This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
The hour is out of joint
Black sun has risen
And the river of words
Is flowing on through
The cages of tradition
And they're handing out emptiness
We'll take it 'cause it's given
Free with this plastic innocence
And these standards of living
Questions lighted questions
Burnin' holes into my head
Hanging like shadows o'er the sun
Staring out like the eyes of the dead
And sometimes my soul flickers
When the wind of change blows cold
Over the mire of repetition
Down the corridors of rigmarole
What I say, what I think
What I put down in ink
I'm only trying to find a way to understand
And I mean no harm
I'm just searching for calm
In the storm of mankind
Do you find it there
In the sea of faces
That drowns you everyday
Or in the silence and rubble and empty spaces
Where children and rottweilers play
Is it buried in the praise
Given so cheap
With a meaningless movement of the jaws
In the looking glass
That flatters you
Or in the rattle of hollow applause
Blind circle, moon and sun body willing, mind undone
One pain ending while another begins
Lies, ruin disease
Into wounds like these
Let the truth sting
From the hub to the limit
Through the urban hollows
Out into the poles of the extreme
To echo through the numbness
Of these godless minutes
In the shadow of delusion's regime
And here watching the night
As it opens like a flower
And the day starts to rust
Feeling time pound
Like a silent hammer
On this empire of dust
And I'm thinking bout the bullet
And the TV screen, the dollar, and the clenched fist
And if we're searching for peace
How come we still believe
In hatred as the catalyst
Oh through the borderline
In front and behind
One pain ending
While another begin
Lies, ruin disease
Into wounds like these
Let the truth sing
Yeah
Let the truth
And I feel it from the pit of my stomach
Into the ditch of my mind
Inside the chambers of my heart
As I stare half blind
At these walls of cardboard
At this space that I've rented
At your beauty that is crumbling
Though you try so hard to prevent it
On and on
Body willing, mind undone
One pain ending while another begins
Lies, ruin, disease
Into wounds like these
Let the truth sting
Let the truth sting
Let the truth sting
Black sun has risen
And the river of words
Is flowing on through
The cages of tradition
And they're handing out emptiness
We'll take it 'cause it's given
Free with this plastic innocence
And these standards of living
Questions lighted questions
Burnin' holes into my head
Hanging like shadows o'er the sun
Staring out like the eyes of the dead
And sometimes my soul flickers
When the wind of change blows cold
Over the mire of repetition
Down the corridors of rigmarole
What I say, what I think
What I put down in ink
I'm only trying to find a way to understand
And I mean no harm
I'm just searching for calm
In the storm of mankind
Do you find it there
In the sea of faces
That drowns you everyday
Or in the silence and rubble and empty spaces
Where children and rottweilers play
Is it buried in the praise
Given so cheap
With a meaningless movement of the jaws
In the looking glass
That flatters you
Or in the rattle of hollow applause
Blind circle, moon and sun body willing, mind undone
One pain ending while another begins
Lies, ruin disease
Into wounds like these
Let the truth sting
From the hub to the limit
Through the urban hollows
Out into the poles of the extreme
To echo through the numbness
Of these godless minutes
In the shadow of delusion's regime
And here watching the night
As it opens like a flower
And the day starts to rust
Feeling time pound
Like a silent hammer
On this empire of dust
And I'm thinking bout the bullet
And the TV screen, the dollar, and the clenched fist
And if we're searching for peace
How come we still believe
In hatred as the catalyst
Oh through the borderline
In front and behind
One pain ending
While another begin
Lies, ruin disease
Into wounds like these
Let the truth sing
Yeah
Let the truth
And I feel it from the pit of my stomach
Into the ditch of my mind
Inside the chambers of my heart
As I stare half blind
At these walls of cardboard
At this space that I've rented
At your beauty that is crumbling
Though you try so hard to prevent it
On and on
Body willing, mind undone
One pain ending while another begins
Lies, ruin, disease
Into wounds like these
Let the truth sting
Let the truth sting
Let the truth sting
Lyrics submitted by HamiltonInches
Let the Truth Sting Lyrics as written by David Gray
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Brilliant lyricism here - love it.
Questions lighted questions Burnin' holes into my head Hanging like shadows o'er the sun Staring out like the eyes of the dead And sometimes my soul flickers When the wind of change blows cold Over the mire of repetition Down the corridors of rigmarole
What I say, what I think What I put down in ink I'm only trying to find a way to understand And I mean no harm I'm just searching for calm In the storm of mankind
Prima.