Intravenously polite it was the walkie-talkies
That had knocked the pins down
As their shoes gripped the dirt floor
In the silhouette of dying
Dancing on the corpses' ashes
Yeah, they had plans for him
They has spun the last of the pimps
Polyester, satin nailed jewelry lips
While the guillotine just laughed again
Dancing on the corpses' ashes
And the paramedics fell into the wound
Like a rehired scab at a barehanded plant
An anesthetic penance beneath
The hail of contraband
Dancing on the corpses' ashes

On my way, nails broke and fell
Into the wishing well, wishing well, wishing well
On my way, nails broke and fell
Into the wishing well, wishing well, wishing well

They had defected and been excommunicated
And all the pulses were subverted
And they made sure that the obituaries
Showed pictures of smoke stacks
Dancing on the corpses' ashes
A vivid dissection that mocked
The strut of vivisection
A semiautomatic colony
And a silencing that still walks the streets
Dancing on the corpses' ashes
In the company of wolves
Was a stretcher made of cobblestone curfews
The federales performed
Their custodial customs quite well
Dancing on the corpses' ashes

On my way, nails broke and fell
Into the wishing well, wishing well, wishing well
On my way, nails broke and fell
Into the wishing well, wishing well, wishing well
On my way, nails broke and fell
Into the wishing well, wishing well, wishing well
On my way, nails broke and fell
Into the wishing well, wishing well, wishing well

Intravenously polite it was the walkie-talkies
That had knocked the pins down
As their shoes gripped the dirt floor
In the silhouette of dying
Dancing on the corpses' ashes
Yeah, they had plans for him
They has spun the last of the pimps
Polyester, satin nailed jewelry lips
While the guillotine just laughed again
Dancing on the corpses' ashes
And the paramedics fell into the wound
Like a rehired scab at a barehanded plant
An anesthetic penance beneath
The hail of contraband
Dancing on the corpses' ashes

On my way, nails broke and fell
Into the wishing well, wishing well, wishing well
On my way, nails broke and fell
Into the wishing well, wishing well, wishing well
On my way, nails broke and fell
Into the wishing well, wishing well, wishing well
On my way

Dancing on the corpses' ashes
Dancing on the corpses' ashes

Callous heels numbed in travel
Endless maps made by their scalpels, scalpels
Callous heels numbed in travel
Endless maps made by their scalpels, scalpels


Lyrics submitted by moloko

Invalid Litter Dept. Lyrics as written by Jim Ward Cedric Bixler

Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

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Invalid Litter Dept. song meanings
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  • +4
    General Comment

    I love seeing different perspectives

    Here's my own interpretation of some of the song lyrics:

    "On my way, Nails broke and fell Into the Wishing well. Wishing well. Wishing well."

    "On my way" is the women's journey from birth to death

    "Nails broke and fell" is the women's effort they put into the work at the factories, and their working conditions

    "Wishing well" is a representation of MATERIALISM

    Put this all together and you get;

    All of their lives [on my way], the women have been doing hard labour in poor working conditions [nails broke and fell], for the gain of materialism that the factories represent [INTO the wishing well]. "Wishing well" can also mean the easy life these women are promised they will achieve by doing this labour.

    Also these lyrics:

    "Callous heels numbed in travel endless maps made by their scalpels"

    "Callous heels numbed in travel" notes the hardhip of the women traveling from home to work and back each day, I don't live in Mexico, but I could hardly imagine that these women were rich, which means they must of endured the harsh terrain most likely barefoot.

    "Endless maps made by their scalpels" in this line, "their", is a collective for the murderers and the paramedics/police. The murderers torture the women, then the paramedics/police cut them up later for autopsy.

    Finally, I will explore the title "Invalid Litter dept."

    "Litter" is a represention of the mass of dead bodies of the victims

    "Invalid" means not true, correct or valid

    "dept." short for department, gives the idea that "Invalid Litter dept." is an organisation

    Ultimately, the title is naming the mexican police dept., "Invalid Litter dept.", because they treat the "litter" that is the bodies as if they are "Invalid".

    This better help

    Thanks ;3

    ninjamikeyon September 15, 2009   Link

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