Touted by the band as being a concept album without a distinct concept, Yoshimi tells a bizarre story of love and devotion, sacrifice and redemption, all contextualized through a heroine named Yoshimi (who may or may not be the Boredoms/OOIOO multi-instrumentalist, who plays on the album) and a robot that falls in love with its adversary and commits suicide rather than defeat its beloved. With the release of Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, the Flaming Lips seem poised to square off against their alternative brethren once again. From Zaireeka, a four-disc set of divergently complementary music designed to be played on four stereos simultaneously, to the shrieking wonder of Oh My Gawd!, to the inexplicable success of “She Don’t Use Jelly,” to the snarky pop triumph of their last album, The Soft Bulletin, the Lips have shown themselves to be an authentically alternative rock band in an era when the “alternative” label gets hung on anything that positions itself remotely outside of mainstream rock. The Lips’ twisted history is perhaps the most amazing. It’s particularly ironic that these two musical entities have survived for the past two decades while so many of their contemporaries have long since crashed and burned. Its really awesome.In the wake of punk’s cooling tumult and new wave’s aloof and icy veneer, the mid-’80s spawned visionary sonic experimentalists like Butthole Surfers and Flaming Lips, bands intent on boat-rocking of the first magnitude. He goes on to say how the track version has a very uplifting feel to it, that she will undoubtedly win the battle, and they then play a version of the song where she probably won't win. He says that the Yoshimi in the song isn't related to the real one at all, her name was just excellent for rhyming. The line "Yoshimi, they don't believe me" popped up from Wayne from the title, and he started coming up with this whole story that didn't have much to do with Part Two. The Lips had also been working on a "melancholy melody" they hadn't really gotten very far on yet, for about a year. They were giving it a bunch of "silly joke titles", and Wayne just came up with Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots, since she screams a lot and "it sounds like this horrible machine is either trying to kill her or have sex with her or something like that". ![]() They were recording it with a girl named Yoshimi (she's the screaming girl), from a Japenese band The Boredoms. When they record songs in the studio, they are doing things really fast and just laying down a lot of tracks, and the part two actually came first. Since I'm supposed to be working on a project, I'll summarize what he says, since its a long story. General CommentI've got a live recording of them performing this song for a private show, and beforehand, Wayne talks about the song. He realizes that the "vitamins" she takes are in relation to the robots and so assumes that they will help her defeat them. The narrator believes in his older sibling so much that he knows she will protect him from these robots. The boy is also under the assumption that the robots can attack anyone, which is why his hero, his sister, is protecting the city. So the younger sibling creates this fantasy that the plague afflicting his sister are evil pink robots. The problem is that Yoshimi is the most afflicted of the family but she is the only one the little brother can depend on. ![]() Her little brother is telling the story and he believes in her despite his fear of giving in to the ruinous feelings that would destroy him if he gave in. I imagined that the pink robots = bad feelings, the city = the family, me = younger brother and vitamins maybe = anti-depressant pills?Įssentially the older sister is left to protect a broken down family from the scourge of depression. I had a similar notion to that of the depression idea. I just think that's pretty awe-inspiring!! This song, though it has some lyrics that create quite a bit of ambiguity as to the motivations behind it, has given each of us a reference point to a certain important part of each of our lives. A lot of people have listened to this song and have let it become a part of their reality. Look at all the emotions and stories attached to it. ![]() First of all may I note that this song is somehow incredibly powerful.
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