Lyrics for Dorothy at Forty as interpreted by Ves1011

Dorothy at Forty Lyrics
Dorothy, I know you’ve had amazing dreams
We can’t go chasing down this golden street
Each and every rainbow, each passion, each unattainable goal
We’re not in dreamland anymore

Dorothy, it seems you’ll never understand
This here land is everything we have
Every sweat stained collar, every dollar, every bent and bloodied spur
We’re not the kids that we once were
We can’t be the adults we want to be

Dreams are all you have
Dreams have held you back
Dreamers never live, only dream of it
Dream cars, dream houses, dream jobs
Dream spouses, dreams of tornadoes, cities of emerald

And I know we swore we'd make more of ourselves
But this plot is literally our lot in life

American dreams pollute our cities
Our piece of the pie can’t fill our bellies
(More) More square inches, (more) picket fences
(More) Clothes on the line, (more) naps at noontime

More of our fair share
More of our birthright
More of what we’re owed

More
Paid vacation, (more) entertainment
(More) Compensation, (more) gratuitous gratification

Dorothy wake up, Dorothy wake up
Dorothy wake up, it’s time for work

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  • 35 Comments
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Knife2aGunFight
06-14-2006

Rated 0 
I could have sworn it was
"And I know I swore we'd make love in this house but the.."

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RedJesus
06-14-2006

Rated 0 
i hear:
"i know we swore we'd make more of ourselves"

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Ves1011
06-14-2006

Rated 0 
I agree with redjesus, now the question is, what the heck does he say after that?

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Knife2aGunFight
06-15-2006

Rated 0 
This here land, not "this new land", and yes now that I here it it is "i know we swore we'd make more of ourselves"

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itsjustluck
06-17-2006

Rated 0 
Where did you guys find this leak?

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egyptianmusk
06-18-2006

Rated 0 
a friend hooked me up with my leak. the cd's so good.

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oloz
06-19-2006

Rated 0 
"More compensation, more gratuitous right obligation"
sounds like gratuitous gratification to me.

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askachan
06-19-2006

Rated 0 
yeah, this song is great!! the first time i heard it i wondered "is this cursive?" and then i thought "fucking amazing!!!".. i think that cursive really grew on this album.. there's nothing like it... but who is this dorothy?

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three star salute
06-19-2006

Rated 0 
Dorothy, I would imagine, is a reference to The Wizard of Oz.

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truthbealiar
06-21-2006

Rated 0 
He's not speaking to the literal Dorothy from Wizard of Oz. Certainly, there's a lot of Wizard of Oz imagery in this and the other "Dorothy" song ("Dorothy Dreams of Tornados"), but he's using Dorothy to refer to dreamers who are too lazy or afraid to do anything to persue those dreams.

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porcelainsoliloquy
06-27-2006

Rated 0 
Maybe I'm completely off but it seems like Kasher made this song like more of a satire. That we should stop dreaming and just accept the fate of everyday existance, even though it's completely benign. In the other songs he talks about how no one is the "chosen one", there is no point into fantasizing you're something more than you're not. It's almost sad, it just seems that he's resigned himself from dreaming for bigger things and just settling. I think Kasher's got serious issues with the church (obviously) and all the false ideas of being unique and special, since it seems it didn't happen to him or anyone else he cares about. But he is very special, he's a great musician who's given us all a lot, but I guess for someone with a lot of demons, that's not the resolution they want. Sorry, just going off on a tangent.

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jewslater
06-28-2006

Rated 0 
i dont think its sad or that he's bashing dreamers. i think he's bashing certain kind of dreamers.. the ones that want dream houses and dream spouses. that life may not ever be what you dream.. and that you have to get up for work in the morning regardless. but he doesn't bash people that dream of a better world. just the ones that think they deserve their fair share of their dream world. he's protesting people to grow up and be more in tune to what really matters in life which is certainly not what dorothy dreams about in this song. WAKE UP.

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jewslater
06-29-2006

Rated 0 
second hymn the prodigal damsel

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hotdingdong
07-01-2006

Rated 0 
Got the single yesterday and it has the correct lyrics

-"American dreams *pollute* our cities"

-"*Our* bellies"

And the first screaming part is
-"This plot is literally our lot in life"

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matt0009
07-05-2006

Rated 0 
"And I know we swore we'd make more of ourselves
But the product’s burning.. ahhhhhhh!"

is actually:

"And I know we swore we'd make more of ourselves, but this plot is literally our lot in life."

i got the 7" in the mail today

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wrat
07-10-2006

Rated 0 
Telling Dorothy (i.e., the average American) that what started off as an American dream will become a nightmare unless Dorthy (each and every American) wakes up, grows up, and acts to make a difference to improve the lives of this and future generations

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myheartsaweapon
07-20-2006

Rated 0 
SOME MINOR CHANGES?

we can't go chasing down EACH golden street

we're not the kids THAT we once were

cant fill our bellies, NO UP

these changes barely even matter but whatever,

got the 7" too. yea!

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myheartsaweapon
07-20-2006

Rated 0 
SOME MINOR CHANGES?

we can't go chasing down EACH golden street

we're not the kids THAT we once were

cant fill our bellies, NO UP

these changes barely even matter but whatever,

got the 7" too. yea!

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braveryexists
07-26-2006

Rated -1 
This is irony. What Dorothy dreams of are fairytales (like the Wizard of Oz), but that's not the kind of dreams that you're allowed to have in the USA. You're supposed to follow the American Dram, which is purely matherialistic and doesn't have anything romantic to it. So instead she's supposed to work to gaign money to then spend it on things.
It's certainly not his opinion in the foreground of this song, this "dreamers never live, only dream of it". Big parts of the record are about losing the connection to your childhood, and that's why the age is mentioned, Dorothy has remained child even at fourty and she's supposed to finally give up her dreams. Maybe Dorothy is Kasher himself? Seems likely to me.

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cowboyupinblue
07-30-2006

Rated 0 
Bright Eyes' "Digital Ash in a Digital Urn" was all about reincarnation and the idea that death is not the end of life. I personally think Kasher's overall theme of hopelessness and uselessness on this record are more of another way of looking at it than something he actually feels.

Both of these bands in particular have done a lot not only as bands, but as a label in sending out a message and encompassing a theme. They are almost sister albums to me.

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989898
07-30-2006

Rated 0 
I have to agree with cowboyupinblue, both albums are radically different albums from the rest of their respective work, and each has a theme that it follows, an underlying message put out about the album. This one bashes Christianity quite a bit, and Kasher repeditively says that life is all there is, and that nothing comes after it, in so many words.

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floz2323
08-22-2006

Rated 0 
I don't think this song is bashing dreamers per say, but more people that JUST dream, instead of going out and making their dream a reality. The song seems to have a similar message to part of "Rise up, Rise up!!" That being, there is not fate and life is short, MAKE your dreams come true.

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willlliw
08-24-2006

Rated 0 
i fucking love the horns

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willlliw
08-24-2006

Rated 0 
also about the dreamer line, i think tim is singing about himself. he is the dreamer

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Lachrymal Cloud
10-08-2006

Rated 0 
Happy Hollow is split up with 4 different types of people. Dreamers, schemers, preachers, and predators.

Babies - schemer
Dorothy - dreamer
Big Bang - Tim (none)
Bad Sects - preacher
Flag - schemer
Dorthy 2 - dreamer
Retreat! - Tim (none)
Sunks - preacher
Conception - predator
Science - schemer
Fold - predator
Rise Up! - Tim (none)
Hymns - (none)

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