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Disappear from your hometown
Go and find the people that you know
Show them all you good parts
Leave town when bad ones start to show
Go and wed a woman
A pretty girl that you’ve never met
Make sure she knows you love her well
But don’t make any other promises
The weight of lies will bring you down
And follow you to every town
Cause nothing happens here that doesn’t happen there
So when you run make sure you run
To something and not away from
Cause lies don’t need an aeroplane to chase you anywhere
I once heard the worse thing
A man could do is draw a hungry crowd
Tell everyone his name, pride, and confidence
But leaving out his doubt
I’m not sure I bought those words
When I was young I knew most everything
These words have never meant as much to anyone
As they now mean to me
The weight of lies will bring you down
And follow you to every town
Cause nothing happens here that doesn’t happen there
So when you run make sure you run
To something and not away from
Cause lies don’t need an aeroplane to chase you down
Go and find the people that you know
Show them all you good parts
Leave town when bad ones start to show
Go and wed a woman
A pretty girl that you’ve never met
Make sure she knows you love her well
But don’t make any other promises
The weight of lies will bring you down
And follow you to every town
Cause nothing happens here that doesn’t happen there
So when you run make sure you run
To something and not away from
Cause lies don’t need an aeroplane to chase you anywhere
I once heard the worse thing
A man could do is draw a hungry crowd
Tell everyone his name, pride, and confidence
But leaving out his doubt
I’m not sure I bought those words
When I was young I knew most everything
These words have never meant as much to anyone
As they now mean to me
The weight of lies will bring you down
And follow you to every town
Cause nothing happens here that doesn’t happen there
So when you run make sure you run
To something and not away from
Cause lies don’t need an aeroplane to chase you down
Lyrics submitted by Thrilliam, edited by Mellow_Harsher
Track duration: 04:30
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The whole song is revolving around human relationships.
The interpretation I get is that you need to be able to share your insecurities, doubts, negative thoughts and feelings, etc. as well as all the good ones. You will never have a meaningful relationship with anyone if all you ever share are the good parts of yourself. You aren't being honest with others, and you aren't being true to yourself if you just push away all your bad feelings and skip town as soon as your doubts start to show.
Marrying someone you barely know and swearing your love isn't going to do any good if you don't make any other promises; if you don't confide in that person, tell them your deepest and darkest.
I think so far most people have nailed that part on the head, but let's go a little deeper than that....
The real question to be answered here is:
WHY WOULD SOMEONE RUN AWAY AS SOON AS THEIR DOUBTS BEGIN TO SHOW??
I don't think this is just about running away from problems... but it's about the fear of getting hurt by others; the fear of letting other people get too close. It's a story about shutting people out, because you're so afraid that if they get to know you to your core, they will use your weaknesses against you. So as soon as you feel like you've slipped up and your doubts have shown through despite your efforts to keep someone at a distance, you split town so as not to get hurt. It's like when you hear a rumor that you're significant other is going to break up with you, so you protect yourself by making sure you break up with them first.
Option one is to be closed off and run away to protect yourself from getting hurt when your weaknesses show. You will never be happy this way.
Option two is to be honest, and show your doubts to others. You could and probably will make some amazing friends, lovers, a second family if you will. Yes, you will get hurt in that process. However, it is better to be hurt and run to someone you can trust for comfort, than it is to never let yourself have the opportunity to make meaningful relationships.
The moral of the story here is that if you are constantly on the defense, you are never going to be happy. You will keep pushing people away, and continue to run. But if you let your guard down, there is a chance you might get hurt, but it is totally worth the possibility that you might make some of the best friendships and loves that you could never even imagine.
"'Tis better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all" -Alfred Lord Tennyson
I hadn't thought of the gay angle before, but I can see it fitting in places.
I'm a young guy who's moved towns every 2 years or so, and I've always had open relationships. I now have 5 or 10 women I 'know' spread around the country. It has good parts and bad parts, but one of the main things that happens is you have tons of discussions about feelings and relationships.
I believe in honesty and I found this part matching my sentiment exactly when making a new 'friend' in a new town:
"Make sure she knows you love her well
But don't make any other promises"
So I think the song is about polyamory. :)
The first verse talks about anyone (in general) who is on the search for trying to find out who they really are in their inner self. It also states the typical that people tend to be two faced and show one side of their selves, but neglect to show the darker side. He further goes on to say that once you meet someone or "wed a woman/man" that you be true to that person and don't hide anything. No one hates relationships/marriages anymore than the next person when the two people aren't honest with one another.
The Chorus is self explanatory... don't think that you can just move and all your problems will disappear.
The second verse starts off: "I once heard the worst thing a man can do is draw a hungry crowd (or to draw attention to oneself). Tell everyone his name, pride, and confidence, but leaving out his doubt (again tell everyone only the good qualities about them)."
Now the second part of that verse makes it seem as if his dad or mom told him these words and that ("I'm not sure i bought those words, when i was young i knew most everything") he neglected the advice and screwed up a few times and did exactly opposite of what they told him. ("These words have never meant as much to anyone, as they now mean to me") He has obviously learned from his mistakes and recollects what he was taught and now thinks that it is a lesson well learned.
In short... the song means be true to people about you and don't hide anything. For if you do, then you are lying to yourself as much as you are others. (yes the gay topic is one of many that can fit this)
The Avett Brother's just know how to generate lyrics that are so vague but beautifully written that we can use them to cover a great many topics. They are truly an amazing group.
I just morphed the lyrics to fit my own life and that I can not run from my own personal problems and that helped me with some things that I need to deal with.
I love this song... Its one of those songs that comfort me within a few notes...
In the second verse he's telling everyone he knows about his homosexual affair after evading it for a long time.
When he sings about how "the words ("the worst thing that a man can do is draw a hungry crowd") mean so much to him", he is implying that he does not regret outing himself.
But I'm not really sure.
Go and find the people that you know
I think it's kind of a cynical outlook, but it seems to say you're not going to find anyone staggeringly different than people you've already met anywhere else. It reinforces the line:
Cause nothing happens here that doesn’t happen there
It's an awesome song though, I'm surprised more people haven't stumbled across it.
Does anyone have an interpretation on the following?:
I once heard the worse thing
A man could do is draw a hungry crowd
Tell everyone his name, pride, and confidence
But leaving out his doubt
It seems to be saying that one should admit to their bad qualities as well as the good, but I think there's more to it that I'm not picking up on.
I think it's just someone not questioning themselves and being close-minded. The "hungry crowd" is what confuses me a bit; maybe they're willing to believe and eat up whatever someone has to say, no matter how absurd it is. Like corruption, yet unintentionally harmful because the man's ignorance cancels out the sly characteristics of a corrupter.
I once heard the worse thing
A man could do is draw a hungry crowd
Tell everyone his name, pride, and confidence
But leaving out his doubt
It simply means that you shouldn't build undue expectations in people. Everyone sells themselves by trying to impress other people with their accomplishments and personality, intelligence, et cetera. I think they are trying to say that you should be yourself, and don't lie about how awesome you are or all the cool things you've done; be yourself, be proud of your accomplishments but also be modest and be forthcoming about what you would have done differently and the times that you weren't quite so awesome. Don't build a fictional narrative about yourself that leaves out all of the failings. We're all human, right?