You lie in the graveyard
Well you're rotting away
When I talk to you daily
You've got nothing to say
You lie in the graveyard
Well you are down making plans
Well you control all my thoughts
Well you make dust fall


Lyrics submitted by toomanyhumans, edited by madscijr

Graveyard Lyrics as written by John Wardle John Lydon

Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.

Lyrics powered by LyricFind

Graveyard song meanings
Add Your Thoughts

2 Comments

sort form View by:
  • 0
    General Comment

    Amazing Song! Creeps the hell out of me on lsd and guitars either bass or solo are just mean!!!? Works every time on tripping like never before!

    mohamadhasanon September 06, 2016   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    This could be from the point of view of someone who is ending a relationship. The other person is fading from their life, and they recognize that they too are fading. Their ex-partner has "nothing to say" in their daily exchanges.

    The second part is more of a paranoid accusation to them, that they've "been making plans" and are controlling their thoughts.

    Or it could be literally them talking to someone they knew, who is actually dead.

    Either way it's uncomfortable and creepy as all hell, and goes off the rails into batshit crazy territory! Fun stuff as always from the one and only Butthole Surfers!

    The first version (where the vocal track isn't slowed down) has an almost gothic beatniky vibe, with Gibby's leering "You're rotting aWAAAY!! YEAHHH!!!!" as though decomposing is a sexy cool move, winking at you knowingly when he sees you heading to the speakeasy or swinger's club.

    The sludgy riff, when sped up, is revealed to be a twangy surfy type riff, but when slowed down and met with Paul Leary's mesmerizingly Rain-Man-meets-Jason-in-the-big-reveal-scene-in-Friday-the-13th-part-4 solo on top, is rendered equal part funeral dirge and slowly shambling Romero corpse in black and white.

    One could expect this to be the soundtrack at the real Munsters or Addams Family households, with our unhinged heroes talking to dead relatives from time to time, and engaging in psychic wars with their departed spirits!

    madscijron July 22, 2022   Link

Add your thoughts

Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.

Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!

More Featured Meanings

Album art
Standing On The Edge Of Summer
Thursday
In regards to the meaning of this song: Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.” That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
Album art
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines: "Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet" So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other: "I had all and then most of you" Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart "Some and now none of you" Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship. This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
Album art
Punchline
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.
Album art
Head > Heels
Ed Sheeran
“Head > Heels” is a track that aims to capture what it feels like to experience romance that exceeds expectations. Ed Sheeran dedicates his album outro to a lover who has blessed him with a unique experience that he seeks to describe through the song’s nuanced lyrics.
Album art
Plastic Bag
Ed Sheeran
“Plastic Bag” is a song about searching for an escape from personal problems and hoping to find it in the lively atmosphere of a Saturday night party. Ed Sheeran tells the story of his friend and the myriad of troubles he is going through. Unable to find any solutions, this friend seeks a last resort in a party and the vanity that comes with it. “I overthink and have trouble sleepin’ / All purpose gone and don’t have a reason / And there’s no doctor to stop this bleedin’ / So I left home and jumped in the deep end,” Ed Sheeran sings in verse one. He continues by adding that this person is feeling the weight of having disappointed his father and doesn’t have any friends to rely on in this difficult moment. In the second verse, Ed sings about the role of grief in his friend’s plight and his dwindling faith in prayer. “Saturday night is givin’ me a reason to rely on the strobe lights / The lifeline of a promise in a shot glass, and I’ll take that / If you’re givin’ out love from a plastic bag,” Ed sings on the chorus, as his friend turns to new vices in hopes of feeling better.