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Roll On Lyrics

Well, darling, you don't know me, don't think you ever will
I'm another tin pot poet, another infidel
They're still scrubbing at the stains of the communion wine I spilled
While I roll
Roll, roll on

Well, get me some good cocaine, get me any feeling left
Show me pretty little dancing girls with collars 'round their necks
Get me God on the line, boys, and make that call collect
Oh, he'll roll
Roll, roll on

Was that girl in the dust drawing breathe or blood?
It's so hard to tell between bad taste and good
So just roll
Roll on

There's a train in the distance, there's a lineman on the line
There's a hard rain comin', it's been comin' a long time
Nobody reads maps no more, no one follows signs
They just roll
Roll, roll on

Call up the Captain, bring back Mother Jones
Raise 'em up from the dirt, get them rattling in their bones
Watch 'em hall down that network, make them leave the sky alone
And then roll
Roll, roll on

And that chain around your neck is like the one around your feet
Just another signpost pointing straight to ruin street
Where you'll roll
Roll on

Well, I love you for your color, babe, I love your face
All the neon in the city can't hold a candle to your grace
But you move through me like our love is common place
You just roll
Roll, roll on

Do you really call that living, do you really think that's wise?
You've been doing so much dying, dying right before my eyes
And if it's truth that you want, well, I've got this great disguise
Yeah, just roll
Roll, roll on

It doesn't matter how much Nietzsche you have read
When a black box clicks and there's a barrel at your head
Singing roll
Roll on

Roll on
Roll on

So here's my tongue, here's my body, come on and take my soul away
I got 'em cheap in the market, they weren't worth much anyway
If you wanna fix 'em up, maybe I'll buy 'em back someday
Till then I'll roll
Roll, roll on
Till then I'll roll
Roll on
Roll on
Roll on
Roll on
2 Meanings

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Cover art for Roll On lyrics by Thea Gilmore

Firstly its disappointing there is no one discussing this song! It's one of the best pieces of lyrics i've heard in a long time - such a shame Thea Gilmore is not more widely known...

I have a feeling the song is about wasting yourself on drugs but really its just a hunch. At this rate i will have to write to her management and ask!

One more thing i love about this is the way each verse seems to be laid out by a different lead instrument. It goes from guitar to accordion to piano and even just toms. For such a long song they really manage to keep it going with interest despite there only being 2 musical sections... genius.

My Opinion

@pihkal been a while since you posted this but I completely agree. Its about being lost. Lost in drugs, lost in life, just going with the flow but without any direction in life, that feeling you have when you're regularly using. I adore Thea, she really captures that wayward feeling in a lot of her songs that I can identify with. She is one of the greatest poets of our time and happy to say I've lost count of how many times I've seen her live, at least 12, but she never disappoints.

Cover art for Roll On lyrics by Thea Gilmore

Thea is the greatest poet of our time.

Tin-pot & infidel in the first verse explain her unimportance & lack of religion/belief/belonging. That sets up the rest of the song that describes how she is rolling through life with no purpose or direction. Lots of references to self-destruction, drugs, depression, all very dark.

Tongue, body, soul aren’t worth much. Maybe a glimmer of hope that they’ll be bought back someday but until then, just roll on through the depression. Go through the motions until then.

 
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