A cripple walks amongst you
All you tired human beings
He's got all the things a cripple has not
Two working arms and legs

And vital parts fall from his system
And dissolve in Scottish rain
But vitally, he doesn't miss them
He's too fucked up to care

Well is that you in front of me?
Coming back for even more of exactly the same
You must be a masochist
To love a modern leper on his last leg, on his last leg

Well I crippled your heart a hundred times
And still can't work out why
You see, I've got this disease
I can't shake and I'm just rattling through life

Well this is how we do things now
Yeah this is how the modern stay scared
So I cut out all the good stuff
Yeah I cut off my foot to spite my leg

Is that you in front of me?
Coming back for even more of exactly the same
You must be a masochist
To love a modern leper on his last leg

Well I am ill but I'm not dead
And I don't know which of those I prefer
Because that limb which I have lost
Well it was the only thing holding me up, holding me up

Well I'm lying on the ground now
And you're walking through the only door
Well I have lost my eyesight like I said I would
But I still know

That that is you in front of me
And you are back for even more of exactly the same
Well are you a masochist?
You love a modern leper on his last leg

And you're not ill and I'm not dead
Doesn't that make us the perfect pair?
You should sit with me and we'll start again
And you can tell me all about what you did today
What you did today


Lyrics submitted by indierocker13, edited by 121345

The Modern Leper Lyrics as written by Scott John Hutchison Grant David Hutchison

Lyrics © DOMINO PUBLISHING COMPANY

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The Modern Leper song meanings
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  • +1
    General Comment

    I agree that this song doesn't necessarily have to be about a drug addict/alcoholic/depressive/all of the above, although it does seem a likely option with the type of personality he's describing. The thing is, whatever he might or might not be addicted to, to me this song is about the fact that he isn't the only addict--they are addicted to each other and the sick cycle that they have together. I love the way the lyrics nail his confusion and contempt for her willingness to swallow his failures over and over again. He needs her to absolve him so he doesn't go completely off the deep end, but the fact that he knows she stays for bad reasons gives him someone to blame other than himself, and gives him a reason to try to cut her free, which the part of him that loves her wants to do even though he knows he needs her. He's angry at himself for screwing up all the time, but feels that he has no alternatives. And even though he is in some ways better off with her because she's the only one who truly cares for him, she does him equal damage because the ways that he hurts her are apparent but inexplicable to him. He hates himself for not being able to figure out a way to stop hurting her, and he half hates her for staying and making him watch what he's doing to her. He doesn't fully understand that she's as addicted as him, because all he can see are his own problems.

    I don't see any hope at all in the last lines, because he's already said unequivocably that he won't change, so basically he's just begging her to ignore his behavior for one more day, ignore him trying to push her away one more time, because that's what most people in such unhealthy situations do--enable each other to maintain the status quo, no matter how broken it may be.

    A great song, beautifully written. I listen to it sometimes to remind myself of a few things it can be easy to forget if this song makes a lot of sense to you because you've lived it.

    carpeomniachicaon September 10, 2009   Link

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