When you find what matters is what you feel,
It arrives, and it disappears.
Driving down sunny 44 highway,
There's a beach there known for cancer waiting to happen.
When you're out across the county line,
The news travels slower than a ten-second buzz.
And only you'll ever know,
'Cause day by day it disappears,
Only you'll ever know.
And it's hard enough soaking up billboard signs,
You scorch and drown alive,
Never knowing why.
The levee gates are open wide,
There's a cough in the water, and it's running into town.
Bright eyes, don't change, stay the same.
There must be an answer for what keeps it going on.
But only you'll ever know,
'Cause day by day it disappears,
Only you'll ever know.
It arrives, and it disappears.
Driving down sunny 44 highway,
There's a beach there known for cancer waiting to happen.
When you're out across the county line,
The news travels slower than a ten-second buzz.
And only you'll ever know,
'Cause day by day it disappears,
Only you'll ever know.
And it's hard enough soaking up billboard signs,
You scorch and drown alive,
Never knowing why.
The levee gates are open wide,
There's a cough in the water, and it's running into town.
Bright eyes, don't change, stay the same.
There must be an answer for what keeps it going on.
But only you'll ever know,
'Cause day by day it disappears,
Only you'll ever know.
Lyrics submitted by Beazer
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"The "beach there known for cancer" on Highway 70
is the infamous Times Beach, which was deserted due to dioxin poisoning."
"The "cough in the water" is the Great Flood of 1993."
"Farrar uses the metaphor of natural disasters to paint a picture
of Midwestern life."
I must thank John Erlinger, who's tab of this song I stole these quotes from.
The line I like the most is the first part:
When you find what matters is what you feel,
It arrives, and it disappears.
I interpret that as some sort of epiphany that a person experiences that seems very important but as time goes on, the meaning dissipates. I have no idea what relates that idea to the rest of the song, but maybe Jay Farrar was setting an emotional backdrop for the rest of the story. His songs I think are meant to be impressionistic.