3 Meanings
Add Yours
Follow
Share
Q&A

I've Been a Mess Lyrics

Lazarus wasn't grateful for his second wind
For a second chance
Watch his chances fade like the dawn and leave
I can barely tell you just how pale I get without you

I've been a mess since you've been gone

What were the first words that crowd heard him speak?
I bet he was cursing at the sky
I bet he wasn't turning no other cheek
And was there still hope and desire left in his heart for the last word in love?

Your beauty is just a slap in the face that's gonna bring me back to life
Back to another sky that's blue
It's gonna turn me into another great American zombie
So hungry for you
3 Meanings

Add your song meanings, interpretations, facts, memories & more to the community.

Add your thoughts...
Cover art for I've Been a Mess lyrics by American Music Club

If you were ever looking for the blues in a de-racialized (i.e white) and otherwise pure context, this is the best you're ever gonna get. I promise you.

Mark Eitzel bares his soul all over this track and explains the biblical significance of raising the dead at the same time while he laments what (I hope) was a temporary separation from his significant other.

Bobby Dylan: I'm sorry, but you ain't got shit on this!

Cover art for I've Been a Mess lyrics by American Music Club

There's a live version of this out there, and when he gets to that chorus I don't know that I've ever heard someone's heart being squashed and coming out as singing, not the way he does it.

@InfantTyrone He did a live set on Morning Becomes Eclectic on KPFK before 60 Watt Silver Lining came out, and did this song, as well as an amazing version of Wild Wild Sea that had some different lyrics from the album version.

Anyway, that performance was completely brilliant (as he so often is live) and was perfectly captured. I had it on cassette tape from the broadcast but lost it, and it used to be on youtube (audio only) but it's disappeared, which is too bad.

Cover art for I've Been a Mess lyrics by American Music Club

Just one of the greatest ever written - Mark Eitzel waiting for his lost love to bring him back from the dead.

 
Questions and Answers

Ask specific questions and get answers to unlock more indepth meanings & facts.

Ask a question...