You know
You can be
The first of
This century
To bleed through
To find truth
To know what
You should do
You know
It could be
Anything

Sometimes (sometimes)
You might find (you might find)
A crack or (a crack or)
A fault line (a fault line)
But dressed down (but dressed down)
Or made up (or made up)
You'll find (you'll find)
A real love (a real love)
A place to
Come home to
At night

So what did we pay for
And why did we care?
What were we after
And why was it there?
Desire gave way to a false sense of hope
And we fell for the lie that it's what we all chose
And I yell to my friends
It will all be okay
But they didn't believe me
They still don't today
They never do anything they haven't before
In the same solid room with no lock on the door
And over and over and over again
The same failed solutions to all the same problems
Scream why, why I can't understand
Why the things that I do never go as I plan

And the vultures begin
They're some circling
The dogs lick their teeth
Bright white and gleaming

But just hold yours up
We've barely begun
To fight something else, so
Let's see what you've got
This wide open shot
Take it or leave it

'Cause we're getting out
We're getting out of here
And you'll never find us again
You'll never find us again


Lyrics submitted by ellie117

The First of the Century Lyrics as written by

Lyrics © CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC

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The First Of The Century song meanings
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    General Comment

    so the second to last stanza it should be "But just hold your tongue" not "But just hold your sun"

    this glass houseon June 21, 2007   Link

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