Kids

*Kids* is the fifth track off Oracular Spectacular, the third and final single off the album, and the sixth and final track off Time to Pretend.

## Kids

### Released

October 13, 20082008 - 2012 ( radio release)

### Link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fe4EK4HSPkI

## Music video

MGMT released the official music video on June 3, 2009. It was directed by Ray Tintori, who directed MGMT's previous videos for "Time to Pretend" and "Electric Feel."
The video follows a toddler menaced by monsters that his inattentive mother (played by Joanna Newsom) cannot see. It begins with a quote ostensibly from Mark Twain, on a background of fire. The quote at the beginning of the video ("Beware that, when fighting monsters, you yourself do not become a monster... for when you gaze long into the abyss. The abyss gazes also into you..") attributed to Mark Twain is actually a quote from Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil. Then, a crudely designed countdown sequence from five to one plays, with a rapid set of fuzzy, low-quality pictures of children in the background. After that, the toddler is seen in his crib, as monsters suddenly appears and show their claws at him. He is then picked up by his mom and she walks out of her house, then down the street, while the child sees humans as bloody monsters. His inattentive mother then places him down and he begins to walk down the street, and then begins to cry and run in fear of the monsters. The toddler smiles as he comes across the band performing the song in futuristic costumes. The toddler gains an MGMT headband before being retrieved to his mother by a faceless policeman, and his mom discards the headband. As the mother drives him home, the toddler sees monsters and a creepy sheepdog outside and in a DVD. The video shifts from live-action to animation, and the van is revealed to be a scab on a naked woman. Various surreal things begin to happen in the animated world. The video ends with the little boy running from a monster and then climbing onto the hand of a giant Andrew VanWyngarden. The boy happily waves his arms at VanWyngarden, but he explodes and the boy spins into darkness.
The video has been criticized for its treatment of the toddler who appears to be truly frightened throughout the video, although it is stated on the MGMT website, "No children were harmed in the making of this video." The animated sequence was done by Christy Karacas, director of the *Superjail!* TV series, as well as Henry Thurlow and Lizzi Akana.

## Lyrics

>
> Five, four, three, two, one, ah!
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>
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> You were a child crawling on your knees toward it
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> Making mama so proud, but your voice is too loud
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> We like to watch you laughing
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> You pick the insects off plants, no time to think of consequences
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> Control yourself, take only what you need from it
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> A family of trees wanted to be haunted
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> Control yourself, take only what you need from it
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> A family of trees wanted to be haunted
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> The water is warm, but it's sending me shivers
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> A baby is born crying out for attention
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> The memories fade like looking through a fogged mirror
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> Decision to decisions are made and not bought
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> But I thought this wouldn't hurt a lot, I guess not
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>
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> Control yourself, take only what you need from it
>
> A family of trees wanted to be haunted
>
> Control yourself, take only what you need from it
>
> A family of trees wanted to be haunted
>
>
>
> Control yourself, take only what you need from it
>
> A family of trees wanted to be haunted
>
> Control yourself, take only what you need from it
>
> A family of trees wanted to be haunted
>
> Control yourself, take only what you need from it
>
> A family of trees wanted to be haunted
>
> Control yourself, take only what you need from it
>
> A family of trees
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>
>
>
>