Cassius Clay was hated
More than Sonny Liston
Some like K.K. Downing
More than Glenn Tipton
Some like Jim Nabors
Some Bobby Vinton
I like 'em all

I put my feet up
On the coffee table
I stay up late watching cable
I like old movies with Clark Gable
Just like my dad does

Just like my dad did
When he was home
Staying up late,
Staying up alone
Just like my dad did
When he was thinking
Oh, how fast the years fly

I know an old woman
Ran a donut shop
She worked late serving cops
Then one morning
Babe, her heart stopped
Place ain't the same no more

Place ain't the same no more
Not without my friend, Eleanor
Place ain't the same no more
Man, how things change

I buried my first victim
When I was nineteen
Went through her bedroom
And the pockets of her jeans
And found her letters
That said so many things
That really hurt me bad

I never breathed
Her name again
But I like to dream
About what could have been
I never heard her calls again
But I like to dream


Lyrics submitted by luke.

Glenn Tipton Lyrics as written by Mark Edward Kozelek

Lyrics © ROUGH TRADE PUBLISHING, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.

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Glenn Tipton song meanings
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    General Comment

    I really doubt Sun Kil Moon is telling a story about a murderer. Look at the arc of Mark's writing, and you see his references to metaphorical death (Carry Me Ohio being the prime example). And song is the same. The first stanzas refer to the death of his fond memories of his father ("man how things change"). Then he writes about the death of Eleanor, and how that has killed that wondrous place as well ("place ain't the same no more). Finally, the last stanzas. It sounds as if HE killed the relationship, probably by looking through "her bedroom and the pockets of her jeans." Perhaps he discovered infidelity. Or perhaps his girlfriend's true feelings. But whatever was in those letters, it killed that innocent part of him, perhaps the one that believed in love. But it seems a stretch that a band as peaces (and morbidly life-affirming in so many other songs) would write literally about a killer -- particularly when those two paragraphs would be a striking departure from virtually everything else they've ever written.

    grahamdaltonon May 28, 2007   Link

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