Lyrics for Handcuffs as interpreted by prayingmantis84

Handcuffs Lyrics
I'd arrest you if i had handcuffs
I'd arrest you if i had the time
Id throw you down in the backseat
as if you'd committed a terrible crime.

I'd break into a town's worth of houses
and rob whole families blind
I'd do it to you like you'd do it to me
if you knew you would get away fine.

I'd drown all these crying babies
if i knew that their mothers wouldn't cry
I'd lower them down and squeeze real hard
and let a piece of myself die.

It's hard to be the better man
when you forget you're trying
It's hard to be the better man.

I'd arrest you if i had handcuffs
I'd arrest you if i had the time
I'd wait outside of the courtroom and taunt you
when all your appeals were declined

I'd drive my car into a bridge
if i knew that you weren't inside
With the pedal to the floor who could ask for a more
fantastic way to kill some time

You could lay on your back and be beaten
You could put up your fists and fight
You could try and be way off

It's hard to be the better man
when you forget you're trying
It's hard to be the better man
when you're still lying.

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frozenphoenix32
11-19-2006

Rated 0 
Great song, no clue what it's about.

Taking all the bullshit from some girl you really like?

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Avert Disaster
11-19-2006

Rated 0 
he is offically going insane.

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Rock Force
11-19-2006

Rated 0 
excellent song, but i have no ideas what the fuck he's talking about. i heard the "drowning babies" part and i started the song over to make sure i wasn't hearing things.

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mason338
11-19-2006

Rated 0 
The album is called the God and devil are raging inside of me. One line helps me
I'd drown all these crying babies (devil, bad)
if i knew their mothers wouldn't cry (god, good)

I think this song, as well as the whole album is about a struggle with your self, good vs bad, inner struggle.. I think I know what the song means but it's very hard to explain, a inner struggle between good and bad, what's right and what's wrong

but as frozenphoenix32 said, I feel some of it is directed towards a girl as well

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1 Reply
dcfcahlbrand91
11-19-2006

Rated 0 
it's about "fighting off your demons", the bad things you'd do if you would'nt get caught or didnt have a conscience, you want to get rid of the devil on your shoulder but you can't

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mason338
11-19-2006

Rated 0 
yes. i agree. much better way of explaining it than me haha

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Eyecon
11-19-2006

Rated 0 
Duude, Jesse's numb. The fame and success and stuff must be getting to him....

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1 Reply
Eyecon
11-19-2006

Rated 0 
I guess he's finally realizes that girls, gold, and guts don't fulfill...and he's decided that nothing matters anymore, but he still wants to be a nice guy, he just isn't gonna put much into it.....

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_missingframe
11-19-2006

Rated 0 
this song is written well, but i've got to agree it's kind of sick in a few verses. what with the drowning babies etc. i feel sort of bad to have the entire album leaked. i'm going to have to buy it anyways to make up for it i suppose. does somebody know what he means by "you could try and be way up"? reference to following god instead of the devil maybe?

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ImYourDensity
11-19-2006

Rated +1 
Pssst, Vince Acardi wrote this song, not Lacey.

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Midnight_Cowboy
11-19-2006

Rated +1 
I think it's too easy and frankly too cliche to always assume that every malicious sounding song is written for or about a girl. Brand New is in a mature stage in their song writing where their lyrics can transcend a number of issues and feelings. I'm not denying that a girl may have influenced this song as it did seventy times seven (well directed toward lead singer of TBS but was over a girl), but I am saying that this song's message could be applied to a number of situations, and for me at least, part of the beauty of a song is being able to relate it to instances in my own life.

I think mason338 has come closest to properly interpreting the message here. I think the song is about the inner battle for wanting to seek personal justice for a wrong doing vs. being the proverbial "better man" by finding alternative and more passive means for finding closure. The theme of arresting someone if he had handcuffs and throwing them in the back of a car (like a cop, hey!) as if they have committed a terrible crime implies that although by the standards of law, whatever that person did, though not illegal by any legislature, could be just as cruel if not crueler than any petty misdemeanor or felony. Hence the continued ethical debate of justice vs. the law.

I think the song is very logically and creativly written to follow the argumentative thought process we experience when in a rage and debating vigilantism vs. hoping that the theory of "what goes around comes around" holds true. On a camping trip one time, I had a friend who screwed the girl I liked, after she was black out drunk, in a tent, in front of everyone, after I had told him that I liked her and to back off. My first thoughts were naturally to douse the tent in kerosine and drop a match. This would have of course cost me time in the form of prison. I let it go, he came clean and apologized, we are still friends. It would have been a lot harder to have been the better man if he was ungracious about this (as the end of the song wraps up).

Oh and Eyecon, what you said sounds idiotic. Fame and success is not getting to Jesse who didn't even write the song aparently. First, Brand New is not even THAT famous as bands go. Second, you don't have to be cold and numb to write a song like this, you just have to be good at expressing the way you feel.

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bluhdebluh
11-20-2006

Rated 0 
The only song written by Vincent Arcardi (the guitarist) on the album...

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Arter
11-20-2006

Rated 0 
Jesse Lacey closes off his most personal album yet with a song he didn't write... and someone was complaining that he had an ego problem.

I think this song is more targeted at one's self than anyone else... I'd arrest you if I had handcuffs, if I had the time. Almost like he knows he's done wrong and he'd stop himself, but there's just nothing he can do about it, he hasn;t gotten to that stage in life yet.

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tofus
11-20-2006

Rated 0 
I'd drive my car off of a bridge
if i knew that you weren't inside
with a pedal to the floor i couldn't ask for more
a fantastic way to kill some time

thats good stuff right there!

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*StarWatcher*
11-21-2006

Rated 0 
i'd drown all these crying babies
if i knew that their mothers wouldn't cry
i'd hold them down and i'd squeeze real soft
to let a piece of myself die

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*StarWatcher*
11-21-2006

Rated 0 
i'd drown all these crying babies
if i knew that their mothers wouldn't cry
i'd hold them down and i'd squeeze real soft
to let a piece of myself die

This is inner struggle right there... you look at it and think gross, but i see it as getting hurt so badly that you would think of something so evil but realise that it's not who you are.

also the last two lines represent what would happen if he did go too far, when people do something they often question what they did and realise that the good person they wanted to be is dead because this is all you will remember.

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1 Reply
therookielot
11-23-2006

Rated 0 
I think this song has some sort of connection with Demo 5 for some reason. Does anyone else feel the same way?

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followtheformat
11-24-2006

Rated 0 
This song perfectly ends the Devil and God story that runs throughout the album. This song is basically saying that a reason people refuse to let their demons take over is consequences. If there weren't consequences for negative actions, people would let the Devil take over. That's my take.

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followtheformat
11-24-2006

Rated 0 
This song perfectly ends the Devil and God story that runs throughout the album. This song is basically saying that a reason people refuse to let their demons take over is consequences. If there weren't consequences for negative actions, people would let the Devil take over. That's my take.

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mandolin
11-26-2006

Rated 0 
The verse about the babies, squeeze real soft, just chills me.

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Seannn8706
11-28-2006

Rated 0 
I think this was intended to be sort of an antithesis to sowing season. For starters sowing season is the first song on the cd while handcuffs is the last one.
Much of the cd has to do with the maturation process. In sowing season they are pressing the issue of being a man by overlooking the ways you've been wronged and making the best out of what you've got.
In handcuffs i think theyve made an attempt to address the fact that this whole concept is not a realization but a process. When youve been slighted its easier said than done to just forgive and forget and move on with your life.

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Seannn8706
11-28-2006

Rated 0 
I think this was intended to be sort of an antithesis to sowing season. For starters sowing season is the first song on the cd while handcuffs is the last one.
Much of the cd has to do with the maturation process. In sowing season they are pressing the issue of being a man by overlooking the ways you've been wronged and making the best out of what you've got.
In handcuffs i think theyve made an attempt to address the fact that this whole concept is not a realization but a process. When youve been slighted its easier said than done to just forgive and forget and move on with your life.

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Alchemyrules
11-28-2006

Rated 0 
This song is about taking the easy way out. The song is chalk full of methaphor explaining this.

"I'd arrest you if I had handcuffs
I'd arrest you if I had the time"

He is saying that something needs to be done but he is too lazy/lacks motivation to do it.

"I'd drown all of these crying babies
If I knew that their mother's wouldnt cry"

He is looking for a quick fix to a bigger problem.

"It's hard be the better man
When you forget you're trying.
It's hard to be the better man
When you're still lying."

Pretty much an expample of "The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me" Jesse is striving to be this better man but he is doing things in his life that he knows to be wrong, but because of the weakness of man he does them anyway. He "drowns crying babies" rather than figuring out why they are crying and looking for a way to stop it. He'd arrest someone yet he doesn't have the means to do it. So instead of looking for someone who does he lets this person go free.

To me this song is all about the weakness in man and that there is a homeostasis living between The Devil and God.

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Alchemyrules
11-28-2006

Rated 0 
Sorry, when I said Jesse I ment Vin since Vin wrote this song.

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CQue tHe Sunn
11-30-2006

Rated 0 
it seems to me that this band is so ridiculously talented, musically and obviously lyrically.
they have jesse... (need i say any more?)
now we obviously see that vinnie can write lyrics up to par with jesse. they are both amazing at writing lyrics, amazing musicians, and does anyone else feel that their voices are strikingly similar??
this band has two clones of the god of art in it!
after reading through all of the lyrics to the new album... i am speechless, i feel almost as if i could die now, and be completely satisfied with my life. all because of this cd. the lyrics are that powerful to me. and im not exaggerating. the only thing that keeps me going is this bands next album.

last: WHEN IS BRAND NEW COMING TO OHIO!!!?!?!? EVER? CUZ I'LL DRIVE 100 MILES TO GO SEE THEM FOR REAL.

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