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The Last Straw Lyrics
Hotel hobbies padding dawns hollow corridors
A typewriter cackles out a stream of memories
Drying out a conscience, evicting a nightmare
Opening the doors for the dreams to come home
We live out lives in private shells
Ignore our senses and fool ourselves
To thinking that out there there's someone else cares
Someone to answer all our prayers
Are we too far gone, are we so irresponsible
Have we lost our balls, or do we just not care
We're terminal cases that keep talking medicine
Pretending the end isn't quite that near
We make futile gestures, act to the cameras
With our made up faces and PR smiles
And when the angel comes down, down to deliver us
We'll find out that after all, we're only men of straw
But everything is still the same
Passing the time passing the blame
We carry on in the same old way
We'll find out we left it too late one day to say what we meant to say
Just when you thought it was safe to go back to the water
Those problems seem to arise the ones you never really thought of
The feeling you get is similar to something like drowning
Out of your mind, you're out of your depth, you should have taken soundings
Clutching at straws, we're clutching at straws
And if you ever come across us don't give us your sympathy
You can buy us a drink and just shake our hands
And you'll recognise by the reflection in our eyes
That deep down inside we're all one and the same
We're clutching at straws
We're still drowning Clutching at straws
A typewriter cackles out a stream of memories
Drying out a conscience, evicting a nightmare
Opening the doors for the dreams to come home
We live out lives in private shells
Ignore our senses and fool ourselves
To thinking that out there there's someone else cares
Someone to answer all our prayers
Have we lost our balls, or do we just not care
Pretending the end isn't quite that near
We make futile gestures, act to the cameras
With our made up faces and PR smiles
And when the angel comes down, down to deliver us
We'll find out that after all, we're only men of straw
Passing the time passing the blame
We carry on in the same old way
We'll find out we left it too late one day to say what we meant to say
Just when you thought it was safe to go back to the water
Those problems seem to arise the ones you never really thought of
The feeling you get is similar to something like drowning
Out of your mind, you're out of your depth, you should have taken soundings
Clutching at straws, we're clutching at straws
You can buy us a drink and just shake our hands
And you'll recognise by the reflection in our eyes
That deep down inside we're all one and the same
We're still drowning Clutching at straws
Add your song meanings, interpretations, facts, memories & more to the community.
I'm surprised that no one has ever commented on this song. It remains one of my favourite Fish era songs, and the sheer anger Fish brings to the lyric makes it the ideal choice to close out the best album by the group of that era.
In the liner notes to the remastered version of "Clutching at Straws" and on the band's web site (http://www.marillion.com/music/albums/cas.htm#band), you can read the band members' recollections about the turmoil that was going on in the band during the time the album was recorded. The band was exhausted and under a lot of pressure from its record label, and Fish was on the verge of quitting the band.
Given this context, the "The Last Straw" seems to summarize Fish's frustrations with life as a rock star ("We make futile gestures, act to the cameras/With our made up faces and PR smiles") and feelings of hopelessness. Nothing like ending a dark album on an incredibly bitter and pessimistic note!