When all is done and turned to dust
And insects nest inside my bones, I see
I stagger in a daze outside my tent
No time for being alone

To bleed
The hopeless singing of a round
That much we know to do
Before we go back underground

No easy action
Sparks fill the air some nights
Crows look for food behind my skin
Beneath

Try our best to dig it in
And keep the cold away, I see
That the sky is a vanishing place
And then there's nothing to miss

No time to get out of the ice
No easy action
Although all else may turn to dust
And insects nest inside my bones, I see

I stagger in a daze to find what you meant
Where it's good to be alone
Bleed
The hopeless singing of a round

Before that vanishing place
Before we're back underground
No easy action


Lyrics submitted by quarantined

No Easy Action Lyrics as written by Mark William Lanegan

Lyrics © BMG Rights Management

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No Easy Action song meanings
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4 Comments

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  • +2
    General Comment

    This may be ridiculous, but I also imagine a military scene in a windy, wintry, godforsaken place. Imagery like the tent, sparks filling the night, no time to be alone, etc led me to that impression. The music and background vocals give it a windy, lonesome, and epic feel.

    Maybe it is a dazed, battle-weary officer's thoughts on death and war and the horrible deeds he has done and witnessed. And the uncertainty of his own fate.

    Mendalusa77on June 26, 2014   Link
  • +2
    General Comment

    I thought it might have reflected a homeless person's experience, but then read that Mark said this: “I wrote it after reading two stories in the newspaper one morning. The first covered an exhibition of photos from Ernest Shackleton’s failed Antarctic expedition, and the second described the studio apartment of a Seattle man who caused a city bus to go off the side of the Aurora Avenue Bridge when he shot the driver and then himself.”

    farmgrlon April 07, 2023   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    a winter rebellion

    sa7elliteon October 29, 2008   Link
  • 0
    My Interpretation

    What you said sounds interesting... would you explain that better? I thought Mark was singing about the useless ness of life, about how we can only sing and try to fight the cold and harsh times, before we die. I think there's a biblical allusion here, when he says going back underground (I'm not religious, so I don't really know the real words) to when god says "you came from dust and to dust you'll go back".

    Marquezon December 23, 2008   Link

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