Engine severs lower legs
Feel my bruised heart beating
Spinal cord remains intact
Still sending and receiving

Laying back on shoulder blades
Cargo rushing past
Missing limbs beneath the cars
Twitching on the tracks

Click clack now handicapped
North am transcontinental
I remember as I bleed
Certain tales of bravery

A man who's legs were trapped beneath
A fallen evergreen tree
He decided he would chop them off above the knee
To sacrifice his shins and feet to set his torso free

The luxury of having been spared the hard part
You'd think would be enough for me to pull this off
But I'm left to bleed to death
Now all the man I've ever been

North am transcontinental


Lyrics submitted by sarahsavedlatin

Transcontinental Lyrics as written by David Shannon Bazan

Lyrics © DOMINO PUBLISHING COMPANY

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Transcontinental song meanings
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    General Comment

    Love the song, this one and the Fleecing are my favorites from Achilles Heel.

    I agree with the general sense of Envelopes' interpretation, but I think there is a religious metaphor in the sacrifice of one's body parts. The "certain tales of bravery" the narrator recalls are about Jesus sacrificing his own life to save the world. The narrator has been "spared the hard part" - he doesn't have to willingly sacrifice anything of his own. All he has to do is live by Jesus' message. But this proves hard for him to do, and he feels inadequate for failing at such a comparatively simple task.

    Rossmcdon November 15, 2007   Link

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