Academia
By: Dan Carey, Sia Furler

Written by: Dan Carey, Sia Furler

Versions:
  1. Academia (3:18)
    Available on Some People Have Real Problems.
    Credits
    Harry Deerness: Accordion
    Sam Dixon: Bass
    Martin Slattery: Clarinet, Flute
    Joey Waronker: Drums
    Dan Carey: Guitar
    Gus Seyffert: Guitar, Vocals (Background)
    Jimmy Hogarth: Guitar, Percussion, Producer
    Ed Stevens: keyboards
    Sia Furler: Vocals
    Beck Hansen: Vocals (Background)
    Brian Lebarton: Vocals (Background)
    Inara George: Vocals (Background)
    Lucia Ribisi: Vocals (Background)
    Ryan Falkner: Vocals (Background)
 
Lyrics:
Academia [Version (a)]:

You can be my alphabet and I will be your calculator
And together we'll work out on the escalator
I will time you as you run up the down
And you'll measure my footsteps as I blow through this town

The mean of our heights is divided by the nights
Which is times'd by the daggers and the root of all our fights
The pass of your poem just to swathe me in your knowing
And the beauty of the word is that you don't have to show it

Oh academia, you can pick me up
Soothe me with your words when I need your love

I am a dash and you are a dot
When will you see that I am all that you've got?
I'm a binary code that you cracked long ago
But to you I'm just a novel that you wish you'd never wrote

I'm greater than X and lesser than Y
So why is it that I still can't catch your eye?
You're a cryptic crossword, a song I've never heard
While I sit here drawing circles, I'm afraid of being hurt

Oh academia, you can pick me up
Soothe me with your words when I need your love

You're a difficult equation with a knack for heart evasion
Will you listen to my proof or will you add another page on?
It appears to me the graph has come and stolen all the laughs
It appears to me the pen has overanalyzed again

And if I am a number, I'm infinity plus one
And if you are five words, you are afraid to be the one
And if you are a number, you're infinity plus one
And if I am four words, then I am needing of your love

Oh academia, you can pick me up
Soothe me with your words when I need your love

Academia
 
The Song:

Beck appears on Sia's 2008 album, Some People Have Real Problems, as he did on her last album. This time he appears on a song called "Academia." Beck is part of the chorus, along with a number of other background singers (including his then-bandmates, Brian LeBarton and Ryan Falkner). On the same album, Beck also sang on "Death By Chocolate."

Apparently Sia emailed Beck asking if he would like to come to the studio to sing on "Academia." Sia never heard back, but then on the day, he surprised her by showing up and helping out.

Sia explained the song's meaning, "You know how people who can't really express themselves sometimes bury themselves in knowledge? Well, maybe I might know someone a bit like that."

It's a fun song, I really enjoy the lyrics.

 
Notes: