Lyrics for Inmates as interpreted by rengalous

Inmates Lyrics
When you said you loved me, did you really love me?
Or did the words just spill out like drool on my pillow?
Because I was naked when you said those words
But I felt covered in your whispered worship
And as you passed out fast on my shoulder
I imagined a child
Waiting so sad and still for his mom to arrive

Did she leave you an orphan
In that big brown leather chair?
Said, “ Don’t you move a muscle, kid
I’ll be back in twenty years”
You were scared, you were lonely
But you must’ve been aware
Life is a series of callouses, this is just another layer
So build them up, tough it out, yeah, that’s your skin
Don’t let anyone under there

When you said you needed me, did you really need me?
Or was it just someone? Oh, you’d take anything
Am I first on that list of yours, or am I second, or third?
So who’s that ahead of me, some harlot from Pittsburgh?
Or Detroit, Santa Fe, or San Diego?
I know you’re so alone
But how much affection does one guy really need?

Did you date a lot in high school?
Were you always chasing girls?
Couldn’t you find some young valentine
To steal your heart for good?
Were you content, or contemptible?
Are your memories pleasant?
Or is it a string of endless flings of bitter resentment?
Seems that what you want and what you need doesn’t mean a thing
We’re just here for the taking

When you said you’d hurt me, did you think you hurt me?
Are you really that cocky? Oh, what a heartbreaker!
Well, I’ve got my armor, yeah, I’ve been through some battles before
And I met your old girlfriend, she said, “Baby, don’t bother”
She told me you told her you’d hurt her
Funny, how familiar
So how much of this relationship was rehearsed?

Did you act out as a child?
Were you always crying wolf?
Attention starved, you tried too hard
Just to get someone to look
Now you’re the wolf in second-hand clothing
I’m the sheep in a pleated skirt
It’s an awkward form of payback
But if it works for you it works
It’s that I recognize your off-white lies
Still, I lie beside you, and that’s what really hurts

When you said you’d leave me, well, why haven’t you left me?
What are we still doing here, so desperate for company?
There’s a greyhound on Jackson Street
There’s an airport in Council Bluffs
Hell, there’s a car in the driveway; fifty ways to get lost
But as I hold you and listen to you sleeping
I’m starting to wonder if you really believe
That you’d ever really leave

Would you leave me an orphan
In that big brown leather chair?
The one you’ve lugged around from town to town
For all these years
It’s the trophy of your childhood
Like a shark’s tooth or gator skin boots
But this one holds you prisoner; it holds me prisoner too
What we need to set us free is to let go of each other
Let go of everything

When I said I loved you, it was because I loved you
When I said I needed you, well, I really need you
Yeah, I guess you hurt me
For once you’re a man of your words
Well, guess what? I’m leaving
I can’t be your prisoner

I won’t

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  • 49 Comments
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proposals
03-31-2006

Rated 0 
never_say_forever, Jenny Lewis does sing a bit on the song. The main girl who sings is Jiha, but Jenny starts singing back-up during the "I can't be your prisoner" part.

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parge
08-27-2006

Rated 0 
Lovely, and, scarily enough, elements of this song remind me of me

"What are we still doing here, so desperate for company?"

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never_say_forever
09-07-2006

Rated 0 
oops, my bad. you're right, proposals. i looked at the credits again and Jenny lewis was listed for the end vocals.

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antispacemonkey
11-05-2006

Rated 0 
Reality personified.

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versusthesea
12-21-2006

Rated 0 
i think theres a girl or two that sings this song and thinks of me. /shurg

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daystoforget
12-23-2006

Rated 0 
stinging.

"Now you’re the wolf in second-hand clothing
I’m the sheep in a pleated skirt
It’s an awkward form of payback
But if it works for you it works
It’s that I recognize your off-white lies
Still, I lie beside you, and that’s what really hurts"

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Antonskey
12-30-2006

Rated 0 
The guitar in this song reminds me of a simpler version of Nick Drake's Day Is Done.

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corpse_in_the_clas
01-05-2007

Rated 0 
"Now you’re the wolf in second-hand clothing
I’m the sheep in a pleated skirt"- i think that this is referring to the roles in the relationship... shes portraying him to be a wolf in second hand clothing: a dirty pretator ..and herself as a sheep in a pleted skirt: meaning she's an innocent victim
and i thought the vocals were the bassist of the good life, no?

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triple og
01-07-2007

Rated 0 
No it was Tim Kasher, the lead singer of the Good Life and Cursive and he played bass for Commander Venus for a little while too. This song is a masterpiece. It's one of my favorite songs ever and I don't pick favorites. It's fairly straightforward. I'm pretty sure he wrote the lyrics in the perspective of a close friend who's been hurt, which would explain the gender confusion. I'm almost positive this is his song and not a remake, but still...

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maggggiiiieeee
01-23-2007

Rated 0 
This song made me cry the first time I heard it. It was so goddamn beautiful. I absolutely love it.

"Life is a series of callouses, this is just another layer
So, build ’em up, tough it out, yeah that’s your skin
Don’t let anyone under there"

Beautiful.

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Mellow_Harsher
03-13-2007

Rated 0 
triple og -

Tim wrote this song from the perspective of his ex-wife, if that helps.

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fivergirl
03-16-2007

Rated 0 
This song is really beautiful. It's also one of my favorite songs and it's one of the songs that really makes me pause and listen to the whole 9 minutes. The lyrics and vocals are amazing and I love how everything intertwines with Jenny Lewis and Tim Kasher's vocals at the end. I think it ties in with the album really well too.

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haleyparker
04-18-2007

Rated 0 
me & my ex, TO THE TEEEE.

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series of callouses
04-24-2007

Rated 0 
i always quote this song, particularly this part: "life is a series of callouses, this just another layer." it just means that rough times help to make you stronger later on in life. i love how the whole song is saying how he can't hurt her but in the last verse she admits she did. so sad. but hey! atleast she won't be his prisoner right?

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shineitdown
04-27-2007

Rated 0 
i wish i had written this song.

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ronaldo6
05-22-2007

Rated 0 
an incredible song

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thecomaboy
06-15-2007

Rated 0 
It's been suggested before that I am one of these boys, as admittedly I am the type to perhaps fall too fast for people. I never intentionally hurt people or tamper with their heads though.

Anyway, this is one of my favourite stand-alone songs of all time. The progression it makes over the nine minutes to the climax is incredible.

'I can't be your prisoner; I won't.'

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wtfyourface
08-18-2007

Rated 0 
Oh man, the acoustic version of this is beautiful. I love how Tim puts so much passion into his music and the way he sings, the emotion is so strong.

And I love this lyric; "hell, there's a car in the driveway; fifty ways to get lost", so good.

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i am parker lewis
08-28-2007

Rated 0 
any one else feel like Album of the Year would make an incredible movie? i mean i can vividly picture the charracters for every song, especially this one, dibs on playing tim!

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BaileyMac
09-23-2007

Rated 0 
This song means the world to me. I listen to it all the time, and occasionally I'm still sobbing by the end. I never thought it was possible to describe the relationship I had with my ex until I heard this song.

As far as someone I started seeing after I first heard this song, the line, "Well I've got my armor, yeah I've been through some battles before." Really explains how my relationship with the aforementioned ex affects the relationship I had with the man mentioned second.

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chitarele
04-12-2008

Rated 0 
My favourite song from The Good Life by far.
This song is too beautiful -- her voice sounds so sad.

"I recognize your off-white lies."
Genius.

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oonah.
06-02-2008

Rated 0 
I usually do not have the patience to listen to an entire nine minute song, except for maybe this one. it's so beautiful and honest. My interpertation is based from my own personal experiences..which i will not get into here. This to me i about a very lonely, empty, man who takes, and takes and takes from the women in his life. He is desperate for affection and cannot be fulfilled from the woman(women) who love him. It's an awful feeling being with someone who is just using you. Yet, you stay anyway because you love them.

It’s that I recognize your off-white lies
Still, I lie beside you, and that’s what really hurts

beautiful. so sad.

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laviebonne
07-23-2008

Rated 0 
take this from someone who can't listen to a song longer than 3 minutes without having a seizure...
this is one of the greatest songs he has ever written.
i NEVER listen to half of it and go to the next song on shuffle...i am IN love with this song.

and i love this more than any of his other long, epic songs (i.e. staying alive *cursive*, rest your head *the good life*) because it uses ALL 9 MINUTES to progress the story and puts it ALL out there for interpretation. and it isn't even redundant.

tim kasher.
you are a fucking god.
if you stop writing songs, i might as well just give up on music all together.
what'd be the point?

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wonderfulmetropolis
05-21-2009

Rated 0 
My favorite line is probably from the acoustic version of this:

Seems that what you want and what you need get's stuck between
Your lack of good judgment.

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