I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
You haven't seen me 'round
this part of town.
Well I've been missing, yes it's true.
You ask me why the long face.
Well put yourself in my place,
and tell me now, what would you do?
If everything you wanted and everything you knew
gathered up her things and walked right out on you
Well would you be here today nursing the bottle instead of me?
You see...
You'll never know how much I stand to lose,
until you walk a mile in my shoes.
And you'll never know the sorry state I'm in,
until you spend a day in my skin.
To dodge the painful truth
I reach for eighty proof
and I try to find some answers here.
I don't mean to glorify this poison.
I hardly feel it was a very good year.
Since all my stubborn pride
and my stubborn ways
pushed her to the line each and every day,
well, with all that aside, this is now what comforts me.
You see...
You'll never know how much I stand to lose,
until you walk a mile in my shoes.
And you'll never know the sorry state I'm in,
until you spend a day in my skin.
If anything was learned
it's everything was lost
and the price, in turn, is never worth the cost.
When I come home at night to find the pictures of her and me.
You see...
You'll never know how much I stand to lose,
until you walk a mile in my shoes.
And you'll never know the sorry state I'm in,
until you spend a day in my skin.
this part of town.
Well I've been missing, yes it's true.
You ask me why the long face.
Well put yourself in my place,
and tell me now, what would you do?
If everything you wanted and everything you knew
gathered up her things and walked right out on you
Well would you be here today nursing the bottle instead of me?
You see...
You'll never know how much I stand to lose,
until you walk a mile in my shoes.
And you'll never know the sorry state I'm in,
until you spend a day in my skin.
To dodge the painful truth
I reach for eighty proof
and I try to find some answers here.
I don't mean to glorify this poison.
I hardly feel it was a very good year.
Since all my stubborn pride
and my stubborn ways
pushed her to the line each and every day,
well, with all that aside, this is now what comforts me.
You see...
You'll never know how much I stand to lose,
until you walk a mile in my shoes.
And you'll never know the sorry state I'm in,
until you spend a day in my skin.
If anything was learned
it's everything was lost
and the price, in turn, is never worth the cost.
When I come home at night to find the pictures of her and me.
You see...
You'll never know how much I stand to lose,
until you walk a mile in my shoes.
And you'll never know the sorry state I'm in,
until you spend a day in my skin.
Lyrics submitted by beau99
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This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
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