I was just a tender chicken
In the Florida rotisserie
My own sweat's basting me
Thunderstorms are chasing me
I bit into a lighting bolt
My own tongue began to smoke
I woke up with an empty mouth
Watched the watch tick backwards
South of the south

The CSX vibrates the tracks
Mighty roaring shakes the shacks
Purple skies and orange moons
Plants are confident in June
The humidity - it's thick, you can cut it with a knife
If you'd like to take a breath here, honey
I'm going to cut you out a slice

So I developed gills and I moved into the aquifer
Fell asleep in Wakulla Springs
Woke up down in Jupiter
Then I moved back to the land
High into an orange tree
Was set for life with citrus
But my body couldn't take this . . .
Acidity

So I strolled down to Miami
Tried to find myself some friends
Found myself in South Beach
And I met some mannequins
Who smelled of coconuts and Coppertone
Like those smells real well
But as far as conversations go
I guess that it stopped at the start
Of the smell

It was Elvis and Sinatra
Now where's your wallet, man, I got you
But now if you're poor like me
They let poor people like me be
They say that North Beach is a war zone
High rise hotels hollowed out
But now we were living large
We were stepping out
Into a thirty dollar beachfront motel
Down south of the south

South of the south
Down in north Miami
South of the south
Me and my old lover Terry
South of the south
We were practically married

So I jumped my pogo stick
All the way to Ybor City
Where they burned up a couple blocks
And to me seemed like a pity
That was once a Cuban district
And a center for the arts
Was now a mall-like atmosphere
Homogeneous and insincere
They burned its heart right out
Down south of the south

So I became the snake bird
An old swamp turkey
And some redneck tried to shoot me
Tried to make swamp turkey jerky
But I evaded all his bullets
And I flew into the Gulf
And I jumped upon a west wind out to a safer heaven
Out near Alcaniz and Baylin
Down south
South of the south

In the town of Pensacola
Riding bikes like we were kids
Over cobble stones and brick
The fenced moonlit bridge
There's a sandlot shotgun shack
To move all rusted out
And there's a couch on every front porch
Flapping screen doors
Ants on the apple cores
Hawk's boiled peanuts and more
Down south
South of the south

South of the south
South of Opelika
South of the south
South of Tuscaloosa
South of the south
Old Alpharetta
South of the south
South Carolina
South of the south
Down south of the south


Lyrics submitted by loveinvincible, edited by Unk

South of the South song meanings
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4 Comments

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  • 0
    General Comment

    is Terry the girl from This Bike Is A Pipe Bomb? he mentions pensacola and riding bikes. he is also involved with the same record label as This Bike...

    seratoninon August 09, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    also: terry runs a vegan restuarant/bar in pensacola florida named 'sluggos'

    Alcaniz and Baylen are streets in downtown pensacola there is a tongue and groove 'yellow store' on belmont and spring street that use to sell 'boiled peanuts' that were legendarily tasty.

    and 'moonlit bridge' was an abandoned train trussel that was fenced in by the railroad - near 17th street (i believe) people use to bike up there and sit on the tracks.

    the train tracks he speaks of run in the begenning are likely to be the 'SCX' (a railroad company) train tracks that run through downtown p'cola near - end of the line cafe (another vegan resturant/coffee house in pensacola - and near the nearly adjacent 309 house, a community house where members of 'pipe bomb' live/have lived

    • just wanted to share it with someone who cares
    crippleliliesfanon January 12, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    pretty sure when he's talking about the CSX, he's talking about the CSX, which runs through jacksonville and south florida, and most of the state.

    helsaboton May 16, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I always thought he was saying Wekiwa springs, located in Apopka Florida. My older brother used to take me there during the summers. And I'm like absolutely positive he says "Hawk's Boiled Peanuts." They sell them in tons of gas stations down here.

    Unkon May 18, 2013   Link

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