Anchormen spike their blood, wear masks of mud
Cucumbers cut to fit their eyes
And so no one would know how tired they've grown
Of talking and telling their lies

While your TV's change stations, scroll messages
Victims and Christians both drinking blood
And they'll pray for the destruction of all hatred
More often, just those with hate for us

'Cause it hurts when you discover one's worse and one's better
To suffer or cause others to
And you can live by your conscience, now guilt is a concept
You're no longer subscribing to

There's a virgin in my bed
And she's taking off her dress
And I'm not sure what I am gonna do

There's a song stuck in my head
And I can't help singing it
Oh, how I hope my singing pleases you
'Cause this is not who I've become but what you make me into

Oh, we got no health insurance, no cellular service
No disease, they can't cure
But we need more money to burn
So each person must learn the dollar amount they are worth

And those pills make me dizzy forgetting my body
I watch as it walks away
And I just keep drinking the poison and smoking the cartons
A pack and a half a day

So when time comes to claim me
My friends and my family will gather around my grave
And they'll believe that they knew me
And loved me and missed me, and all call me by my name

So imagine what you want
And then hold on to that thought
'Cause that's as close as it will ever come

And believe you're where you are
Keep acting out the part
But at the end of the day, the trees all get wheeled away
And you'll be standing alone in a blank, blank space

So believe you're who you are and stay in character
But at the end of the play, the audience walks away
And I'll be shivering cold on a well lit stage



Lyrics submitted by rjbucs28, edited by Kashika

Trees Get Wheeled Away Lyrics as written by Oberst

Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

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Trees Get Wheeled Away song meanings
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    General Comment

    "Anchormen spike their blood Wear masks of mud Cucumbers cut to fit their eyes And so no one would know how tired they've grown Of talking and telling their lies"

    Ok, this bit is clearly stabbing news reporters in the heart. It shows how they're so obsessed with their image, that they don't care about what they say, they just like to stir up the media.

    "While your TVs change stations Scroll messages Vctims and Christians both drinking blood"

    Here, Conor is trying to show that you can look anywhere in life, but some things seem to be labeled as good and some as bad. Here he uses the comparative items, victims drinking their own blood and the blood of other victims around them (through being victims) and christians drinking the blood of Christ. A nice comparison. Both are drinking blood yet one is horrible and one is not. It shows the biased views everybody has on everything.

    "And they pray for the destruction of all hatred More often, just those with hate for us"

    We all know about how the governments say they are destroying the threat of terror. But they're just terrorising the other countries by starting a war against them. These lines suggest that they can pray for the destruction of all hate, but they forget that it is also themselves that hate.

    "Because it hurts when you discover One's worse and one's better"

    Here again, Conor is reinforcing the whole opinionated bias over all things important.

    "To suffer or cause others to And you can live by your conscience Now guilt is a concept You're no longer subscribing to"

    This is saying that it may be horrible that people are suffering, but causing more people to suffer is just stupid and ignorant. You can't fight fire with fire, right? But even though they do this, it seems they never feel guilty.

    "There's a virgin in my bed And she's taking off her dress And I'm not sure what I am going to do There's a song stuck in my head And I can't help singing it Oh, how I hope my singing pleases you"

    Both of these situations appear to be situations that Conor has not put himself into. Firstly, he's confused and feels like a mess that he's got some virgin (who, you should note, is unnamed for effectiveness) in his bed and he doesn't have a clue how to get out of this hole he's dug for himself. Secondly he's got a song stuck in his head, but he can't help it and he doesn't want to harm anybody by singing. This is metaphorical for also getting yourself into sticky situations, but not meaning any harm by what you do.

    "Because I am not who I become But what you made me into"

    Here Conor is talking about not being able to control what's happening to him. He gets dragged along the ground and made into what people want him to be.

    "Oh, we got no health insurance No cellular service No disease they can cure But we need more money to burn So each person must learn the dollar amount they are worth"

    Ok, so we have all those things that he says. But the people of the world are in such a capitalistic state that even without these things they'd care more about what their money says about them than what they are actually like. Again, being controlled by what's happening to you and portraying an image that isn't a true depiction of you, just as the anchormen were.

    "And your pills make me dizzy Forgetting my body I watch as it walks away And I just keep drinking the poison And smoking the cartons A pack and a half a day"

    This is about giving into temptation. He feels lost and out of control in all this rush to have the most money, the best image... whatever.

    "So when time comes to claim me My friends and my family will gather around my grave And they'll believe that they knew me and love me and miss me And all call me by my name"

    In this stanza, Conor is saying that not even his family and friends knew what he was really like under his mask of mud and cucumber eyes. They can say they loved him and that they miss him, but they never really know the real him.

    "So imagine what you want And then hold on to that thought Because that's as close as it will ever come"

    If you want to become what you really want to be, it's not going to happen. That's what Conor is trying to say in this whole song. You can hold on to the greatest of thoughts and aim to achieve it, but it's never going to come any closer than in your imagination.

    "And believe you're where you are and keep acting out the part But at the end of the end of the day the trees all get wheeled away And you'll be standing alone in a blank, blank space"

    You can make up this image around you. You can grow the trees of hopes, but in the end, you're just as hopeless as everybody else and the trees will get wheeled away. You'll be left alone, feeling lost and afraid.

    "So believe you're who you are And stay in character But at the end of the play the audience walks away And you'll be a shivering cold on a well lit stage."

    Esentially the same as the above verse. It states that you can stay acting out the part of somebody you're not, but when the audience isn't around to watch, you're pathetic.

    I must say. Awesome lyrics from Conor.

    sixfoottallrabbiton June 05, 2007   Link

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