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Color in Your Cheeks Lyrics
She came in on the redeye to Dallas-Fort Worth.
All the way from sunny Taipei.
Skin the color of a walnut shell,
and a baseball cap holding down her black hair.
And she came here after midnight.
The hot weather made her feel right at home.
Come on in, we haven't slept for weeks.
Drink some of this. it'll put color in your cheeks.
He drove from in from Mexicali, no worse for wear.
Money to burn, time to kill.
But five minutes looking in his eyes and we all knew he
Was broken pretty bad, so we gave him what we had.
We cleared a space for him to sleep in,
and we let the silence that's our trademark
Make its presence felt.
Come on in, we haven't slept for weeks.
Drink some of this. it'll put color in your cheeks.
They came in by the dozens, walking or crawling.
Some were bright-eyed.
Some were dead on their feet.
And they came from Zimbabwe,
or from Soviet Georgia.
East Saint Louis, or from Paris, or they lived across the street.
But they came, and when they'd finally made it here,
It was the least that we could do to make our welcome clear.
Come on in, we haven't slept for weeks.
Drink some of this. it'll put color in your cheeks.
All the way from sunny Taipei.
Skin the color of a walnut shell,
and a baseball cap holding down her black hair.
And she came here after midnight.
The hot weather made her feel right at home.
Come on in, we haven't slept for weeks.
Drink some of this. it'll put color in your cheeks.
Money to burn, time to kill.
But five minutes looking in his eyes and we all knew he
Was broken pretty bad, so we gave him what we had.
We cleared a space for him to sleep in,
and we let the silence that's our trademark
Make its presence felt.
Come on in, we haven't slept for weeks.
Drink some of this. it'll put color in your cheeks.
Some were bright-eyed.
Some were dead on their feet.
And they came from Zimbabwe,
or from Soviet Georgia.
East Saint Louis, or from Paris, or they lived across the street.
But they came, and when they'd finally made it here,
It was the least that we could do to make our welcome clear.
Come on in, we haven't slept for weeks.
Drink some of this. it'll put color in your cheeks.
Song Info
Submitted by
b-pot On Apr 10, 2005
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they are images of saint, lining the walls of a church, offering communion wine to roadsaints, dustsaints, broken boys and girls from druggy messes and distance-lives. or so i'll pretend.
I figured this was about a rehab house. You cant sleep for shit when your comming off an addiction and will drink just about anything to cop even a little buzz to dull it all somewhat.
@Guitar217 - yes! This is EXACTLY what I've thought.
@Guitar217 - yes! This is EXACTLY what I've thought.
It's fairly clear that this is a song of embrace, "man is all the same," all that.
I always seemed to hear the drug angle when listening to this song, although i never considered it to be about alcohol at all because of the lines, "we haven't slept for weeks" and "we let the silence that's our trademark" as alcohol would, presumably make one more social and sedated and thus eventually sleepy. I always thought of the "drink" being like electric acid koolaid or something as it is following a song about the high school running back selling acid and, "but five minutes looking in his eyes and we all knew he / was broken pretty bad, so we gave him what we had." seems to imply to me some sort of healing or changing quality. Although not very documented due to legal status and stigma, psychedelics do have therapeutic qualities and can often lead to life-changing revelations and have been used successfully in psychotherapy settings.
@carlthethird - I have thought this song was about rehab.
@carlthethird - I have thought this song was about rehab.
I don't think it's important to find out who is helping and how and whom they are helping. The song is a pronounciation of the fact that they helped those needed help. They did as much as they could and did it whitout asking questions.
@Personable - I like this. Everyone i know thinks it's about something else. A bar, a drug house, refugees, rehab (that's got my vote), but your right. It really doesn't matter. They helped those who needed it.
@Personable - I like this. Everyone i know thinks it's about something else. A bar, a drug house, refugees, rehab (that's got my vote), but your right. It really doesn't matter. They helped those who needed it.
I think its about a drug house and how drugs can bring people together who normally wouldn't associate.
@xcats - I've thought it was about rehab, for the same reason.
@xcats - I've thought it was about rehab, for the same reason.
Could it be a some kind of rehab maybe? The line "drink some of this. it'll put color in your cheeks" sounds like they are getting better.
it doesn't matter what they're drinking; all that matters is that it'll put color in your cheeks.
Yeah, as always songs can have more than one meaning. But I like the "brotherhood of man" one better because if it was a drughouse, that would just kill me. It's already a sad enough song. "but five minutes looking in his eyes and we all knew he was broken pretty bad, so we gave him what we had." I think maybe it's a bunch of friends that live together and maybe are alcoholics or druggies but maybe not a house that sells drugs.
There is a point in the inevitable downward spiral of meth addiction where concepts like 'friendship', 'home', 'sharing', 'broken', and 'selling' cease to have independent meanings... your whole life, every act, becomes infused with the drug, and the distinctions between "sharing hospitality with friends" and "selling drugs to strangers" are no longer clear.
There is a point in the inevitable downward spiral of meth addiction where concepts like 'friendship', 'home', 'sharing', 'broken', and 'selling' cease to have independent meanings... your whole life, every act, becomes infused with the drug, and the distinctions between "sharing hospitality with friends" and "selling drugs to strangers" are no longer clear.
If you are messed up, and you need friends, and you invite people into your life, you (unavoidably, unless they have seen this before and know to run) mess them up, too. So... do you avoid friends altogether? Or does your...
If you are messed up, and you need friends, and you invite people into your life, you (unavoidably, unless they have seen this before and know to run) mess them up, too. So... do you avoid friends altogether? Or does your need for companionship (or customers, or dealers) require that you make contact? And if you already disgust yourself, what happens when you destroy these people you care about (or at least your relationship with them)? These are the themes of these songs.
One of Darinelle's very best.