Lyrics for Braille as interpreted by medicine

Braille Lyrics
She was lying on the floor and counting stretch marks
She hadn't been a virgin and he hadn't been a god
so she named the baby Elvis
to make up for the royalty he lacked

And from then on it was turpentine and patches
From then on it was cold Campbell's from the can
They were just two jerks playing with matches
'Cause that's all they knew how to play

And it was raining cats and dogs outside of her window
And she knew they'd be destined to become
sacred roadkill on the way
And she was listening to the sound of heaven shaking
thinking about puddles, puddles and mistakes

'Cause it's been turpentine and patches
It's been cold, cold Campbell's from the can
And they were just two jerks playing with matches
'Cause that's all they knew how to play
What they knew how to play

Elvis never could carry a tune
and she thought about this irony as she stared back at the moon
She was tracing her years with her fingers on her skin saying,
Well, why don't I begin again
with turpentine and patches
with cold, cold Campbell's from the can
After all I'm still a jerk playing with matches
It's just that he's not around to play along
yeah, I'm still an asshole playing with candles
Blowing out wishes, blowing out dreams
Just sitting here and trying to decipher what's written in Braille upon my skin
this skin...

She was lying on the floor and counting stretch...
She was lying on the floor and counting stretch...
She was lying on the floor lying, lying...
counting stretch....

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  • 78 Comments
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haywoo1129
03-14-2005

Rated +1 
im happy to be the first to comment on this one.
this song is so beautiful, i love love love it.

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tasteslikeG0LD
05-24-2005

Rated +1 
what an interesting song! good stuff

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caper_katie24
05-26-2005

Rated 0 
The story is sad, but Regina's voice makes it beautiful (as always). I like how the lyrics are from the mothers point of view...."I'm still an asshole playing with matches". Interesting twist!

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disastrous
07-16-2005

Rated 0 
sad story indeed. i love regina's voice.

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iknowmyonion
08-26-2005

Rated 0 
I think it's about a poor (finanicial wise) single mother who gives birth to a blind son, and the song is just about how hard it was. I love how she writes her songs about STORIES and not feelings, and how they're told through the perspective of the characters in the song.

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amandamottram
02-08-2006

Rated +1 
I don't think the son is blind... I think she's just using "braille" as a metaphor for how her stretch marks feel.

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Lan
03-23-2006

Rated +1 
Try this...

Braille is scripted through raised bumps forming patterns.
I think the fact that Braille is how blind people write and read has nothing to do with this song:

"Just sitting here and trying to decipher what's written in Braille upon my skin"

so as with what the person above me's noted (amandamottram), i think that the lines and bumps and bruises etc on everyones skin marks a memory, or an event.

So by trying to decipher all the 'Braille' that's marked on her skin, is like reflecting, and remembering, seeing what her past is worth
etc

♥

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ukdean31
05-20-2006

Rated 0 
I always thought this song was about a teenager who gets pregnant and how her boyfriend then left her. I especially got that from the "They were just two jerks playing with matches cause that's all they knew how to play" bit but the whole song made me think it. I think the "Just sitting here and trying to decipher what's written in Braille upon my skin..." bit is about her wondering if it was really worth it.

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fikemasta
08-06-2006

Rated 0 
Lying on the floor and counting stretch marks reminds me of counting the rings of a tree to find it's age.

They were just two kids playing with matches--they never knew they were going to "start a fire"

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kaybeeoh
08-15-2006

Rated 0 
This is my go-to crying song. For some reason it makes me bawl every time.

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harlequinxgirl
10-01-2006

Rated 0 
stunning song
just amazing
i agree with Lan as to the meaning
loveit

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theshambler
10-10-2006

Rated 0 
I think that this song is about a woman who has had a baby young, and about how she and the father have a hard life because they were ill prepared, but then I think the last verse is her as an old woman (based on the fact that Elvis seems to be grown) and she realises that the hard parts were the best times of her life, and now she's past it all, and the father has died (I think) she just wants to relive all those apparent hard times.

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fikemasta
10-16-2006

Rated 0 
I really don't think she's at the end of her life. I think she's aged 'too' quickly because of her situations in life. She's counting her stretch marks, which are the result of the childbirth, and she's much older now than she really is in years.

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theshambler
10-17-2006

Rated 0 
There just seem to be a lot of hints of actual time passing. Like "tracing the years with her finger on her skin" and the part about playing with candles suggests birthday cakes to me ("blowing out wishes, blowing out dreams").

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carrotkins
10-18-2006

Rated 0 
basically i would make a mix of many oppinion's i've read. for sure, the first verse tells about a love story, that was passionate at first, but when the lady got pregnant the male left her.. and she grew her son alone and it was turpentines and patches, and cold cold campbells from the can. that must be about hard life.. and maybe.. for the rest of her life she never stopped thinking about how foolish she was to, as fikemasta said, "play with matches and start a fire". i just can't get through the whole last verse.. what is it about.. omg i die when i hear this song.. it's just.. beautiful.

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carrotkins
10-18-2006

Rated 0 
basically i would make a mix of many oppinion's i've read. for sure, the first verse tells about a love story, that was passionate at first, but when the lady got pregnant the male left her.. and she grew her son alone and it was turpentines and patches, and cold cold campbells from the can. that must be about hard life.. and maybe.. for the rest of her life she never stopped thinking about how foolish she was to, as fikemasta said, "play with matches and start a fire". i just can't get through the whole last verse.. what is it about.. omg i die when i hear this song.. it's just.. beautiful.

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alex_and_ra
10-29-2006

Rated 0 
absoloutely stunning
it seems to me something about getting old too fast, i don't know why, tgere's nothing to back it up it just has such a tragedy to it
but at the same time you can tell the girls smart, laughing at the irony and still thinking she's a jerk
i don't know
i just absoloutely adore this song its stunning
it reminds me of fiona apple ever so slightly but still its regina through and through and its her at her absoloute best

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alex_and_ra
10-31-2006

Rated +1 
and also whats the significane of turpentine and patches? dont really get it?

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kimbercutes824
12-01-2006

Rated 0 
The lyrics are wrong by the way its suppose to be "I'm still an asshole playing with candles" not matches.

To me the song is about someone looking back at there life and regretting.I dont think that anyone is blind or that it literally means braille.Braille is the lifes scars that are upon her skin or something like that.

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missme
01-12-2007

Rated 0 
this song is so beautiful. it's obviously about someone who gets pregnant quite young, and the guy abandons her. we're taken through her life. at the beginning, she's counting stretch marks from her pregnancy, and by the end she's counting wrinkles. i love feeling stretch marks being described as feeling braille, it's such an interesting similie. there's such sorrow and passion in this song, regina is amazing.

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britishknees
01-15-2007

Rated 0 
She reminds me of Jewel in this one.

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Rinse_It_Away
02-08-2007

Rated 0 
Her voice shines in this song. I love it.

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envirohodges
02-13-2007

Rated 0 
i absolutly love this song...and i believe that its about an underprivliveged family of just a mother and son and the mother didnt grow up in a very nice environment....when she says
"They were just two jerks playing with matches
Cause that's all they knew how to play "
i dont think its litterally playing ith matches..the expression if you play with matches youll get burned comes to mind...i think its about how the mother got "involved" too young and got burned...and had a baby....

and then she was forced to give up her dreams to be a mother which at first seemed like a terror but as Elvis grew up she began to realize it was a gift....

and when she says
"after all I'm still a jerk playing with matches
it's just that he's not around to play along
I'm still an ass hole playing with candles
Blowing out my wishes blowing out my dreams "

this is how she still hasnt learned and still gets into risky situations that ruin her dreams but she counts her stretchmarks...or scars to prove shes lived through the pain and hurt.....its actually a happy story with a sad mask on.....

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zeroangel
02-13-2007

Rated 0 
turpentine can be used to self-induce abortion, and im thinking birth control patches?

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roomonfire07
03-23-2007

Rated 0 
the terpentine and patches mean all the thing shes done halfassed and tried to fix

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