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In a razor town
You take whoever you think you can keep around.
There's an echoed sound
That permeates the sidewalk where she shuffles 'round.
It's a big machine.
It used to be the avenue of changing dreams.
She's a lonely thing,
Sweeping up the glitter while she pulls the strings.
Take a long last look
Before she turns to stone
What the last man took
And what was long, long gone.
The way it used to be,
I wasn't there to see it working properly.
Now it seems to me
Both of you are suffering.
I've heard her say
That you're the only reason she's alive today.
I just turned away
Thinking maybe she was right.
So say your last goodbye.
Make it short and sweet
There ain't no way to fly
With her hanging on your feet.
Let her go out if she wants to.
If she don't, go out yourself.
Don't take sorry for an answer
Unless you really want what's left.
'Cause in a razor town
The only thing that matters tends to bring you down.
There's no way around,
But maybe you can barrel through
'Cause a razor ain't no good for you.
You take whoever you think you can keep around.
There's an echoed sound
That permeates the sidewalk where she shuffles 'round.
It's a big machine.
It used to be the avenue of changing dreams.
She's a lonely thing,
Sweeping up the glitter while she pulls the strings.
Take a long last look
Before she turns to stone
What the last man took
And what was long, long gone.
The way it used to be,
I wasn't there to see it working properly.
Now it seems to me
Both of you are suffering.
I've heard her say
That you're the only reason she's alive today.
I just turned away
Thinking maybe she was right.
So say your last goodbye.
Make it short and sweet
There ain't no way to fly
With her hanging on your feet.
Let her go out if she wants to.
If she don't, go out yourself.
Don't take sorry for an answer
Unless you really want what's left.
'Cause in a razor town
The only thing that matters tends to bring you down.
There's no way around,
But maybe you can barrel through
'Cause a razor ain't no good for you.
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The town: The song is set in an uncomfortably common place: the dying small town. Once the backbone of this country, small towns have fallen victim to the economic advantages of cities, which have exploded in growth fueled by small town refugees. Most relevant to this song, those who leave tend to be the skilled, mobile, and economically advantaged, leaving the disadvantaged to fend for themselves. What's left is a community without the economic engine it needs to thrive or even subsist. And so it dies.
Evidence from this permeates the song. It "used to be the avenue of changing dreams," suggesting the town was once a much greater force than it is now. The "big machine" that was the town is now only "echoes" that permeate the town, reinforcing the lost glory of the town and a revealing a forlorn consciousness of that loss by those who remain.
The girl: Jason is a 3rd person narrator describing a relationship between a guy and girl and giving advice to the guy. The girl has a sketchy past who was "saved" by the guy Jason is singing to ("you're the only reason she's alive today"). The guy once had a bright future, and could still escape, but for the time being, he's rooted in a bad town with a bad girl. Their relationship is deteriorating ("and now it seems to me/ both of you are suffering").
The question that juts out is simply this: do you stand with the girl and the dying town out of a sense of duty or obligation, or leave it behind? If you leave, you reawaken your bright future and freedom, but feel guilt for leaving the girl and town behind knowing they both need you to survive. If you stay, you stay knowing the "razor" that is the town will bleed you dry, and further, that the relationship with the girl effectively ends your future ("ain't not way for you to fly/with her hanging on your feet").
So what's the answer? Jason ends with ambivalence. The bluntness of "cause a razor ain't no good for you" is tempered by Jason's poignant advice: you can stay with the girl, but it'll come at great cost to you ("don't take sorry for an answer [forgive her fatal faults], 'less you really want what's left). And while the possibility of "barreling through" is raised, there really is no way around the consequences of staying. Staying lets the girl and town live a little longer, but kills you.
I came from a dying small town and chose to leave. I worked in a second and left that one too. The choice wasn't too hard in either case because I knew what the bleak futures those towns hold. But every small-towner knows the guilt that cuts into you when you up and leave everyone behind. This song does a better job capturing that than any other I've ever heard.
<br /> This is quite possibly the best comment I have read on songmeanings. Articulate and insightful.