Walking through woods in the streets every nights
I walked into people who walk too close
Into each other they're hanging so bright
I am told as a mother you may remember her

In the name of the father but never the ghost
Me I need the money for those just as hard
Who hung he said for the ladies I'll pretend That he did

She loves you, she loves you, she loves you so hard
The wonder the person to have you cannot
Charley is a sinner, tell me teacher
To put on your light and then turn around

Ah ah ah!

Silent machine is here to make sure
To put on your light and then turn around
You lie, you lie, you lie...a lie

She loves you, she loves you, she loves you so hard
The wonder the person to have you cannot
Charley is a sinner, tell me teacher
To put on your light and then turn around

If there ever was a religious figure
In my age it don't count to have butter cup house

She loves you, she loves you, she loves you so hard
The wonder the person to have you cannot
Charley is a sinner, tell me teacher
To put on your light and then turn around

Silent machine is here to make sure
To put on your light and then turn around
You lie, you lie, you lie...a lie

Ah ah ah!


Lyrics submitted by dustybreeze

Silent Machine Lyrics as written by Chan Marshall

Lyrics © Hipgnosis Songs Group

Lyrics powered by LyricFind

Silent Machine song meanings
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    General Comment

    word salad, William S. Burroughs 'cut up' technique Using chance words, feelings, emotions, not logical sense or story. Silent Machine revolves around an idea of a loving mother, a religious father, and a child that accepts without regret the role of the 'sinner', which the adults around him are drooling to discover. The mother strives to show this abstract emotion 'love', with her prayrs and personal martyrdoms, the father is a punishing figure - a silent machine - which regards the child as an objective other. Teachers, priests, what have you, all encounter a child "Charlie" who fulfills the whipping boy role. All of this behavior is to get the attention of the silent machine, the father, which (as a machine) is incapable of noticing him.

    Personal interpretations aside, for the most part I think the song is an experiment in automatic writing.

    sanityculton April 28, 2015   Link

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