Animal Arithmetic by Jónsi Lyrics Meaning – Unraveling the Euphoria in Existence
Lyrics
Making food disappear
Riding bikes, making out
Elephants run you down
You and I run away, blushing cheeks
Howling wolves, colourful fireworks
Every time, everyone, everything’s full of life
Everyday, everywhere, people are so alive
We should all be (Oh Oh Oh) alive!
We should all be (Oh Oh Oh) alive!
Horfandi, þegjandi, tala við, skríðandi
Dreymandi, strjúka af, koma við ekki má
Mála á líkama, spilað á renglandi
Hlaupandi! Leikandi!
Get it on, let it out, fucking and spúandi
Get it on, let it out, fucking and kæfandi
We should all be (Oh Oh Oh) alive!
Exist all in love, in life!
We should all be (Oh Oh Oh) alive!
Let’s not stop, let’s grow and live!
I see you colourful, I see you in the trees
I see you spiritful, you’re in the breeze
I see it in your hands, tree fingers draw a beam
I see you in the sand, roll down the stream
I see you in the trees, I see you colourful
I see you in the breeze, you’re spiritful
Tree fingers draw a beam, I see it in your hands
You’re rolling down the stream, you’re in the sand
I see you colourful, I see you in the trees
I see you spiritful, You’re in the breeze
I see it in your hands, tree fingers draw a beam
I see you in the sand, roll down the stream
I see you in the trees, I see you colourful
I see you in the breeze, you’re spiritful
Tree fingers draw a beam, I see it in your hands
You’re rolling down the stream, you’re in the sand
I see you colourful, I see you in the trees
I see you spiritful, you’re in the breeze
I see it in your hands, tree fingers draw a beam
I see you in the sand, roll down the stream
Jónsi, the ethereal voice of Icelandic post-rock band Sigur Rós, offers a solo foray with ‘Animal Arithmetic’, a track teeming with a visceral, almost whimsical exuberance. The song opens like a window to a day in life, yet it is far from ordinary. It is an invitation to embrace the raw elements of being: energy, color, spirit, and the rhythmic pulsations of existence itself.
There’s a rhythm in the routine, a poetry in the prosaic, and Jónsi masterfully captures this sentiment in ‘Animal Arithmetic’. Through the fusion of whimsical lyrics and vibrant instrumentals, he guides us through a narrative that transcends the simplicity of daily activities, encouraging a reconnection with the aliveness that permeates everything.
A Kaleidoscope of Everyday Moments
In dissecting the meaning behind ‘Animal Arithmetic’, one cannot overlook the profound beauty Jónsi finds in the mundane. ‘Wake up, comb my hair / Making food disappear / Riding bikes, making out / Elephants run you down’, the lyrics play with imagery and movement that transform the ordinary into scenes of wonderment.
It is in these details that Jónsi finds a heartbeat, a rhythm that speaks to the pulsing life within every creature and object. The series of actions, simple as they seem, are painted with a brush of magic realism, elevating our perception of daily existence.
Echoes of Vibrant Aliveness
The chorus, with its chanting of ‘We should all be (Oh Oh Oh) alive!’, serves as an anthem of existence. Jónsi doesn’t suggest that to be alive is merely to exist, but rather, to inhabit one’s life with a presence as intense and bright as fireworks.
The essence of ‘Animal Arithmetic’ is this call to vitality, an insistence that to live is not just to breathe but to engage with life’s ebbs and flows with the entirety of our beings. It’s a soundscape that bursts forth, demanding that we not only exist but that we do so vividly and spiritedly.
The Veiled Language of Visuality
‘Horfandi, þegjandi, tala við, skríðandi / Dreymandi, strjúka af, koma við ekki má’, the Icelandic lyrics interspersed throughout the song, offer a texture that linguistically embodies the elusiveness of dreams and touch. There is an intangible quality here, a secret whispered just beneath the surface of understanding.
Jónsi’s choice to incorporate his native tongue fortifies the sense of mystical, elemental communion with life’s vibrancy, inviting the listener to engage with the song not solely through meaning but through the felt experience of sound and rhythm.
Memorable Lines: The Vividness of Visual Poetry
The repetition of visual motifs throughout the song, ‘I see you colourful, I see you in the trees / I see you in the breeze, you’re spiritful’, creates a tapestry of imagery that helps the listener envision the abundant life around them. These lyrics offer a polychromatic view of existence, which is not black and white but a spectrum of motion and emotion.
The consistency of this visual language connects the viewer to the natural world, suggesting that life’s vibrancy is a part of us, as we are of it. The ‘tree fingers’ and rolling sand metaphors are Jónsi’s way of reminding us that life is art, and we are both its canvas and its painter.
Unearthed Euphoria: The Hidden Pulse of Life
There is an unspoken undercurrent in ‘Animal Arithmetic’, a joyous rebellion against the stillness of passivity. It is the heartbeat of a planet thrumming with the dance of life—a reminder that beneath every moment of stillness is the potential for explosive joy.
This song, then, is an ode to the arithmetic of living beings—the counting of heartbeats, the quantifying of breaths, the limitless formulas that define the act of being. To decipher it is to acknowledge the multi-dimensional expanse of our own lives, where every sum leads to the same solution: the beaming face of existence, grinning back at us, wildly alive.
