Many people have opinions about Liz Fraser's lyrics—or lack thereof—during her career as a member of the former Cocteau Twins from 1982-1996. I prefer to avoid discussing the finer points of whether or not what she actually sang really mattered or matters. Only the listener can decide that. Note, however, that all three former band members have maintained that she never sang "gibberish" or meaningless noise. On some albums she employed a "cut and paste" method of lyric writing, as on Blue Bell Knoll; on others she might have strung together foreign words from various languages, as on Victorialand. While listening to her singing in the context of Cocteau Twins is quite often a very subjective experience, to simply refer to her lyrics as "gibberish" or to dismiss them as "irrelevant" diminishes the effort she put into formulating them, not to mention the beautiful and complex melodies that gave them life. On at least three albums—Heaven or Las Vegas, Four-Calendar Café and Milk & Kisses—the lyrics very cleary did mean something. (For more on her approach to and feelings about lyrics, read the Lyrics page on CocteauTwins.com.)

If you're on the side of the argument against lyric interpretation, read no further. Otherwise, I hope you find these at least interesting and thought-provoking.

These lyrics transcriptions are almost purely hypothetical. Only a few songs have actual lyrics which are verifiable (i.e. Liz has actually written them down for the purposes of a record sleeve, video or for closed captions on TV). Those are shown in bold type throughout the site. Otherwise, what you see is what I imagine them to be, or what I have managed to piece together from my own ideas and those of others. I make no claim that these transcriptions are accurate in any way—nor do I claim to have the "most accurate" interpretations—other than those shown in bold. (Elizabeth and I are not personal friends, after all.) In some cases I have only transcribed a few select lines from some songs which I feel convey the essence of the selection, since I couldn't provide a more complete interpretation.

...and just in case you're wondering how Liz might feel about this, here's what she had to say in a 1995 interview:

"We have had people on the Internet who have written translations and they obviously have a natural talent for writing. Their interpretations are so beautiful that sometimes I have preferred what they have written to what I actually sang, it has been much more eloquent. Those people are not so precious about us [Cocteau Twins] and just enjoyed using their talent and it is lovely to witness. But some people are very...It seems that some people are convinced they know us better than we know ourselves, and that we ought to listen to them. They want to steer us and they are very precious about us and they do not want other people to have us. If you really love something, then you have to let it go and endorse everything about it that attracted you to it in the first place. It's just like a love affair or any relationship: you have to treat it in the same way or you'll just suffocate and destroy it in the end if you don't." [BOYZ Magazine (London): Saturday November 11, 1995, page 8.]

Finally, there have been a number people who have contributed to these transcriptions over the years and I have, in some cases, integrated the transcriptions of others where I felt someone has made a particularly excellent guess. They are noted wherever possible. My apologies if I have forgotten anyone.

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to e-mail me at michael@etherweave.com. I'd love to hear from you.

Michael Borum

P.S. — Visit the official Cocteau Twins Web site for more great information, links and other resources about my favorite band.