This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
Marble stairs in this cathedral
Built by these hands five hundred years before
We will make good men better
Draw the right hand across the neck
Drop the arm down to your side.
I hear their voices calling in the night.
33 degrees, accepted right of hypocrisy
From this bitter cup, we all shall drink
Here I am awake, it’s 2AM.. and it's getting late
All I know is something isn’t right.
We will make good men better
How can you make good men better?
Draw the right hand across the neck
Drop the arm down to your side.
I hear their shadows calling in the night.
Get up, get out, get out
The fire’s burning now and our bodies burn to ashes
They’ll be scattered to the four winds of heaven
Does it ever even phase you that your father’s involvement with a cult nearly killed your first born child?
Built by these hands five hundred years before
We will make good men better
Draw the right hand across the neck
Drop the arm down to your side.
I hear their voices calling in the night.
33 degrees, accepted right of hypocrisy
From this bitter cup, we all shall drink
Here I am awake, it’s 2AM.. and it's getting late
All I know is something isn’t right.
We will make good men better
How can you make good men better?
Draw the right hand across the neck
Drop the arm down to your side.
I hear their shadows calling in the night.
Get up, get out, get out
The fire’s burning now and our bodies burn to ashes
They’ll be scattered to the four winds of heaven
Does it ever even phase you that your father’s involvement with a cult nearly killed your first born child?
Lyrics submitted by surfinbuddy
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It is a sequel to ''Fast time at dropout high''. A reccurant dream that Kristopher Roe had.
How did you get this song and where can I get it???
On the upcoming album Welcome the night...will be released in july. ..... The dream Kris had involved Freemasons
I know that, but is there a demo or an acoustic version out that I can get?
I finally got the whole album. :-) I just have one correction for this song. It should be "draw the right hand across the NECK" instead of "night".
Kris' father-in-law was invovlved wit \h the Freemasons, actually, and this is about the hypocracy of the Freemasons.
This song follows up on a lot of the things in Fast Times at Dropout High, like the house fire when he was a kid and the fact that he found out his parents had another child before him but they gave it up for adoption. From this it sounds like the child may have been put up for adoption becuase of his father-in-laws involvement with the Freemasons, hence the line "Does it ever even phase you that your father's involvement with a cult nearly killed your first born child?"
There are a few connections in the lyrics of the bridge it is as follows... "Get up, Get out, Get out, The fire's burning and our bodies burn to ashes they'll be scatter to the worlds of heaven.
this song is about kriss father in laws involvement in the freemasons, which many already know, but it is about how they burned kriss house down in indiana while he was there, and nothing happened because they were the freemasons and had connections