Lyrics for Milk Thistle as interpreted by tester2586

Milk Thistle Lyrics
Milk thistle, milk thistle
Let me down slow
Help me go slow
I've been carrying on
I'm not scared of nothing
I'll go pound for pound
I keep death on my mind
Like a heavy crown
If I go to heaven
I'll be bored as hell
Like a little baby
At the bottom of a well

Fair child, fair child
How are you man?
Did you fix that storefront?
Did you start that band?
Don't be scared of nothing
You go pound for pound
You bring peace to midnight
Like a spotted owl
I'll be rooting for you
Like my favorite team
If somebody sweats you
You just point them out to me

All the sights and sounds
This little world's too crowded now
And there's only one way out
An elevator ride
Through the tunnel towards the light
And I'm nowhere bound
Keep going up and down
Up and down

Newspaper, newspaper
Can't take no more
You're here every morning
Waiting at my door
I'm just trying to kiss you
And you stab my eyes
Make me blue forever
Like an island sky
And I'm not pretending
That it's all okay
Just let me have my coffee
Before you take away the day

Lazarus, Lazarus
Why all the tears?
Did your faithful chauffeur just disappear?
What a lonesome feeling
To be waiting around
Like some washed up actress
In a Tinseltown
But for the record
I'd come pick you up
We'll head for the ocean
Just say when you've had enough

All the light and sound
This little world's too fragile now
And there's only one way out
But if you let me slide
I'll do my best to make things right
And I'm nowhere bound
Just going up and down
Up and down

Milk thistle, milk thistle
Let me down slow
Just help me go slow
I've been hurrying on
I was poised for greatness
I was down and out
I keep death at my heels
Like a basset hound
If i go to heaven
I'll be bored as hell
Like a crying baby
At the bottom of a well

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  • 39 Comments
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gazsafa
06-18-2008

Rated +1 
“This has got to be the most amazing song ever produced by any artist!”
Yes I always knew Conor would be the first one to make the sentence leak from my finger tips!

Gaz xx

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chlorophyllblood
06-19-2008

Rated 0 
Milk thistle is used to treat alcohol-inflicted liver damage. Perhaps it has something to do with that.

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chlorophyllblood
06-19-2008

Rated 0 
Milk thistle is used to treat alcohol-inflicted liver damage. Perhaps it has something to do with that.

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chlorophyllblood
06-19-2008

Rated 0 
Milk thistle is used to treat alcohol-inflicted liver damage. Perhaps it has something to do with that.

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cause=time
06-22-2008

Rated 0 
It's
'Like and island sky'

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cause=time
06-22-2008

Rated 0 
I meant 'an' not 'and'

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cause=time
06-22-2008

Rated 0 
I meant 'an' not 'and'

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ParkerEloise
07-06-2008

Rated 0 
yeah i agree about the milk thistle alchohol thing
whats the whole lazarus thing? i feel like i know
but i cant think of it

i like that whole line about a baby being bored and stuff
oh conor i love you

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tyyger
07-16-2008

Rated 0 
lazarus is a biblical allusion

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Tri_T
07-23-2008

Rated 0 
This was in a interview with Conor about the slightly religious aspect of this song in Paste Magazine (http://www.pastemagazine.com/high_gravity/2008/07/conor-oberst-on-religion-and-politics.html):

_______________Article:_______________
One of the songs on the album, "Milk Thistle," contains the lines "If I go to heaven / I'll be bored as hell /like a little baby / at the bottom of a well." I asked him about that song.

“Well, I guess it’s, to me, you know, pretty much commonsense. You can only really understand good if you have bad, so the idea of heaven or anything that happens for eternity, even if it’s nice, I can’t imagine it being nice forever. Even the idea of forever is kind of ridiculous, which is unfortunate because it’s kind of a nice thing to say, you know. I think it softens the blow of mortality and having to say goodbye to everything you know and everyone you love and all that kind of thing. I think it’s a nice concept, and I wish it made sense to me, but I guess it doesn’t.”
_______________________________

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jethrothekid
07-29-2008

Rated 0 
the studio version of this made me like this song so much more than the 400 bar version did

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thetwobecome
08-04-2008

Rated 0 
i'm pretty sure it's "nowhere bound". makes a lot more sense that way.

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JACKIE THE HOBO
08-05-2008

Rated 0 
favourite new song on conor oberst.

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let uss be free
08-05-2008

Rated 0 
Some minor corrections:

Milk thistle, milk thistle
Let me down slow
Help me go slow
I've been carrying on
I'm not scared of nothin'
I'll go pound for pound
I keep death on my mind
Like a heavy crown
If I go to heaven
I'll be bored as hell
Like a little baby
At the bottom of a well

Fair child, fair child
How are you man?
Did you fix that storefront?
Did you start that band?
Don't be scared of nothin'
You go pound for pound
You bring peace to midnight
Like a spotted owl
I'll be rootin' for you
Like my favorite team
If somebody sweats you
You just point 'em out to me

All the sights and sounds
This little world's too crowded now
And there's only one way out
An elevator ride
Through the tunnel towards the light
And I'm nowhere bound
Keep going up and down
Up and down

Newspaper, newspaper
Can't take no more
You're here every morning
Waitin' at my door
I'm just tryin' to kiss you
And you stab my eyes
Make me blue forever
Like an island sky
And I'm not pretending
That it's all okay
Just let me have my coffee
Before you take away the day

Lazarus, Lazarus
Why all the tears?
Did your faithful chauffeur just disappear?
What a lonesome feeling
To be waitin' round
Like some washed up actress
In a Tinseltown
But for the record
I'd come pick you up
We'll head for the ocean
Just say when you've had enough

All the light and sound
This little world's too fragile now
And there's only one way out
But if you let me slide
I'll do my best to make things right
And I'm nowhere bound
Just going up and down
Up and down

Milk thistle, milk thistle
Let me down slow
Just help me go slow
I've been hurrying on
I was poised for greatness
I was down and out
I keep death at my heels
Like a basset hound
If i go to heaven
I'll be bored as hell
Like a crying baby at the bottom of a well

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mytwohands
08-06-2008

Rated +1 
I didn't know what milk thistle was used for but now that I do, I think it really fits with all these other stanzas, as though, the narrator -- and all that we know about his apparent alcoholism from his other songs -- is sort of suffering and rooting for the underdog, in a sense. I love the image of this herbal remedy sort of aiding him on, just as, in another stanza, he supports Lazarus.

Someone asked who Lazarus was in the Bible -- I think there were two, but in this one he's referring to the parabal of beggar, not the one raised from the dead. There was this beggar that this rich guy in the Bible doesn't help, as he sits at his door step asking for assistance day after day, and in the afterlife Lazarus goes to heaven and the other guy goes hell for not helping someone in great need.

So that certainly fits with the stanza about Lazarus where Conor compares her to a washed up actress in LA.

My favourite line, aside from Conor saying he'd be bored as hell in heaven, which I love, is this stanza:

All the sights and sounds
This little world's too crowded now
And there's only one way out
An elevator ride
Through the tunnel towards the light
And I'm nowhere bound
Keep going up and down
Up and down

I love how he compares death and the descent or ascent to either heaven or hell to an elevator ride. I guess it just really strikes me because I can relate to the exhaustion and there only being one way out. But the whole "nowhere bound" just going up and down from heaven to hell on an elevator is just a stunning picture.

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kristenwhatwhat
08-07-2008

Rated 0 
i think the little baby at the bottom of a well is a reference to baby Jessica. She fell down a well in the mid 80s and it was all over the news. I am about the same age as Conor and I remember it very vividly

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poison/oak
08-16-2008

Rated 0 
obviously i think this song is about death.
maybe conor obsessing over it in someways.
seeing death and dieing through different angles, and with every verse its a different angle, or maybe just a different reason to die.
i really like this song,
definately my favorite off the new album.
also, i didn't know what a milk thistle was before it was talked about on here,
and maybe because he drinks so much (my guess because of so many alcohol realted songs through bright eyes and such)
its another reason to die.

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xArienette
08-18-2008

Rated 0 
"All the sights and sounds
This little world's too crowded now
And there's only one way out"

This part makes me cry every time,
Conor Oberst has written the only two songs ever to have elicited real tears from me.
So genius.

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onetwothreefour
08-21-2008

Rated 0 
my favourite new song for defiante.
its beautiful , like all my favourites from conor.
x

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morningmorgantown
08-26-2008

Rated 0 
sorry to be utterly pointless, but this is just simply a beautiful song, i don't really know what else to say

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notliterally
08-27-2008

Rated 0 
Honestly, Connor is like...my generations Bob Dylan...

Almost. He's got plenty of time to get there, though.

I adore this song.

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chlorophyllblood
08-30-2008

Rated 0 
shut the fuck up with the dylan shit

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adom!
09-01-2008

Rated 0 
the dylan call is a bit annoying yeah.... i think he is a far greater lyricist than dylan..

This song is awesome.. i have many fave lines from this song, heaps have been said by others, another is the line
"I keep death at my heels
Like a basset hound"

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Spongetastic
09-02-2008

Rated 0 
Interesting how Oberst uses the word "hell" to describe how he'll feel in Heaven...

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MyBloodBeatsDark
09-04-2008

Rated 0 
I really see what he means with "If i go to heaven
I'll be bored as hell." If you were in a place where everything was nice and good, there would be no excitement, nothing would be good because you wouldn't know bad.

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