"Slight Figure of Speech" is the eleventh song on The Avett Brothers' 2009 album I and Love and You with a playtime of 2:22. It was first performed at Bojangles' Coliseum in Charlotte, NC on August 8, 2009. It also appeared in the Slight Figure of Speech 7" vinyl which was released in 2010 and 2015's Live, Vol. Four.
The studio version of the song features additional vocals and percussions from frequent Avett collaborator Paleface.
Video[]
Lyrics[]
They say you gotta lose a couple fights to win
It's hard to tell from where I'm sitting
They say that this is where the fun begins
Guess it's time that I was quitting
A slight figure of speech
I cut my chest wide open
They come and watch us bleed
Is it all like I was hoping now
They said "I hope that you will never change"
I went and cut my hair
They said "Don't take your business to the big town"
I bought us tickets there
A slight figure of speech
I cut my chest wide open
They come and watch us bleed
Is it all like I was hoping now
What did you expect
And what did you forget
That to live you let go of me with each step
It becomes a progression I won't let regret manifest
To aggression
Are you to assess what I've been? What I am? Or become?
Did you stop to accept how pathetically dumb
It can be to
Attack those around 'cause you're
True to color, a town, a time, or a place?
It's not you, it's not mine
And besides it is gone
And you never will find it again
But I don't want to fight
I just ask let me be
I won't give the chance to be my enemy
So go home
Think it through
A jet plane and a big idea
I jump over the seat
What Ifs hot on my trail
But they can't catch me, no
A slight figure of speech
I cut my chest wide open
They come and watch us bleed
Is it all like I was hoping now
Music video promos[]
The band made several "The American Budget" promo videos for their music video starring comedian Andy Daly.
I and Love and You tracks[]
I and Love and You (Album)
1. "I and Love and You"
2. "January Wedding"
3. "Head Full of Doubt / Road Full of Promise"
4. "And It Spread"
5. "The Perfect Space"
6. "Ten Thousand Words"
7. "Kick Drum Heart"
8. "Laundry Room"
9. "Ill With Want"
10. "Tin Man"
12. "Slight Figure of Speech"
13. "It Goes On and On"
14. "Incomplete and Insecure"
Live, Vol. Four tracks[]
Live, Vol. Four
1. "Intro" / "Feeling Good"
2. "Satan Pulls the Strings"
3. "Laundry Room"
4. "Another is Waiting"
5. "Shame"
6. "Kick Drum Heart"
7. "Rejects in the Attic"
8. "Ten Thousand Words"
9. "Talk on Indolence"
10. "Auld Lang Syne"
11. "The Boys are Back in Town"
12. "I and Love and You"
13. "Slight Figure of Speech"
14. "Happy Trails"