They Might Be Giants: Certain People I Could Name Meaning

Certain People I Could Name Lyrics

The few surviving samurai survey the battle field
Count the arms, the legs and heads, and then divide by five
Drenched in blood, they move across the screen
Do I need to point or do you see the one I mean?

Chorus:
The one in back,
the way...

1. robra

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   Aug 2nd 2008 report

   There are so many dark people in this world (who we meet all the time, and probably know) that if they had their way, they would do things like the infamous dictators and evil people of history. And so many people that we'd all LIKE to think are "normal" who become school shooters, murderers and rapists. This song is asking people to wake up to the fact that we are surrounded by these types of people, and admit that we all have the power AND responsibility not to avoid or hide from them, but to point out and confront these people and their evils. This song emphasizes the horror of what supercriminals do, and says we all should be angry and united in putting these people away for the good of society--not afraid and selfishly just avoid them.
2. anonymous

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   Jun 9th 2007 report

   In my opinion, it is about these two people (doesn't matter if they're friends of family.) They both see these programs on TV and one of them tries to point out that the people in the programs remind him of people they know in real life.
3. anonymous

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   May 9th 2007 report

   I think it's about certain archetypes that we associate with people. How are mind will call associate a bossy person with a dictator or something.

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
4. ben

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   Oct 21st 2003 report

   To me, it sounds like the "certain people I could name" is Death.
   
   Each of the situations (a battlefield, a "genocidal overlord", and a nature documentary) have one thing in common: Death.