She got down on hands and knees, one ear against the ground,
Holding her breath to hear something, but the dirt made not a sound tonight

Echoes of songs still lurk on distant foreign shores, where we
Danced just to please the gods that only ask for more, so it goes

But still we give ourselves to this
We can't spend our lives waiting to live

On cold nights
In a prayer for dawn
But the daylight
Isn't what she wants

The concrete
Calls my name again
I'm falling
Through the cracks I slip


The postcard says wish you were here
But I'd rather I was there, holding
On to the simple things before they disappear, that's what I meant

But that was then, and this is now
I'll make it up to you somehow

On cold nights
In a prayer for dawn
But the daylight
Isn't what she wants

The concrete
Calls my name again
I'm falling
Through the cracks I slip

Our destination, a feint smile,
Another station, another mile,
Another day gone, I swear that I will
Be there before dawn, so be there I will

She got down on hands and knees, one ear against the ground,
Holding her breath to hear something, anything at all

The dirt whispered, "Child, I'm coming home."

On cold nights
In a prayer for dawn
But the daylight
Isn't what she wants

The concrete
Calls my name again
I'm falling
Through the cracks I slip


Lyrics submitted by Yoshü

The Dirt Whispered Lyrics as written by Joseph Principe Brandon Barnes

Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

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The Dirt Whispered song meanings
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  • +1
    General Comment

    It's kind of cool how people can look at this song and have totally different opinions on the meaning, but I do think this song is simply about how Tim feels about being on tour away from his family.

    "She got down on hands and knees, one ear against the ground, holding her breath to hear something. But the dirt made not a sound tonight." --> I never really saw this line as a metaphor. It always made me think of how pretty much only back in the olden days, you could put your ear to the dirt and hear if somebody was approaching from miles away. So the girl (I'm guessing that it is Tim's daughter) is listening, waiting to hear him come home. Yeah, I know that people don't do this nowadays, but whatever. That's what it made me think of.

    "Echoes of songs still lurk on distant foreign shores where we dance just to please the gods, who only ask for more. And so it goes. But still we give ourselves to this; We can't spend our lives waiting to live." --> They're on tour, and they're playing for their fans (the gods), and of course we'd love it if they'd play more. But I don't think that he really regrets being a musician, because it's what he wants to do. So even though it's tough being away, he can't spend his "life waiting to live."

    "On cold nights, in a prayer for dawn the daylight isn't what she wants. The concrete calls my name again. I'm falling, through the cracks I slilp." --> Again, the first two lines are about his daughter waiting for him to come home. After all, later in the song he says,

    "I swear that I will be there before dawn, so be there I will."

    She doesn't want the daylight. She's just waiting for him to come home.

    And I think the rest of the song is pretty self-explanatory when put into that context.

    kokonutsodaon September 30, 2009   Link

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