What Would You Have Me Do?

Personally, coming from a small town like Scott I know where he's coming from with these lyrics. To this day the song still gives me chills.

I don't believe this song is about killing somebody, the parts of the song that refer to death refer to losing a part of yourself. A common theme in Local H songs is moving to the city after growing up in a small town community mentality. Many of my friends who have moved to better themselves have only moved back months later in failure. As someone who is currently working on moving to the city it is as Scott is speaking to me personally in this song.

The song is pretty straight forward except when it comes to the second part of the song:

Hold tight It's New years Eve we'll be cold tonight Kill the heat And shut out all the lights And cut the phone line too Alright We don't need nothing but cyanide Pulled out teeth won't be identified What would you have me do? You got it

New Years Eve refers to the end of an era, and the start of a New Year full of new resolutions which often go unforfilled. In desperation to make it the you have to cut off all ties from your past, not dwell on it and move on. However, your new life is so radically different from your hometown's that you have to "cut off all the heat, and turn off all the lights" as in cutting off ties back home and the warmth and security it provided.

The whole cyinide and pulled out teeth remark refers to the fact that the end result is a cold process in which the people you left behind will no longer recognize you. All points in the song leading up this verse all describe the stress being put on changing yourself and if you fail you'll be the laughing stock of the town.

First of all - Local H in general is SO underappreciated. They take hard rock and metal and puts brains back into it. This band revived my taste for rock when I was starting to think it was all going to just suck for years to come. They prove that you CAN fucking rock without being total idiots.

Now, about this song, this track just STICKS in your head, it is incredible! Very clever, subtle mastery of lyrics (as in most of their songs) deliver a raw song that has this sinister undertone. Then, by the 2nd or 3rd listen, you realize it's very sinister indeed. He's saying to somebody that they've left him no choice but to kill them. Maybe himself too? Wow. I'm guessing it's the whole cheating lover thing, but there's just enough vagueness to keep you guessing, and just enough story to make it an awesome song.

One other note, if you really listen on a good system, there are background pieces of several of the other songs on this album (Here Comes the Zoo). This is the last track on the album, and sort of the master track that ties it all together again at the end.

Note -- Please fix the lyric errors here - the most blatant is that it should say "BEATEN six ways to Sunday" (An old phrase meaning "beat to hell" or "put through the wringer", ya know?) Also, "comeupins" should be spelled "comeuppance", which is when someone finally gets what they deserve (usually punishment of some sort, karma, whatever.)

I've gotta go with kkeene's interpretation -- it's always been a creepy song about killing the singer and someone else to me. Great song, though.

This song reminds me of the incident in PA circa '95 where that football player got beaten down on the steps of a church. It's a vague connection but it exists.

It seems like there is an eternity at the end of the song with an occasional guitar burst. I only heard this song on Spotify though, so not sure if on the original recording. I have spaced out and kept it on a few times, seems like there is urban noise and an ambulance or siren of some sort. Anybody know any story behind this? Thought it might be what the victim after the cyanide hears