Foster the People – Life on the Nickel

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Yet again, I'm hustling, hustling, hustling
Yet again, I'm hustling, hustling, hustling
Yet again, I'm hustling, hustling, hustling
But I can't seem to catch a dime
Take a little hit and I lose the time

I took the man and his horse
And ran before he looked up
I said the light's gonna change
But I'm calm and feeling warm
And now I'm sticking out my hands
And feeling weightless again

You got to push, got to shove
I've got to eat before they eat me
Got the crown and the cup
I've got to write to my family
And say, "I'm calm and feeling warm."
I'm not quite there, but I'm close
And it's a world of a difference

Yet again, I'm hustling, hustling, hustling
Yet again, I'm hustling, hustling, hustling
Yet again, I'm hustling, hustling, hustling
But I can't seem to catch a dime
Take a little hit and I lose the time

I've got the worst all behind me
Yeah they'll never be able to find me
I'm the king of the city
I'm a roach and they're all primates
This is meal time
Real life
I'm not gonna fight
No, I'm gonna start a war

I've been right
I've been wrong
My smokes have come and gone
I've been crazy
Been fed enough to not wind up dead
And I'm lonely
My eyes have been closed to the world
'Cause the world's got nothing for me

Yet again, I'm hustling, hustling, hustling
Yet again, I'm hustling, hustling, hustling
Yet again, I'm hustling, hustling, hustling
But I can't seem to catch a dime
Take a little hit and I lose the time

Yet again, I'm hustling, hustling, hustling
Yet again, I'm hustling, hustling, hustling
Yet again, I'm hustling, hustling, hustling
But I can't seem to catch a dime
Take a little hit and I lose the time

Yet again, I'm hustling, hustling, hustling
Yet again, I'm hustling, hustling, hustling
Yet again, I'm hustling, hustling, hustling

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Lyrics submitted by nbdnbdnbd

Track duration: 03:35

"Life on the Nickel" as written by Paul Richard Epworth, Mark Foster

Lyrics © EMI Music Publishing

Lyrics powered by LyricFind


Life on the Nickel song meanings
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12 Comments

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  • 0
    General Comment:funny how we all hear different things...I couldn't for the life of me make it out until reading the lyrics lol..I thought he was saying in the place of hustling or awesome lol roster..yeah weird...anyways once re-listening to it can totally hear it now. A-lot of there songs do this though...
    as to meaning totally about addiction agreed!
    Flag Rayncatton November 23, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I thought it was saying "Damn yeah I'm awesome" hahaha
    Flag music1794on June 10, 2012   Link
  • -1
    My Interpretation:It's funny but I initially heard "Awesome" as well.....quite a few of their songs seemed to either intentionally or indirectly employ mondegreens, (mis-interpretation caused my homophony) In Miss you it sounds like Mark is saying "I miss you Sid" (it sounds like he's pining for his gay love, and you can hear the sweetness in his voice as he sings his confession) I'm hoping there's some degree of subliminal intent. Makes the song so much sexier.
    Flag Calebuson March 29, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Yeah I purposely didn't look up the lyrics to this song because I just wanted to think they were saying "Let me get my awesome"... my curiosity finally got the best of me... but it doesn't mean I can't think what I want hahaha. Great song... this album is one of the best I've heard in years...
    Flag bwilson5on December 05, 2011   Link
  • -1
    General Comment:singing "then again i'm awesome awesome, then again i'm awesome awesome hell yea i'm awesome" was a lot more fun :P
    Flag xBenji65on November 05, 2011   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:He IS saying hustling. youtube.com/…
    When played live it's pretty obvious.

    Although the studio version doesn't sound like hustling AT ALL.
    Flag MexicanSwagon October 28, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:he's definately saying hustlin'. the song used to be called hustling and it was changed to life on the nickel. it's about a homeless person. he says so here:
    youtube.com/…
    Flag bshfon October 11, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I read on a review that he's singing "Ooh yeah, I'm awesome, awesome, awesome." but I honestly have no idea what it is officially.
    Flag JustThinkOfUson October 09, 2011   Link
  • -3
    General Comment:secretdesires, I think you may be on to something.. this page doesn't have the lyrics for the backing vocals but I swear they're singing:

    Dude, you're awesome, awesome, awesome
    Dude, you are awesome, awesome, awesome...
    Flag wayno52on September 16, 2011   Link
  • +4
    General Comment:Lol I thought he said awesome instead of hustling
    Flag secretdesireson August 17, 2011   Link
    • 3 Replies

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