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Hostile, Mass. Lyrics
a knockoff necktie. the way he wore it made it look more like a tourniquet. i looked deep in his eyes i saw lynn, massachussetts.
she hung a sleeveless dress up on a sleeved up lifestyle. girl you gotta cover that. she saw him gushing blood from wide open wounds and she decided that she loved him.
they put the screws into charlemagne. he had a detox dream he saw christ in all his glory. charlemagne didn't feel any pain. but he's bleeding from the holes in his story.
he said: hey my name is corey. and i'm really into hardcore. people call me hard corey. don't you hate these clever people and all these clever people parties.
in the park drinking dark bacardi. thinking things are funny when they really ain't that funny. the kids on the corner they keep getting stung. the color of our teeth matches the color of our tongues.
in the back bay fens getting gentle. up against the fence with some guy who looks like mickey mantle. dirty minds keep coming thru the mud. the color of their eyes matches the color of our blood.
he had a painters cap. it said panama jack. it had the flaps on the back that kept the sun off his neck.
he woke up deep in hostile massachussetts. reaching out to try to touch the special effects.
he had no shoes and no pants. they dressed him in a shirt with a collar and they called him porky pig. the two of you went up to his room. later on you wouldn't admit you did.
seeing lousy movies but only for the a/c. skimpy little outfits and bad guys acting crazy. that's how i know when you're lying. it looks just like overacting.
kids on the corner are cracking and caving in. turning over and turning other kids in. i never want to make you feel uncomfortable. i hope i never did.
they met as kids he was angry and angsty. she was a damned good dancer. i'll be damned if they didn't disappear. wandered out of mass one day and faded into the fog and love and faithless fear.
charlemagne in sweatpants and you and me in hostile, massachussetts.
she hung a sleeveless dress up on a sleeved up lifestyle. girl you gotta cover that. she saw him gushing blood from wide open wounds and she decided that she loved him.
they put the screws into charlemagne. he had a detox dream he saw christ in all his glory. charlemagne didn't feel any pain. but he's bleeding from the holes in his story.
he said: hey my name is corey. and i'm really into hardcore. people call me hard corey. don't you hate these clever people and all these clever people parties.
in the back bay fens getting gentle. up against the fence with some guy who looks like mickey mantle. dirty minds keep coming thru the mud. the color of their eyes matches the color of our blood.
he woke up deep in hostile massachussetts. reaching out to try to touch the special effects.
he had no shoes and no pants. they dressed him in a shirt with a collar and they called him porky pig. the two of you went up to his room. later on you wouldn't admit you did.
kids on the corner are cracking and caving in. turning over and turning other kids in. i never want to make you feel uncomfortable. i hope i never did.
they met as kids he was angry and angsty. she was a damned good dancer. i'll be damned if they didn't disappear. wandered out of mass one day and faded into the fog and love and faithless fear.
Song Info
Submitted by
stellaluna1125 On May 28, 2004
More The Hold Steady
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Reminds me of Billy Joel's "Only the Good Die Young", with a mix of good story-telling and an awesome sax solo. This reminds me of hanging out on the streets with my old crew, just gettin' high and living for the moment.
I think the whole Charlemagne thing refers to how mythical his life was and how the Corey in the song keeps making stuff up.
i love the things that craig finn does with repetition. the girl wandering out of mass (holly, i do believe), charlemagne (and his sweatpants!) and certain phrases "fog and love and faithless fear" and "she was a damned good dancer" (your little hoodrat friend).
after listening to all of this album, the hold steady are cemented in my mind as the best thing to come to music since the guitar.
Ive never heard of this song or this band which makes me wonder how i ever got here but to me it sounds like a christian song but please correct me if im wrong.
so this was years ago, but I'm going to let you know anyways, Craig Finn, the singer/songwriter in The Hold Steady messes around with a lot of Christian imagery but it's not so much Christian music,it's stories about people that happen to be Catholic that have problems, that's all.
so this was years ago, but I'm going to let you know anyways, Craig Finn, the singer/songwriter in The Hold Steady messes around with a lot of Christian imagery but it's not so much Christian music,it's stories about people that happen to be Catholic that have problems, that's all.
"wandered out of mass one day and faded into the fog and love and faithless fear."
Does he mean Massachusetts or the Catholic service? Clever, either way.
I think Charlemagne is the one who becomes the Christ-like savior, Holly's the girl who wanders off with him, then comes back into the 'fold' at the end of Separation Sunday.
Its weird the way he reuses lyrics. IE "fog and love and faithless fear." He reuses on "Boys and Girls in America" track Citrus. He seems to have a hangup on Christianity, but its part of the appeal to me.
Finn definitely Is into the repetitive lines in his songs because throughout the first few major albums, the characters are the same and they are all connected to tell a story of those characters. (mostly Holly, Charlemagne, Gideon, Solomon.....) However, he did say that on the new album he's working on writing, he does not want the songs to be using those distinct characters anymore. he says there's a fine line between storytelling and songwriting and he wants to make that line a little thicker.
'he woke up deep in hostile massachussetts. reaching out to try to touch the special effects. he had no shoes and no pants'
And thats why Charlemagne's in sweatpants...