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Harness Your Hopes Lyrics

Harness your hopes
On just one person
Because you know a harness
Was only made for one

Don't telegraph your passes
You'll end up with molasses
Cauterized with syrup
And syrup and molasses

And I'm checking out the asses
The assets that attract us
To anything that moves
We're deep inside the grooves

And it's time to shake the rations
'Cause someone's gonna cash in
The plot it turns again
The reference starts at ten

Show me
A word that rhymes with pavement
And I won't kill your parents
And roast them on a spit

And a - don't you try to etch it
Or permanently sketch it
Or you're gonna catch a bad bad cold

And the freaks have stormed the white house
I moved into a lighthouse
It's on a scenic quay
Its oh so far away

Far away from the begining
The shroud is made of lenin
The yearling took the purse
The goth kid has a hearse

Heart breaking
Earth quaking
Kiwis they are home baking
Minds wide open truely

Leisure
A leisure suit is nothing
It's nothing to be proud of
In this late century

And I'm asking you to hold me
Just like the morning paper
Pinched between your pointer
Your index and your thumb

It's a semi automatic
Believers are ecstatic
You see the way they cling
The cold metallic sting

And I'm living in a coma
For Donna DeVorona
The harness made of hopes
The lovers on the ropes

Nun is to church
As the parrot is to perch
And my heart's wide open truely
Song Info
Submitted by
let It Fall On Jun 03, 2002
23 Meanings

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Cover art for Harness Your Hopes lyrics by Pavement

Apparently if you are a girl and get this song, you are more special than other girls.

Cover art for Harness Your Hopes lyrics by Pavement

i get this. and i always wanted to be a tenenbaum.

yay

Cover art for Harness Your Hopes lyrics by Pavement

The way I am interpreting this a harness is a very restraining thing controlled usually by one person.

It sounds to me like he is afraid of being in this commitment harness, where he is trapped.

The next lines make me think he is a man and still wants to feel alive look at other women even flirt a little.

Some of the lines don’t make sense to me.

It seems like the rations line is referring to something like he is getting rations of his freedom someone must cash in

I think Donna De Verona may be a famous Olympian. These lines make me think she is an amazing person but the relationship is like living in a coma, a harness.

Last lines his heart is open. I kind of think he wants a relationship but doesn’t want to be trapped or harnessed.

Cover art for Harness Your Hopes lyrics by Pavement

The seeming randomness of this song is recognized by the songwriter.. "Minds wide open truely" makes you say, "okay, I'll keep listening and make complete sense of this" The song seems to associate itself with finding the one true love and desire someone has, the goal of their life. And if anyone tries to hinder that, they'll "roast them on a spit".

Cover art for Harness Your Hopes lyrics by Pavement

Engravement.

Briiiilliant.

Cover art for Harness Your Hopes lyrics by Pavement

Wonderful song, and fun lyrics.

A word that rhymes with Pavement is enslavement--perhaps it's a wail against the constraints of monogamy.

Cover art for Harness Your Hopes lyrics by Pavement

"Show me A word that rhymes with pavement ... And a - don't you try to etch it Or permanently sketch it"

Engravement. Was that so hard?

Song Meaning

@Tremolo almost as if that wasn’t the whole point

“And I won’t kill your parents and roast them on a spit” the word for that would be depravement

“And a-don’t you try to etch it or permanently sketch it” that’s an engravement

“Or you’re gonna catch a bad bad cold” another word for that is ailment

All those rhyme with pavement, the lyrics are very clever

Cover art for Harness Your Hopes lyrics by Pavement

Can someone please explain what gender has to do with understanding this song? Why does it matter if you're male or female? sorry I'm late to the game here. I just heard this song for the first time a few days ago

Cover art for Harness Your Hopes lyrics by Pavement

I don't know if this was as tongue in cheek clever as they meant it to be but these two stanzas look closer. It's a call and response for rhyming words described:

Well show me A word that rhymes with Pavement And I won't kill your parents And roast them on a spit --> (Displacement)

And a-don't you try to etch it --> (Engravement) Or permanently sketch it --> (Also engravement) Or your gonna catch a bad bad cold --> (Ailment)

Maybe I'm looking into that too closely but it's still interesting that they could have incorporated layered wordplay

My Opinion
Cover art for Harness Your Hopes lyrics by Pavement

I stumbled on this site for a lyric, but thought I'd participate SM writes ALMOST nonsense that could mean a bunch of stuff!

BUT MAINLY I just wanted to point out the full stretch of these comments beginning back in 2006!! MACHiSMO B.S. IT'S enlightening when it comes to these A-Holes stating that they haven't met a lady that doesnt get Pavement/Malkmus song. Some comments are old now (2020) and i hope these dudes have grown since... my wife loves pavement and it holds a special place in her heart and maybe more in mine. LOVE everybody!

 
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