Lyrics for Even Rats as interpreted by camelenamel

Even Rats Lyrics
Even the rats know the trouble's gonna come
To the edge of the city see the little guys run
I hear spring is nice in Canada

Maybe the men up on Capitol Hill
Meed a little less Jack and a little more Jill
You can have my stereo

Even though the race may never be won
I can lay like a dandy getting heavy in the sun
Take a love song and beautify

I hear the words but the meaning gets lost
It's a game, it depends on who the ball gets tossed
It's the same ball anyway

You're tuggin' me now, cut me loose or take me on
You can play, you can pay the piper all night long
That's some good home cookin'

Even though the race may never be won
I can lay like a dandy getting heavy in the sun
Take a love song and beautify

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  • 27 Comments
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hffgns
02-26-2006

Rated 0 
i really dont know it kinda seems that he is talking to a gurl he wants to marry propably because of the "thats some good home cookin'

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tebesy
07-27-2006

Rated 0 
It's clearly a politically motivated song. In so many words: Bush is sinking our battleship. The rats are always the first to know when the ship's going down.

The song seems to read like a how-to on chilling during a time of high political tension within the country.

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amster8
08-12-2006

Rated 0 
good song...i discovered it on Guitar Hero

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BlinkMM182
09-07-2006

Rated 0 
damn this song is a pain on expert in Guitar Hero. :P

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TomSplasky
10-06-2006

Rated 0 
The song is obviosuly about gay marriage. "I hear spring is nice in canada" is a referance to how gay couples go to canada to get married, as it is legal there. "Maybe the men up on capital hill need a little less Jack and a little more Jill" should be self explanitory to anybody with a brain.

And the expert chart for this on guitar hero is the best thing ever. Still can't 5 star it and I broke 200k >_

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poetic__tragedy
10-09-2006

Rated 0 
lol i so addicted to guitar hero!

ROCK ON!

(post script. love this song. me and my guy friends [yes, guys were saying this too], were saying that its a beautiful song. like the two minutes or so its beautiful sounding...we think )

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HELENz
11-22-2006

Rated 0 
I love this song. I, as many of you did, discovered this through Guitar Hero...

'It's clearly a politically motivated song. In so many words: Bush is sinking our battleship. The rats are always the first to know when the ship's going down.' - Interesting thought as to what this song is about... 'The song is obviosuly about gay marriage. "I hear spring is nice in canada" is a referance to how gay couples go to canada to get married, as it is legal there. "Maybe the men up on capital hill need a little less Jack and a little more Jill" should be self explanitory to anybody with a brain.' - Also interesting...

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jerseydevil7
12-24-2006

Rated 0 
"The song is obviosuly about gay marriage. "I hear spring is nice in canada" is a referance to how gay couples go to canada to get married, as it is legal there. "Maybe the men up on capital hill need a little less Jack and a little more Jill" should be self explanitory to anybody with a brain."

"A little less Jack and a little more Jill" to me doesn't sound gay, backwards, yes, but that sounds more like trying to say that they are gay and need to get straight

PS: I love this song on guitar hero also :P

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MamoruC
01-15-2007

Rated 0 
The melody reminds me a lot of "Here is No Why" by Smashing Pumpkins.

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experienced
01-26-2007

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It's a political satire to the war in Iraq. Rats (people) know when trouble is coming (Iraq), so they go to Canada to escape the draft. Jack is money and Jill means "to chill". In Canada you lay like a dandy and not worry about having to go overseas. Our guys are overseas paying the piper and they keep threatening to draft more men. Home cooking is the politically correct reason for being over there. We'll never win the war in Iraq, known as the race, but in Canada, you'll never have to worry about it anyway...

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Little_Alex
02-10-2007

Rated 0 
"experienced" there is only one problem with what you have said. The draft isn't in effect. So why would they need to try and dodge it?

My take on this song is one of a political view. I think it is about the war. How even the liitle guy can see how badly we're in this mess and how they see it before everyone else. And "Maybe the men up on capital hill," could be about our leaders being to blind to see what everyone else see's and to do nothing about, but that's just me.

Alex

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bugoff
02-19-2007

Rated 0 
the draft isn't in effect now, but it sure will be if the situation doesn't improve in Iraq... they've already lowered their admittance standards so much it's not even funny. and if Bush gets his way and you guys go into Iran, then the draft will be even more essential.

see you when you get here!

ps - also found the song on GH, great track. one of the few good songs among all those no-name indie groups.

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soccerlemon
02-26-2007

Rated 0 
The very first time I listened to this song, I knew exactly what it was about. I am moving to Canada soon so that I can be with my same-sex partner and have the rights we can't have in the US. Think we're the only ones? We're not. She and I were married in Canada last year. TomSplasky was right on.

However, I can also see the argument that it's about avoiding the Iraq war. Even though there's no draft in effect right now, some people in the military are still going to Canada to avoid going to Iraq.

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lolrofl
04-11-2007

Rated 0 
This song is about iraq war i think "experienced" is right however he left out one thing that i discovered that the "ball" is the earth no matter what wars go on it will still be the earth. Tug of war is refrence to the war also. I dont se how all u queers got gay marrige out of this... it could also be the vietam war. and also im not sum hippie im a future soldier so im not even agasinst the war im just saying what the song means

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neotemplar
06-21-2007

Rated 0 
I dunno, it seems to me the narrator of the song is telling how he doesn't care what happens in the world as long as he can enjoy his own life(ie, take a love song and beautify). Even though everyone else is running and panicking, he is content to lay back and chill.
But I may think this only because I am apolitical myself- just goes to show how a listener often finds much deeper meaning in a song than was originally intended, thanks to the influence of his own beliefs.

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melloncollie45
06-27-2007

Rated 0 
I think that the line "need a little less jackand a little more jill" can possibly be about gay marriage but I think (even though no one else is going to see this as a good idea) that a little less jack means something like a little less jack(shit) so they should stop lying. A stretch yeah but who cares it's just an awesome song.

Discovered on Guitar Hero too and had to play it through about a dozen times to get it right. Awesome though.

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Wurby Tictoc
07-15-2007

Rated 0 
"a little less Jack and a little more Jill" = more women in government?

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.broken.fairytale.
08-13-2007

Rated 0 
As far as the meaning of the song goes, everyone's spot on.....

awesomely wicked song...



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.broken.fairytale.
08-13-2007

Rated 0 
As far as the meaning of the song goes, everyone's spot on.....

awesomely wicked song...



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RoxorFuxor
08-21-2007

Rated 0 
I think this song isn't "clearly" about anything. I think the key line is "I hear the words but the meaning gets lost." It refrences to different things going on in the world but always seems to disregard them with a random phrase; "good home cookin'" "you can have my stereo" "I hear spring is nice in Canada". Everyone is so caught up with what is going wrong and what needs to be changed that where's the time to relax? The speaker seems to be explaining this that "even though the race may never be won" (ie the bad will never go completely away) there is still the good in life that we must appreciate. So, pretty much, I agree with neotemplar.

Also, I don't think people really listen to the music. It is more than just the lyrics. The sound supports my idea more than any political one.

Finally, gay marriage? If you stretched Stretch Armstrong that long I'm pretty sure he would break and that disgusting ooze would spill out. I mean, come on. I think anyone with a brain can see that cannot be the meaning.

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Antifia
08-29-2007

Rated 0 
Its about being drafted to war but resisting. Hence "hear canada's nice in spring".

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The1AndOnlyMe
01-19-2008

Rated 0 
To me, this song is about being drafted, or going to war.

Even the rats know when trouble's gonna fall....is saying that even the poor, the lowest of the low know when war/unfortunate things are coming and wish to flee just like everyone else.

The Canada reference would be to escape the draft/war.

In my opinion, the Jack and Jill thing is not any specific pointer to being gay or anything of that sort. He's commenting that there's mostly men in government and there needs to more women. He's saying maybe then there wouldn't be so many wars.

"Even though the race may never be won"...although war may not be stopped, we can still work on trying.

"You can have my stereo"...someone heading to war speaking to a friend or family member...and "that's some good home cookin'"...the soldier won't have any more of that in war.

War is the "game"...whoever has the ball tossed to them has to play the game, in other words be drafted and fight. No matter who the ball gets tossed to, it's still to take part in war.

you can play, pay the piper all night long.....you can go to war, or you can go to prison.

And then back to the part about opposing the war.

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laurenelizabeth.
01-20-2008

Rated 0 
i think the line about capitol hill, jack and jill is a reference to needing more females in charge.

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eowyn20uk
03-14-2008

Rated 0 
I love rocking out to this on Guitar Hero! The last few minutes are so nice to play.

Good mellow tune, me likey!

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lake079
10-13-2008

Rated 0 
love this song!
its either bout love or war.
maybe both??

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