Trying to remember a song I quite like that my music teacher recommended to me. I could only remember that the lyrics included the word "paleo" and that it was the only song by that artist I like. Using a song lyrics search website called Chosic, I found it on the second page of results.

I really like the lyrics because I feel like they can be understood in different ways:

• About love, attraction, and desire
  • Andrew Bird: "And that sort of began a song about how seeing something can change it, you know? How it being observed, changes it, and vice-versa. And the field of electricity between two people, as they’re regarding each other, or pretending not to see them, you know that whole dance, sort of romantic dance of seeing someone. It's about when I first saw my wife." ¹
  • Andrew Bird: "So am I just this creepy voyeur? Or is there something going on here that’s mutual? You know, I guess if this has a chorus, it's the next part, which is just, if she sees you, it changes you, rearranges your molecules. If you see her, changes her, she'll be seeing you after school." ¹
• As x-rays being used to examine a patient, or in a scientific experiment
  • The video uses clips from a video of Dr. Coolidge, the inventor of the hot cathode tube, discussing medical imaging and demystifing x-rays in a video sponsored by General Electric. He also says "It seems both incredible and paradoxical that the rays, which are themselves invisible, can reveal objects which are otherwise also invisible.", which is alluded to in the lyrics as well. ²
  • X-ray radiation can also do damage to your body and -- literally -- rearrange your molecules, for the worse.

There is a really interesting tension between creepiness and desire in the lyrics, and the metaphorical connection to x-rays adds so much to read into. Also, I think it sounds great. The lyrics change rhythm at tense moments, the chorus releases that tension in a satisfying four-to-the-floor, the ethereal vocals bring you to a different plane, and the sharp, clear plucking of the instruments bring you back.

Andrew Bird - Roma Fade

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iMwRlpbkBY

See her light, how it reigns
So hard on your high, high plains
So you take such pains
That she won't notice you

And your x-rays
Of your Paleo male, all gaze
How they rest and play
Slowly corrupting you

I wonder what the chance is you wanted to
A thousand vacant stares won't make it true
Make it true

You need a witness just to know you're there
From the tips of your fingers, every strand of hair
You know someone's watching you, watching me watching you
And all that we look upon
You may not know me but you feel my stare

And if she sees you, it changes you
Rearranges your molecules
And if you see her, it changes her
She's a danger now, after school

And if she sees you, it changes you
Rearranges your molecules
And if you see her, it changes her
She'll be seeing you after school

Here's where gentlemen avert their eyes
Maybe she's a gentleman in disguise
In disguise

You need a witness just to know you're there
From the tips of your fingers, every strand of hair
You know someone's watching you, watching me watching you
And all that we look upon
You may not know me but you feel my
Stare

And if I see you, how it changes me
And if you see me, how it changes you
Changes you

And if I see you, how it changes me
And if you see me, how it changes you
Changes you