He's a wounded animal
He lives in a matchbox
He's a wounded animal
And he's been coming around here

He's a dying breed
He's a dying breed

His daughter is twenty years of snow falling
She's twenty years of strangers looking into each other's eyes
She's twenty years of clean
She never truly hated anyone or anything

She's a dying breed
She's a dying breed

She says I'd prefer the moss
I'd prefer the mouth
A baby of the swamps
A baby of the south
I'm twenty years of clean
And I never truly hated anyone or anything
Twenty years of clean
Twenty years of clean

But I got to get me out of here
This place is full of dirty old men
And the navigators with their mappy maps
And moldy heads and pissing on sugar cubes

But I got to get me out of here
This place is full of dirty old men
And the navigators with their mappy maps
And moldy heads and pissing on sugar cubes

While you stare at your boots
And the words float out like holograms
And the words float out like holograms
And the words float out like holograms
They say, feel the waltz, feel the waltz
Come on, baby, baby, now feel the waltz
Feel the waltz, feel the waltz
Come on, baby, baby, now feel the waltz



Lyrics submitted by adamanteve

Track duration: 03:30

"20 Years of Snow" as written by Regina Spektor

Lyrics © EMI Music Publishing

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20 Years of Snow song meanings
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  • 0
    Lyric Correction:"while you stare at your books"
    next lyrics are 'the words flow out like holograms"
    they coincide
    Flag Argmikon September 06, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Just recently, after reading all these comments and interpretations, and seeing so many references to alcohol, the line "pissing on sugar cubes" somehow evokes in my mind the image of a glass of beer with icecubes, which I suspect is because beer is strikingly piss colored.
    Flag AnytimeAnyhowon June 24, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Please tell me I'm not the only one who thought she was saying, "Staring at your boobs." XD
    Flag lunaloveon July 25, 2011   Link
  • +1
    Song Meaning:I feel like this song is sort of about a girl who grew up with an overprotective father, maybe one who was emotionally hurt and sort of guarded. Hence, "hes a wounded animal" and "he lives in a matchbox". Then you see his daughter who probably hasn't gotten to experience too much. She seems like a lovely girl, as she's "20 years of strangers looking into eachothers eyes" and all. She's 20 years of snow, which is associated with being pure and virgin and all. "She's 20 years of clean" only accentuates the point that maybe she's never done a bad thing in her life, and sort of believes the world is a good place filled with good people. So she sets off to seek her fortunes, and ends up realising that she hates where she is. "and I never truly hated anyone or anything. But I got to get me outta here" kind of makes it seem like she's realised she is in a bad situation and hates it because she's not the same pure, virgin, 20 years of snow she used to be.
    Flag annabellee129647on January 16, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Sidenote: just because the CD booklet says those are the lyrics it could be very wrong.. Ive caught incorrect lyrics in those things several times since my childhood rummaging through various song lyrics that I knew for sure already. I do feel though that she could very well be saying booze because when you are drunk and try to read sometimes the words seem to jump out at you like hollograms.

    I could very well be wrong but I feel like the daughter is a metaphor for the "father" being sober from alcohol. That his sobriety is "a dying breed" because of his 'wounds' from a woman (for whom he became sober) who he really loved but turns out the relationship was full of lies and or unfaithfulness. Which is why they were just "two strangers looking in each others eyes".

    After he finds out the relationship for which he became sober (without feeling obligation and hatred) was all a lie he becomes this "wounded animal".. Animal- angry & emotionally closed off (hence the box). The emotion he's keeping within are emotions so strong thats hes going to combust trying to keep it in (like a match).

    When Regina says "hes been wandering around here" I take that she means hes been wandering around the streets full of bars and filth which his purity is now yearning for after what hes going through.

    "She (the purity within him) says, I'd prefer the moss (dirt: in his case alcohol)
    I'd prefer the mouth (how he wants to injest the dirt/alcohol)
    A baby of the swamps (seems like a reference to an unclean woman)
    A baby of the south (maybe a whore from NewOrleans to drown out the heartbreak)

    when he actually goes in he gets drunk and as he looks around at all the old men wasting away in the bar like he used to. Realizing what he has done he feels ashamed so he stares down at his booze in shame and the label is popping out at him like a hollogram cause he is so drunk.

    So drunk in fact that now the booze lable seems to be taunting him to go back to his old way of being happy which was by getting drunk. "feel the waltz.... Feel the waltz". The waltz is an OLD dance and dancing usually signifies HAPPINESS.

    Sorry so long but thats wht i got from it =] thanks
    Flagged Pytbriion November 03, 2010   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:I think this song is about a rich girl living in a family with old money. The "he's a wounded animal, he lives in a matchbox" is about a little mouse or small animal she sees and compares her life to a small caged, feelingless, dying animal with the "he's a dying breed" and "she's a dying breed". She is taught to smile and nod and not actually feel anything because it would be improper for her to voice her opinion. She is supposed to sit and look pretty ("twenty years of snow") and she has no real relationships because it's almost as if she is porcelin, untouchable. "I got to get me out of here this place is full of dirty old men...with their moldy heads and pissing on sugar cubes" is about the people she is surrounded by. People who have old money, and no newness in the ideas or character who could care less about the world outside of themselves (pissing on sugarcubes). She is made to read and study like a good rich young lady would and "feel the waltz" is representative of her parents pressing her to be just like them and feel what they tell her to feel.
    Flagged ehwigginson June 02, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:It's interesting that the father and the daughter are both dying breeds, but for different reasons, I think. He's a dying breed because he's sequestered from the world, tired, waiting out the rest of his life. She's a dying breed because she's about to change, leaving behind her twenty years of cold clean for the softness of moss and mouths.

    Although I don't really understand what the navigators and their mappy maps, or pissing on sugar cubes, have to do with anything, or what they mean.

    Well, maybe the navigators and maps and moldy heads are the people who need some outside source telling them where to go, instead of relying on their own head to make decisions.

    But pissing on sugar cubes? Still puzzling.

    Flag Sylvaniaon May 24, 2010   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:Well there are a couple interesting theories but I think it's about a Father who had a hard life and rasied his daughter sort of sheltered as to make sure she didn't go down the same road he did. The 20 years of clean I think is about virginity or maybe just pureness in general. She's been raised sheltered and even though the father is trying to keep her pure she wants to go out and experience life on her own. Just my two cents.
    Flag fullmetalfunkon April 06, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Y'know, I'm one of the biggest Spektor fans out there, but I genuinely hate this song. It's so odd for me, I've tried and tried and tried to appreciate it, but the sound just doesn't...agree with me.

    But anyway...yeah. Interesting lyrics, I just can't stand the song.
    Flag BeginningToHopeon February 22, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:i think this song is about a girl who's father is very overprotective and has raised her to be ignorant. i think the "strangers looking into each other's eyes part" represents the state of parent's marriage. i think that she moved to a northern big city from the south, probably around south carolina..I think the things she says (i'd prefer the moss, i'd prefer the mouth) represent ignorant or mistaken things that she said, maybe when ordering food? in the north. i think that she was living in new york or around there because the accent regina used when singing "feel the waltz". maybe she transferred to a college up there(staring at your books) ? i think the "feel the waltz" part represents how she feels about her environment, that its pushing her to feel something, quite rudely (as some new yorkers are rumored to be). maybe the waltz is the way people act there, or something like that. i think the skippy thing regina does with her voice sounds pretty uncomfortable
    Flag sarahschwendeon October 04, 2009   Link

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