You've been so long
Your blind eyes are gone
Your old bones are on their own
So take off your coat
Put a song in your throat
Let the dead-beats pound all around

We will go
Nowhere we know
We don't have to talk at all
Hand me downs
Flypaper towns
Stuck together
One and all

The bargains you drive
Buckets and bags
And all your belongings
Your train's in the sand
Ramshackle land
Let the rats watch the races

We will go
Nowhere we know
'Til we find our one and all
Hand me downs
Flypaper towns
Stuck together
One and all

Praises get spent
Your trick face is bent
Pigsties and prizes
'Cause there's no kind of wealth
You're suiting yourself
You leave yourself behind

We will go
Nowhere we know
'Til we find our one and all
Your hand me downs
Flypaper towns
Stuck together
One and all



Lyrics submitted by Ice

Track duration: 04:47


Ramshackle song meanings
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13 Comments

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  • 0
    General Comment:I think this song is just about how people drift through life. We're going somewhere but we don't know where. I agree with what markgb said about wealth. This song is so mellow and great. "So take off your coat, Put a song in your throat, Let the dead-beats pound all around" -- This is my favorite part of the song. I think it's a two part thing - It's inviting you to just relax, sit back and listen to the song. It's also a recommendation, I think, about life. Relax, listen to some music, and let the "dead-beats," a.k.a. the "rats in the races," pound all around - do meaningless things that they think is living. Lastly, I like the image of "flypaper towns," towns that people stay in because they were just zooming around meaninglessly and got stuck.

    Flag pezdelon January 10, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:This song was indeed part of a music session with Tom Rothrock and Rob Schnapf of Bong Load, with the intention of a whole album with a similar sound. The hope was to produce and album that could prove to disparaging critics that his previous hit "Loser" was not his one trick. Before getting too far with the original projects, he opted for a collaberation with the Dust Brothers, and what we got was Odelay as we know it. Much as I love Odelay, and am very glad that we did get it, I do wish he'd go back and record a whole albu with this sound. Sea Change was somehwere along these lines, but had less bass. Still, there are two other songs that have been released from the same session; Brother and Feather in Your Cap, which are both great, Feather possibly being better than Ramshackle.
    Flag Rodan2000on September 01, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:sooooo beautiful. its about love. the girl hes in love with left, and messed up, and now shes back: "your blind eyes are gone". hes hurt, but he still love her. theyre the kind of couple who can be together and they dont have to "talk at all". beck gives a lot of information on their relationship: theyre "stuck to together, one and all"
    but the girl felt trapped, and so wanted out. she took a "train" out (metaphorically) but it crashed in the sand. so now shes back. she was a trickster, and a bit of a liar "your trick face is bent" and now theyre trying to patch things up, and talk about things.
    Flag babyfaceon June 08, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:i really like the lines "cause there's no kind of wealth, you're suiting yourself. you leave yourself behind."

    i think it means that to everyone, wealth is different. you might think you have nothing, but somebody else might look at you and wish they were in your spot having the "nothing" that you take for granted. it is in the eye of the beholder. then, "you lEAVe yourself behind" means that you keep wanting more and more, and you get left behind when it comes to wanting to have things that when you get, don't mean that much to you.

    Anyways, i think beck is a genius and he is one of the best songwriters i have ever heard. ramshackle is genius, too
    Flag markgbon January 07, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:This is a song I never really listen to the lyrics to, but to me it's really weird and calming. I love it. It's just got that... feel to it. I mean, if you really do look into the words it's almost depressing, but if you just listen to his voice and to the music it's kind of soothing.

    That is, until you get to the bonus track.
    Flag Tokabion June 09, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Hidden tracks are not all that weird...
    read this
    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/…
    The hidden track on this album is called "Computer Rock".
    It consists of a synth (Do-De-Do) followed by a guitar rift (Vreeeo). Beck is naturaly an experimental artist, that is why almost all his albums have an experimental track after a few minutes of silence. I know for a fact that Mellow Gold, Steryopather SoulManure ( I think thats what its called), Odelay, Mutations, and Midnite Vultures have one. I guess after Sea Change, he got sick of them.
    As for the song itself, I heard a rumor that before Beck asked the Dust Brothers to produce Odelay, the album was going to sound like Ramshackle for the most part...
    Flag LukyItalion74on May 28, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Very melancholy and sleep-inducing. That's rare for an artist who dresses like a nerdy pimp and speaks in riddles that would make Bob Dylan jump off a cliff. This is why I like Beck, he's a master of strangeness.
    Flag OpinionHeadon March 09, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:A lot of artists use that method ( the extra song after minutes of silence on the last track of an album ) they're called bonus tracks. It's pretty cool though. Beck always has the weirdest one.

    I think that this song is about homelessness, as well as hopelessness and the other feelings you all have associated with it. I read somewhere that it is about homeless people though. It makes a lot of sense to me . . .
    Flag diskobox_on February 01, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:this song is gorgeous. Just the chorus is really true because we don't know where we're gona go in life,but at the end of the day this life is to find our one and all...totally different to Beck's other songs, but thats the intricate beauty of it.
    Flag fluffypillowon April 03, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Yeah there is a really weird 2nd part to this song. It scared me the first time I heard it - all of a sudden these beeps and whatever after about a minute of silence. If you go to beck.com they might know if the 2nd part has a title.

    After the last track ("Static") on Mutations there is a really cool song called "Diamond Bollocks." I don't know why he puts songs at the end of songs but Beck is awesome so I forgive him.
    Flag comrade_paton June 21, 2003   Link

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