Fingers: 1-900-USA-NAILS
Prisoner: "operator I love you. Operator, I would never leave you... Operator I love to see your face pressed up against the glass. I need to hear the way your tongue tastes in my ear..."
Operator: "Put the receiver to your chest and let me know who loves you best."
Prisoner: "The county sheriff said that my baby is dead. They found him in some trash can, blue all clenched and chewed. Don't judge me, I'm not his real mother, I couldn't even recognize his face, his tears of wax, his skin like a subway running over spinal tracks. Operator can I confide you? They haven't got an ounce of proof! Those pigs locked me up to see what color i'd rot into! ( It wasn't me it was my false tiger limbs.. It wasn't me it was the garbage gryphon!) When i walk i wald alone (operator come on!), when I watch you through the phone (operator come on) and depupil these lonely eyes, the love scenes grafted to the sky are making me cry...1-900-USA-NAILS (oh baby) I get one phone call a day from Molson County jail...
Operator: 1-900-USA-NAILS. 98 cents per minute cash or credit, check or debit...
(noticeable pause)
Prisoner: Operator-rator wont you tell me again! Operator-rator yeah you're my only friend!
Operator: "Do you remember that night in the back of daddy's car...strumming the chords of your pubic guitar...the way you tasted like a movie star...the way the windsheild reflected the sunrise, the way the light tattooed your thighs...You're the most beautiful girl in the whole wide world... .. your time is up, till next time! We'll send you a bill."
Prisoner: Listen....can you hear the buildings crumbling in slow motion? Blow me up like a baloon we'll float over the ocean! Listen...can you hear them taking me away, don't tell the fucking guards what i've said. can you see the angels stringing wires through my face?...
Operator: Meet me next week, same time, same place



Lyrics submitted by rjbucs28

Track duration: 05:15


USA Nails song meanings
Add your thoughts

19 Comments

sort form View by:
  • +1
    General Comment:Do you remember that night in the back of daddy's car...strumming the chords of your pubic guitar...the way you tasted like a movie star...the way the windsheild reflected the sunrise, the way the light tattooed your thighs...You're the most beautiful girl in the whole wide world... .. your time is up, till next time! We'll send you a bill."


    LOVE that part
    Flag prettywhnsedatedon October 18, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:i think everybody pretty much got this song covered.
    "I need to hear the way your tongue tastes in my ear"
    absolute genius!!
    Flag christineareion December 18, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I think this song is about a mentally ill woman who killed her baby but denys it. She gets to make a daily phone call (from the Molson county jail). Her friends and family turned her back on her (when I walk, I walk alone), so she calls a phone sex hotline and confides in the person on the other end (the operator). He/she becomes her only friend (Yeah, you're my only friend). She falls in love with the operator because he/she's the only one in the world who makes her feel loved even though it costs (98 cents per minute). Near the end where the operator is describing a love scene (back of daddy's car) is supposed to show how people always need to feel loved, even if it's only words. It gets so intimate, then all of a sudden..(Our time is up! 'Till next week!) It seems fucked up, you can't really explain it. Then at the very end, the jail found out about her sex phone calls and they no longer let her make a daily phone call. She lost her only friend (Can you hear them taking me away? Don't tell them what I've said! Can you see the angels stringing wires through my face?)

    I'm in fucking love with this song.
    Flag llamacoon April 12, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Yeah the part about killing the baby does remind me of the Baby Boy Hope case. But in this song they took the mother away against her will... the mother confessed to the crime in the baby boy hope case.
    Flag llamacoon April 11, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Operator-rator, won't you tell me again? Operator-rator, yeah, you're my only friend." Aww, that part gets me.
    Flag Junnieon February 03, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:This reminds me of the Baby Boy Hope case.
    All the references to the garbage and not recognising the baby's face.
    Flag bury_me_in_blackon November 30, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I can't even believe how good this song is
    Flag DubC4Lifeon March 23, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:waaaaaaaaaay fucked, wayyyyyyyyyy neat.
    Flag Ddaduttaon September 21, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:The amazing part of this song is how totally nonsensical many of the lines are, almost in a Lewis Carroll kind of way. "I need to hear the way your tongue tastes in my hear", "Put the receiver to your chest and let me know who loves you best", "When I watch you through the phone". Also, the sexes of the Operator and the Prisoner seem to change a lot during the song. This is such an abstract song.
    Flag SurfinNoodleson December 08, 2004   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:...Ugh...Sometimes I wonder how many of you actually listen.
    It's not "all over the place" the Blood Brothers take an amazing amount of time into choreography. They make it all COUNT.
    The guitar is chopped to give you this exhilirated feeling, the bass is often simple but compelling.. NOTHING takes a direct lead--except the vocals.
    The reason. Their messages are strong.

    Such a twisted woman... But the one thing I cannot decide is if she is actually imprisoned. When I read it--it all appears to be yet another metaphor. It seems like she feels caged within a relationship, so she resorts to alcoholism and well minor escapes like phonesex lines.
    No matter what--It just further shows the Indescency which runs rampant.
    Flag decodethemoanson October 24, 2004   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