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Tin Foil Lyrics
Late New Years Eve paper hat on your head
It was hard to believe that you'd ever be dead
And that dream that you're falling you've had since you're five
Is a bird on your shoulder that whispers goodbye
What is moving will be still
What has gathered will disperse
What has been built up will collapse
All of your dreams are fulfilled
Evil Knievel shot up from dead grass
And I loved him better each time that he crashed
And Liza Minnelli spent a month in her bed
She was certain that Skylab would fall on her head
What is moving will be still
What has gathered will disperse
What's been built up will collapse
All of your dreams are fulfilled
Last night I dreamed that I dug my own grave
And I climbed down inside there to patiently wait
And down in the ground while I breathed the cold air
The blackbirds came down there to nest in my hair
What's moving will be still
What has gathered will disperse
What has been built up will collapse
All of your dreams
All of your dreams are fulfilled
Are fulfilled
Are fulfilled
Are fulfilled
Are
It was hard to believe that you'd ever be dead
And that dream that you're falling you've had since you're five
Is a bird on your shoulder that whispers goodbye
What has gathered will disperse
What has been built up will collapse
All of your dreams are fulfilled
And I loved him better each time that he crashed
And Liza Minnelli spent a month in her bed
She was certain that Skylab would fall on her head
What has gathered will disperse
What's been built up will collapse
All of your dreams are fulfilled
And I climbed down inside there to patiently wait
And down in the ground while I breathed the cold air
The blackbirds came down there to nest in my hair
What has gathered will disperse
What has been built up will collapse
All of your dreams
All of your dreams are fulfilled
Are fulfilled
Are fulfilled
Are fulfilled
Are
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The chorus of the song is, I believe, based on lines from the Tibetan Book of the Dead.
While undoubtedly a dark song, it simply states the truth: the world is full of craziness, and we are fascinated by those who challenge convention and defy the rules---even the most basic rules of sanity and gravity. More to the point, all of our accomplishments are but vanities fulfilled only by death--nothing mankind creates endures.
The song ends with a paradoxical image: a willful (perhaps courageous) person who chooses his own death (or at least chooses to dig and climb into his own grave)--a person who seems to be patiently waiting there for his death. The final image is one of beauty and life--the blackbirds come down to rest in his hair.
The title "Tin Foil" suggests a certain superficiality of our society, and a need to see an accurate reflection of ourselves.
I have also learned that a tin foil hat has a history related primarily to paranoia and mental illness--there is a belief that the hat can protect a schizophrenic person from hearing voices, for instance. There is a military history as well--something about a tin foil hat protecting people from radiation........
I have also learned that a tin foil hat has a history related primarily to paranoia and mental illness--there is a belief that the hat can protect a schizophrenic person from hearing voices, for instance. There is a military history as well--something about a tin foil hat protecting people from radiation........
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