Bethlehem Lyrics
Standing on the chair to be grown up
I feel so little, I need my pillow
I hate the time, I hate the clock
I want to be a dog or I want to be a rock
Color Polariods show my heart attack
In my second-hand pants and dusty shoes
The day that the playground laughed at my shoes
It's my birthday next week and what I want please
Is to turn on the heat so the fish won't freeze
The fish in the tank froze and died last week
Oh I want to be a dog or I want to be a leaf
In my town of Bethlehem
Picket fences, church at ten
No star above my Bethlehem
I'm hiding my sex behind a dirty sweatshirt
I've lost five pounds these past few days
Trying to be class president and get straight A's, well,
Who gives a shit about that anyway?
I want to be a dog or a lump of clay
Tired of living - still
Everyday I dream of leaving
The boys on the basketball team just fuck
The same ten girls, who don't know who they are
They're looking for some comfort in the back of a car
The six-packs of beer, the locker room jeers
I don't want to be me, I don't want to be here
No star above my Bethlehem
I don't want to be me, I don't want to be here
Bethlehem

Anthem to the woes of school years? Feeling ordinary?

Autobiographical, I think. About her childhood in the town she calls Bethlehem. Her first song "Tiger" on the follow up album talks about escaping Bethlehem and being free.

It took a while to really come down to it, but I believe this to be one of her best songs , or even possibly, her best song. I was literally listening to it in math class and I started crying like a sap. Just the line "I've lost five pounds these past few days/ Trying to be class president and get straight A's/, well, Who gives a shit about that anyway?". It is so incredibly great and true and harsh. Also, another outstanding lyric: "The boys on the basketball team just fuck the same ten girls/, who don't know who they are/ They're looking for some comfort in the back of a car".
It is amazing for her to just go out, state the obvious, do it harshly, raw, and true.
I love this song.