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There's only one light on in the house
And that's the light up in the hall
And it's shining on the back of my head
And I'm concentrating hard
On the cigarette, to the ashtray
From the ashtray back to my lips
So I lean up from my easy chair
I rub my three day beard
And give that thousand yard stare
As I recall all the time and the money we spent
Before I became irrelevant
So the straw dog threw rock salt
And the precious girl took a bow and walked
As I ran my finger over the screen door
Yeah, every kiss has reeked of betrayal
Since my heroine jumped the guardrail
And decided who she wanted to be once more
Now, every night I'm paralyzed
By the fear of rope burns and morning light
And the smell of wet cement
Since I became irrelevant
Now, memory's just a flash flood
A thick and black sticky mud
And heartache it's like a breaking bone
It was always twelve hours on a missionary line
You think I would've spared some time
But I didn't, I never went home
Now, it occurs to me like blinds undrawn
Or a bullet from a shotgun
That she knew long ago, oh, what it meant
To feel irrelevant
Now, I'm always smilin', cryin'
And hidin' my intent
Since I became irrelevant
Lyrics submitted by strangersatellite
Track duration: 04:04
"Irrelevant" as written by Ryan Christopher Webb
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Who knows - he is brilliant though!
And that's the light up in the hall
And it's shining on the back of my head
And I'm concentrating hard on the cigarette
To the ashtray from the ashtray back to my lips
So I lean up from my easy chair
I rub my three-day beard
And give that thousand yard stare"
^I love that he is so vivid. Ok I'll take a stab at interpreting it. I think it's about a guy and girl who were in a relationship that went sour. It seems the girl left him and he is feeling really low and insignificant. He's just sitting in a dim room (which kinda reflects how he feels), he hasn't shaved for a few days and he's reflecting on what went wrong. I think when they were together he ignored her/didn't spend enough time with her and wasn't there for her " You think I would've spared some time But I didn't, I never went home" and this becomes crystal clear to him as he is pondering what happened. He realizes that the way he feels now is how she felt while they were together, "Now it occurs to me like blinds undrawn Or a bullet from a shotgun That she knew long ago what it meant To feel irrelevant" and that is why she left.
With that being said, there are a few lines that I am a bit unsure about, which could alter my interpretation, "Yeah every kiss has reeked on betrayal Since my heroine jumped the guardrail And decided who she wanted to be once more" maybe she committed suicide, I mean jumping the guardrail could be literal or metaphorical (as in I said before -she left) but if I go with the literal translation I now see the song as a guy who’s girlfriend committed suicide sometime ago but he is still deeply heartbroken and he’s feeling horrible and insignificant and he knows he didn’t appreciate her enough or spend enough time with her and he now knows how she felt before she killed herself. He is also trying to move on with his life but he feels guilty about it “Yeah every kiss has reeked on betrayal Since my heroine jumped the guardrail”
I really like the closing lines “Now I'm always smilin' and cyryin' And hidin' my intent Since I became irrelevant”
Well, that was a bit long-winded. Anyway I could be wrong, but since I am the only one who has offered an opinion, I guess it stands for now :)