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The Sparrow and the Medicine Lyrics
When you mend the patches of my clothin'
You know every thread goes through my heart
Guessin' that the river's gonna dry up
Well, I said that's not the reason why we part
Lookin' 'round the corner where I left you
Wonderin' whatever led me there
Knowin' that a quiet, unconscious feeling could be bought to drown a memory anywhere
She said, "I don't want your medicine and I don't need the sparrow in my art"
When I'm covered by the thunder I get rid of all your breath deep in my lungs
Splayed in the wind apart
And when I touch the ceiling on a spring day
Wishin' it could heed up every crow
So that they could lift me by my shoulders
Take me from this frozen lake and let you know
Just that I want to be your medicine I want to feed the sparrow in your art
When I'm covered by the thunder I'll get rid of all my breath deep in our lungs
Splayed the wind apart
Hell I'm still standing 'round the corner where I left you
Diggin' up a quite sufficient track
Never know when you're behind that angle with a tranquilizer gun in your sweet hand
Oh I want to be your medicine I want to feed the sparrow in your art
When we're covered by the thunder we'd become just one and feel the lightning shard
Splayed the wind apart
You know every thread goes through my heart
Guessin' that the river's gonna dry up
Well, I said that's not the reason why we part
Wonderin' whatever led me there
Knowin' that a quiet, unconscious feeling could be bought to drown a memory anywhere
When I'm covered by the thunder I get rid of all your breath deep in my lungs
Splayed in the wind apart
Wishin' it could heed up every crow
So that they could lift me by my shoulders
Take me from this frozen lake and let you know
When I'm covered by the thunder I'll get rid of all my breath deep in our lungs
Splayed the wind apart
Diggin' up a quite sufficient track
Never know when you're behind that angle with a tranquilizer gun in your sweet hand
When we're covered by the thunder we'd become just one and feel the lightning shard
Splayed the wind apart
Song Info
Submitted by
chickenflicker On Jul 05, 2008
More The Tallest Man on Earth
The Gardener
Love Is All
The Wild Hunt
Burden of Tomorrow
King of Spain
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It's definately about still loving someone who has moved on - possibly because you had hurt them. I'm sure it says heart in the chorus and i think it's 'spreading the wind apart' - he says things weird though. I like the line 'Knowin' that a quite (not quiet), unconscious feeling could be bought to drown a memory anywhere' - it seems to be about just lusting for cheap sex/relationships in order to hide the pain of loving someone who you've lost/let down '"When I'm covered by the thunder I get rid of all your breath deep in my lungs"'. Probably my favourite from the album.
splitting the wind apart*
splitting the wind apart*
with a tranquilizer gun in your sweet HAND
i don't need the sparrow in my HEART
could it be "that's not the reason why we PART" (goes with "...where I left you") & "wishin' it could HEAT up every crow" (goes with the frozen lake) ?
definitely "sparrow in your heart"...
it does sound like "tranquilizer gun in your sweet pair" though pair of what, I don't know.
"with a tranquilizer gun in your sweet HAND," yes?
"with a tranquilizer gun in your sweet HAND," yes?
at first i thought this song was just someone getting over heart break, but now to me this song is about someone who chose their addiction over their lover...
he's reminiscing about how he left things, wondering why/how he made the decision he did and (it sounds to me like)hes hating himself for making the wrong choice.
"Lookin' 'round the corner where I left you Wonderin' whatever led me there"
He knows he can get something to numb the pain "Knowin' that a quiet, unconscious feeling could be bought to drown a memory anywhere"
but then he remembers what she said to him "She said, 'I don't want your medicine and I don't need the sparrow in my heart'"
she doesn't want his "medicine" (drug of choice) in her life anymore, and she doesn't need the sparrow (which is traditionally symbolic of love and life) that is their relationship if it means she cant escape the drug.
and he remembers how he took advantage of her when things got hard "When I'm covered by the thunder I get rid of all your breath deep in my lungs"
and he starts daydreaming that he could leave that cold place and start anew represented by the spring day that exists simultaneously with the frozen lake which (in my mind) is referring to winter becoming spring
He wants to rise above it and be her medicine but this time medicine doesn't mean a drug it just means something that truly makes bad things better, he wants to "feed the Sparrow (love) in her heart" instead of the craving in his mind. and he wants to share the burden when time gets rough "When I'm covered by the thunder I'll get rid of all the breath deep in our lungs"
maybe i looked too far into it but i think it makes a beautiful song either way and when i look at it through this light it's kind of a sad beauty because you sympathize with both of the people in the song and you can almost feel their heartbreak
what do you think does this make sense to anyone else?
Live it sounds like 'arm', not heart
splitting the winds apart, i'm pretty sure. how do you split something like the wind? a beautiful thought
i agree with Malenkaja who said that this song is about choosing addiction over love. Especially the line "still standing on the corner where i left you, digging up a quite sufficient track" has the obvious connotation that he is still addicted, where he was when she left, track literally referring to track marks.
it's a beautiful song about regret, i think.