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This song is for the rats
Who hurled themselves in to the ocean
When they saw that the explosives in the cargo hold
Were just about to blow
This song is for the soil
That's toxic clear down to the bedrock
Where no thing of consequence can grow
Drop your seeds there
Let them go
Let them all go
Let 'em all go
This song is for the people
Who tell their families that they're sorry
For things they can't and won't feel sorry for
And once there was a desk
And now it's in a storage locker somewhere
And this song is for the stick pins and the cottons
I left in the top drawer
Let 'em all go
Let 'em all go
I wanna sing one for the cars
That are right now headed silent down the highway
And it's dark and there is nobody driving
And something has got to give
I saw you waiting by the roadside
You didn't know that I was watching
Now you know
Let it all go
Let 'em all go
Let it all go
Who hurled themselves in to the ocean
When they saw that the explosives in the cargo hold
Were just about to blow
This song is for the soil
That's toxic clear down to the bedrock
Where no thing of consequence can grow
Drop your seeds there
Let them go
Let them all go
Let 'em all go
This song is for the people
Who tell their families that they're sorry
For things they can't and won't feel sorry for
And once there was a desk
And now it's in a storage locker somewhere
And this song is for the stick pins and the cottons
I left in the top drawer
Let 'em all go
Let 'em all go
I wanna sing one for the cars
That are right now headed silent down the highway
And it's dark and there is nobody driving
And something has got to give
I saw you waiting by the roadside
You didn't know that I was watching
Now you know
Let it all go
Let 'em all go
Let it all go
Lyrics submitted by I'm a Pirate
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The rats jump into the ocean, to probable death, but they're eluding certain death. They're clinging to hope of survival in the unknown.
Dropping your seeds represents letting go of what you're saving for the "perfect situation", which will never come, and taking that risk in that which is available to you. (Seeds represent potential for growth, remember).
The verses about apologizing to the family about what you can't be sorry for, and the cotton and "stick pins" (needles) represent addiction (heroin). Here's really where one needs to let go and leave one's known hell for the difficult and frightening path of change.
Finally, the cars: we're all driving through our own lives, desperate and alone. Something has got to give. So here, I've seen you, and I'm watching you, and now you know that I'm interested. I've taken a risk and stepped out of my known, safe, lonely solitude, and "now you know".
I'm the rats jumping, I'm the addict leaving my drug - whatever it is - behind, I'm dropping my seeds before you, and what will be will be. Perhaps something will grow.
I listened to the song in its entirety soon after and the line, "This song is for the people
Who tell their families that they're sorry
For things they can't and won't feel sorry for" hit me hard. It was even completely personal, I just thought about how it applied to so many people, and even some of my good friends more than me. Apologies for things like taking a less lucrative career path, straying from one's birth religion, even being gay or enjoying things like sex and partying. There is so often such a generational disconnect in values preventing honest communication between a man or woman and his/her parents. And very often, rather than explain such things it's easier to just sigh and grant a dishonest "apology" to assuage their fears and disappointment. And I think that's a shame.
Great song.
Who hurled themselves in to the ocean
When they saw that the explosives in the cargo hold
Were just about to blow
There are numerous reference on We Shall All Be Healed to the friends that John lost to addiction, and how Darnielle himself escaped the death sentence of these drugs. John is one of these rats - he saw where Meth and Heroin, possibly among other drugs, were leading him and he jumped ship before things got too bad.
This song is for the soil
That's toxic clear down to the bedrock
Where no thing of consequence can grow
Drop your seeds there
Let them go
Plants growing up in harsh conditions are a recurrent theme in Darnielle's work (see Pale Green Things, Wild Sage and In The Hidden Places). It represents his difficult upbringing in the clutches of an abusive Stepfather, a toxic man by all accounts. John is also one of those seeds, feeling like he can become nothing of consequence.
Let them all go
Let 'em all go
This song is for the people
Who tell their families that they're sorry
For things they can't and won't feel sorry for
This verse needs little explanation; this is John, again, who apologizes to his family in the throes of his addiction, yet it is something that he desires, that kind of escape and oblivion. Also his home situation no doubt in some sense led to his substance abuse problem, so how can he apologize for something to the people partly responsible?
And once there was a desk
And now it's in a storage locker somewhere
And this song is for the stick pins and the cottons
I left in the top drawer
Let 'em all go
Let 'em all go
Here he can finally show that this song is all about him, in every verse. He's chosen to leave his addiction behind him. He has to let it go.
I wanna sing one for the cars
That are right now headed silent down the highway
And it's dark and there is nobody driving
And something has got to give
Again, this is him - aimless, starting again, alone, afraid, and feeling like there's nobody in control. Feeling like something is going to give. But always moving forward.
I saw you waiting by the roadside
You didn't know that I was watching
Now you know
Let it all go
Let 'em all go
Let it all go
And John knows that when you feel this way, alone, directionless, and wrapped up in your own hurt - someone understands. Hell, he understands, he was there, even though you didn't know he was watching. Now you know. Let it all go.
The one about toxic soil might be about the place or society where someone grows up. It's about the kind of places where it's impossible to make something of yourself becaues of your surroundings. Dropping your seed there represents giving up on your dreams.
The car stanze is about people who have no guidance and have lost control of their lives (hence there's nobody driving).
I'm not so sure about the rest of the song. The line about stick pins and cotton I find baffling, unless it's about people he once knew and will probably never see again.
and i'm also excited that i am going to get to see them here in Kalamazoo, MI in a week!
Who tell their families that they're sorry
For things they can't and won't feel sorry for
A lot of people have been there, that pressing of the things you hold dear and the ones that your friends and family hold dear, and having to make that decision. The backing down and faking and lying about who you are and what you love and... Just that little bit speaks volumes to me, let alone the rest of the song...
This song is for the rats
Who hurled themselves in to the ocean
When they saw that the explosives in the cargo
hold
Were just about to blow
The most explicit reference to drugs is the reminiscence of a desk in which drug paraphenelia (i.e. cottons, needles) would be stored.
and as the person above me stated, "cotton" is a slang term for a small piece of cotton used to draw-up your drug of choice into a syringe.