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You gotta be crazy, you gotta have a real need.
You gotta sleep on your toes, and when you're on the street,
You gotta be able to pick out the easy meat with your eyes closed.
And then moving in silently, down wind and out of sight,
You gotta strike when the moment is right without thinking.
And after a while, you can work on points for style.
Like the club tie, and the firm handshake,
A certain look in the eye and an easy smile.
You have to be trusted by the people that you lie to,
So that when they turn their backs on you,
You'll get the chance to put the knife in.
You gotta keep one eye looking over your shoulder.
You know it's going to get harder, and harder, and harder as you get older.
And in the end you'll pack up and fly down south,
Hide your head in the sand,
Just another sad old man,
All alone and dying of cancer.
And when you loose control, you'll reap the harvest you have sown.
And as the fear grows, the bad blood slows and turns to stone.
And it's too late to lose the weight you used to need to throw around.
So have a good drown, as you go down, all alone,
Dragged down by the stone.
I gotta admit that I'm a little bit confused.
Sometimes it seems to me as if I'm just being used.
Gotta stay awake, gotta try and shake off this creeping malaise.
If I don't stand my own ground, how can I find my way out of this maze?
Deaf, dumb, and blind, you just keep on pretending
That everyone's expendable and no-one has a real friend.
And it seems to you the thing to do would be to isolate the winner
And everything's done under the sun,
And you believe at heart, everyone's a killer.
Who was born in a house full of pain.
Who was trained not to spit in the fan.
Who was told what to do by the man.
Who was broken by trained personnel.
Who was fitted with collar and chain.
Who was given a pat on the back
Who was breaking away from the pack.
Who was only a stranger at home.
Who was ground down in the end.
Who was found dead on the phone.
Who was dragged down by the stone.
You gotta sleep on your toes, and when you're on the street,
You gotta be able to pick out the easy meat with your eyes closed.
And then moving in silently, down wind and out of sight,
You gotta strike when the moment is right without thinking.
And after a while, you can work on points for style.
Like the club tie, and the firm handshake,
A certain look in the eye and an easy smile.
You have to be trusted by the people that you lie to,
So that when they turn their backs on you,
You'll get the chance to put the knife in.
You gotta keep one eye looking over your shoulder.
You know it's going to get harder, and harder, and harder as you get older.
And in the end you'll pack up and fly down south,
Hide your head in the sand,
Just another sad old man,
All alone and dying of cancer.
And when you loose control, you'll reap the harvest you have sown.
And as the fear grows, the bad blood slows and turns to stone.
And it's too late to lose the weight you used to need to throw around.
So have a good drown, as you go down, all alone,
Dragged down by the stone.
I gotta admit that I'm a little bit confused.
Sometimes it seems to me as if I'm just being used.
Gotta stay awake, gotta try and shake off this creeping malaise.
If I don't stand my own ground, how can I find my way out of this maze?
Deaf, dumb, and blind, you just keep on pretending
That everyone's expendable and no-one has a real friend.
And it seems to you the thing to do would be to isolate the winner
And everything's done under the sun,
And you believe at heart, everyone's a killer.
Who was born in a house full of pain.
Who was trained not to spit in the fan.
Who was told what to do by the man.
Who was broken by trained personnel.
Who was fitted with collar and chain.
Who was given a pat on the back
Who was breaking away from the pack.
Who was only a stranger at home.
Who was ground down in the end.
Who was found dead on the phone.
Who was dragged down by the stone.
Lyrics submitted by Demau Senae
Track duration: 17:15
"Dogs" as written by Roger/gilmour Waters
Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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The striking formatting of the song is hard to explain; It seems the 1st part takes you on a 3rd person view of someone's entire career who's played the game and will end up "all alone and dying of cancer" AIIIEEEE!!!
Then we're back to someone else, maybe (Not the Cancer Man?) who will end up poorly in the end as well as he ages and cannot play the game. Again, this concept can apply to many ways to live your life.
Then we're in the 1st person (all of these "movements" separated by musical interludes), nervous, self-loathing, sickened, calculating. These lyrical segments do not fit together like a story (a clear story, anyway). Individually, they're relative to one another in going through the same type of experience, but there may not be any connection between them otherwise.
Finally, my favorite part:
I was "born in a house full of pain" and "trained not to spit in the fan" (Conservative wisdom from the "parent" trying to keep the child from doing stupid, obvious things). I rebelled but whoever this last bit is about did as he was told and is probably the core of the individuals represented above (I suppose). Iron fist upbringing can breed a "dog" that will break away from the pack but not a good family man and who was, sing it, "Dragged Down By The Stone" in the end.
Dogs are loyal and can be trained to be vicious, but they are Submissive and take a beating from the Master, and I think that's what the ending addresses and that at the core of all of these competitive over-achievers is a whimpering, scared, beaten dog.
Woof, Woof...
It goes along with MY personal saying which is:
"Money does not mean anything. Love is everything. And when you go to your deathbed, you will not be thinking of the money you made, but the lives you touched. If you did not touch any lives, then you're an idiot."
However in this song, it differs a little. It talks about being evil to get there, and reaping what you sow. I disagree a little. I think you will always reap what you sow, all throughout life, and even being good all the way, will not stop people from finding joy in knocking you down, if they can.
Given the two, however, you will lose at love as well, more often than not, and I doubt Cancer comes from some "Spiritual Atonement". I think that you are going to have the good & bad, at whatever level you choose in your life, and there is something to be said for material gain, which can and will control you. Make you devastated at it's loss. Possibly as much as the loss of love. Yet in the end, the material will really mean little, if anything. The experience maybe. The knowledge of the people who were also "just along for the ride" and when the ride is over, you had better be ok with it.
I end up feeling obligated to finally step in when it seems like the point of absolute no return, often because the sheep still pretend that nothing is closing in around them as they seem dig deeper. I try to use language to clearly explain what they are doing without trying to get involved in their games. I dont know if its because they dont realize it themselves or all my imagination but at that point it seems the intervention worked for the trapped but only because i stepped in it instead.
At this point I feel trapped I can take part until I feel that things wont simply blow over unless something has to be done and where i choose to stand from the neutral zone in someones defense but they deny any such activity.
Then literally in the same breath of this rejection everyone begins to continue their bullshit as smoothly as they denied it, up except I'm their new target. I try and keep my speech as literal as possible leaving out anything that might be misinterpreted or cause discomfort, steering the conversations and topics from trouble without getting involved in their games. They go around blatantly sounding off and flashing their teeth in conversation yet deny it all.
When this happens the stone drags me down, unable to see how they can deny it while every ounce of them quivers with their intent. But I cant get myself to take part of the games once they've been denied and if i'm their target the stone wall is a defense i find myself in to allow nothing to be mistaken. If the people are unaware or have no memories of these happenings than who knows what they are capable of.
so essentially what should be done as these games develop?
do you let things happen as they do?
remain at sideline analysis?
do you shepherd the flock?
is division necessary?
when is the moment of action and is it always necessary?
Once engaged how do you diffuse it?
I find the "Animals" album to be vastly underrated. After all these years, I find myself listening to it most of all.
I've worked in radio since 1984 and what a wonderful interpretation of a certain segment of broadcasting this is for me, personally. There are several departments to a large broadcasting operation. They are very, very segmented .. it's almost like high school with the different social classes. There's engineering (these are the smart guys that work on the transmitter and fix the mixing boards and the transponder on the tower).. there is accounting, which schedules the commercials and keeps track of all of the accounts and pay structure (these are the math whizzes) .. there is, of course, several layers of management (these are the inept clumsy geeks that can't do anything right. And that, actually, is the truth. All their wives are hideous ugly and they are pitiful creatures, tormented even) .. there is talent, which is on-air (and that is broken down in to "news guys" and "music guys") .. and then there is sales.
"Dogs" so flawlessly describes the salesmen that it is spooky.
I first went on the air for a paycheck in 1984 and it has never changed with these guys. And all of us jocks so look down on these guys. And this song captures it perfectly.
One of the reasons I wanted to get in to radio was that old tv show "WKRP in Cincinnati". That show is so amazing in it's caricature of the radio industry. And this song was played during an episode. I don't think it was by accident. Obviously, WKRP writers had a close connection with radio. And they must have felt the same way as me about "Dogs" from the "Animals" album. Mr Carlson asks Johnny Fever in the episode that this song is in "Is that dogs barking on that record?" and Johnny goes, "I hope so".
They probably didn't mean it the way some of us in radio take it but, man, they hit it dead solid center, night in the ruts, when it comes to salesmen in broadcasting.
*POW* Outta the park .. Gone.
..
what would happen if you were to spit in a fan? it would most likely not reach it and blow back in your face yea? Well I reckon trained not to spit in the fan means they can basically do anything they want to others but they are taught to make sure their actions dont come back to hit them in the face.
Cause the song is basically about enforcing your (or the pigs) will on the rest of the animals, to do this they had to be be strong and crafty. I reckon the fan line is more about that, do what it takes, but make sure it dosn't come back to haunt you.
which as we all know by the end of the song, it does.
just my thoughts on it... absolutely loved this song along with the rest of the album. Ordered Animal Farm to check that out aswell. but those lyrics at the end are the perfect climax to 17 minutes of song writing genius:
who was born in a house full of pain,
who was trained not to spit in the fan,
who was told what to do by the man,
who was broken by trained personnel,
who was fitted with collar and chain,
who was given a seat in the stand,
who was breaking away from the pack,
who was only a stranger at home,
who was ground down in the end,
who was found dead on the phone,
who was dragged down by the stone
It's lose the weight. Not loose the weight (or loosen).
Please fix and remove my comment. Thanks! :)
(he grew up in a place that was abusive)
who was trained not to spit in the fan,
(when you spit in a fan, spit flies back in your face. So life has surprizes)
who was told what to do by the man,
(who was given exact instructions by God how to live life?)
who was broken by trained personnel,
(who's parents are perfect?)
Who was fitted with collar and chain,
(who accepted the life of a dog?)
who was given a pat on the back,
(who was treated like a dog?)
who was breaking away from the pack,
(top of the class, distinguished)
who was only a stranger at home,
(yet could not deal with his family and "real" people)
who was ground down in the end,
(and he experiances the self destruction)
who was found dead on the phone,
(died while stressing at work -honorable way to die in Hindu belief)
who was dragged down by the stone
(Mark 9:42 "And whoever causes one of these little ones who believe to stumble, it would be better for him if, with a heavy millstone hung around his neck, he had been cast into the sea")
Love the Bible refference. Excellent observation.
RJ