So Says I is a song by American

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...

band

The Shins The Shins is an American indie rock band formed in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 1996. The band is the project of singer-songwriter James Mercer, who has served as the band's sole constant member throughout numerous line-up changes. The band's c ...

, the third track of their second album ''

Chutes Too Narrow ''Chutes Too Narrow'' is the second studio album by American rock band The Shins. Produced by Phil Ek and the band themselves, the album was released on October 21, 2003, through Sub Pop. The album title comes from a lyric in the song "Young Pilgr ...

''. It was released as a single on 21 September 2003 on

Sub Pop Records Sub is a common abbreviation of words beginning with the prefix "sub-". Sub or SUB may also refer to Places * Juanda International Airport, Surabaya, Indonesia, IATA code SUB Computing and technology * , an HTML tag for subscript * SUB designate ...

. The song was later included in

Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 Windows XP Media Center Edition (MCE) is a version of the Windows XP operating system which was the first version of Windows to include Windows Media Center, designed to serve as a home-entertainment hub. The last version, Windows XP Media Cent ...

as sample music. The song was written by the band's lead singer, James Mercer. His lyrics reference and compare life under

communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a ...

and

capitalist Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, price system, pri ...

economic systems. This song is performed by

live in the

Gilmore Girls ''Gilmore Girls'' is an American comedy-drama television series created by Amy Sherman-Palladino and starring Lauren Graham ( Lorelai Gilmore) and Alexis Bledel ( Rory Gilmore). The show debuted on October 5, 2000, on The WB and became a flag ...

season four episode, "Girls in Bikinis, Boys Doin' The Twist." It remains a fan favorite and is often performed as a set closer at their live shows. The song was released for the

Rock Band A rock band or pop band is a small musical ensemble that performs rock music, pop music, or a related genre. A four-piece band is the most common configuration in rock and pop music. In the early years, the configuration was typically two gui ...

video game series as downloadable content through the

Rock Band Network The ''Rock Band'' Network (abbreviated RBN) was a downloadable content service designed by Harmonix with the help of Microsoft to allow musical artists and record labels to make their music available as playable tracks for the ''Rock Band'' seri ...

in March 2010.

Music video

The

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing devi ...

was

directed Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''D ...

and

animated Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most ani ...

by Plates Animation Inc. It starts with a 'prehistoric'

penguin Penguins ( order Sphenisciformes , family Spheniscidae ) are a group of aquatic flightless birds. They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere: only one species, the Galápagos penguin, is found north of the Equator. Highly adapt ...

extracting a tooth from a walrus (the tooth is symbolic throughout the video, as a metaphor to

materialism Materialism is a form of philosophical monism which holds matter to be the fundamental substance in nature, and all things, including mental states and consciousness, are results of material interactions. According to philosophical material ...

). The penguins are divided into

Communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a ...

and

roles as the video progresses. The 'Red' penguins are in upheaval (similar to actual historic events). Ominously, the 'Red' penguin leaders are moving strategic assets in a war room, focusing their attention to the

West West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

. The 'Capitalist' penguins (with ties) are oblivious to the world outside their lives. A derelict penguin (sans tie) is begging for spare fish. One penguin finally shows pity and gives a walrus tooth to the homeless penguin. The video closes out with a protest (which mirrors an earlier protest by Red Penguins). Both sets of protesters ironically want the same thing, as many of the signs for both have the same message ("Let us Fly" and "Free the Penguin").

Single track listing

# "So Says I" - (2:47) # "Mild Child" - (4:28) # "Gone for Good (alternate version)" - (3:07)

References

External links

The Shins official websiteSub Pop Records"So Says I"
(music video, QuickTime format) The Shins songs 2003 singles Songs written by James Mercer (musician) 2003 songs {{2000s-single-stub