Overall about difficult moments of disappointment and vulnerability. Having hope and longing, while remaining optimistic for the future. Encourages the belief that with each new morning there is a chance for things to improve.
The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future.
Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
God said don't give me your
Tin horn prayers
Don't buy roses off the street down there
Took it all and took the dirt road home
Dreaming of Jenny with the light brown hair
Night is falling like a bloody axe
Lies and rumors and the wind at my back
Hand on the wheel gravel on the road
Will the pawn shop sell me back what I sold
I'm gonna take the sins of my father
I'm gonna take the sins of my mother
I"m gonna take the sins of my brother
Down to the pond
Birds cry warning from a hidden branch
Carving out a future with a gun and an axe
I'm way beyond the gavel and the laws of man
Still living in the palm of the grace of your hand
The worlds not easy the blind man said
Turns on nothing but money and dread
Dogs been scratching at the door all night
Long neck birds flying out of the moon light
I'm gonna take the sins of my father
I'm gonna take the sins of my mother
I"m gonna take the sins of my brother
Down to the pond
Smack dab in the middle of a dirty lie
The star spangled glitter of his one good eye
Everybody knows that the game was rigged
Justice wears suspenders and a powdered wig
Dark town alleys been hiding you
Long bell tolling is your waterloo
Oh baby what can you do
Does the light of god blind you
Or lead the way home for you?
I'm gonna take the sins of my father
I'm gonna take the sins of my mother
I"m gonna take the sins of my brother
Down to the pond
God all mighty for righteousness sake
Humiliation of our fallen state
Written in the book of tubold Cain
A long black over coat will show no stain
Feel the heat and the burn on your back
The rip and the moan and the stretch of the rack
All my belongings in a flour sack
Will the place I come from
Take me back
I'm gonna take the sins of my father
I'm gonna take the sins of my mother
I"m gonna take the sins of my brother
Down to the pond
They'll hang me in the morning on a scaffold yea big
To dance upon nothing to the tyborn jig
Treats you like a puppet when your under its spell
Oh the heart is heaven
But the mind is hell
Jesus of Nazareth told Mike of the weeds
I's born at this time for a reason you see
When I'm dead I'll be dead a long time
But the wines so pleasing and so sublime
I'm gonna take the sins of my father
I'm gonna take the sins of my mother
I"m gonna take the sins of my brother
Down to the pond
Kissed my sweetheart by the chinaball tree
Everything I done is between God and me
Only he will judge how my time was spent
29 days of sinning and 40 to repent
The horse is steady but the horse is blind
Wicked are the branches on the tree of mankind
The roots grow upwared and the branches grow down
Its much too late to throw the dice again I've found
I'm gonna take the sins of my father
I'm gonna take the sins of my mother
I"m gonna take the sins of my brother
Down to the pond
I'm gonna wash them [2x]
I'm gonna wash the sins of my Father
I'm gonna wash the sins of my Mother
I'm gonna wash the sins of my Brother
Till the water runs clear [2x]
Tin horn prayers
Don't buy roses off the street down there
Took it all and took the dirt road home
Dreaming of Jenny with the light brown hair
Night is falling like a bloody axe
Lies and rumors and the wind at my back
Hand on the wheel gravel on the road
Will the pawn shop sell me back what I sold
I'm gonna take the sins of my father
I'm gonna take the sins of my mother
I"m gonna take the sins of my brother
Down to the pond
Birds cry warning from a hidden branch
Carving out a future with a gun and an axe
I'm way beyond the gavel and the laws of man
Still living in the palm of the grace of your hand
The worlds not easy the blind man said
Turns on nothing but money and dread
Dogs been scratching at the door all night
Long neck birds flying out of the moon light
I'm gonna take the sins of my father
I'm gonna take the sins of my mother
I"m gonna take the sins of my brother
Down to the pond
Smack dab in the middle of a dirty lie
The star spangled glitter of his one good eye
Everybody knows that the game was rigged
Justice wears suspenders and a powdered wig
Dark town alleys been hiding you
Long bell tolling is your waterloo
Oh baby what can you do
Does the light of god blind you
Or lead the way home for you?
I'm gonna take the sins of my father
I'm gonna take the sins of my mother
I"m gonna take the sins of my brother
Down to the pond
God all mighty for righteousness sake
Humiliation of our fallen state
Written in the book of tubold Cain
A long black over coat will show no stain
Feel the heat and the burn on your back
The rip and the moan and the stretch of the rack
All my belongings in a flour sack
Will the place I come from
Take me back
I'm gonna take the sins of my father
I'm gonna take the sins of my mother
I"m gonna take the sins of my brother
Down to the pond
They'll hang me in the morning on a scaffold yea big
To dance upon nothing to the tyborn jig
Treats you like a puppet when your under its spell
Oh the heart is heaven
But the mind is hell
Jesus of Nazareth told Mike of the weeds
I's born at this time for a reason you see
When I'm dead I'll be dead a long time
But the wines so pleasing and so sublime
I'm gonna take the sins of my father
I'm gonna take the sins of my mother
I"m gonna take the sins of my brother
Down to the pond
Kissed my sweetheart by the chinaball tree
Everything I done is between God and me
Only he will judge how my time was spent
29 days of sinning and 40 to repent
The horse is steady but the horse is blind
Wicked are the branches on the tree of mankind
The roots grow upwared and the branches grow down
Its much too late to throw the dice again I've found
I'm gonna take the sins of my father
I'm gonna take the sins of my mother
I"m gonna take the sins of my brother
Down to the pond
I'm gonna wash them [2x]
I'm gonna wash the sins of my Father
I'm gonna wash the sins of my Mother
I'm gonna wash the sins of my Brother
Till the water runs clear [2x]
Lyrics submitted by deliriumtrigger, edited by Mellow_Harsher
Sins of My Father Lyrics as written by Thomas Alan Waits Kathleen Brennan
Lyrics © JALMA MUSIC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings
Cajun Girl
Little Feat
Little Feat
When We Were Young
Blink-182
Blink-182
This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
Magical
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
How would you describe the feeling of being in love? For Ed Sheeran, the word is “Magical.” in HIS three-minute album opener, he makes an attempt to capture the beauty and delicacy of true love with words. He describes the magic of it all over a bright Pop song produced by Aaron Dessner.
Blue
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Blue” is a song about a love that is persisting in the discomfort of the person experiencing the emotion. Ed Sheeran reflects on love lost, and although he wishes his former partner find happiness, he cannot but admit his feelings are still very much there. He expresses the realization that he might never find another on this stringed instrumental by Aaron Dessner.
Plastic Bag
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Plastic Bag” is a song about searching for an escape from personal problems and hoping to find it in the lively atmosphere of a Saturday night party. Ed Sheeran tells the story of his friend and the myriad of troubles he is going through. Unable to find any solutions, this friend seeks a last resort in a party and the vanity that comes with it.
“I overthink and have trouble sleepin’ / All purpose gone and don’t have a reason / And there’s no doctor to stop this bleedin’ / So I left home and jumped in the deep end,” Ed Sheeran sings in verse one. He continues by adding that this person is feeling the weight of having disappointed his father and doesn’t have any friends to rely on in this difficult moment. In the second verse, Ed sings about the role of grief in his friend’s plight and his dwindling faith in prayer. “Saturday night is givin’ me a reason to rely on the strobe lights / The lifeline of a promise in a shot glass, and I’ll take that / If you’re givin’ out love from a plastic bag,” Ed sings on the chorus, as his friend turns to new vices in hopes of feeling better.
I agree tempguy, Waits can paint vivid pictures in the mind with just a handful of words.
In this song, the way this story is told is so haunting that it sends chills through the body.
When asked about the song in an interview, Waits said "The sins of the father will be visited upon the son. Everybody knows that."
This song is not only about the sins of a father being passed to the son, but the sins of humankind being passed to a generation.
One man's murder and judgement is illustrated in the song, "Night is falling like a bloody axe," "Carving out a future with a gun and an axe," "A long black over coat will show no stain," "I'm way beyond the gavel and the laws of man","They'll hang me in the morning on a scaffold yea big," "To dance upon nothing to the tyborn jig." The tyborn jig is the dance done at the end of a hangman's noose, coined in Tyborn, England where legendary scaffolds executed scores of people to the entertainment of the masses throughout the centuries.
Humankind's treachery and lack of justice is illustrated when he sings "The worlds not easy the blind man said, Turns on nothing but money and dread" and "Everybody knows that the game was rigged, Justice wears suspenders and a powdered wig." One could be looking into a mirror when he states this line, "wicked are the branches on the tree of mankind."
What is a generation to do with the bloodstained rags left over by a history of evil?
"I'm gonna wash the sins of my Father I'm gonna wash the sins of my Mother I'm gonna wash the sins of my Brother Till the water runs clear"
@bluesbegger123 <br /> <br /> Great run down. Waits is definitely rifting on the themes of judgement and inherited debt. In my opinion it's purposely left ambiguous whether it's against the laws of God or the laws of Man, but I think it's telling that he references the American justice system as having only one eye:<br /> <br /> 'The star spangled glitter of his one good eye'<br /> <br /> as if the ancient law of an eye for an eye has already been played out.<br />
the song is called "Sins of my Father." i love this song. it's 10 min. long, but it's so natrual. not sure what the meaning of it is though.
why isn't anyone commenting this song?
"Hand on the wheel/gravel on the road/ Will the pawn shop sell me back what I sold?" ... Amazing. Once the grove gets you these 10 minutes could be 10 seconds or 10 hours. It's basically poetry set to music, you could just publish the lyrics and I would still be a work of genius. How anyone can write this much, this perfect, is beyond my understanding.
See above^ :)
No, the CD book calls it "Sins Of The Father" in numerous spots, so the song was inputted correctly here.
Beautiful song, so many great lines...
dont know why my comment got deleted. but its tubalcain.....
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tubalcain
its in the Word.
i always thought that the song was about abel. his parents committed the original sin and his brother cain was the first murderer; yet he ended up dead as a burden of their sins. also waits makes heaps of references to cain and abel in his songs, its like a recurring symbol!
when your listening to good music, it doesnt matter how long the song is?
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sins_of_the_Father