What Do It Mean

**"What Do It Mean"** is indicated to be a Quentin King track from *My Smash Hits* in the advertisement for Whispering Pines records and tapes. The song deals with the existential question: "What does it mean if it all means nothing?" In the song, King sings about "a life spent talking when my epitaph would do," and expresses regret for spending too much time fixating on the future and past.

The lyrics "I’m gonna get it together and live forever" and "I’ll make a deal with the devil and live forever" juxtaposed with "gonna fly through my life 'til I crash into the ending" seem to indicate while King knows he isn't immortal, but perhaps he hopes his fame or notoriety will give him something similar.

The song addresses the lack of intrinsic meaning in life and how quickly it is over. Like in "Where Did the Time Go," it suggests you have to create your own meaning, and seems to do so triumphantly. King sings of the ways he has grown, and the joys and loves he has known, which may be the meaning he has found in his life.

The song ends with a spoken outro by Tarbell:

"Thank you thank you thank you folks. It's been delightful. So long, good luck, goodbye. Until next time, may you live until you die!"

## Background and influences

"What Do It Mean" was introduced in the seance with a spoken segment by Tubbs Tarbell:

"I know plenty of you out there are like me; you sit around a lot just wondering why. Why we're here. Why we feel the things we feel. Why things are the way they are. Hm. Yep, you can spend your whole life and probably your whole afterlife asking the same dang question: what do it mean?"
## Music Video

The lyric video for "What Do It Mean" features black and white footage of a reel to reel tape deck playing the song in the forest setting. The footage loops, and there is a bright light that passes over the reel to reel during one part of the loop.

## Annotated lyrics

So much to say, but my words mean nothing

A life spent talking when my epitaph would do

Wasting my days with my mind on the future

and my past like a chain that won't ever let me go

Where would I go? And would a lone soul miss me?

If I leave in the night I'll only be running

with the weight of the world at the tips of my fingers

A long lost soul in the wilderness alone

All of the joy I've known,

The ways I've grown,

the loves I've shown my heart to,

I'm gonna get it together and live forever

Day after day, the world keeps turning

The stars in the sky above us keep burning,

but it isn't for you, and it ain't for me neither

Try though I might, I was never a believer

Taking it slow, but it all goes quickly

The time that it takes is all I'll take with me

so, I'm saving it up, just to go out and spend it

Gonna fly through my life 'til I crash into the ending

All of the joy I've known

the ways I've grown,

the loves I've shown my heart to

I'm gonna get it together and live forever

I'll make a deal with the devil

And live forever never knowing why

I don't know why

What does it mean if it all means nothing?

What does it mean if it all means nothing?

What does it mean if it all means nothing?

What does it mean if it all means nothing?

What does it mean if it all means nothing?

What does it mean if it all means nothing?

What does it mean if it all means nothing?

(Thank you, thank you, thank you, folks

It's been delightful

So long, good luck, goodbye

Until next time, may you live until you die)

## Potential lyrical references

Frequently, Lord Huron's songs explore similar themes, sometimes they have stories that are covered by more than one song. These lyrical connections are merely for reference:

1. ↑ Various songs reference the concept of living forever, including "The Man Who Lives Forever" and "Secret of Life"

## Sources

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1  Atwoood Magazine interview

"The Moon Doesn't Mind" (Roy Casey)
"**Mine Forever**"
"(One Hellava Performer)" (Tubbs Tarbell)
"Love Me Like You Used To"
"Meet Me in the City"
"(Sing for Us Tonight)"(Tubbs Tarbell)

"**Long Lost**" (Leigh Green and Hauser Godwin)
"Twenty Long Years"
"Drops in the Lake" (*Drops in the Lake (film)*)
"Where Did the Time Go"
"**Not Dead Yet**" (The Phantom Riders)
"(Deep Down Inside Ya)"(Tubbs Tarbell)

"I Lied"(with Allison Ponthier) (Donnie and Midge)
"At Sea"(*L’Île Cosmique*)
"**What Do It Mean**"(Quentin King)
"Time's Blur"
**Bonus tracks:**
"Your Other Life" and "Ton Autre Vie"