Lyrics for You Are A Runner And I Am My Father's So... as interpreted by Relapser

You Are A Runner And I Am My Father's So... Lyrics
I got a number on me
I got a number
won't make it through the high noon sun
I am my father's son
and I am my father's son
his bed is made
I was a hero
early in the morning
I ain't no hero
in the night
I am my father's son
and I'll build a house inside of you
I'll go in through the mouth
I'll draw three figures on your heart
one of them will be me as a boy
one of them will be me
one of them will be me watching you run
watching you run
watching you run
into the high noon sun
watching you run
farther than guns will go
you are a runner
with a stolen voice
and you are a runner
and I am my father's son
I am my father's son
I am my father's son

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  • 48 Comments
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mcscumbag
01-11-2006

Rated 0 
I think this song is about waking up and realizing you had a one night stand and got someone pregnant. the lyrics remind me of lounge by modest mouse "he had a number written on his forearm, it spelled disaster"

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mcscumbag
01-11-2006

Rated -1 
I think this song is about waking up and realizing you had a one night stand and got someone pregnant. the lyrics remind me of lounge by modest mouse "he had a number written on his forearm, it spelled disaster"

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killingjuliet
01-16-2006

Rated -1 
i think you're wrong

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octoberist
01-17-2006

Rated 0 
This song seems really self-explanatory. The person in it is seeing other people trying to break away from their parents while he just takes what he has and stays with his father. He's not trying to change anything, and it's for the better. He sees that when other people are running away, they aren't really going anywhere and he learns from their mistakes..

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octoberist
01-17-2006

Rated 0 
Actually, I change my mind. It's probably him looking back on his past trying to break away. He sees himself being wrong then, but he sees himself still wrong now.

???

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brandnewownsyoux
01-19-2006

Rated 0 
I think this song is about the singer having his fate already in place because of his father. Maybe figuring he is going to follow his father's footsteps down whatever path that may be. Something probably dark.

While the runner is a person who is going to go far in life. Maybe a friend or someone he loves. Regardless, he figures this person will be going places in life and that he will merely be watching them while he stays behind.

Just my theory. Awesome song, just as it is an awesome album.

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dbtheathen
01-20-2006

Rated 0 
I think this is pretty much talking about a father running out on his family (his son). It's quite cut and dry to me. Anybody else?

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Relapser
01-23-2006

Rated 0 
I agree. I think it's just about a father leaving the family. Possibly later on in his life. He says he was a hero early in the morning, meaning maybe his father was proud of him or they were closer when he was a child, but he isn't a hero in the night, meaning later in life he and his father drifted apart somehow. Pretty kicking rad song.

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JmoneyNJ
01-25-2006

Rated 0 
The question for me is: who is he addressing in the song? When he says "I'll buiid a house inside of you" - is this the father? If it is the father, then yes, I'd agree with dbtheathen abou the father leaving the family - it would be obvious there.

The "you" he builds a house in is also obviously the "runner" in the title. Intially I thought there might be a third party here - someone else he is talking to, but now that I think it over it appears to be a dialogue just between he and his father.

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mcscumbag
01-30-2006

Rated 0 
awesome killing juliet, thanks for your input. I changed my mind anyway after listening to this song a lot more. I agree with dbtheathen

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mcscumbag
01-30-2006

Rated 0 
awesome killing juliet, thanks for your input. I changed my mind anyway after listening to this song a lot more. I agree with dbtheathen

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Dick Real
02-07-2006

Rated 0 
I thought it was about the Athens Olympic marathon. Man, was I way out!

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killingjuliet
02-11-2006

Rated 0 
i think this song is about fate, the speaker is characteristically like his father and sees him in himself. i think another major theme of this song is death - the references "i've got a number on me" "won't make it through the high noon sun" and "his bed is made" seem to refer to the ending of some part of the father's life, whether it be like physical or emotional like by leaving the family, like others have mentioned. the speaker is afraid that this reality is going infiltrate his own life in some way, that he is a product of his past, and the past of his father, and he too will eventually lose his own love by pushing that person away, by making them run..and leave his own son to face the same struggle as indicated by "i'll build a house inside of you"...just some thoughts.

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.:4ren:.
02-16-2006

Rated 0 
I think its more about escaping your destiny or something. He says in the beginning hes got a number on him, ie hes already been chosen, also when he says I am my fathers son maybe hes trying to rid himself of what his father has done or keep himself from becoming like his father. ITs probably aboout his father running out on him and trying to not become the same thing.

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sutterstrom
03-03-2006

Rated 0 
I'll have to say that I agree with killingjuliet. It's a song about fate, not in the sense of escaping but in the sense that this is your fate and there really isn't a choice about it. You could say death is a major theme but I find the line "I was a hero
early in the morning
I ain't no hero
in the night"
the most telling. it seems to be about peaking early in life, whether that ends in death seems to be secondary. Also, I think the line "watching you run" is allows told from the father's point of view, watching his son "run" through life.

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aponte99
03-20-2006

Rated 0 
I don't think he is talking to his father as he says HIS bed is made and he wouldn't refer to the same person in both third and second person. I think the fist part is about his father dying (...maybe...maybe him).
Now this part is REALLY far fetched and probably wrong but maybe he is singing to a brother or mother who walked out at his father dying and maybe didn't help out as much so he is proudly stating he is his father's son and the other is an unworthy runner. (?)

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Halicat
03-23-2006

Rated 0 
The run in this song is a test of endurance, and the speaker is resigned to the fact that he, like his father, will be unable to make it to the end. The run likely symbolizes long-term commitment, either to a relationship or the life that comes with such a commitment (loyalty, family, home, career, etc.). The speaker isn't the only one running; the person to whom the song is addressed is running too. That other person, who is a runner, has the stamina to succeed in this long-term obligation. The speaker, like his father, knows he will in some sense eventually have to give up, and watch as his partner carries on with the responsibilities of the relationship (caring for the family, etc.), perhaps as his own mother had to when he was growing up.

The three figures on the heart, as others have pointed out, is an acknowledgement by the speaker of the connection between who he was as a child, who he is now, and what he will ultimately become, and hence, an acknowledgement of his fate.

When the speaker says he will build a house, he is being ironic. The only house he can really build for the person he's addressing is a metaphorical one that holds an understanding of the speaker's limitations and ultimate failure to complete the run.

Biographical details on the writer might clarify the lyrics further. Anyone have a decent link?

This song and others can be heard on the CBC Radio 3 website, or follow this link directly:

www.justconcerts.com/concerts/concert. cfm?Concert_Id=352&Concert_IsLive=False

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ilovebuttercow
07-30-2006

Rated 0 
Well, maybe you looked into it a little too much!

This visuals in this song remind me of an old western. He says he's got a number on him and won't make it past noon, symbolizing that his future is pre-planned.

The runner is a person he loves and watches her from afar, but she doesn't know he exists. When he speaks about her running far from all the 'guns', he's saying that their lives are quite opposite; she runs, as he stands and fights.

I like this song~ That's just what I think of when I hear it.

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mariquita
08-26-2006

Rated 0 
i don't think the singer is talking about a relationship (with his father, lover, or anybody else).
actually, i have a theory about some kind of mystic/psychological contents. i mean, when he says "I'll draw three figures on your heart/one of them will be me as a boy/one of them will be me/one of them will be me watching you run", he's referring to the ego-superego-id theory. besides, he says he has a number -he is supposed to take part in the same race as the runner, but he has freedom to decide wether he wants to run or to stay still.
when he mentions he's his father's son, and when he says he was a hero "in the morning" (when everybody can be brave), i think he's telling he's just like every human: he has the same fears and feelings, and he's controlled by the same unconscious systems.

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seventynine
10-09-2006

Rated 0 
This is a great live version:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGamyc-Vw_E&mode=related&search=

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localgod11
10-26-2006

Rated 0 
I think this song is about this guy accepting the fate of being like his father and hiding from love. The number marks him in the story of his life, the high noon sun suggests life as an epic tale, perhaps. He is strong doing what he must in the day, but when it comes to things at night, like being intamate or dealing with the unseen things in one's self, he is not brave enough for that. I think he is singing to someone that he would be close with, like a lover, and telling her that he is divided when he comes to her and tries to be with someone. Part of who he brings is himself, but also whatever issues he has from childhood, and the fear of losing people that keeps him from being close to her, possibly the way his father was. He believes that love, she, perhaps love connections in general, will always be "runners", running away from him, and he will always be like his father. This song is about him accecting his fate instead of tring to overcome these issues he has.

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l0ngdivision
01-09-2007

Rated 0 
i agree that the son realizes that his life is going on the same track as his father's. the "number" on him is his fate. he wakes up in the morning feeling like a "hero," thinking he can change his fate, but he can't "make it through the high noon sun" without realizing that there's nothing he can do about it. he is jealous of the "runner" because the "runner" creates his or her own destiny.

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himuo
02-03-2007

Rated 0 
i just want to point out that morning, high noon and night parallels closely with me as a boy, me, and me watching you run. which is to say that what he has lived will be drawn on his lover's heart (affect their relationship).

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Onthelongview
02-15-2007

Rated 0 
I think its very simply about a the anniversary of his father walking out/ suicide (either or works)

I got a number on me
I got a number
won't make it through the high noon sun

the number burned in his head is the date his father left and the high noon sun is the time of day.

I am my father's son
and I am my father's son
his bed is made
I was a hero
early in the morning
I ain't no hero
in the night

His father's bed is made meaning his father never came back into the bed (or could be death reference of his bed is made he's dead)
The singer is a hero in the morning for getting up and dealing with it but at night he can't take it anymore thus he's no longer a hero.

I am my father's son
and I'll build a house inside of you
I'll go in through the mouth
I'll draw three figures on your heart
one of them will be me as a boy
one of them will be me
one of them will be me watching you run
watching you run
watching you run
into the high noon sun
watching you run
farther than guns will go
you are a runner
with a stolen voice
and you are a runner
and I am my father's son
I am my father's son
I am my father's son

he wants his father to not forget what he's done to his son. His father was a coward (thus runner/stolen voice). Also the son could see bits of his father inside of himself that he hates (I am my father's son).

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tastemaker
02-28-2007

Rated 0 
I never thought this song would be so thoroughly analyzed. These are all good theories, but I really have no idea what it's talking about.

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