Reading Time With Pickle

[baby jesus 0]

I saw some people discussing that this song might be about sex.I was intrigued. I personally think it's about someone who loves pickles and reading with them. She might actually be falling in love with pickles. She has a favorite thing that she likes to escape with. And she loves it.

Your Thoughts... I could be totally wrong. I don't have a super english degree or anything.

Lyrics.

Walking home from work

Stop at the supermarket

The condiment aisle

A jar of pickles catches the eye

Made eye contact with a solitary pickle—ah!

Bought the jar, took it home

Then made it up the stairs

And made it through the doorway

And waded through the floor

Tried to head in the general direction of the bathroom

The truest room

In the whole damn

House

Sayin' love

Is the answer

To a question that I

have forgotten

And I know I've been asked

So the answer has got to be

Love

Yeah

So feeding time with TV

Then sleeping time, not sleepy

So reading time with pickle

But where the bedside lamp had been

Is now emanating soft, soft green

Has it always been this way?

Is it possible that all this magic went unnoticed?

Maybe now things'll start to change

And life will turn a better page

No more rage

Sayin' love

Is the answer

To a question that I

Have forgotten

But I know I've been asked

And the answer's got to be love

La-love, la-la-la, la-la-love

Tomorrow, back to work again

But run to the supermarket

Running hopeful through the aisles

Haven't been this happy in a long time

But not a single jar was smiling

After all

Man, pickle jars are just

Pickle jars

And pickles are just pickles

Ingredients:

Water, salt, cucumbers

Garlic and pickling spices

But love

Is the answer to a question that I

Have forgotten

And I know I've been asked

And the answer's got to be

Lo... love

Is the answer to a question that I

Have forgotten

And I know I've been asked

And the answer's got to be

Love

And the answer's got to be love

And the answer's got to be love

And the answer's got to be love

[baby jesus 0]

I saw some people discussing that this song might be about sex.I was intrigued. I personally think it's about someone who loves pickles and reading with them. She might actually be falling in love with pickles. She has a favorite thing that she likes to escape with. And she loves it.

Your Thoughts... I could be totally wrong. I don't have a super english degree or anything.

Lyrics.

Walking home from work

Stop at the supermarket

The condiment aisle

A jar of pickles catches the eye

Made eye contact with a solitary pickle—ah!

Bought the jar, took it home

Then made it up the stairs

And made it through the doorway

And waded through the floor

Tried to head in the general direction of the bathroom

The truest room

In the whole damn

House

Sayin' love

Is the answer

To a question that I

have forgotten

And I know I've been asked

So the answer has got to be

Love

Yeah

So feeding time with TV

Then sleeping time, not sleepy

So reading time with pickle

But where the bedside lamp had been

Is now emanating soft, soft green

Has it always been this way?

Is it possible that all this magic went unnoticed?

Maybe now things'll start to change

And life will turn a better page

No more rage

Sayin' love

Is the answer

To a question that I

Have forgotten

But I know I've been asked

And the answer's got to be love

La-love, la-la-la, la-la-love

Tomorrow, back to work again

But run to the supermarket

Running hopeful through the aisles

Haven't been this happy in a long time

But not a single jar was smiling

After all

Man, pickle jars are just

Pickle jars

And pickles are just pickles

Ingredients:

Water, salt, cucumbers

Garlic and pickling spices

But love

Is the answer to a question that I

Have forgotten

And I know I've been asked

And the answer's got to be

Lo... love

Is the answer to a question that I

Have forgotten

And I know I've been asked

And the answer's got to be

Love

And the answer's got to be love

And the answer's got to be love

And the answer's got to be love

[expectedperfection 0]

this is what i said on songmeanings (i'm cutting and pasting)...

i'm not reg, so i can't say for certain, but i never thought this song had a sexual undertone at all. at all. i think this song is so beautiful and really, is one of the major songs that showcases her genius as a writer and a great example of why i love her so much. carried under the guise of a silly song about pickles is this beatiful, weighty, honest message. this song brings me to tears all the time. lemme preface...

several years ago...like over half a decade now...i had a terrible breakup with my then-new boyfriend (now fiancee, so it's okay). we were only apart for about 2 1/2 wks, but it was truly 2 1/2 of the worst weeks of my life. i dropped 25 pounds, started spending all my time pulling doubles and overtime (at a job i hated btw) and stopped taking phone calls from almost everyone--like literally kept my phone turned off because my heart would break every time it rang and i realized it wasn't him. the point is, i spent my time doing anything i could to keep my mind off him and made many fruitless attempts to find happiness in small, trivial pleasures ("pickles") like a sitcom or a funny book or a kid's movie etc. and it would appease me for all of five minutes before i'd be back to my old sad self.

so, to me, this song is talking about how when you're depressed, you'll find anything to latch onto that will give you some sense of comfort and happiness, no matter how empty and meaningless it really is. and how, if you find that thing, it completely consumes you. and then how, at some point, you look up and realize it's silly and you have to tell yourself that whatever that distraction or "pickle" is, it's not going to save you; you have to face the problem so you can move on. i won't go into the specifics of the lyrics, because in this context, they're all pretty straight forward.

but i love the line about the bathroom being the truest room in the whole damn house because it's true. of all the rooms in the house, you spend most of the time you're naked in the bathroom. just being you and not putting on any airs or hiding yourself away, but just simply being. and doing things like using the bathroom and showering in your own specific way that other people don't know about etc. and when you're in that kind of depression, the last thing you want is to be around other ppl, like your family, who you can't totally be yourself around and it makes you wanna run to a place you CAN be yourself.

anywho, sorry for this rant. i know no one cares about my silly break-up story, but i thought i needed to give an explanation...i probly didn't...oh well.

and just for the record, the first time i heard rtwp was weeeellll after i had gotten back together with my bf, as in several years, so this situation was totally not on my mind and i don't think i was reading that into it b/c of my own issues. it just clicked for me in this way from the first time.

[Ксения 1]

Hey, why not, i think you gave a really nice explanation, i know we don't know each other, but i'm glad it's all good with your bf now, i just know how it could feel.

Actually i don't think too that this song could be about anything sexual, but it's about someone who fell in love and maybe got stuck with some problems and situations/frustrations and at that time that someone seeks consolation in something what he/she really likes, like in those jars with pickles, to forget about all those problems or misunderstands he/she got, but in the end, analizing everything, comprehends, that it's not the way to solve this all, by eating pickles, or feeding time with tv, and comes to the conclusion, that love is the answer to the question he/she has forgetten going through this life routine.

Love will be always the answer to all the questions we ask each other. And like it says in one old good song of the Beatles, "all we need is Love!"

[expectedperfection 0]

thanks

and i like your explanation--much more concise than mine--haha--oh well.

[ThisIsHowItWorks 4]

I really love your interpretation, expectedperfection. To me the song was just about the innocence, irrationality, and optimism of love... Rather than get more specific about that, I'm just gonna say that your explanation makes absolutely perfect sense. It's something I've experienced, though not nearly to the degree that you described.

"Love is the answer to a question that I've forgotten" carries so much more meaning and poignancy to me now through your post.

[Rosa! 8]

quote:

Originally posted by expectedperfection:

but i love the line about the bathroom being the truest room in the whole damn house because it's true. of all the rooms in the house, you spend most of the time you're naked in the bathroom. just being you and not putting on any airs or hiding yourself away, but just simply being. and doing things like using the bathroom and showering in your own specific way that other people don't know about etc. and when you're in that kind of depression, the last thing you want is to be around other ppl, like your family, who you can't totally be yourself around and it makes you wanna run to a place you CAN be yourself.

I like this a lot. I never really thought about it.

[val 0]

quote:

Originally posted by Rosa!:

quote:

Originally posted by expectedperfection:

but i love the line about the bathroom being the truest room in the whole damn house because it's true. of all the rooms in the house, you spend most of the time you're naked in the bathroom. just being you and not putting on any airs or hiding yourself away, but just simply being. and doing things like using the bathroom and showering in your own specific way that other people don't know about etc. and when you're in that kind of depression, the last thing you want is to be around other ppl, like your family, who you can't totally be yourself around and it makes you wanna run to a place you CAN be yourself.

I like this a lot. I never really thought about it.

Yeah, I agree with that. For some reason I also thought that, in comparison to other rooms, the bathroom is white, clean, quite cold and impersonal. It's the place where you can wash, purify yourself and be alone, indeed.

Then, it's also the room where you can take some medecine, cut your hair, your veins ...

To me, the song is about solitude.

[IDontCare 4]

So just kinda curious for a second... Anyone here ever ingested LSD?

Because for whatever reason, I've always thought of this song as a description of an acid trip.

Basically, the main character is walking home from work, and as they stop at the supermarket, the LSD begins kicking in. Hence why an inanimate object of a pickle "catches the eye."

The whole part about going up the stairs, wading through the floor, etc. are also reminiscent of LSD, as all actions carried out by one tripping kind of seems like this big adventure... a stairway is no longer just a stairway, it becomes a mountain. Simply walking through a room can feel infinitely differently... And this whole idea of attaching attributes not normally there, such as the bathroom being the "truest" room, is something very common to people tripping.

So then they eat and watch TV, and can't sleep after. Why? Because when you're tripping, you can't sleep. It's almost impossible. You're definitely going to be WIDE awake for the next 8+ hours... So instead the main character has "reading time with pickle." Obviously a nonsensical idea, but one that would make perfect sense in the mindset of one under the influence.

But the next part is what kind of confirmed it for me... The whole thing about where the lamp had been is now emanating soft green? Well, LSD doesn't cause you to "hallucinate," really. You won't see things that don't exist. BUT! Colors become much brighter, more obvious, more noticeable. Suddenly you notice all the different shadings in everything, all the colors just jump out at you. And when one trips, one often wonders if those colors they're seeing are actually real, if they're always there and just haven't been noticed before, or if they're just seeing things. ("Has it always been this way? Is it possible that all this magic went unoticed?") I've personally never seen anything while tripping that I wouldn't see in real life (aside from colors/visual patterns in the walls/sky that are the closest one gets to "hallucinating"), and yet the world still feels brand new. You notice things you don't normally notice, and everything takes on a certain beauty that you wouldn't always be aware of.

The whole bit about how things might start to change might reflect how when one ingests LSD, and often days/weeks in the after-glow, one's mood improves drastically. It will often have a positive lift on your life and mind, allowing you to live life a little more openly and happily.

So then the narrator goes back to work. And on the way home, they stop by the supermarket again, remembering their experience the other day. But seeing as they're not tripping this time, no pickles will smile at them. And the narrator them reminds themselves that pickles are just pickles, and what happened yesterday was the result of a psychoactive substance. I've always personally noticed that when I go and review things that I saw while tripping the day after, the "magic" that I saw (for example, a set of stone steps becoming as grand as a pyramid!) is gone, and you have to remind yourself that it was just a trip.

The only thing that doesn't fit in with my theory is this chorus of "love is the answer...", and though I suppose one could simply argue that the tripping narrator just wanted to build their love for the world (as tripping people often feel a desire to do...), it just doesn't seem quite as openly in reference to it as the rest of the song is...

But this is just my opinion. I doubt that Regina's ever taken LSD (but I wouldn't be surprised if she had! It might explain a few song lyrics here and there! lol), but that doesn't mean she couldn't still write a song about it... just like she's never done cocaine (I hope!!) but still references it in several songs.

So is it about LSD? Probably not. But is it a curious little theory that might make you look at the song a little differently next time you hear it? Hahahahaha... maybe.

[lennonist 5]

Hmm. As I mentioned in another thread (http://reginaspektor.infopop.cc/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/454107688/m/3271098271?r=517101584#517101584 - the pic I posted isn't showing), Regina's done hash brownies, based on her request during an Amsterdam to make flourless spelt space-cakes because she's allergic to wheat. I dunno if she's dropped acid, but being an artist with such dreamy lyrics, I wouldn't be surprised either. The drinking/smoking and drug references in her lyrics did give me pause when I stopped to consider them on occasion.

My take on it is that Regina is a composer first and a songwriter second. English not being her first language, she's more about the touch and emotive feelings of the sounds than the meanings of the words. Analyzing her lyrics is like analyzing "I am the Walrus" or "Across the Universe" by the Beatles - you can try, but it won't get you very far. She has her fair share of absurdist songs, funny light-hearted songs, narrative songs, meaningful songs, etc. Who knows what goes on in her mad pretty head. Who knows, who knows.