Sorry for the setback
I know I let it down
Turn back the clocks and step back
And spring might come out

My little miss forgotten
You're quite a stubborn bud
If we cant make you open
We will take it out in blood

We'll make a man out of you yet
We will plant brambles in your bed
Just close your eyes and count to ten
This is as good as it will get

And there's our little willow weeping
A flutter to your knees
They hung two things before me
Oh the possibilities

Thank you for the warning
But I still see the sun
A little global warming
Never hurt no one

We'll make a man out of you yet
A crown of thorns around your head
Get off your knees and have a look
This is as good as it will get

At last my little flower
Is getting getting put to use
You've always been a failure
But now you're bearing strange new fruit

The insides are all useless
But the rest is fertile soil
I'll take the belt from off the hook
And watch the garden grow

We'll make a man out of you yet
You won't know what will hit you next
The gardener's coming to collect
You wanted love that's what you'll get

The gardener's coming to collect
The gardener's coming to collect
The gardener's coming to collect
The gardener's coming to collect



Lyrics submitted by evolutionaried


The Gardener (Album Version) song meanings
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13 Comments

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  • +1
    My Interpretation:My friend Leanne thinks that this song is about the rape of a small boy.
    Flag sbpon December 04, 2011   Link
  • 0
    Song Meaning:I think that the narrator is speaking to the Earth and the Gardener is Big Business companys (like oil and stuff) and the Garden is profit

    Gardener = Garden
    Business = Profit

    i think it makes sense ^_^

    I love this song
    I love this whole album in fact!

    Flag NITROS124on June 02, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:yeah, i think its about the loss of innocence. Theres a lot of lyrics that seem like they're about losing virginity: "If we cant make you open We will take it out in blood","At last my little flower is getting put to use", and even the "we'll make a man out of you yet" To me, the song is about a teen girl who is dating this guy and they're both virgins but the guy wants to have sex and is forceful. he probably abuses her giving low self esteem: "The insides are all useless" A friend warns her about abusive relationships but like a lot of girls do she stays with him: "thank you for the warning but i still see the sun,A little global warming
    Never hurt no one". The garderners coming to collect part is about him collecting (taking) her virginity.
    Flag PaleBlueSunshineon May 17, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I think it would be funny if the gardener was Death, he has a scythe (kinda gardener like), he comes to collect. I'd laugh if it was.
    Flag Phantom of Silenceon April 23, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:To me, this song isn't necessarily about abuse, but about a girl's own lack of self esteem. She seems to think that she's a failure and not good for anything, but she's determined to be accepted, so she gives herself up-- "We will take it out in blood" and "At last my little flower/ is getting put to use." In the first verse, if she turns back the clock, spring will come out-- she was happier when she was younger? Later in the song, the girl, the failure, is "bearing strange new fruit," which I think might possibly be a baby. "The Gardener" might be the father of that baby, and he doesn't see anything useful about the girl aside from her ability to bear him children, so he's coming to "collect" the child- he cares about it more than her.
    Basically, I think The Gardener is about the loss of innocence. I don't know how much sense that makes, but that's what I got out of it.
    Flag LunaCStarqueon January 08, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I love the studio version, you can hear her voice without having to torture your eardrums.
    Flag OHcomelyon September 22, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:To me, this song has a lot of references to children born with various intersex conditions and the way doctor's approach it. It's a really crude interpritation, but I see a lot of physical representations of genetalia in the lyrics. Ex: "You're quite a stubborn bud". The flower that refuses to bloom can be seen as the genetalia that remains ambiguous.

    It seems like either the doctor or the parents is speaking, saying "We'll make a man out of you yet" and meaning, we're going to decide your sex for you. This is especially evident in the lines "The insides are all useless, but the rest is fertile soil. I'll take the belt from off the hook and watch the garden grow." The insides will never work the way they're supposed to because it's possible the child has either non-functioning or female organs, but they've built a working phallus and that's "as good as it will get". By the same token, the child may have a female mentality, but it was, until recently, believed that that could be beaten out of them with very harsh therapy.
    Flag xShanion August 31, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:while it would make sense for this song to be about an abusive relationship, i think it could also be about rape.

    "if we can't make it open, we'll take it out in blood"
    like, if he can't convince this girl to have sex with him, he'll just force it.

    "we will plant brambles in your bed//just close your eyes and count to ten//this is as good as it will get."
    like the guy is saying 'hey, you know, you're worthless, i'm the best you can do, so just put up with it, because this is as good as it gets for you.'

    "and there's our little willow weeping//a flutter to your knees"
    the girl is really, really hurt by everything that's going on, and she's just depressed all the time because of it.

    "thank you for the warning//but i still see the sun"
    this girl is seeing/hearing everywhere that what's happening to her isn't normal, and she shouldn't put up with it, and she appreciates the concern, but, at the same time, she still secretly thinks her guy's a good guy and wants to stay with him.

    "the insides are all useless, but the rest is fertile soil"
    this is how her lover sees her...her insides [thoughts, feelings, emotions, etc.] are completely pointless to him, and he just doesn't care...but she's physically attractive [or fertile soil]

    so yeah...just a thought...
    Flag aisforaccidenton August 31, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:amanda changed some of the lyrics in the recorded album. the truth is, she does this a lot between recorded songs and live songs. i sort of like how she mixes and matches the words, because honestly some work better than others.

    although, i do have to say i sort of wish this song wasn't recorded because it comes out better live.
    Flag oxidizationxon August 16, 2008   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:i think that it's a comparison of global warming to teens being brainwashed by the media

    people do bad things (trash the earth/set horrible examples), others follow (also live wastefully/neglect to develop an individuality and just follow the horrible examples being set on tv), everything is desecrated (the earth is fucked up/america is fucked up), the people doing the desecrating are ignorant and don't care/realize and they ignore the wise warnings (people ignore proof of global warming and deny it/people refuse to admit that this generation of children is turning into a bunch of stupid kids who sit around listening to rap and shopping at hollister and have no plan for the future), and then everyone is made to suffer (the polar icecaps melt and flood the earth/america fails because 90% of the population consists of usless, vapid pieces of trash)

    "the insides are all useless, but the rest is fertile"
    --the resources are depleted, but things look okay/ the kids' minds and hearts and souls are empty, but they look hot

    "the gardener's coming to collect"
    --disaster is coming; what you've asked for is here
    Flag megziebooxoxoon July 07, 2008   Link

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