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Outside there's a box car waiting
Outside the family stew
Out by the fire breathing
Outside we wait 'til face turns blue
There is a wait so long
You'll never wait so long
Here comes your man
Here comes your man
Here comes your man
Here comes your man
I know the nervous walking
I know the dirty beard hangs
Out by the box car waiting
Take me away to nowhere plains
There is a wait so long
You'll never wait so long
Here comes your man
Here comes your man
Here comes your man
Here comes your man
...
Outside the family stew
Out by the fire breathing
Outside we wait 'til face turns blue
There is a wait so long
You'll never wait so long
Here comes your man
Here comes your man
Here comes your man
Here comes your man
I know the nervous walking
I know the dirty beard hangs
Out by the box car waiting
Take me away to nowhere plains
There is a wait so long
You'll never wait so long
Here comes your man
Here comes your man
Here comes your man
Here comes your man
...
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"big shake on the box car" an earthquake doing it's thing on the box cars which homeless people are known for travelling in
Let's analyze it line by line:
Outside there's a box car waiting - hobos travel by train in boxcars
Outside the family stew - hobos eat at soup kitchens
Out by the fire breathing - hobos stand out by burning trashcans to warm themselves
Outside we wait 'til face turns blue - hobos are homeless, they are outside by the fire freezing and when you're freezing, your face turns blue
There is a wait so long You'll never wait so long - hobos' entire lives could be seen as "waiting"... you're waiting for something, anything, whatever just to survive until finally you're just waiting for death
Here comes your man - a reference to the Velvet Underground song about waiting for your man to give you your fix. The earthquake is "the man" these people who've been waiting their whole lives for (death).
I know the nervous walking - hobos are nervous
I know the dirty beard hangs - hobos have dirty long beards
Out by the box car waiting - just waiting for death
Take me away to nowhere plains - death
There is a wait so long You'll never wait so long Here comes your man Here comes your man Here comes your man Here comes your man ...
(makes perfect sense now, doesn't it?)
One such similarity is the line "There is a wait so long, you'll never wait so long.", which would refer to the feeling of waiting for what seems like forever for your dealer to show up. The similarity in the Velvet Underground song is "He's never early, he's always late. First thing you learn is you always gotta wait."
The "dirty beard hangs" line from this song also reminds me of the "Feelin' sick and dirty" line from the VU song, that image of the unkempt appearance of a junkie. From that same verse is the reference to "nervous walking" which to me sounds like the walk of somebdy who's feeling a little paranoid and nervous about the transaction which they're about to take part in.
Finally the "nowhere plains" sounds like a way of referring to the mind-numbed space which you get to when you are high.
Not sure if anybody sees this song the same way, but that's always the impression I got. : )
In an interview with NME, Francis commented on the meaning of the song:
“It's about winos and hobos traveling on the trains, who die in the California Earthquake. Before earthquakes, everything gets very calm—animals stop talking and birds stop chirping and there's no wind. It's very ominous.
I've been through a few earthquakes, actually, 'cause I grew up in California. I was only in one big one, in 1971. I was very young and I slept through it. I've been awake through lots of small ones at school and at home. It's very exciting actually—a very comical thing. It's like the earth is shaking, and what can you do? Nothing.”
The word "boxcar" was apparently a starting point for the song's lyrics, and Francis has suggested that this was in part inspired by the song "Carnival of Sorts (Box Car)" by R.E.M.: "I probably liked the word 'boxcar' because I heard it on the R.E.M. song, from their first record."
While the Japanese Family Waits for the man (the bomb)
another family in amerca is waiting for the man ( the american Pilot who dropped the nuke). would somehow fit to the lyrics, or not.