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Devil You Know Lyrics

I’ve been away for a long, long time.
Tears from the trees fall on sullen lives.
Dropped in the wake of a plastic mind.
Some kinda love and I heard it’s mine.

It’s the devil and I can’t see you.
Split the difference and you can be the same.

Something will be on the minds so undeveloped.
So they will leave links to the banks to crack the codes.
It’s the part of you that stays.
Leaving nothing but a stain.

Bang.
Take you down a peg.

No water here.
No quarter here.
I don’t wanna fear you man, oh no.
Just wanna have you here.
Don’t go.

Sometimes we’ll be laying by the docks so undisturbed.
Folding, maybe, leaves on the ground turned brown with age.
That’s the part of you that stays.
That’s the part I hope remains.

We crash into the rocks below.

Don’t believe what they say.

We’re under the canopy
I’m told it protects us.
Song Info
Submitted by
peaceoutside On Aug 14, 2007
8 Meanings

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Cover art for Devil You Know lyrics by Pinback

this along with Blue Harvest and Good To Sea are my favorite tracks from this album. amazing.

Cover art for Devil You Know lyrics by Pinback

this is one of the better tracks on the album. good job with these lyrics

Cover art for Devil You Know lyrics by Pinback

My favorite track on the album, thanks for posting these!

Cover art for Devil You Know lyrics by Pinback

i think its about a guy who was away in prison for a long time and finally got out and he still has a criminal mind cause thats just what he loves to do, be a criminal. then in the lyrics "something will be on the minds so undeveloped" meaning he'll have a not so well drawn out plan to steal something so then he gets people to get on the inside of a bank and crack the codes to the vaults. then when its like "thats the part of you that stays, its the part i hope remains" means like theres a part of him that knows hes doing wrong. then in the end he crashes into the rocks as in he gets caught again.

Cover art for Devil You Know lyrics by Pinback

That prison idea is really interesting, but I think I interpret this a bit differently. First of all, I think the song is showing the progression of a person's life. It demonstrates how he moves from a natural and "human" lifestyle to a more corporate lifestyle "links to the banks" which interferes with the narrators personal concerns and back to a more natural and personable one "laying by the docks so undisturbed."

The first stanza introduces this story by saying the narrator has been "away." One can infer from the line "tears from the trees fall on sullen lives," that the narrator has moved away from his natural lifestyle to one that has become sullen. However, the next two lines show that he is now renouncing that lifestyle. The wake of a "plastic mind" can be interpreted as a figurative funeral of his materialistic lifestyle in favor of the love found in a more natural lifestyle filled with human relations.

The next stanza refers to his corporate lifestyle as the devil because of how it affects his relationship "I can't see you." He then decides to "split the difference" between the two lifestyles.

He then elaborates on how because of his "undeveloped" or naive mind he was led into a materialistic and corporate lifestyle. He refers to this as a "stain."

The "Bang" represents a turning point in the story.

The next stanza sounds like a plea to a loved one who was perhaps unsympathetic to the narrators selfish and materialistic lifestyle.

The next stanza represents a return to a more human lifestyle. Interestingly, here falling leaves are represented in a more beautiful yet melancholic way, whereas in the first stanza falling leaves seem to be represented a "tears." Very different imagery, which displays the contrast between lifestyles. Also, the narrator says that he hopes it is this lifestyle that remains-- perhaps as a memory?

The next line seems to be just embracing death as the next step after life. I'm not sure about the rest.

Just my wordy and ridiculous opinion.

Cover art for Devil You Know lyrics by Pinback

During their performance at the Glasshouse in February, Rob introduced this song by saying it was about "people who still believe that things like satan and hell exist," or something to that effect.

Cover art for Devil You Know lyrics by Pinback

Ok I am stumped can someone please help with the part "crack the codes" it is in A LOT of pinback songs.... in this song its lit(I think) but WTF is it doing in Grey machine??

Cover art for Devil You Know lyrics by Pinback

This hard-rockin' edgy song is all about badass lakes and their rage fire. While you're at it, f*ck creeks too man.

 
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