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The Kettle Black Lyrics
when the cavalry clears
and the limbs of our peers
lay around us like sticks in the mud
we'll say to ourselves,
"where's the heaven in this hell?"
we're on a ladder without any rungs
with the ash of our friends in our lungs
that's enough about the war
how's my dear elanor?
have you heard back from william or kate?
i've been getting the shakes
from lack of sleep as of late
and my breath always reaks of escape
i'll be home soon and hopefully safe
if you love me, you won't make a scene
when i get home please just leave me be
if you love me, then don't make a scene
when i get home please just leave me be
twenty years to date of this close and some say
henry saved us from missing our lives
he was buried away to the ground and the blame
that poor elanor kept stored away
well his breath always reaked of escape...
and the limbs of our peers
lay around us like sticks in the mud
we'll say to ourselves,
"where's the heaven in this hell?"
we're on a ladder without any rungs
how's my dear elanor?
have you heard back from william or kate?
i've been getting the shakes
from lack of sleep as of late
and my breath always reaks of escape
when i get home please just leave me be
if you love me, then don't make a scene
when i get home please just leave me be
henry saved us from missing our lives
he was buried away to the ground and the blame
that poor elanor kept stored away
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Absolutely love it. Does anyone have tabs/chords for it?
Beautiful and so very personal. I love it.
I think this song is about a soldier reading a letter that his brother, friend, or service-man had written.
The soldier who wrote the letter is describing the horrid experience of war to his lover, Eleanor via letter.
He goes on to state that hopefully he'll be home soon, so it implies that he is part of a game-ending strategy or plan to end the war.
He asks Eleanor to not ask questions or prod his experience out in the shit, but to leave him be so he can put it away with time.
Obviously though, The author of the letter didn't survive that strategy but succeeded in executing it because the person reading the letter says, "They only saved us from missing our lives"
Which would raise the question, who is us? I think it was the group of soldiers that made it home alive due to the heroes that died in the final battle.
This person who is reading the letter knows the authors lover, Eleanor, because he says she put away the blame that she felt about not being able to help her lover keep his life.
The reader has a final thought implying that he knew the man who saved them all. He states that the hero's breath always reeked of escape.
What an amazing song.
*realized it says Henry saved us from missing our lives.. that must be the writer of the letter.
*realized it says Henry saved us from missing our lives.. that must be the writer of the letter.
Interview confirming my theory:
Interview confirming my theory:
JAKE, YOU BASED THE SONG "THE KETTLE BLACK" ON LOVE LETTERS THAT YOUR GREAT-GRANDPARENTS SENT TO EACH OTHER DURING WORLD WAR II. HOW DID THAT COME ABOUT?
JAKE, YOU BASED THE SONG "THE KETTLE BLACK" ON LOVE LETTERS THAT YOUR GREAT-GRANDPARENTS SENT TO EACH OTHER DURING WORLD WAR II. HOW DID THAT COME ABOUT?
JAKE: When my great-grandmother was getting sick, I lived with her on Lookout Mountain in Georgia, and I was always obsessed with going through the old stuff she had. When she was about to go into a nursing home, I decided to take everything that I thought my family would want. I was going through that stuff trying to get some inspiration, and I saw a few...
JAKE: When my great-grandmother was getting sick, I lived with her on Lookout Mountain in Georgia, and I was always obsessed with going through the old stuff she had. When she was about to go into a nursing home, I decided to take everything that I thought my family would want. I was going through that stuff trying to get some inspiration, and I saw a few of those letters and just took little pieces of my great-grandfather's writing to her from Germany. It's amazing how the problems that they had in the 1940s are a lot of the same problems that I have now, just dealing with people and being in relationships. I don't know anything about being in a war, but I'm on tour all the time and I miss my family and people that I'm close to. People back home don't necessarily understand why I'm on tour, and my great-grandmother didn't necessarily understand why he was in a war that he didn't need to be in. It's funny how similar the things that I'm told are to what she said to him, like, "When are you coming home? What are you doing? Come home." It transcends 60 or 70 years. I just thought it was a neat idea: Instead of me writing the song, let him write the song. So I took some of his words.