Help I've been detained
By these mountains that so poorly raised me
Burned out huffing gasoline
The redneck that I'm spose to be
Fuck that I'm stronger than my history
In pesticide I hide
These Virginia hills can't sedate me

Kill your family tree, this soil is diseased

My will is broken
The black lungs have swallowed me
Viva Villa Long live the picket line in me
You want a war you've got one
You want a state with poverty
Remember 1882 because there is no excuse

Excuses are just tools of incompetence
Used to build monuments of nothingness
And those who specialize in the uses
Seldom achieve anything

Excuses are just tools of incompetence
Used to build monuments of nothingness
And those who specialize in the uses
Seldom achieve anything but excuses


Lyrics submitted by ThoR294

Hatfield song meanings
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  • 0
    General Comment

    The first part seems to be about breaking away from your family's past, especially if you've got some baggage. The rest seems to be about people who use that kind of excuse to not to anything with their lives. I'm guessing the lead singer or someone in the band is from a town called Hatfield in Virginia. I don't know what the 1882 reference is about, though. Anyways, this song kicks ass. On a side-note, I went to West Virginia once. It was quite lovely.

    AmpleVoltageon January 05, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Well the band is from WV. The lyrics are actually "These west Virginia hills can't sedate me!" idk why it says "Virginia". 1882 is when it became a state btw. The song to me sounds like what it's like growing up in wv, and the history behind it. ( I'm from wv). As for the title hatfield refers to the "Hatfeild & McCoy" feud. They are from Charleston, Wv. Btw..

    Highonfire20on June 01, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    It's about breaking away from your families' past, specifically the Hatfield-McCoy feud. The 1882 reference is about the killing of Ellison Hatfield which escalated the whole feud. I'm pretty sure the McCoy's are from Kentucky.

    TheFrayedOneon June 14, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    One of the first Byzantine songs ever written. The lyrics cover a broad scope of WV history with a focus on the Hatfield and McCoy war. I am not from Hatfield, VA. I am from Chapmanville, WV which is in the same county the Haftield clan was from. There are references to my childhood, mainly the gas huffing that I did in Jr. High. Stupid thing to do, really, but it's there. Reference to Poncho Villa, whom my grandfather rode with in Mexico when he was just a teenager. And a picket line reference for my families history in coal mining. The 1882 reference is the date when the Hatfield McCoy war really took off and made headlines. The state was actually born in 1863.

    The last two stanza's are just a play on a cool line I saw when I attended my first AA meetings when I was in my 20's. I saw on a poster "Excuses are just tools of incompetence, Used to build monuments of nothingness". I added the last two lines to complete the verse.

    OJ9789on August 21, 2012   Link

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