Got up before dawn
Went down to the racetrack
Riding with the windows down
Shortly after your first heart attack
You parked behind the paddock
Cracking asphalt underfoot
Coming up through the cracks
Pale green things
Pale green things

You watched the horses run their workouts
You held your stopwatch in your left hand
And a Racing Form beneath your arm
Casting your gaze way out to no man's land
Sometimes I'll meet you out there
Lonely and frightened
Flicking my tongue out at the wet leaves
Pale green things
Pale green things

My sister called at 3 AM
Just last December
She told me you how you'd died at last,
At last?
That morning at the racetrack
Was one thing that I remembered
I turned it over in my mind
Like a living Chinese finger trap
Seaweed in Indiana sawgrass
Pale green things
Pale green things


Lyrics submitted by smallwonderrobot, edited by therydog10, andrewbadr

Pale Green Things song meanings
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21 Comments

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  • +4
    General Comment

    This one just kicked me square in the chest, leaving me breathless and tearful.

    I've never really sat down and really listened.

    "I turned it over in my mind / Like a living Chinese finger trap"

    That is to say, you have to let it go and stop pulling at it in order to escape from the trap that was set for you. Acceptance...

    Thank you Darnielle.

    antihexeon October 11, 2012   Link

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