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,
Feel just like a weight has lifted
How can I repay you, help me understand
Currency a fistful of tears I can afford
Fight of your life is not the cost
Time will reveal, yeah
All along you're the one who's losing
Cause I, I go insane
Crazy sometimes
Tryin' to keep you from losing your mind
Open your eyes
See what's in front of your face
Save me my fistful of tears
You can make it disappear girl
All you got to do is just raise up, face up, stay up
All things will heal, we'll feel it with a kiss from the skies
Don't' you let it go
Don't' you let it go
Cause I go insane
Crazy sometimes
Tryin' to keep you from losing your mind
Open your eyes
See what's in front of your face
And save me my fistful of tears
We goin' fight the war
We goin' fight our fears
The only thing I wanna throw is a fistful of tears
We goin' fight the war
We goin' fight our fears
The only thing I gotta throw is a fistful of tears
We goin' fight the war
We goin' fight our fears
The only thing I wanna throw is a fistful of tears
Because I go insane
Crazy sometimes
Tryin' to keep you from losing your mind
Open your eyes
See what's in front of your face
And save me, save me, save me
I go insane
Crazy sometimes
Tryin' to keep you from losing your mind
Open your eyes
See what's in front of your face
Save me my fistful of tears
How can I repay you, help me understand
Currency a fistful of tears I can afford
Fight of your life is not the cost
Time will reveal, yeah
All along you're the one who's losing
Cause I, I go insane
Crazy sometimes
Tryin' to keep you from losing your mind
Open your eyes
See what's in front of your face
Save me my fistful of tears
You can make it disappear girl
All you got to do is just raise up, face up, stay up
All things will heal, we'll feel it with a kiss from the skies
Don't' you let it go
Don't' you let it go
Cause I go insane
Crazy sometimes
Tryin' to keep you from losing your mind
Open your eyes
See what's in front of your face
And save me my fistful of tears
We goin' fight the war
We goin' fight our fears
The only thing I wanna throw is a fistful of tears
We goin' fight the war
We goin' fight our fears
The only thing I gotta throw is a fistful of tears
We goin' fight the war
We goin' fight our fears
The only thing I wanna throw is a fistful of tears
Because I go insane
Crazy sometimes
Tryin' to keep you from losing your mind
Open your eyes
See what's in front of your face
And save me, save me, save me
I go insane
Crazy sometimes
Tryin' to keep you from losing your mind
Open your eyes
See what's in front of your face
Save me my fistful of tears
Lyrics submitted by Pryncess33
Fistful of Tears Lyrics as written by Maxwell Menard Hod David
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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I'll explain verse by verse.
Feels just like a weight has lifted How can I repay you? Help me understand, currency, a fistful of tears; I can afford.
I'm assuming she's just broken up with him so he's being sarcastic saying how can I repay you for finally ending this relationship because the only thing I can afford is tears.
Fight of your life is not the cost Time will reveal All along you're the one who's losing
He's basically saying that trying to argue and fight him to stay with her is not "worth" it (the cost )because in the end she's only pushing him further away and without realizing it, although she's winning the arguments she's not really winning because she's losing him.
'Cause I.. I go insane, crazy sometimes, Trying to keep you from losing your mind Open your eyes, See what's in front of your face Save me my fistful of tears
Again, further explaining how she's pushing him away when he's only trying to be with her. She's hurting him so bad (emotionally) and she doesn't even realize it, so he's saying open your eyes and look at what you're doing to me.
You can make it disappear girl All you gotta do is just raise up, face up, stay up All things will heal, We'll feel it with a kiss from the skies Don't you let it go Don't you let it go
He's saying she can make these problems they have go away if she just realize that they don't have a healthy relationship. (i.e All you gotta do is just raise up, face up, stay up. Basically meaning grow up, face the problems and work them out.) He's wants her to just try to fix things for the sake of their relationship.
We gon' fight the war, we gon' fight our fears The only thing I wanna throw is a fistful of tears We gon' fight the war, we gon 'fight our fears The only thing I gotta throw is a fistful of tears We gon' fight the war, we gon' fight our fears The only thing I wanna throw is a fistful of tears
Their problems in the relationship could be a number of things but most likely she's probably just a very negative person that accuses him of cheating or something. So he's saying we can fight this war together, we don't have to be afraid to love each other.(fight our fears). And also saying that he doesn't want to ever hurt her if anything the only thing he wants to do is throw is his tears ( get rid of them ).
I sooooo love this song! Great lyrics that actually make you think! Hope I helped. :)