Born host to a tongue so sing a song about it
Held a breath for too long till we're half sick about it
Tell us what we did wrong, then you can blame us for it
Turn the clamp on our thumbs so we're down about it
And tell us all about it, we're so in doubt about it

How about some credit now
Credit is due for the damage that was done
We have wrought upon ourselves and others
With this blow and vicious gun
And although pratfalls can be fun, encores can be fatal

And then I hear you say
Thank God it's fatal, thank God it's fatal, not shy
Not shy and fatal, not shy and fatal, thank God
Thank God it's fatal, thank God it's fatal, not shy
Not shy and fatal, not shy and fatal

Wait just a second now
It's not all that bad, are we not having fun?
You make your mountains of handkerchiefs
Where the mascara always runs
So be careful when you're done you're bound to get post natal
Wait, did I just hear you say

Thank God it's fatal
No, we don't want to hear the sound of a draw
No, we don't want to hear the sound of a draw
And we don't want to hear the signs that you bore
You know the kind of sign you hang on a door
Saying, "We'll be back, we're a crack"

Now don't you think we might have heard all that before
Yeah, don't you think we might have heard all that before

Born host to a tongue so sing a song about it
Held our breath for too long till we're half sick about it
Tell us what we did wrong and you can blame us
Turn the clamp on our thumbs so we're down about it


Lyrics submitted by blisse

Heretics Lyrics as written by Andrew Wegman Bird

Lyrics © Wixen Music Publishing

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Heretics song meanings
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49 Comments

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  • +3
    General Comment

    seriously, this song is amazing. and yeah it never left my head till about 3 or 4 days after, although it felt really awkward to sing along to "thank god it's fatal". i guess that fits the meaning of heretics (according to merriam-webster, heretics are dissenters of an accepted belief or doctrine). the song embraces death so passionately that it's kinda morbid. but maybe that was his intent - in situations involving euthanasia & suicide, some consider death as a relief from pain and suffering. both euthanasia and suicide could be considered as a heresy, since there is some violation of accepted doctrines/religious beliefs.

    i've also noticed this pattern of embracing death/mortality in 'Fiery Crash'. in that song, prior to his plane taking off, he says "to save our lives we've got to envision a fiery crash; it's just a formality".

    i think all of these ties in with the first 4 lines of this song: "Born host to a tongue, So sing a song about it, Held a breath for too long, Till we're half sick about it". he's basically singing about expressing the other (more controversial) viewpoint.

    jadedgypsyon February 11, 2007   Link
  • +2
    General Comment

    I think this is a crack as those people who use suicide as an excuse to get attention. That's how I see it, anyway. Like "Although pratfalls can be fun, encores can be fatal" shows how they did it once for the attention, then tried again and...well, you know.

    I think it fits.

    VoltanEchoeson April 18, 2007   Link
  • +2
    General Comment

    To me the song is clearly about his wife having a miscarage and hime being somewhat happy about it.

    "Your bound to get post-natal" is what lead me to believe it's about a miscarage. Also "We don't want to see the signs that she bore..." "We don't want to hear the sound of a door..." a childs heart beat.

    and then what made me think that he's happy about it is firstly the song name "Heretics" and him saying "It's not all that bad, are we not having fun?" and saying "Thank God it's fatal..." and also the expressions he uses, to me, they kind of give off an air of "so what", like the expression "turn the clamp on our thumbs we'll sew a doll about it" kind of saying, this bad thing has happened so what are you gonna do about it?

    maybe i'm wrong but to me that's what he's talking about.

    ellieocon September 01, 2009   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    favourite song off new album!

    disastrouson January 27, 2007   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    i'm pretty sure it's "post-natal" not "post-needle". and possibly "turn the clamps on our thumbs".

    gyroscopeon February 03, 2007   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    what the FUCK does this song mean. It never leaves my head.

    brokenspoonson February 09, 2007   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    Are we sure the last line isn't "We'll be back? What a crack." - That always made more sense to me but maybe I'm missing something.

    JeesumCroweon February 18, 2007   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    I never get Andrew Bird lyrics, but that doesn't stop them from being amazing... :)

    vlnp89on February 19, 2007   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    This song is amazing for sure. I don't really know what it means, but I have noticed that Andrew Bird talks about death a LOT in his songs.

    bradk4321on March 01, 2007   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    It's not "sound of a draw," it's "sound of a door." Here's something: "heretics" are nonbelievers, the song embraces death, and it ends by saying "We'll be back? What a crack." Maybe it's about the absence of an afterlife, in which case "thank god it's fatal" is pretty ironic.

    Quisquillosoon March 23, 2007   Link

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