I have the feeling that Eucalyptus is filled with homophones, but because the lyrics were officially printed, we've been missing them. I suspect some of the words in the official lyric sheet were intentionally printed to be the more questionable version of the homophone to try to draw attention to their use - e.g. "80" instead of "Avey" in "When You Left Me". I think Avey uses homophones intentionally quite a bit, I hear some in Cows on Hourglass Pond too. Panda Bear does this too - he oftentimes repeats them: "are you mad? are you mad?". I get the sense that they want this aspect of their art to be more widely known, but don't want to give it away by plainly saying so in an interview or something.
Take season high for example.
wrote:
At the top of the morning came the silver dangling rain
"morning" is a homophone for "mourning". Works with "silver dangling rain", which is a metaphor for tears.
wrote:
A half-sunned hallway shot the rose and then expired
"rose and" is a homophone for "rosin", which means "resin". "half-sunned hallway" is a metaphor for sunlight momentarily poking through clouds.The imagery brings to mind depression. Also, tolerance buildup to weed (maybe in concentrate form) - more on that later.
wrote:
The running droplets soaked the reds and then expired
On the surface-level, this is about rain dripping off Eucalyptus flower petals. It also can also be imagery for marijuana concentrates hitting red-hot coils or glass and becoming vapor. The word choice of "and then expired" also suggests tolerance buildup.
wrote:
today fantasy is on the range and the city's riding
Firstly, riding is a near-homophone to writhing.
"Range" has three possible meanings. For one, it's a near-homophone for rain. The word itself can mean a cooking surface, as in a grill. This imagery reminds me of an atomizer for a vaping pen (maybe that's a stretch). Range also means "a wide variety".
wrote:
corraling, conniving
"corraling" could be a near-heteronym for "coral" - in the sense of "coral lords" - but converted into a verb.
"conniving" both means "to secretly cooperate" as well as to be "connivent" - a botany term for parts of plants being in close contact. Note that Eucalyptus flowers are actually a bunch of connivent red stamens. Both senses of "connive" are metaphors for homophones - two meanings cooperating/branching from a single word. It's also a metaphor for a single person having multiple personas (more on that later).
wrote:
today I'm looking for the thing thats raw
"raw" is a near-homophone for "wrong" The vocals are doubled in the song at this point, one in falsetto. The doubling is reminiscent of the word "range" in the previous line. It almost sounds like one is singing "raw" and the other "wrong". Maybe I'm imagining that though, it's hard to tell. The coexistence of both words suggests that habitually using weed is simultaneously an attempt to get raw feelings and a deteriorating habit - something wrong.
Note that the word "I'm" is not even in the song. Perhaps this was unintentional, or perhaps it was a sign to encourage us to listen to the lyrics directly instead of blindly following what's printed.
wrote:
it's a chimps brawl like a stunt man I'm gonna take a fall
Again, "like a" is not actually spoken in the song.
"chimp's brawl" is a homophone for "chimp's brawn". I swear I hear "brawn" in the non-falsetto vocal. "Stunt man" is a near-homophone for "stunned man". Both of these homophones work similarly to "raw/wrong" in the tolerance buildup sense.
"Fall" is a homophone for both falling down and the season - evidenced by "Halloween" later in the song. Brings to mind flower petals, seeds, or pollen falling, especially with the descending harp arpeggio that follows. Maybe Eucalyptus blooms around Halloween in California? Someone else will have to confirm/deny that.
This is a good place to mention the obvious homophone of "high" in the song title - both high on weed and in a high location. This is contrasted by "falling". The highs brought by weed (as well as a familiar persona) now become a height to fall from.
wrote:
if all I needed was a bed and edibles
"bed and edibles" is a near-homophone to "bitten edibles". "Edibles" is a homophone for both "something to eat", like fruit from a tree, and edible marijuana.
wrote:
today Halloween can make me change|but my skin's designed in echoes of past highs.
"change" sounds more like "jane" the way it's sung - slang for smoking a J. "Janed on Halloween" is another wording of the title "Season High". "Designed in" is a homophone for "designing". Change/jane work together with the imagery of "designing"/"designed in" skin for Halloween - wearing a costume. Also a metaphor for songwriting, and how perhaps Avey worries that his songs are becoming mere "echoes of past highs", similar to how weed can lose its magic if used habitually. This aspect of the song is answered in "When you Left Me", which I believe represents Avey and his primary persona are breaking up so that something new can grow. Also brings to mind the lyric "in pieces". I get the sense that one of the major themes of this album are artistic death. It's like Avey's response to "Panda Bear Meets the Grim Reaper", but more subtle. Avey's "looking for the thing that's raw" instead of wanting to put on a costume of his former self. He is mourning the death of his persona, while at the same time it being the dawn of a new one.
Anyway, I think the lyrics in this album deserve to be discussed more. They're poetic af.