, they were quick, or they were visual (like others interpretations have suggested) or it could mean they were full of desire.
Rats can be criminals and they can be also those who inform on others. Like the birds, the rats seem to involve the criminal nature of the participants, but also they are natural creatures. They are small vulnerable creatures and they are full of desire. They are doing what comes naturally.
“Even crooks have to pay the rent” is saying, well it’s natural to steal as one has needs”. Later on in the song that phrase is turned on itself to mean something a bit different, that there are consequences of those actions. But at first it is just natural that the crooks would steal. That is how they are.
“I took all I desired” and “we took all that we could carry” show that there is gang of thieves involved and the residence was the target. Some of the language appears literal. Taking residence (as the target for the theft) makes one visualize a literal reservoir used to escape from the scene of the crime. The image is of a descent on the target, followed by loading up, and then trying to load up some more before the escape.
The reservoir can be a hoard or a storage place too. They are on fire, but the reservoir will be safety. Yet later, the “deep water” turns out to be denial…. There is no safety.
As for Reservoir – there are a lot of cultural references in Brock’s lyrics and this may also be a reference to the film “Reservoir Dogs” which is about a botched diamond heist. Like Reservoir Dogs, Brock’s storytelling is NOT linear. “Birds on fire” could even be a sly reference to the film “City of Fire” that “Reservoir Dogs” was accused of ripping off. The story of a crime and the “rats” who rat on each other could also echo the story of cultural ripoffs in the creative world.
Taking all they can carry, “but we tried to carry more” is not only a reference to greed, but a reference to carrying even more crime and guilt, or biting off more than you can chew. If the crooks are the artists, they will fail in making art because they don’t know what they are doing.
But if the criminals are seen as human beings, full of natural desire, the residence could be earth itself. The reservoir could be the oceans, or it could just be all the sources of energy in the world. We took on more than we could carry, “but we tried to carry more”. We pushed all the natural resources past their limits.
And you know you know you know it all went wrong
And you know you know you know it was all wrong
“You know it all went wrong” is the regret that the plan didn’t work. It all was wrong could be conscience or it could mean that it was just a wrong plan. Not necessarily that it was wrong because it was a crime, but more that it was wrong because they bit off more than they could chew.
In art, the theft could never really be right because it would never achieve the status of real art. It would always be fake, less than, so it would be wrong.
And if the residence is earth and we are the criminals, then it went wrong because we have global warming and all kinds of poison in our environments and it was wrong to try to “carry more than we could carry.”
* We choked on street tap water well I'm gonna have to try the real thing
I took your laugh by the collar and it knew not to swing
Anytime I tried an honest job well the till had a hole and ha-ha
We laughed about payin' rent 'cause the county jails they're free
And you know you know you know it all went wrong
And you know you know you know it was all wrong *
This seems like a flashback explanation of what lead up to the heist for the criminals or it could be the next scene in the story. “The street” is residence of the criminal. The real thing is the good stuff.
If this is carried into the meaning of “art” well, then the stealing of the cultural ideas could be “street tap water” but real art is the “real thing”. But if it is the human condition on earth, it means we are always wanting better than we have. In fact, we want to be gods ourselves.
“Took your laugh by the collar” shows a conflict between someone who thinks they are being laughed at, and another person or maybe even all of society, but the other person or society at large backs down from the confrontation. “Your laugh” “knew not to swing”. You knew better than to fight me. If it was an artistic theft, then the overall attitude of the artist kept society from realizing it was a theft. Whether it was artistic crime or overall crime, the criminal learns they do not have to pay because they keep the consequences away from themselves with their attitude.
When looking at the human condition, this may be the first line Brock addresses to God. “Your laugh by the collar” means that the human already guesses the whole thing is a joke and tries to address it directly, but “it knew not to swing”. In other words, it doesn’t swing back, so the human doesn’t yet realize the universe is a setup and keeps on going, again, no real consequences are happening from the human actions, even though there is a sense that something is off kilter.
The narrator cannot work an honest job. The allure of theft is that it begins to seem the only way. And artistically that could mean once you start ripping off other artists you will never really be a real artist.
The crime becomes unavoidable. But from the point of view of the human, every time we try to get more out of the earth, they are going to have to basically pollute or misuse resources to get what we want. Again the consequences are unavoidable.
Basically, “paying the rent” could mean “going to jail” when you are a criminal. This ties “paying the rent” into the inevitable consequences of one’s actions. But the criminals are laughing about it, which leads to the denial of the consequences. Like petty criminals, we humans continue to deny the possibilities of what are actions are going to lead to.
* Deep water, deep water
Senseless denial
I went down like a rag doll as you would, child
Deep water, deep water
Senseless denial
I went down like a rag doll as you would, child *
Deep water is the reservoir. Either it’s the swag from the heist – the reservoir or well of resourses - or it’s the denial, itself, the feeling of being safe. In essence that is the payoff of the crime from the very beginning. The inevitable consequences are the real payoff – not the swag.
If you put a rag doll in water, it quickly becomes water logged and sinks; that image is striking. Rag doll also provides a sense of vulnerability. There is a feeling that the outcome was inevitable and anyone would be felled by the same sense of circumstances. Once you deny the possible consequences, you are sunk. If this is the criminal speaking, he is noticing his denial of the trouble he was in led to his sinking, but he is also disavowing responsibility, saying this was inevitable and ti would’ve happened to anyone.
The human is sometimes seen as the child of God, but in Brock’s work we become more like a throw away play thing.
* Oh, lucky lucky lucky lucky me again
I said it looks like I've got to use my feet again
Well I just spent my last one-hundred dollars
God I'll pay my bill again *
The criminal speaking is feeling that this was inevitable and uses sarcasm to outline that fact. “Lucky me” He’s been in this position before and he knows what will happen. “Using my feet” he has to jet, he has to escape again, he has to run. Or he has to work to get out of the trap.
But he’s out of money and in truth out of luck. So he has to “pay my bill” – even crooks have to pay the rent means now that there are consequences. Now he is having to face the consequences, the irony being that he knew all along that this would happen.
So here are we humans realizing we are running out of natural resources and we have to think on our feet and come up with solutions.
* Oh, I don't care
Oh, how I just don't care *
This line is sung with a lot of bitterness and passion. It’s not so much that he doesn’t care; it’s more like he feels that his fate is inevitable and it is dragging him down like the water in the chorus weighs down the “rag doll”.
And the humans often seem to not care. We stay in denial about the situation on our planet and we don’t’ really do anything about it.
* Deep water, deep water
Senseless denial
I went down like a rag doll shooken and shy
Deep water, deep water
Senseless denial
I went down like a rag doll rat of a child *
The chorus changes. “Shooken and shy” and “rag doll rat of a child” give us an image of a toy as it is shaken by a terrier, who were also known to hunt rats. Maybe the “reservoir” or loot was being guarded and there was a stake out… Now the “senseless denial” has gotten the narrator into a situation of being defeated, but not just saying “you would do it too” now the line is reminiscent of a beating.
In another sense, the toy rag doll, or the small vulnerable natural creature known as Man, has been cruelly used by God who allowed the whole situation to get out of hand. By not answering our challenges and letting us know we couldn’t get away with our hubris, God is as much responsible for this problem as humans are. We were just doing what was natural to us, by “carrying more than we could carry”.
* Well king rat has me on his list again
I can never be on the fence again
I found out it's all loud
Open like an organ and it
talk, talk, talk, talk again
he promised me that when I cheated him
But I could open my eye well...
lucky, lucky, lucky, lucky, lucky,
lucky, lucky, lucky, lucky, lucky me again *
In the criminal story line, king rat could be the crime boss. Some have said society itself. Or it could be that after being “shooken” or beaten, the criminal himself is going to be the “rat of rats”, the criminal who rats on his compatriots.
But most likely “king rat” could be basically God himself. And now we are on his list for the consequences of our actions. We are being punished.
For the criminal, “I can never be on the fence again”… might mean I can never unload these goods. Or now that he’s “on the list” he can’t pretend to be legit or get a steady job while waiting for the money from the big heist. Or if he is an artist, realizing that all art is theft, he can’t really do it anymore. He has to stop using his art as a lie.
But for the human it means we can never trust God again. We got set up and punished again, and we can never be on the fence about god or the nature of the universe. We know now.
“It’s all loud” everything is known. Truth will out. All the evidence of a crime is there and it speaks for itself. Also, you cannot hide anything in true art.
And in the human condition in the end speaks for itself. We were set up.
“Open like an organ” – what is an organ? Usually we use organ for the male member, but it doesn’t open… a mouth is an organ that opens and so is a vulva. This line is about vulnerability, but then “it talks, talks, talks”… so everything speaks the truth in the end. That is the consequences.
Maybe in the criminal as he is ratting on his gang, he knows once he talks, he is just going to keep talking. Or the evidence of the crime just speaks louder than words and the entire crime is out in the open.
In the human condition, the earth opens up and speaks and tells the tale of what we have done
“He promised me that when I cheated him” refers back to king rat. The criminal is basically screwed. And that is what he was promised when he “cheated him”, that he would be screwed.
God has the universe sewed up. Everything you do has consequences and the whole universe speaks to this. You cannot cheat “God” (the king rat) or fate. But God had promised us that, that our human condition was “original sin” and that it would come back to haunt us. When we tried to take all we desired and more, we were promised that it would come back to us.
“But I could open my eye well” – the criminal pretty much knew this would happen all along from the minute he got involved in the overall plot. The eye is also an organ, and it could’ve talked to him all along, and in the end it did. It told him the truth; he opened it and finally looked, out of denial.
“Lucky me” is him being sarcastic about his inevitable fate. To be human is essentially to be unlucky. The luck of the human has been to be able to finally learn the lesson of our inevitable condition – like natural creatures we took what we desired, by so doing we have “sunk like the rag doll” and we have to “use our feet again”.
* Deep water, deep water
Senseless denial
I got fed like a fish, full of open smiles
Deep water, deep water
Senseless denial
I got fed like a fish on the cardboard smiles *
The final chorus changes his story again. First chorus he is defensive saying: you would’ve gone down too. The second chorus he is “shaken and shy”, and maybe he was just beaten into submission. But in the final chorus he admits to being “fed like a fish”. A fish is a mark, someone who is conned.
The open smiles could be what he was fed. But it could also me he was also “full of open smiles” himself. Fish wanted to be fed cluster about with their mouths wide open ready to swallow the bait. He was open to being conned. The deep water of denial, the lure of the heist was the bait that drew the criminal in.
The “cardboard” smiles were that the smiles were “open” but they were fake. Open is like the “organ”, it seemed like they all were vulnerable together, but they were not. The others’ vulnerability was false.
The open smiles that the fish were fed were the truth, the truth that talks, talks, talks again, like the “organ” in the earlier verse. The lie contains the truth. The truth contains the lie. Again the human is a creature, this time a fish rather than a bird or a rate, one that has swallowed false truths.
The fish had to get feet to leave the ocean, and now we have to grow feet to evolve out of the human situation.
* Well Well...
What do you have to say for yourself?
I said, well well
Well?
I said well, well, well, well!
Well opened the song and “well” is mostly a word we use as punctuation in conversation. The “well” also seems like a pun on “reservoir” and “deep water” both being used as a symbol of the false safety, the idea that “all is well”. By answering the interrogation “what do you have to say for yourself?” he is answering by invoking the whole scene, the story of the song. First we tried to get something, then we almost got away with it, then we realized that we were inevitably screwed. That’s basically what he is saying for himself. It was a setup and there isn’t much you can say about it.
Lucky, lucky, lucky, lucky me again.
I hardly knew I should use my feet again
What do you have to say for yourself?
What do you have to say for yourself?*
He underscores his “luck” or his humanity. “I hardly knew I should have to use my feet again” indicates the same passionate bitterness of “Oh I don’t care” and the denial of “as you would child”. How could I be expected to know that I would have to use my feet again. How could I realize that as a natural creature, the fish, had to learn to have feet and walk on land, now I’m going to have to figure out how to escape the earth or the condition on earth that I created.
But since “I hardly knew” he turns the question back at the interrogator. Since the title of the song is “king rat” I think the final interrogation is from Brock, the human, to God.
What do *you* have to say for *yourself*, “King Rat” a.k.a. God, or whoever set up the rules of the universe which “you know you know you know it was all wrong”.
The universe is a setup. We should've seen what we were doing, but we couldn’t because our “crime” was inevitable. We tried to do good but we were not stopped from our crime and in the end we took it as a joke that we would have to pay consequences. Doing what has come naturally we have depleted our natural resources like criminals and denied our responsibility until the inevitable conclusion. We can’t say much for ourselves because the earth is opening up and speaking and saying it “all loud”.
In another way the question haunts us as humanity because we “could open” our “eye well” if we had chosen to. In another way, we ourselves are the “king rat”. -
Okay, so I had to interpret a song for my English teacher, and I decided to go with King Rat. Not only because it is one of my favorite songs, Modest Mouse is kickass, and it's an amazing song, but also because I thought it was really deep and would be fun to take a stab at. I hope I don't kill it by over analyzing or anything, but I hope I managed to find a deeper meaning...sorry it's in essay form, I'm sure you'll get it. people who listen to Modest Mouse are ususally intelligent. Enjoy. Dancingjap4life@hotmail.com if you have any questions.
“What do you have to say for yourself?” The demand will echo for minutes in the mind of anyone who listens to Modest Mouse’s “King Rat“, a song not many have attempted to analyze. “We spun like birds on fire” is the first line. For many, this may give the impression that “King Rat” consists merely of words carelessly strung together, thrown into something resembling stanzas, and then viciously mumbled by Isaac Brock in an attempt to create a song. However, with more persistence and scrutiny, a much deeper meaning can be discovered, one that applies to parts of anyone’s life anywhere in the world. King Rat is actually a story of a man who finds himself pulled way too deeply into a situation he feels he needs to but cannot escape. Everyone Order of Words (consider revising) something similar, whether it was something like a crime, a lie, a relationship, or even a simple argument. It can also be said that this song is all about a person’s conscience, how it influences ones life, and how sometimes one really needs to think for themselves.
For the man of “King Rat,” this is not just one particular hardship; it is a life of crime. Looking deeper, the reference to “birds on fire” can easily be explained. Many birds are associated with stealing shiny objects from people such as coins. Already in the first five words, the singer has given us a reference to thievery. Once again, we are given a symbol in the form of an animal when the singer says, “We swam like rats on fire,” a rat is an animal largely associated with thievery, “We took all that we could carry, but we tried to carry more,” is the next very important part of “King Rat.” At first, we can deduce that the singer is referring to the amount he and his colleagues stole, but this line can also apply the way a person tries to take on more than he can handle, which is the first step one takes towards trouble.
Next, the vocalist begins to get into the human conscience. He does so when he says, “You know, you know, you know it went all wrong…you know it was all wrong,” in these short but very intense lines, the character of “King Rat” informs the listener that he and everyone knew they were in the wrong. This is where the mood of the song changes, showing the inner turmoil the singer felt. He knew he was wrong, but something else in him kept him on the path of a criminal. This demonstrates that everyone has the ‘little voice’ of his or her conscience inside of his head, but it is completely up to him whether or not he listens to it.
Next, the singer explains why he entered the life of crime in the first place, and informs the listener of his feelings at the time. He was not happy enough with the simple things in life, like many other people, and wanted more. This is explained in the line “We choked on straight tap water, well, I’m gonna have to try the real thing.” The simple tap water was not good enough; he was looking for the more extravagant things in life. This was the first step to his life of injustice. If a person could just be satisfied with what he has, there is less of a chance of him getting himself into trouble by searching for more. Then the vocalist tells us how he first began to steal when he mumbles, “Anytime I tried an honest job, well, the till had a hole…” A till is a box in which money is kept. This literally means that he slowly began to steal from his employer, but figuratively it insinuates that he slowly began his descent into the lowlife of a criminal, just as anyone slowly begins to dig himself into the ditch that is his problem.
The next major change in tone of the song accompanies the words, “Deep water, deep water, senseless denial. I went down like a rag doll, as you would, child.” This once again denotes the inner turmoil the singer faced. He knew he had gotten himself way too deep into the life of a convict, and that denying it any longer was senseless. This part of the song represents the point in to realize just how bad his situation really is. Sometimes when a person realizes this soon enough, it is easy to fix everything and turn the problems around, just as the manages to do. It also explains how his bad conscience seemed to take over his reasoning, and therefore he, “went down like a rag doll.” A rag doll is very limp with no self control, which is how a person would feel under the influence of his corrupt conscience.
We learn that the singer is able to return to a pure, less corrupt life from the lines, “Lucky, lucky, lucky, lucky me again. I said it looks like I’ve got to use my feet again.” After the singer realizes just how very far he had strayed from fallowing the law and doing the right thing, he came to the conclusion that he would have to work the hard way once more before he really got himself into trouble. For example, when a person begins to tell a lie that goes too far, they may try to reverse it and refrain from lying anymore so as to not get caught. This is the first part in the story being told in “King Rat” where the ethical part of the character’s conscience manages to take over. Once again, the tone of the song changes drastically with these lines, to accompany the change in mood and the feelings of inner turmoil.
Just like in various situations, events repeat themselves and the vocalist’s originally feelings come into play as he belts out, “Oh, I don’t care.” Then, once again realization of just how much trouble he is in, but this time there is no redemption. “King Rat has me on his list again. I can never be on the fence again…” though it may seem as if King Rat is representing an authoritative figure such as the police, King Rat is probably the evil part of a person’s conscience. This shows that the singer is now permanently under the influence of ‘King Rat’ and there is no turning back. He can no longer “be on the fence again” because now there can be no more neutrality between the two sides of his conscience, good and evil. He was forced to choose one, and chose to steal: evil. This ends the singer’s inner turmoil and represents the choice ever person is forced to make. Whether to stay on the path to righteousness, or to veer ever so slightly into the life of corruption.
We learn that the singer probably regrets his decision in the lines, “I hardly knew I should use my feet again.” With this he is saying that if he had known the outcome, he would have just worked the hard way. He also goes into more detail by saying “I found out it’s open like an organ and it talk, talk, talk, talk again.” This refers to the way everyone knows he is a crook and it follows him throughout his life, just as every mistake every person makes change the way he is viewed by the world. Next the singer tells us that King Rat had “promised [the singer] that when [the singer] cheated him,” meaning that the narrator had known all along the trouble listening to his bad conscience would get him into, and all one has to do is avoid listening to his evil conscience even though it may seem easier at the time, and then things will work out much better.
Overall, the song tells a story of a man’s inner turmoil and struggle in choosing
between his righteous conscience and his corrupt conscience; a decision that everyone has to make at some point in his or her life. Simplified, “King Rat” is merely another story of the fight between good and bad, right and wrong. It incorporates the idea that people are not satisfied with what they have, and how easy it is to become involved with the wrong events and people. The song ends not with a warning, but with a question. A question that forces the listener to rethink their views, feelings, and the path that they are on and helps them realize that the easy decisions are not always the right decisions. “What do you have to say for yourself?” -
Nobody's really posted a good analysis of this song yet so figured I might as well.
Well! [x4]
We spun like birds on fire right down towards the residence and I
I took all that I desired, even crooks have to pay the rent.
So as you may or may not know, some species of birds are well known for stealing shiny objects from people like tin foil, coins, ect., hense the reference to the crooks. When Brock says they were 'like birds on fire' he's meaning that they were pretty noticable in what they did. And when he says 'even crooks have to pay the rent' he explaining that even the lowest of the low still have to pay something in one form or another. He could also be meaning that he took more than what was needed to survive
We swam like rats on fire right, right down the reservoir
We took all that we could carry but we tried to carry more.
Again we have another animal that is associated with thievery and how they were really noticeable when they tried to take more then what they could carry
And you know you know you know it all went wrong.
And you know you know you know it was all wrong.
self explanitory: it all went wrong
We choked on straight tap water well I'm gonna have to try the real thing
I took your laugh by the collar and it knew not to swing.
they wern't satisfied with what they had so they went to get 'better' items. The collar part is that they didn't take into consideration the seriousness of what they were doing
Anytime I tried an honest job well the till had a hole and ha-ha
We laughed about payin' rent 'cause the county jails they're free.
first part of this is pretty straight forward; he stole money from any 'honest job' he was working at. The second part could be saying either: they joked about not having to pay the rent because they were in the county jail or they joked about how they payed the rent and wern't worried if they were caught because the county jails would at the least provide a shelter rent free. This could then relate back to how they were very open about their crimes mentioned in the begining of the song: "swam like rats on fire"
And you know you know you know it all went wrong.
And you know you know you know it was all wrong.
Deep Water, Deep Water
Senseless Denial
I went down like a rag doll as you would, child
Deep Water, Deep Water
Senseless Denial
I went down like a rag doll as you would, child
Deep water refers to two things: first that they were obviously in deep shit and the second is revieled by the line 'senseless denial' meaning that they kept telling themselves that they wouldn't be caught but 'deep' down they knew otherwise. The rag doll passage explains that they were as helpless as such when they were caught. It also subtly is calling the listener inexperianced and inocent like a child
Oh, lucky lucky lucky lucky me again.
I said it looks like I've got to use my feet again
Well I just spent my last one-hundred dollars
God I'll pay my bill again
Based on the tone of the song, it would appear that the narrirator was set on parol has been set back up on his own two feet again. Also based on Brock's vocals, he seams to say the hundred dollar part in sarcsim and that he intends to steal again though this part could be taken litteral as well and still mean the same thing
Oh, I don't care
Oh, how I just don't care.
comferming that he doesn't care about if it's right or wrong to steal, he's going to do it anyway
Deep Water, Deep Water
Senseless Denial
I went down like a rag doll shooken and shy
Deep Water, Deep Water
Senseless Denial
I went down like a rag doll rat of a child
now this part is trying to explain the same thing as before but because the narrirator has been assumably been in jail before, this time he is not so eager to go back and he as started to earn a reputation. Rats also are comonly considered disgusting so when he says he's 'like a rag doll rat of a child' he's not only saying he's as week as a rag doll but he also thinks less of himself now.
(this next ones long so I'll do it one line at a time)
Well King rat has me on his list again
King rat refers to the police or government having him on a list of criminals once again and on the roster as a jail inmate. However, by calling the authorities 'King rat' Brock is saying that they are the king(s) of all theieves
I can never be on the fence again
this means he can never live off the grid again since a fence doesn't really belong to anyone when it seperates two yards. And with this in mind he could also be refering to living life on the 'edge' givin that a fence usually sets a perimeter
I found out it's all loud
Open like an organ and it
talk, talk, talk, talk again
he promised me that when I cheated him
this part explains that he has earned a reputation for his crimes and that where ever he goes, it will follow. people will talk about him.
But I could open my eye again well...
My only guess' to this line are: The narrirator was fearing a beating from the king rat but didn't recieve it or that the punishment wasn't so bad and he could look forward to starting a new
lucky, lucky, lucky, lucky, lucky,
lucky, lucky, lucky, lucky, lucky me again.
depending on how the open eye line is persieved, this part is either sarcstic or litteral
Deep Water, Deep Water
This Senseless Denial
I got fed like a fish, full of open smiles
Blue Water, Deep Water
Oh Senseless Denial
I got fed like a fish on the cardboard smiles
again the denial of how much trouble the narrirator is in. but this time a sense of harsh reality. fish arn't really fed except in hatcheries and even then it's factory food made to fatten them up.
Well Well...
What do you have to say for yourself?
I said, well well
Well?
I said well, well, well, well!
Lucky, lucky, lucky, lucky me again.
I hardly knew I should use my feet again
What do you have to say for yourself?
What do you have to say for yourself?
everything is pretty much self explainitory here. The narrirator doesn't really have a reason why he comitted his crimes and is unsure whether or not he trusts himself to not do it again.
Looking back from the last 'Deep Water' part on, I'm beginning to see that this song tells a story of a small time crook who was having trouble to make ends meet to pay the rent. He then stole money and valuables to pay his debts but he then took more than he needed. He got caught and was let off with warning. He then did it again while under the belief he could get away scott free. but when he was caught again he had to face the harsh realities of life and now after he was let go on parole he doesn't know if he live a normal life.
theme/meaning/moral of the song. Take only what you need (or none at all) and Don't be ignorant otherwise it will come back to haunt you.
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