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Work ourselves, fingers to the bone
Suck the marrow, drain my soul
Pay your dues, and your debts
Pay your respect, everybody tells you
You pay for what you get
You pay for what you get
Everybody asks me how she's doing
Has she really lost her mind?
I said, I couldn't tell you
I've lost mine
Words, words, words, have you heard
A bird in hand is much better than,
Any number free to wander
Fly away...stay
You pay for what you get
You pay for what you get
Everybody asks me how she's doing
Since she went away
I said I couldn't tell you
I'm okay, I'm okay
Surprise, surprise you pay for what you get
You pay for what you get
Everybody asks me how she's doing
has she really lost her...
Everybody asks me how she's doing
Since she went away
I said I couldn't tell you I'm okay I'm okay
How are you?
You pay for what you get
Pay for what you get..oh..oh...
Suck the marrow, drain my soul
Pay your dues, and your debts
Pay your respect, everybody tells you
You pay for what you get
You pay for what you get
Everybody asks me how she's doing
Has she really lost her mind?
I said, I couldn't tell you
I've lost mine
Words, words, words, have you heard
A bird in hand is much better than,
Any number free to wander
Fly away...stay
You pay for what you get
You pay for what you get
Everybody asks me how she's doing
Since she went away
I said I couldn't tell you
I'm okay, I'm okay
Surprise, surprise you pay for what you get
You pay for what you get
Everybody asks me how she's doing
has she really lost her...
Everybody asks me how she's doing
Since she went away
I said I couldn't tell you I'm okay I'm okay
How are you?
You pay for what you get
Pay for what you get..oh..oh...
Lyrics submitted by Demau Senae, edited by Mellow_Harsher
Track duration: 04:33
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Pay for what you get refers to making sacrifices for whatever it is we want or do. No matter what path you take in life often we end up "paying" in another area. Here Dave refers to working and in the process, losing his girl. He is getting in essence what he paid for; working his fingers to the bone" (an illumination to his career aspirations). The phrasing has a double meaning- he gets paid monetarily (thru work) and the spoils of being professionally successful but it's at a hefty price. He loses his relationship because of his lack of attention to its importance. He ultimately regrets the outcome but sarcastically quips "surprise, surprise" as he obviously could of seen it coming.
1. You get what you put into something
2. You get something and you will have to pay for it
Personally I think he means it both ways in the song, he puts in the time and effort to get something let's just say a successful band hypothetically. Say in getting your goal it far exceeds what you've worked for and maybe due to the touring and schedule your girl leaves you.. It would almost seem that you're paying for the excess you've received.
Reasons for assumption
Dead sister is after song written so it probably has nothing to do with her.
Song goes from working for something to
"pay for what you get"
to everybody asks me **without her leaving yet** and it seems shed be going through alot with everything and he'd be ok at this point inthe game and I think you can here that it's not sarcastic or feigned in this one
to bird in hand where he seems to show a hint that he isn't sure if he wants to be with her or do his own thing (fly away stay) the more I think about that part the more I think it may be literal stay here or fly around with us on tour like him being a shitty inconsiderate boyfriend
"you pay for"
to everybody asks me with *her leaving*, without her losing her mind this happens in every rendition of the song. And he'd still be ok at this point in the game. His inflection almost seems like he really is doing great and is blowing over the thought of her focusing on himself
Sax solo (long TIME passes)
Surprise Surprise you pay for what you get. Sounds like hes feeling the loss of her then he loses his.
Work to get famous instead get crazy famous causes you to lose something you wish you kept
Get what you work for but you'll pay for what you get
Get it? Could be wrong but it seems to fit pretty well and accounts for the slight changes in the chorus over the song.
-Joel
1. You get what you put into something
2. You get something and you will have to pay for it
Personally I think he means it both ways in the song, he puts in the time and effort to get something let's just say a successful band hypothetically. Say in getting your goal it far exceeds what you've worked for and maybe due to the touring and schedule your girl leaves you.. It would almost seem that you're paying for the excess you've received.
Reasons for assumption
Dead sister is after song written so it probably has nothing to do with her.
Song goes from working for something to
"pay for what you get"
to everybody asks me **without her leaving yet** and it seems shed be going through alot with everything and he'd be ok at this point inthe game and I think you can here that it's not sarcastic or feigned in this one
to bird in hand where he seems to show a hint that he isn't sure if he wants to be with her or do his own thing (fly away stay) the more I think about that part the more I think it may be literal stay here or fly around with us on tour like him being a shitty inconsiderate boyfriend
"you pay for"
to everybody asks me with *her leaving*, without her losing her mind this happens in every rendition of the song. And he'd still be ok at this point in the game. His inflection almost seems like he really is doing great and is blowing over the thought of her focusing on himself
Sax solo (long TIME passes)
Surprise Surprise you pay for what you get. Sounds like hes feeling the loss of her then he loses his.
Work to get famous instead get crazy famous causes you to lose something you wish you kept
Get what you work for but you'll pay for what you get
Get it? Could be wrong but it seems to fit pretty well and accounts for the slight changes in the chorus over the song.
-Joel
And the part where he says, " I said I couldn't tell you I'm okay, I'm okay", seems to me as if he's saying he couldn't tell that person that he himself is okay. And then he's trying to convince himself that he is.
I could be way off, but I spend a lot of time trying to convince myself that I'm okay and that's just how I took it. Truly a very good song, even if you can't personally relate to it.
he has a great way of giving words to my emotions
At first I really only liked 3 or 4 songs from UTTAD. But slowly, as I've progressed as a fan, Lover Lay Down is really the only one I don't like or love.
Once again, he's writing ambiguously for the sakes of listener accessibility. This song is about whatever you want it to be about, just like any other lyrically decent song.
The choruses tell us the original thing that lead Dave to ponder such a depressing thought and it is only the same thing that inspired most of the greatest songs ever written... a female, of course! Probably that same gal made infamous by "Halloween" and "Grey Street" (and arguably "The Stone"). A lot of people probably would say things like "Why would she dump such a fine young gentleman such as yourself? Has she really lost her mind?". This obvious contradiction was starting to make him lose his own mind. At the time he was probably beginning to realize that no matter what he does it isn't going to make her be with him, which then evolved into the much broader viewpoint he conveys in the first verse; Good things don't always come to good people.
But WAIT A SECOND, just when you thought Dave was going to just sit around and cry about it all the time like your sorry ass does, heres comes the second verse. Bringing out yet another tired cliche most of us have heard throughout our lives, "A bird in hand is [better than two in the bush]". At it's core this cliche is trying to tell you to appreciate what you DO have, though Dave is starting to wonder if maybe it is really advocating that you should forget about striving for the best and just settle for what you've got. That sometimes people so desperately want something that they settle for the first thing that resembles it since they think that is better than not having anything at all, and then they complain and wonder "Why can't I have better" when it is because they themselves settled for worse. Is that what he was doing with this woman of his? Does he desire love so much that settled on this woman and her "love" instead of striving for the best?
The rest of the song is just more of the same, and I think by now the meaning is clear. But, thats just... like... my opinion, man.
Brandon