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Jacob Marley's Chain Lyrics
Well, today a friend told me this sorry tale
as he stood there trembling and turning pale
he said each day's harder to get on the scale
sort of like Jacob Marley's chain.
But it's not like life's such a vale of tears
it's just full of thoughts that act as souvenirs
for those tiny blunders made in yesteryear
that comprise Jacob Marley's chain.
Well, I had a little metaphor to state my case
it encompassed the condition of the human race
but to my dismay, it left without a trace
except for the sound of Jacob Marley's chain.
Now there is no story left to tell
so I think I'd rather just go on to Hell
where there's a snowball's chance that the personnel
might help to carry Jacob Marley's chain.
help to carry Jacob Marley's chain.
carry Jacob Marley's chain.
as he stood there trembling and turning pale
he said each day's harder to get on the scale
sort of like Jacob Marley's chain.
it's just full of thoughts that act as souvenirs
for those tiny blunders made in yesteryear
that comprise Jacob Marley's chain.
it encompassed the condition of the human race
but to my dismay, it left without a trace
except for the sound of Jacob Marley's chain.
Now there is no story left to tell
so I think I'd rather just go on to Hell
where there's a snowball's chance that the personnel
might help to carry Jacob Marley's chain.
help to carry Jacob Marley's chain.
carry Jacob Marley's chain.
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Well this is just very clever and great to listen to in the car. Like a lot of Aimee Mann's lyrics it suggests the most pessimistic conclusions and then invites you to come to terms with them and see them as less tragic. Life is a tragedy, we forge chains for ourselves all the time and end up being punished by carrying these chains around....and then it ends with jokes about snowballs in hell and the idea that even in Hell we would help each other....maybe.
Jacob Marley's chain is a concept from Charles Dicken's A Christmas Carol. Every bad deed we do forges another link on the chain that you carry around for eternity.