I'm on a holiday wasting my time away
Writing a book on you born on a holiday
In the December snow wasting my time away
Writing a book on you born on a holiday
Somewhere in this song
A little clue to something (clue to something)
Parts of it seem over now
You expect a real solution (real solution)
I've got to go with what I know
Taking it on a holiday away
I've done my share of drugs (they drag me down)
I've done my share of speed (it kept me up)
I've had the strangest love (it's all I need)
I've had the things I need (I need it now)
When everthing seems wrong
I need to look to something (look to something)
People outside inside staying
Out for nothing (out for nothing)
And if you're in I can't let go
Short of the long holiday
I think you know what I've been saying
When there's nothing left to all
The colors that you sprayed upon it
Passing judgment on my life
You never really got it right
I can't believe in anything
I don't believe in anything
Do you believe in anything
Do you believe me now
Look like Jesus Christ
Act like Jesus Christ I know...
Here's your Jesus Christ
I'm your Jesus Christ I know...
Bleeding to death again (my bleeding heart)
Stuck in the heart again (goes out to you)
Somebody nail my hands (I needed pain)
Somebody take my hand (I bleed again)
I knew it all along and now
We're screwed forever (screwed forever)
Shake these demons off my back
And I can make it better (make it better)
But I can't go on knowing I am
Permanent on this holiday
I think you know what I am saying
I became the big disgrace
I know that I'm the ugly face
I need some time to reconcile
I need some time to heal a while
You'll be sorry when I'm gone
I guess you knew this all along
Writing a book on you born on a holiday
In the December snow wasting my time away
Writing a book on you born on a holiday
A little clue to something (clue to something)
Parts of it seem over now
You expect a real solution (real solution)
I've got to go with what I know
Taking it on a holiday away
I've done my share of speed (it kept me up)
I've had the strangest love (it's all I need)
I've had the things I need (I need it now)
I need to look to something (look to something)
People outside inside staying
Out for nothing (out for nothing)
And if you're in I can't let go
Short of the long holiday
I think you know what I've been saying
The colors that you sprayed upon it
Passing judgment on my life
You never really got it right
I can't believe in anything
I don't believe in anything
Do you believe in anything
Act like Jesus Christ I know...
Here's your Jesus Christ
I'm your Jesus Christ I know...
Stuck in the heart again (goes out to you)
Somebody nail my hands (I needed pain)
Somebody take my hand (I bleed again)
We're screwed forever (screwed forever)
Shake these demons off my back
And I can make it better (make it better)
But I can't go on knowing I am
Permanent on this holiday
I think you know what I am saying
I know that I'm the ugly face
I need some time to reconcile
I need some time to heal a while
I guess you knew this all along
Add your song meanings, interpretations, facts, memories & more to the community.
As Bob has revealed in his published autobiography, this song is a sequel of sorts to the track "Poison Years".
It's neat that "foreverdrone" picked up on the melody taken from the earlier song because there is, in fact, a clue hidden in the lyrics of the line that follows:
"Parts Of It Seem Over Now / You Expect A Real Solution" = P O I S O N Y E A R S
"Somewhere in this song a little clue to something"
Bob sings this line with almost precisely the same melody as a line in an older song, "Poison Years" from his solo album Workbook:
"Treason is the reason for my poison years"
And this, apparently, is a clue. To what?
"Poison Years" (which includes a straightforward reference to death by hanging) is--at least, in part--about Husker Du manager David Savoy's suicide.
Then the bitterly angry "JC Auto" (so it sounds to me) has the line, "You'll be sorry when I'm gone"
Obviously (in retrospect) Bob didn't go through with it...but one guesses that a follow-up was on his mind. A lot.
"I can't let go/Short of the long holiday/I think you know what I've been saying"
The title is short for "jesus christ autobiography" I would think. The Bob-as-Christ-figure symbolism is all over Beaster, including the title and cover art. and the song does have a kind of autobiographical feel, as if he's making a gigantic effort to exorcise a lifetime's worth of demon's in a few minutes.