Genius Meanings
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Vampire Weekend – Bryn
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“Bryn” is one of the earliest VW songs. It begun at the end of Ezra Koenig and Rostam Batmanglij’s freshman year at Columbia (they formed the band senior year)
The song is about
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Vampire Weekend – Mansard Roof
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“Mansard Roof” was the first single ever released by Vampire Weekend, and as the opening track, sets the tone for the entire album.
A mansard roof is a type of roof typically
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Vampire Weekend – A-Punk
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“A-Punk” clocks in at just over two minutes, but its awkward, reference-filled narrative, guitar, prep, and diversity with instruments like the chamberlain allow it to be
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Vampire Weekend – Campus
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Rostam Batmanglij, the primary writer of the song, based “Campus” on “Cruel Professor,” a short story in Ezra Koenig’s collection Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa from his senior honors
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Vampire Weekend – Oxford Comma
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“Oxford Comma” is full of anything and everything from slick guitar riffs to Lil Jon references, and appears as the second track on Vampire Weekend’s eponymous debut album.
When
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Vampire Weekend – M79
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“M79” features orchestral strings, name-drops whose ability to be understood directly correlate with the number of polo shirts you own (read: preppy), and a hint of surf-rock
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Vampire Weekend – Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa
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“Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa” is a weird class-parable type song, and the fourth track on Vampire Weekend’s self-titled debut.
Remember when people used to call Vampire Weekend’s style
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Vampire Weekend – Walcott
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“Walcott” is named after the main character in Ezra Koenig’s college attempt at an East Coast version of The Lost Boys entitled Vampire Weekend. Sound familiar?
The name evokes
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Vampire Weekend – The Kids Don't Stand a Chance
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“The Kids Don’t Stand A Chance” reflects on the machinery of capitalism, the remnants of colonialism that underlay privileged life, and the death of innocence thus engendered. It
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Vampire Weekend – One (Blake's Got a New Face)
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Whether the subject of “One (Blake’s Got A New Face)” is a friend of the band’s who went to Stanford, William Blake the poet, or something else entirely, there’s no denying that
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Vampire Weekend – Ladies of Cambridge
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“Ladies Of Cambridge” is based off of E.E. Cummings 1922 sonnet, the Cambridge ladies who live in furnished souls, which negates the idea of privileged women living an insular life
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Vampire Weekend – Arrows
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Based on scenes from Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited, “Arrows” was apparently too hot for the American release and was only included on the Japanese version of the debut album
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Vampire Weekend – Giant
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“Giant”, the bonus track from Contra, seems to be a token rap track with its mentions to California, Thrasher Magazine, and yachts. However, within the context of the almost-faux
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Vampire Weekend – Oxford Comma (Daytrotter Session)
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[Verse 1] / 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
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Vampire Weekend – I Stand Corrected
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Although “I Stand Corrected” doesn’t feature any of the Afropop beats that frequent the rest of Vampire Weekend, nobody said going soft was a bad decision for the album.
In fact
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