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Panama City Motel Lyrics
Don't you know I need a place to stay
Only fifteen bucks a day
I didn't want to end up here
But now I guess I need to stay
River red, runs like lead
And the smell of kerosene in my head
Stuck in here in this shithole
Reading foreign magazines instead
"But senor, I only have ten dollars,
Can't you give me a room for the night?"
We argue about currency and then
He says I can stay for the night
In this Panama City motel
I am out on the freeway again
A woman approaches in Barcelona
Walking down the Diagonalia
Spaghetti concrete overpasses
I keep grasping for something familiar
Only fifteen bucks a day
I didn't want to end up here
But now I guess I need to stay
And the smell of kerosene in my head
Stuck in here in this shithole
Reading foreign magazines instead
Can't you give me a room for the night?"
We argue about currency and then
He says I can stay for the night
I am out on the freeway again
Walking down the Diagonalia
Spaghetti concrete overpasses
I keep grasping for something familiar
For once Bob Mould just writing a song about something obvious, no relationships, no metaphors, just about a bad experience having to stay in dive motel 'cos he's not got enough money to stay anywhere better.
I always assumed this song was about what Bob did NOT write in the lyrics, as in what is happening at the motel, what's he doing there, why is he there, who else is there? But after reading @fuzzypiggy's interpretation, this song isn't as bleak as I thought.