I dragged this lake looking for corpses
Dusted for prints, pried up the floorboards
Pieces of planes and black box recorders
Don't lie

I've been preoccupied with these sick, sick senses
That sense DNA on barbed wire fences
Maybe someday I'll find me a suspect
That has no alibi

New Year's Eve was as boring as heaven
I watched flies fuck on channel eleven
There was no one to kiss, nothing to drink
Except some old rotten milk someone left in the sink

There's no ring, there's no ring on the phone anymore
There's no reason to call I passed out on the floor
Smoked myself stupid and drank my insides raisin dry

But at the right place at the right time
I'll be dead wrong and you'll be just fine
And I won't have to quit doing fucked up shit
For anyone but me

At the right place at the right time
It will have been worth it to stand in line
And you won't have to stop
Saying "I love cops" for anyone but me
Your private eye

I dragged this lake looking for corpses
Dusted for prints, pried up the floorboards
Pieces of planes and black box recorders
Don't lie

I've been preoccupied with these sick, sick senses
That sense DNA on barbed wire fences
Maybe someday I'll find me a suspect
That has no alibi

But at the right place at the right time
I'll be dead wrong and you'll be just fine
And I won't have to quit doing fucked up shit
For anyone but me

At the right place at the right time
It will have been worth it to stand in line
And you won't have to stop
Saying "I love cops" for anyone but me
Your private eye
Your private eye

But at the right place at the right time
I'll be dead wrong and you'll be just fine
And I won't have to quit doing fucked up shit
For anyone but me

At the right place at the right time
It will have been worth it to stand in line
And you won't have to stop
Saying "I love cops" for anyone but me
Your private eye



Lyrics submitted by oofus

Track duration: 03:30

"Private Eye" as written by Peter Glenister/ben Watkins /

Lyrics © EMI Music Publishing, MEMORY LANE MUSIC GROUP

Lyrics powered by LyricFind


Private Eye song meanings
Add your thoughts

231 Comments

sort form View by:
  • 0
    General Comment:This song is about him being very jealous of his girlfriend, NO HES NOT A COP OR WANTS TO BE A COP. He tries to control her but falls into his own void were he caan't escape. He drives his loved once away with his green moster. Now he says hes all alone and has no one to hold or spend time with. That's it!!!
    Flag TheKingOfTheUnknownon October 25, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:One of my favs ak3 songs
    Flag charliepop500on October 04, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:To me, this song is about being cheated on by a significant other.

    "I dragged this lake looking for corpses
    Dusted for prints, pried up the floorboards
    Pieces of planes and black box recorders
    Don't lie"

    Sounds like he's going around trying to figure out if anything has happened. This investigation started by his pre-occupation of his "sick sixth senses". The senses being that something was going on behind his back, but couldn't prove it because she had someone disproving it, alibi.
    Flag x302xon August 09, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:its "I drive this late, Looking for corpses"
    and "And I've been preoccupied with these sick, sixth senses"


    No it ain't buddy!
    Flag Dee4Life1893on July 01, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:its "I drive this late, Looking for corpses"
    and "And I've been preoccupied with these sick, sixth senses"
    Flag ronin2580on February 15, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Ok, work with me here..
    "I dragged this lake looking for corpses
    Dusted for prints, pried up the floorboards
    Pieces of planes and black box recorders
    Don't lie"

    I think this is a huge metaphor describing how much work he is doing in finding proof that his ex girlfriend is hanging with other guys. And photos and such dont lie.

    "New Year's Eve was as boring as heaven
    I watched flies fuck on channel 11
    There was no one to kiss, there was nothing to drink
    Except some old rotten milk someone left in the sink
    And there's no ring on the phone anymore
    There's no reason to call I passed out on the floor
    Smoked myself stupid and drank my insides raisin dry"

    Obviously showing how hard of a time he is having after his loss of her.

    "But at the right place at the right time
    I'll be dead wrong and you'll be just fine
    And I won't have to quit doing fucked up shit
    For anyone but me"
    I think this means that hes doing harmful stuff such as cutting to himself, and one day either someone will find out such as the law, and he'll be forced to stop unvoluntarily.Or something such as that.

    "And at the right place at the right time
    It will have been worth it to stand in line
    And you won't have to stop
    Saying "I love cops" for anyone but me
    Your private eye "

    Showing how phyco he is, I think the girl knows the guy is stalking him and has called the cops multiple times to get him to stop.

    Private eye represents him watching from a distant unnoticably.
    Flag AmishInsurgenton September 28, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Since it hasn't been mentioned in a couple pages, to reiterate:

    "Pulp" by Charles Bukowski.

    This is that book in song form.
    Flag youtastegoodon August 22, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:he he

    i love this site.. best way to procrastinate, to read these arguments :D

    with the mtv thing... not all of us live in the US..
    or have foxtell shit
    JUST WATCH RAGE!!!!! thats the best music video show ever :D

    as for this song, no idea what it means
    i just no that its kickass, the lyrics are amazingly written and
    every alkaline trio song gives me shivers

    arggh... now iv gottaa go do that hw iv been putting off all holidays,
    thanks for the distraction tho

    xxx
    Flag ilovehoratioon April 27, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:This song is simple. It never really made much sense to me till I started dating my knew gf. It's basically about not trusting or just being suspicious of the person your with. With some girls you just get a feeling that their cheating on you or using you, but no matter how hard you look you don't find anything. There's always a reason or excuse. I can relate to it now.
    Flag frankdl4321on February 16, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I pretty much disagree with everyone saying it's about a relationship. I'm not starting drama, I understand everyone hast heir own interpretations, I'mjust saying that what I interpret is that it's not about a relationship...

    I think it's about inner turmoil of someone who doesn't feel that they have lived up to any standards they have set for themselves.
    He feels inadequate, feels like he can keep searching and searching, but hasn't been able to find himself yet, ahsn't been able to find proof that he has done anything to better himself... something like that.

    I'm a huge fan of Alkaline Trio and their deep, twisted lyrics. They send shivers through my bones...

    My sister had sorta a forensic science class, and she refers to this song as her forensics song....

    Pretty much you can't look at the surface with Alkaline Trio's songs... they usually have a much deeper meaning than what you think you see. It's most likely not about any sort of cop or P.I or anything, and I can say that based on the fact that Matt is very open about his hatred of cops, that that pretty much covers that...

    I love this song, though, and think it was a great way to start off the CD. Always gets me pumped up, and I've been an Alk Trio fan for probably close to 10 years now.... LOVE it!
    Flag x420geeklbcxon November 08, 2008   Link

Add your thoughts

Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.

Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!

Back to top
explain