Vampire Weekend

"Mansard Roof"

I see a mansard roof through the trees
I see a salty message written in the eaves
The ground beneath my feet
The hot garbage and concrete
And now the tops of buildings, I can see them too

The Argentines collapse in defeat
The admiralty surveys the remnants of the fleet
The ground beneath their feet
Is a nautically-mapped sheet
As thin as paper
While it sinks away from view

"Oxford Comma"

Who gives a fuck about an Oxford comma?
I've seen those English dramas too
They're cruel
So if there's any other way
To spell the word
It's fine with me, with me

Why would you speak to me that way
Especially when I always said that I
Haven't got the words for you
All your diction dripping with disdain
Through the pain
I always tell the truth

Who gives a fuck about an Oxford comma?
I climbed to Dharamsala too
I did
I met the highest lama
His accent sounded fine
To me, to me

Check your handbook
It's no trick
Take the chapstick
Put it on your lips
Crack a smile
Adjust my tie
Know your boyfriend, unlike other guys

Why would you lie about how much coal you have?
Why would you lie about something dumb like that?
Why would you lie about anything at all?
First the window, then it's to the wall
Lil' Jon, he always tells the truth

Check your passport
It's no trick
Take the chapstick
Put it on your lips
Crack a smile
Adjust my tie
Know your butler, unlike other guys
Why would you lie about how much coal you have?
Why would you lie about something dumb like that?
Why would you lie about anything at all?
First the window, then it's through the wall
Why would you tape my conversations?
Show your paintings
At the United Nations
Lil' Jon, he always tells the truth

"A-Punk"

Johanna drove slowly into the city
The Hudson River all filled with snow
She spied the ring on His Honor's finger
Oh-oh-oh

A thousand years in one piece of silver
She took it from his lilywhite hand
Showed no fear - she'd seen the thing
In the Young Men's Wing at Sloan-Kettering

[CHORUS:]

Look outside at the raincoats coming, say OH

His Honor drove southward seeking exotica
Down to the Pueblo huts of New Mexico
Cut his teeth on turquoise harmonicas
Oh-oh-oh

I saw Johanna down in the subway
She took an apartment in Washington Heights
Half of the ring lies here with me
But the other half's at the bottom of the sea

[CHORUS]

"Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa"

As a young girl
Louis Vuitton
With your mother
On a sandy lawn

As a sophomore
With reggaeton
And the linens
You're sitting on

Is your bed made?
Is your sweater on?
Do you want to
Like you know I do

But this feels so unnatural
Peter Gabriel too

Can you stay up
To see the dawn
In the colors
Of Benetton?

Is your bed made
Is your sweater on
Do you want to
Like you know I do

But this feels so unnatural
Peter Gabriel too

Is your bed made
Is your sweater on
Do you want to
Like you know I do

"M79"

It's going to take a little time
While you're waiting like a factory line
I'll ride across the park
Backseat on the 79

Wasted days you've come to pass

So go I know you would not stay
It wasn't true, but anyway
Pollination yellow cab

You walk up the stairs
See the French kids by the door
Up one more flight
See the Buddha on the second floor

Coronation rickshaw grab

So go, I know you would not stay
It wasn't true, but anyway
Racist dreams you should not have

No excuse to be so callous
Dress yourself in bleeding madras
Charm your way across the Khyber Pass

Stay awake to break the habit
Sing in praise of Jackson Crowter
Watch your step along the arch of glass

"Campus"

I wake up
My shoulder's cold
I've got to leave here
Before I go
I pull my shirt on
Walk out the door
Drag my feet along the floor
I pull my shirt on
Walk out the door
Drag my feet along the floor

Then I see you
You're walking cross the campus
Cruel professor
Studying romances
How am I supposed to pretend
I never want to see you again?
How am I supposed to pretend
I never want to see you again?

Walk to class
In front of ya
Spilled kefir
On your keffiyah
You look inside
And turn to the door
Drag your feet along the floor

Then I see you
You're walking cross the campus
Cruel professor
Studying romances
How am I supposed to pretend
I never want to see you again?
How am I supposed to pretend
I never want to see you again?

In the afternoon
You're out on the stone and grass
And I'm sleeping on the balcony
After class

"Bryn"

Ion displacement
Won't work in the basement
Especially when i'm not with you
Here in the heartland
A feelin so startlin
I dont know what i should do

Oh Bryn, you see through the dark
Right past the fireflies that sleep in my heart
You know its easy to see
Wait for the season to come back to me

Nights by the ocean
A westerly motion
That moves california to sea
Eyes like a seagull
No kansas palm beetle
Could ever come close to that free

Oh Bryn, you see through the dark
Right past the fireflies that sleep in my heart
You know its easy to see
Wait for the season to come back to me

"One (Blake's Got A New Face)"

Occident out on the weekend
That's the way that we relax

English Breakfast tastes like Darjeeling
But she's too cute to even ask

Blake's got a new face (Blake's got a new face)

Nastiness will cause your doom
Turn and walk back to your room

The precedent's already set now
You spend a week in Old San Juan

Spanish brownstone with chairs of leather
And Spanish waves to roll along

Majesty's not overheard
Cryptographs can't stand the word

Oh your collegiate grief has left you dowdy in sweatshirts
Absolute horror!

"I Stand Corrected"

You've been checking on my facts
And I admit I have been lax
In double-screening what I say
It wasn't funny anyway

I stand corrected

No one cares when you are wrong
But I've been at this far too long
To act like that when we should be
In perfect harmony

I stand corrected

Lord knows I haven't tried
I'll take my stand
One last time

Forget the protocol
I'll take your hand
Right in mine

"Walcott"

Walcott, don't you know that it's insane?
Don't you want to get out of Cape Cod, out of Cape Cod tonight?
Walcott, Mystic seaport is that way
Don't you know that your life would be lost out of Cape Cod tonight?

Walcott, don't you know that it's insane?
Don't you want to get out of Cape Cod, out of Cape Cod tonight?
Walcott, the bottleneck is a shit show
Hyannisport is a ghetto out of Cape Cod tonight

Lobster's claw is sharp as knives
Evil feasts on human lives
The Holy Roman Empire roots for you

Walcott, all the way to New Jersey
All the way to the Garden State, out of Cape Cod tonight

Walcott, fuck the women from Wellfleet
Fuck the bears out in Provincetown
Heed my words and take flight

Walcott, don't you know that it's insane?
Don't you want to get out of Cape Cod, out of Cape Cod tonight?
Walcott, don't you know that it's insane?
Don't you want to get out of Cape Cod, out of Cape Cod tonight?
(Walcott, don't you know that it's insane?
Don't you want to get out of Cape Cod, out of Cape Cod tonight?
Walcott, don't you know that it's insane?
Don't you want to get out of Cape Cod, out of Cape Cod tonight?)

"The Kids Don't Stand A Chance"

A devastating backstroke
All the way from France
With shiny, shiny cufflinks
A shirtsleeve to enhance

The pin-striped men of morning
Are coming for to dance
With pure Egyptian Cotton
The kids don't stand a chance

You criticize the practice
By murdering their plants
Ignoring all the history
Denying them romance

The pin-striped men of morning
Are coming for to dance
Forty-million dollars
The kids don't stand a chance

I didn't like the business,
But that was at first glance
Your pillow feels so soft now
But still you must advance

The pin-striped men of morning
The partners in the dance
The paper's shot to pieces
The kids don't stand a chance

"Horchata"

In December drinking horchata
I'd look psychotic in a balaclava
Winter's cold is too much to handle
Pincher crabs that pinch at your sandals

(Whoaaaaa ooooh)

In December drinking horchata
Look down your glasses at that Aranciata
With lips and teeth to ask how my day went
Boots and fists to pound on the pavement
Here comes a feeling you thought you'd forgotten
Chairs to sit and sidewalks to walk on

(Whoaaaaaa ooooh)

You'd remember drinkin horchata
You'd still enjoy it with your foot on masada

Winter's cold is too much to handle
Pincher crabs that pinch at your sandals
Here comes a feeling you thought you'd forgotten
Chairs to sit and sidewalks to walk on
Ooh you had it but oh no you lost it
Lookin back you shouldn't have fought it

In December, drinkin horchata
I'd look psychotic in a balaclava
Winter's cold is too much to handle
Pincher crabs that pinch at your sandals
Years go by and hearts start to harden
Those palms and firs that grew in your garden
Falling down and nearing the rose beds
The roots are shooting up through the tool shed
Those lips and teeth that asked how my day went
Are shouting up through cracks in the pavement

Here comes a feeling you thought you'd forgotten
Chairs to sit and sidewalks to walk on
Oh you had it but oh no you lost it
You understood so you shouldn't have fought it

Here comes a feeling you thought you'd forgotten
Chairs to sit and sidewalks to walk on
Here comes a feeling you thought you'd forgotten
Chairs to sit and sidewalks to walk on

"White Sky"

Then it's your business
A modern piece of glasswork
Down on the corner that
You walk each day in passing
The elderly sales clerk
With eyes full of suspicion
The whole corporation's giving it permission

The little stairway
A little bit of carpet
A pair of mirrors that
Are facing one another
Out in both directions
A thousand little Julias
That come together
In the middle of Manhattan

You waited since lunch
It all comes at once

Around the corner
The house that modern art built
I ask for modern art
To keep it out the closet
The people who might own it
The sins of pride and envy
And on the second floor
The Richard Cera Skate Park

Waited since lunch
It all comes at once

Along the park walk
Ask all of our questions
While all the horses
Race taxis in the winter
Look up at the buildings
Imagine who might live there
Imagining you're walking
On a bowl upon the sing there

You waited since lunch
It all comes at once

"Holiday"

Holiday, O, A Holiday!
And the best one of the year
Dozing off underneath my sheets
While I cover both my ears

But if I wait for a holiday could it ever stop my fear?
To go away on a summer’s day never seemed so clear

Holiday, still so far away
Our republic on the beach
I can’t forget just how bad it gets
When I’m counting on my teeth

But if I wait for a holiday
Could it stop my fear?
To go away on a summer’s day
Never seemed so clear

A vegetarian since the invasion
She’d never seen the word BOMBS
She’d never seen the word BOMBS blown up
To 96 point Futura
She’d never seen an AK
In a yellowy Day Glo display
A t-shirt so lovely it turned all the history books grey

I’ve got wheels, I’ve got cutter spray
And a healthy sense of worth
Half of me is the gasoline
But the other half’s the surf
So if I wait for a holiday could it stop my fear?
To go away on a summer’s day never seemed so clear

"California English"

Wouldn’t ever gag you with a spoon, my only true love
Never really heard you speak that way, it’s unworthy of…
Funny how that little college girl called language corrupt
Funny how the other private schools had no Hapa Club

Someone took a trip before you came to ski in the Alps
Your father moved across the country
Just to sunburn his scalp
Contra Costa, Contra Mundum, contradict what I say
Living like the French Connection, but we’ll die in LA

Blasted from a disconnected light switch
Through the condo that they’ll never finish
Bounced across a Saudi satellite dish
And through your brain to California English

No one sits inside a freezing flat and stays there ‘til May
Leafing through a stack of A-Zs to surf the UK
Waiting with the wind against your face
And gel in your hair
Shivering in little undershirts, but don’t seem to care

Blasted from a disconnected light switch
Through the condo that they’ll never finish
Bounced across a Saudi satellite dish
And through your brain to California English

Sweet carob rice cake
She don’t care how the sweets taste
Fake Philly cheese steak
But she use real toothpaste

Cuz if that Tom’s don’t work
If it just makes you worse
Would you loose all of you faith in the good Earth

And if it’s all a curse
And we’re just getting worse
Baby, please don’t lose your faith in the good earth

Blasted from a disconnected light switch
Through the condo that they’ll never finish
Bounced across a Saudi satellite dish
And through your brain to California English

"Taxi Cab"

Unsentimental,
Driving around,
Sure of myself,
Sure of it now,
You stand this close to me,
Like the future was suppose to be,
In the eyes of the Grocery,
In the block uptown,

I remember,
Remember well,
But if I forgotten,
Could you tell,

In the shadow of your first attack,
I was questioning and looking back,
You said baby we don't speak of that,
Like a real aristocrat,

Compound to compound,
Lazy and safe,
(Wanting leave it)?
(Born in two way)?
When the taxi door was open wide,
I pretended I was horrified,
By the uniform clothes outside,
Of the court yard gate,

You're not a victim,
But neither am I,
Nostalgic for garbage,
Desperate for time,
I could blame it on your mother's head,
Or the colors that you father wears,
But I know that I was never fair,
You were always fine,

Unsentimental,
Driving around,
Sure of myself,
Sure of it now,
You stand this close to me,
Like the future was suppose to be,
In the eyes of the Grocery,
In the blocks uptown,

I remember,
Remember it well,
But if I forgotten,
Would you tell,

In the shadow of your first attack,
I was questioning and looking back,
You were standing on another track,
Like a real aristocrat,

"Run"

Every dollar counts
And every morning hurts
We mostly work to live
Until we live to work

She said,
“You know
There’s nowhere else to go”
But changing roles
It struck me that the two of us could run

Worlds away from cars
And all the stars and bars
Where a little bit of condensation means so much
And a little bit of change is all your little fingers touch

I said,
“You know
There’s nowhere else to go”
But changing roles
It struck me that the two of us could run

Honey, with you
Is the only way to go
And I could take two
But I really couldn’t ever know

Honey, with you
And a battered radio

We could try

So lead my feet away
Cuz all they’ll do is stay
And I don’t think your eyes
Have ever looked surprised

She said,
“You know
There’s nowhere else to go”
But with her fund
It struck me that the two of us could run

Honey, with you
Is the only honest way to go
And I could take two
But I really couldn’t ever know

Honey, with you
And a battin radio

We could try

"Cousins"

You found a sweater on the ocean floor
They're gonna find it if you didn't close the door.
You and this model sit outside the side
In a house on a street they wouldn't park on at night.

Dad was a risk taker.
His was a shoe maker.
You greatest hits 2006, Little listmaker.
Caught in the melody, You wait in the car.
You were born with ten fingers and you're gonna use them all.

Interest in girls as I discovered myself
If your odd-life was greater
You'll be toastin' my health
If an interest in culture,
You should be lining the walls.
When your birth right is interest
You could just accrue it all.

Me and my cousins and you and your cousins
Its a line that is always running.
Me and my cousins, You and your cousins,
I can feel it coming

You could turn your back on the bitter world [4x]

Me and my cousins and you and your cousins
Its a line that is always running.
Me and my cousins, You and your cousins,
I can feel it coming

Me and my cousins and you and your cousins
Its a line that is always running.
Me and my cousins, You and your cousins,
I can feel it coming

"Giving Up The Gun"

Your swords grown old and rusty
Underneath the rising sun
Its locked up like a trophy
Foretting all the things its done
All though its been a long time
You’re right back where you started from
I see it in your eyes
Now you’re giving up the gun

When I was 17
I had wrists like steel
And I felt complete
And now my body fades
Behind my brass charade
And I’m obsolete
But if the change remains
To see those better days
I’d cut the cannons down
My ears are blown to bits
From all the rivalries
Still I crave that sound

Your swords grown old and rusty
Underneath the rising sun
Its locked up like a trophy
Foretting all the things its done
And though its been a long time
You’re right back where you started from
I see it in your eyes
Now you’re giving up the gun

I heard you play guitar
Down at a seedy bar
Where skinheads used to fight
Your Tokugawa smile
And your garbage style
Used to save the night
You felt the coming wave
Told me we'd all be brave
You said you wouldn’t flinch
But in the years that passed
Since I saw you last
You haven’t moved an inch

Your swords grown old and rusty
Underneath the rising sun
Its locked up like a trophy
Foretting all the things its done
And though its been a long time
You’re right back where you started from
I see it in your eyes
Now you’re giving up the gun
I see you shining your way
Go on go on go on

"Diplomat's Son"

It’s not right but it’s now or never
And if I wait could I ever forgive myself?

On a night when the moon glows yellow in the riptide
With the light from the TVs buzzing in the house

Cuz I’m gonna cut it where I can
And then I’m gonna duck out behind them
If I ever had a chance it’s now then
But I never had the feeling I could offer that to you

To offer it to you would be cruel
When all I want to do is use, use you

He was a diplomat’s son
It was ‘81

Dressed in white with my car keys hidden in the kitchen
I could sleep wherever I lay my head

And the sight of your two shoes sitting in the bathtub
Let me know that I shouldn’t give up just yet

Cuz I’m gonna take it from Simon
And then I’m gonna duck out behind them
If I ever had a chance it’s now then
But I never had the feeling I could offer that to you

To offer it to you would be cruel
When all I want to do is use, use you

He was a diplomat’s son
It was ‘81

I know, you’ll say
I’m not doing it right
But this is how I want it

I can’t go back
To how I felt before—

That night I smoked a joint
With my best friend
We found ourselves in bed
When I woke up he was gone

He was the diplomat’s son
It was ‘81

Looking out at the ice-cold water all around me
I can’t feel any traces of that other place

In the dark when the wind comes racing off the river
There’s a car all black with diplomatic plates

"I Think Ur A Contra"

I had a feeling once
That you and I
Could tell each other everything
For two months
But even without hope
With truth on our side
When you turn away from me
It's not right

I think you're a Contra
I think you're a Contra
And dear Contra
I think you're a Contra

My revolution thoughts
Live in lies of desire
I wanna trace them to the source
And the wire
But it's not useful now
Since we both made up our minds
You gotta watch out for yourself
So will I

I think you're Contra
I think that you lie
Don't call me Contra
Till you've tried

You wanted good schools
And friends with pools
You're not a Contra
You wanted Rock' n' Roll,
Complete control
Well, I don't know

Never pick sides
Never choose between two
But I just wanted you
Never pick sides
Never choose between two
But I just wanted you

I think you're Contra
I think that you lie
Don't call me Contra
Till you've tried

"Giant"

[Verse 1:]
It was all a dream
I used to read Thrasher Magazine, looking at pictures of skateboarders
California

So envy me, S.O.S. L.A.P.D.
Docking the yacht in such low waters
Alizontra

[Chorus:]
Now it's a different game
80 percent still agree
The winning cause, it pleases God
The losing cause pleases me

[Verse 2:]
At the duty-free,
Gifts of wine and Hennessey
Beautifully made from such fine waters