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,
Oh God, God, she's really done it now,
Coked up, her body's all spun around,
Oh yeah, yeah, she's really done it,
And seein' her just isn't something I can stomach,
Back it up, back it up,
If you talkin' shit to me,
Smack it up, smack it up,
If you act a bitch to me,
Stack it up, stack it up,
If you fuckin' rich as me,
My daddy owns a dealership,
The rest is fuckin' history
This ain't a love song (oh no),
This ain't a broken heart homie singin' only 'cause he's lonely,
This ain't a love song (oh, no, no, no),
This ain't a whiskey-drowned ballad,
There ain't nothing here that's valid,
So tell me baby, pretty baby, that this house is not a graveyard,
Tell me how to stay strong and carry you home,
Over corpses of her long-lost fathers and her unborn daughters,
God dammit, I just can't do it alone
I can't do it alone,
I can't do it alone,
No, I can't do it alone
Oh no, no, I'm not impressed with you,
Pink drinks that seem to get the best of you,
Rock late and sleep until the sun sets,
I'd talk but you took the tongue I talk with
Back it up, back it up,
If you talkin' shit to me,
Smack it up, smack it up,
If you act a bitch to me,
Stack it up, stack it up,
If you fuckin' rich as me,
My daddy owns a dealership,
The rest is fuckin' history
This ain't a love song (oh no),
This ain't a broken heart homie singin' only 'cause he's lonely,
This ain't a love song (oh, no, no, no),
This ain't a whiskey-drowned ballad,
There ain't nothing here that's valid,
So tell me baby, pretty baby, that this house is not a graveyard,
Tell me how to stay strong and carry you home,
Over corpses of her long-lost fathers and her unborn daughters,
God dammit, I just can't do it alone
I can't do it alone,
I can't do it alone,
No, I can't do it alone
I can call you out and complain the rain is worse,
But it's that much better if I blame it on a person,
I can call you out and complain the rain is worse,
But it's that much better if I blame it on a person
So tell me baby, pretty baby, that this house is not a graveyard,
Tell me how to stay strong and carry you home,
Over corpses of her long-lost fathers and her unborn daughters,
God dammit, I just can't do it alone
So tell me baby, pretty baby, that this house is not a graveyard,
Tell me how to stay strong and carry you home,
Over corpses of her long-lost fathers and her unborn daughters,
God dammit, I just can't do it alone
Coked up, her body's all spun around,
Oh yeah, yeah, she's really done it,
And seein' her just isn't something I can stomach,
Back it up, back it up,
If you talkin' shit to me,
Smack it up, smack it up,
If you act a bitch to me,
Stack it up, stack it up,
If you fuckin' rich as me,
My daddy owns a dealership,
The rest is fuckin' history
This ain't a love song (oh no),
This ain't a broken heart homie singin' only 'cause he's lonely,
This ain't a love song (oh, no, no, no),
This ain't a whiskey-drowned ballad,
There ain't nothing here that's valid,
So tell me baby, pretty baby, that this house is not a graveyard,
Tell me how to stay strong and carry you home,
Over corpses of her long-lost fathers and her unborn daughters,
God dammit, I just can't do it alone
I can't do it alone,
I can't do it alone,
No, I can't do it alone
Oh no, no, I'm not impressed with you,
Pink drinks that seem to get the best of you,
Rock late and sleep until the sun sets,
I'd talk but you took the tongue I talk with
Back it up, back it up,
If you talkin' shit to me,
Smack it up, smack it up,
If you act a bitch to me,
Stack it up, stack it up,
If you fuckin' rich as me,
My daddy owns a dealership,
The rest is fuckin' history
This ain't a love song (oh no),
This ain't a broken heart homie singin' only 'cause he's lonely,
This ain't a love song (oh, no, no, no),
This ain't a whiskey-drowned ballad,
There ain't nothing here that's valid,
So tell me baby, pretty baby, that this house is not a graveyard,
Tell me how to stay strong and carry you home,
Over corpses of her long-lost fathers and her unborn daughters,
God dammit, I just can't do it alone
I can't do it alone,
I can't do it alone,
No, I can't do it alone
I can call you out and complain the rain is worse,
But it's that much better if I blame it on a person,
I can call you out and complain the rain is worse,
But it's that much better if I blame it on a person
So tell me baby, pretty baby, that this house is not a graveyard,
Tell me how to stay strong and carry you home,
Over corpses of her long-lost fathers and her unborn daughters,
God dammit, I just can't do it alone
So tell me baby, pretty baby, that this house is not a graveyard,
Tell me how to stay strong and carry you home,
Over corpses of her long-lost fathers and her unborn daughters,
God dammit, I just can't do it alone
Lyrics submitted by MandyCupcakes
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
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo
I Can't Go To Sleep
Wu-Tang Clan
Wu-Tang Clan
This song is written as the perspective of the boys in the street, as a whole, and what path they are going to choose as they get older and grow into men. (This is why the music video takes place in an orphanage.) The seen, and unseen collective suffering is imbedded in the boys’ mind, consciously or subconsciously, and is haunting them. Which path will the boys choose? Issac Hayes is the voice of reason, maybe God, the angel on his shoulder, or the voice of his forefathers from beyond the grave who can see the big picture and are pleading with the boys not to continue the violence and pattern of killing their brothers, but to rise above. The most beautiful song and has so many levels. Racism towards African Americans in America would not exist if everyone sat down and listened to this song and understood the history behind the words. The power, fear, pleading in RZA and Ghostface voices are genuine and powerful. Issac Hayes’ strong voice makes the perfect strong father figure, who is possibly from beyond the grave.
When We Were Young
Blink-182
Blink-182
This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
Magical
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
How would you describe the feeling of being in love? For Ed Sheeran, the word is “Magical.” in HIS three-minute album opener, he makes an attempt to capture the beauty and delicacy of true love with words. He describes the magic of it all over a bright Pop song produced by Aaron Dessner.
Page
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
There aren’t many things that’ll hurt more than giving love a chance against your better judgement only to have your heart crushed yet again. Ed Sheeran tells such a story on “Page.” On this track, he is devastated to have lost his lover and even more saddened by the feeling that he may never move on from this.
this song is simply wonderfully amazing. how can it not have any comments? :D
and at the part where it says, "i can call you out and complain the rain is worse, but it's that much better if i blame it on a person." they actually don't say blame. they say "but it's that much better if i did it on a person." or at least, that's what i'm hearing. (:
anyway, 30H!3 is fxcking fantastic.
i can't really figure this song out, even though it's pretty awesome... my guess is that it's about more than just one thing, like an all enclusive party scene anthem he sees this girl all fucked up, he doesn't know her, doesn't love her he's out partying, challenging every chick who gets up in his face he realizes everyone is so empty, but it's not really his fault he's here it's not like he can do it alone, meaning he's being enabled by the scene