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Said the plain clothes cop to the beauty queen
“I’ve seen nothing but a spoke in a wheel”
So she gave up her crown to a kid with a crutch
And they both felt cheated after closing the deal
And the white tooth man, I ran with him
Got all cut up from pissing out in the weeds
And a fight upstate with a broken blade
And a wife whose finger never wanted a ring
Said the plain clothes cop to the Indian chief
“I’ve made nothing but an honest mistake”
The postman cried while reading the mail
And we all got trampled in the Christmas parade
And the white tooth man who sold me a gun
A map of Canaan and a government bond
Said, “I love this town, but it ain’t the same”
The ski mask ripped as he was putting it on
Said the plain clothes cop to the holy ghost
“I’ve heard nothing if it wasn’t the wind”
And we all got sick on a strip club meal
While the statehouse was frying all the witches again
So the white tooth man with his kids in the car
And a wad of money that was already spent
Said, “I love my dog but she just ran away
She’ll keep running like the world never ends”
“I’ve seen nothing but a spoke in a wheel”
So she gave up her crown to a kid with a crutch
And they both felt cheated after closing the deal
And the white tooth man, I ran with him
Got all cut up from pissing out in the weeds
And a fight upstate with a broken blade
And a wife whose finger never wanted a ring
Said the plain clothes cop to the Indian chief
“I’ve made nothing but an honest mistake”
The postman cried while reading the mail
And we all got trampled in the Christmas parade
And the white tooth man who sold me a gun
A map of Canaan and a government bond
Said, “I love this town, but it ain’t the same”
The ski mask ripped as he was putting it on
Said the plain clothes cop to the holy ghost
“I’ve heard nothing if it wasn’t the wind”
And we all got sick on a strip club meal
While the statehouse was frying all the witches again
So the white tooth man with his kids in the car
And a wad of money that was already spent
Said, “I love my dog but she just ran away
She’ll keep running like the world never ends”
Lyrics submitted by TDeMello
Track duration: 03:56
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Basically, I find it a clear political critique of the United States and it's forigen and domestic policies. Hear me out here:
The plain clothed Cop, I think, represents the US in general, as it's sometimes sarcastically referred to as the policeman of the world and such. His patronizing, unapologetic and dismissive attitudes reflect the US's own self distanced stance. The cop says to Indian it was just an 'honest mistake' referring perhaps to the great displacements and ethnic persecutions over the whole of white American history. He ignores the pleadings of the Holy Ghost, he berates and belittles Beauty itself.
The White Tooth man is without a doubt a politician, or maybe even the president (I *ran* with him). The Map of Canaan line reflects the government trying to 'sell' the war(s) in the middle east, In Iraq, Afghanistan, and those by it's proxy Israel. 'Money already spent' reflects the huge deficit, caused by reckless policies and aforementioned wars. His hypocrisy in the 'I love this town' line is already mentioned above.
I'm not sure about the Postman, but it could be talking about increased government surveillance. Postmen deliver the mail, they aren't meant to read it, him crying might mean he's ordered to do it against his will.
Overall, I see it as a highly politically charged song.
I've seen nothing but a spoke in a wheel"
Most likely refers to the wheel of Dharma, meshes really well with the sitar sounding instrument in the intro. Beautiful song.
The plain clothes cop isn't literally a plain clothes cop, but a metaphor for the opinion of the general public; the idea that beauty queens are nothing but a spoke in the wheel, not caring about the Indian chief, the lack of belief in God. The plain clothes cop is really just humanity.
The beauty queen, who is upset at being called a spoke in the wheel, proves that she is better than just another cog in the machine. She gives a physical gift to a cripple, the thing she knows best (physical beauty). However, because the kid with the crutch doesn't really have a need for it, it's really an "incorrect" gift to give, thus making the beauty queen ignorant. This further proves how crappy humanity is, and to make it worse, she realizes it wasn't really what she wanted to begin with, since it didn't really make her look any better.
Now the white tooth man is a man with a perfect smile, physically looking like a nice person. But again, morality is slipping and it is not surprising that he commits the crime of robbery even though he has a white tooth smile.
In the final stanza, the cop tells the holy spirit that because he cannot physically hear God, he doesn't believe him. And again, the plain clothes cop is the general public, not literally a cop. Religion has slipped away from people's morals. Most importantly in the last stanza, it is likely the dog is what is truly important, since dogs tend to be loyal, trustworthy, etc. He will keep running away from what is happening to humanity until the world ends.
hes trying to help people but he can't because he doesnt actually have any of the powers he needs to,
when he says '�I�ve heard nothing if it wasn�t the wind� ' he is saying its hard for him to beleive in god when theres so much going on in the world that he cant do anything about.
The beuty queen, is a symbol and symbolises people that you wouldnt expect to be helping others. and this would show that no body knows that shes helping a kid with a crutch (which i think could be an orphan?)look for something, when she cant find it, she sacrifices something she has to try and cheer him up, even though it didn't actually help. she lost her time and became even more disheartened in the world, and he feels like his time was wasted, thats one more person who cant make him feel better about his life.
The white tooth man: i think that his white teeth show innocence,but the state of things in that town have dilouted hiss innocence, so like everyone else, hes given up. when his dog runs away, his dog represents happiness and trust, so hes lost that in the world. before that when he sells a gun, thats him just trying to make some money and get by, even if it makes the world worse. and in the first verse when he gets all cut up from pissing in the weeds, that means that he does what he feels like even if the concesquences are bad.
i also have another idea about how the white tooth man is a preist and the colour of his teeth is representitive of purity, and the entire song revolves around religion but ugh... another day
The woman met a man, she didn't WANT to marry him, but she did.
The beauty queen was pushed into feeling guilty, and gave up her crown.
The kid with the crutch doesn't CARE about the crown, he'd rather have something else, but he takes it.
and this white tooth man, is pretending to have problems, when in reality all that's truly happened is the death of his dog.
reminds me of Don McLean's American Pie:
"But February made me shiver
With every paper I'd deliver
Bad news on the doorstep
I couldn't take one more step"
Not sure there's a connection, but, who knows???