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Working man's day, we just piss it away
We sit out in the weather
Failure, he said, times two breeds contempt
Wash your hands of it forever
Violence it ripped through the old dogwood fence
See the whole scene unravel
Drunk brother said he could reason with them
While they lied at night, they lied at night, while they lied
While they lied at night, they lied at night, while they lied
The picture was left on the front porch, the back said
I love you, don't you ever think of me?
If my body goes, then to hell with my soul
We don't even know the difference
But dead folks in the clouds, for crying out loud!
While they lied at night, they lied at night, while they lied
While they lied at night, they lied at night, while they lied
And why, did we live so long
So long
So long
[bridge]
The house is not the same since we left it that day
Old friends seem to wander
Our parents hands: cigarettes, wedding bands
While they lied at night, they lied at night, while they lied
While they lied at night, they lied at night, while they lied
And why, did we live so long
So long
So long
[bridge]
While they lied at night, they lied at night, while they lied
While they lied at night, they lied at night, while they lied
While they lied at night, they lied at night, while they lied
Oh....
We sit out in the weather
Failure, he said, times two breeds contempt
Wash your hands of it forever
Violence it ripped through the old dogwood fence
See the whole scene unravel
Drunk brother said he could reason with them
While they lied at night, they lied at night, while they lied
While they lied at night, they lied at night, while they lied
The picture was left on the front porch, the back said
I love you, don't you ever think of me?
If my body goes, then to hell with my soul
We don't even know the difference
But dead folks in the clouds, for crying out loud!
While they lied at night, they lied at night, while they lied
While they lied at night, they lied at night, while they lied
And why, did we live so long
So long
So long
[bridge]
The house is not the same since we left it that day
Old friends seem to wander
Our parents hands: cigarettes, wedding bands
While they lied at night, they lied at night, while they lied
While they lied at night, they lied at night, while they lied
And why, did we live so long
So long
So long
[bridge]
While they lied at night, they lied at night, while they lied
While they lied at night, they lied at night, while they lied
While they lied at night, they lied at night, while they lied
Oh....
Lyrics submitted by Yeahdand
Track duration: 04:36
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The beginning lines could refer to simply walking through life, going through life without much care "pissing it away.".
The line "we sit out in the weather" could refer to being dead, buried in the ground. Weather the line is "failure" or "familiar," either way it sounds like a father's advice to his child, don't get too close to someone, wash your hands of familiarity.
I really like the line, "Violence it ripped through the old dogwood fence, See the whole scene unravel." The "old dogwood fence" is the antithesis of a white picket fence. The family wasn't perfectly happy, there was dysfunction and things unraveled. I think the song then takes a turn into questioning faith, which is obvious with my favorite line "But dead folks in the clouds, for crying out loud." Also, the repetition of the lines "they lied at night" seems to discuss hypocrisy or dishonesty despite what was preached. His parents were lying at night, lying next to one another despite their failing relationship. I wonder if the line "our parents' hands: cigarettes, wedding bands" is equating cigarettes and wedding bands. The cigarettes signifying a sort of silent, slow killer. Smoking is a danger, yet people continue years upon years and it wears on them, much like a bad marriage?
Overall just a great song
We sit out in the weather
"Familiar", he said
Time soon breeds contempt
Wash your hands of it forever
Violence, it ripped through the old dogwood fence
See the whole scene unravel
Your drunk brother said he could reason with them
While they lied at night
And the picture was the left on the front porch
The back said, "I love you, don't you ever think of me?"
If my body goes, then to hell with my soul
We don't even know the difference
The dead folks in the clouds, for crying out loud
While they lied at night
And why can we live so long?
The house not the same since we left it that day
Old friends seem to wander
But our parents' hands: cigarettes, wedding bands
While they lied at night.
The working mans day we just piss it away: he works all the time but no one care
failure twice breeds contempt, wash you hands of it forever: if you keep screwing up, you feel bad about yourself, but you need to forget about it because everyone fucks up
just a thought...
But dead folks in the clouds, for crying out loud! I love this line, its kind of saying we respect christianity, but its greatly misinterpretted
My interpretations of the song has mostly been stated: A failing marriage because of lost love and possibly infidelity. As many have stated about their respective parents, my parents too are divorced.
there is plenty upon the soul
there is, i'm sure, a heart's content...but,
there is an eminent and eternal nothing in drive
Wash your hands of it forever' always makes me think of a child of divorce growing up and having a healthy marriage in spite of their parents failures.
'Our parents hands: cigarettes, wedding bands'... my mom started smoking once she left my dad. he was heartbroken. he didn't wanna give up his marriage but my mom was in a rush to. so her hand held the cigarette while his held on to the wedding band
(thats just my distorted child-from-a-broken-home interpretation)
"The working man's day, we just piss it away.
We sit out in the weather.
Familiar," he said, "times do breed contempt.
Wash you hands of it forever."
The violence, it ripped through the old dogwood fence.
See the whole scene unravel.
The drunk brother said he could reason with them...
While they lie tonight, they lie tonight, while they lie. 2x
The picture was left on the front porch. The back said,
"I love him, don't you ever think of me.
If my body goes, then to Hell with my soul.
We don't even know the difference."
The dead folks in the clouds are crying out loud...
While they lie tonight, they lie tonight, while they lie. 2x
"And why did we live so long?"
Long 2x
The house, not the same since we left it that day.
Old friends seem to wander.
In our parents' hands, cigarettes, wedding bands...
While they lie tonight, they lie tonight while they lie.
2x
And why did we live so long?
Long 2x
While they lie tonight, they lie tonight, while they lie 3x
Oh...
------------------------------------------------------------
And now, my analysis. The whole song outlines a marriage that's on the rocks with the parnets probably only staying together because of the kids or for religious reasons.
In the first part, you hear the father speaking, saying that even though life isn't necessarily hard on them he's getting bored with life as it is and he and his wife are growing apart. I believe the husband threatens the wife with divorce when he says, "Wash your hands of it forever." (Husbands out there, never say the D word. It can cause a lot of emotional damage even if you don't mean it.)
This is followed by a fight out in the yard. The violence mentioned in this song isn't necessarily physical but I believe that's what it's speaking of when "it ripped through the old dogwood fence". The kids may have been on the other side of the fence listening to the fight, and it "ripped" emotionally from the kids overheaing the fight. The older (presumably) older brother is drunk, but he tries to break up the fight.
The chorus is cool, because the word, "lie", has a double meaning. They lie while they are lying in bed, basically. A man and woman sleeping together is supposed to be symbolic of love, but the parents don't love eachother.
I believe the next verse is talking about an affair the wife is having. She leaves a picture of the guy she's cheating with, with a note on the back. The wife has gotten to a point of not caring about whatever religious reasons they had for staying together.
While they were together, it was destructive to the kids for them to be arguing all the time, but this is just as bad when one parent suddenly decides to leave on bad terms. this is why "the dead folks in the clouds are crying out loud".
After the split, their lie is that this is somehow better, but the kids are still being hurt by all of their problems.
This is followed by the question, "Why did we live so long?"
This is a powerful song, because even those who haven't these types of isssues at home know what it feels like to think that their life is just dragging on with no hope for a better tomorrow. Somehow a song like this brings some comfort when you realize that there are people who know what you're going through.
Any young people being affected by this, call 1-800-HIT-HOME
God bless,
Nemamiah
In my opinion, it's "while they lie-dy-died, they lie-dy-died, while they died." And what they died from is .. well, denial of all sorts. The most obvious being cigarette smoking. But we grew up in it, eh? There were whole dimensions of denial one could spread out in at the time. And lots of room for fuckupedness in family relations.
Working man's day, we just piss it away
We sit out in the weather
Familiar, he said, times two breeds contempt
Wash your hands of it forever
Violence it ripped through the old dogwood fence
See the whole scene unravel
Drunk brother said he could reason, but failed
While they lie tonight, they lie tonight, while they lie
While they lie tonight, the lie tonight, while they lie
The picture was left on the front porch,
The back said "I love you, don't you ever think of me"
If my body goes into hell with my soul
We don't even know the difference
The dead folks in the clouds, for crying out loud
While they lie tonight, they lie tonight, while they lie
While they lie tonight, they lie tonight, while they lie
And why did we live so long
Long
Long
[bridge]
The house is not the same since we left it that day
Old friends seem to wonder
In our parents hands, cigarettes, wedding bands
While they lie tonight, they lie tonight, while they lie
While they lie tonight, they lie tonight, while they lie
And why did we live so long
Long
Long
[bridge]
While they lie tonight, they lie tonight, while they lie
While they lie tonight, they lie tonight, while they lie
While they lie tonight, they lie tonight, while they lie
Oh....