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Can't Stand It Lyrics

The way things go
You get so low
Struggle to find your skin
Hey ho
Look out below
Your prayers will never be answered again

Phones still ring
And singers sing
Speakers are speaking in code
What now
Well anyhow
Our prayers will never be answered again

You know it's all beginning
(It's all beginning)
To feel like It's ending
(Feels like It's ending)
No loves as random
As God's love
I can't stand it
I can't stand it

The way things get
You get so high
Funny how we make new friends
Oh hey ho
I gotta go
My prayers will never be answered again

You know It's all beginning
(it's all beginning)
To feel like It's ending
(Feels like It's ending)
No loves as random
As God's love
I can't stand it
I can't stand it

Speakers speaking
Speakers speaking
Speaking in code

Speakers speaking
Speakers speaking
Speaking in code

You know It's all beginning
(it's all beginning)
To feel like pretending
(To feel like pretending)
No loves as random
As my love
I can't stand it
I can't stand it

Your prayers will never be answered again
Your prayers will never be answered again
Your prayers will never be answered again
Your prayers will never be answered again
8 Meanings

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Cover art for Can't Stand It lyrics by Wilco

"No loves as random as God's love." is a true statement, through the eyes of the bitter. It could be that he feels like a lot of good things happen for him and God is looking out for him, then he'll fall on hard times and wonder where God is to help him -- feeling like God's love is inconsistent and random. It could also mean that it seems like God blesses certain people endlessly, while leaving others to poverty, starvation, death etc.

@Mansons49thBeard I really hope some anti-Semite doesn’t take this as being anti-Jew and, therefore, somehow believe I’m an an ally of him or her, but one of the things that comes to mind when I think about how random God’s love is, Is how Israel became/were always - it doesn’t matter if it was predestination or just God deciding on the spur of a moment to make the Hebrews his “chosen people” - The Chosen People…how does one people become “God’s favorite” lol…

And if you can figure out how “god” thinks,...

Cover art for Can't Stand It lyrics by Wilco

"Speakers are speaking in code" I think is an early reference to spoken coded short-wave messages he heard that would later grace Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. Words being spoken clearly, but the words having no meaning themselves. Just stand-ins for a totally different coded message. I think it's his way of expressing the hopelessness of ever figuring out what "really" is going on, no matter how much you "listen".

Cover art for Can't Stand It lyrics by Wilco

he's very anti-religion

I don't think he is anti-religion.

He may not be a proclaimed Christian but I think this song is definitely about the mystery of God's love. I don't disagree that there is obviously frustration in what he is singing but i think the general message of the tune is not to break down faith.

@NewLibertine this is more in reply to the first reply, but IMO the last verse is Tweedy’s narrator/singer (not necessarily Tweedy himself) coming to terms with his own bullshit, and, blaming HIMSELF for his life/the way he treats people.

Cover art for Can't Stand It lyrics by Wilco

lol at this song.

Cover art for Can't Stand It lyrics by Wilco

Well, until reading these lyrics, I thought it went "Y'know loves random, it's God's love," so I thought he was talking about the lack of free will in the world. But now that I read them, it's pretty straight forward. Seems like he's angry at God because someone (maybe him) always prayers and does everything God asks, but something bad has happened to them.

Cover art for Can't Stand It lyrics by Wilco

actually the song refers to the ridiculousness of the assertion of God (and his loving nature) rockin' cynical awesomeness

Oh please. This song is NOT anti-religious or even anti-God. That would be way too simple for a song like this.

No, this song is about someone who is bitter, and lived through a nightmare. And life just goes on, as seen in the lines "Phones still ring; and singers still sing". So he (the narrator) feels left behind and that no one, INCLUDING and FOREMOST God have deserted him.

This is a story that can happen to anyone, and the reason God is mentioned so much is because to a bitter and sad person, God is the...

The song is pretty clearly anti-religion to some extent, though, D33PPURPLE. I don't quite know where you're getting that the song is about "someone who is bitter, and lived through a nightmare." I don't see any lyrical examples in the song to suggest this.

But I also don't think the song is just about "ridiculousness of the assertion of God (and his loving nature)."

It's always struck me that Tweedy is merely objecting to this idea that people use the abstract concept of "God's love" to feel better about themselves for whatever turmoil going on...

Cover art for Can't Stand It lyrics by Wilco

Wow. I heard this lyrics all wrong. I thought he was saying "It's our beginning" not "It's all beginning" and I didn't even catch the God's love bit. I always assumed most of this album referred to relationships and we deal with them as they go on, and with this song, I thought he was talking about how we struggle to find someone who will accept us, but as we find them, grow to love them and eventually grow apart, it feels horrible but with the line "it's funny how we make new friends" made me think of how we move on with new people.

But it seems I was way off with that. XD

Still a great song ^_^

Cover art for Can't Stand It lyrics by Wilco

This song (to me) has a lot of references that could refer to a post-rapture world.

The main one of course is "prayers will never be answered again."

But the whole first verse makes a lot of sense.

"Phones still ring and singers sing; speakers are speaking in code."

That to me sounds like it seems as though life is still going on normally, but something is amiss (speaking in code).

And the chorus sounds exactly like post-rapture.

I dunno ... just an idea.

 
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