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Our Whole Lives Lyrics

kids are ripping into sugar packets
townies taking off their tavern jackets
i'm in the pews sticking bills in the basket
praying that they're cool when I come pick up the package

tonight we're gonna have a really good time
but i want to go to heaven on the day i die
going to make like a preemptive strike
hit the five thirty mass early saturday night

ring ring ring goes the telephone
tell my little lambs that i'm on my way home
stop by the shop and get a bottle to go
maybe something stronger if the right guy's on the corner

bang bang bang goes the quarter notes
saint theresa told me you should rattle our bones
now you're going off to the dial tone
some kid started blowing on the saxophone

cheerleaders dream of quarterbacks
jock jills go for jumping jacks
goth girls love the vampire bats
they wanna draw a little blood for their bath

well i don't go much for that spooky stuff
i like the lights and the uptempo tracks
you're damn right i believe in love
because i've been in love and i've loved right back

bang bang bang goes the backing track
some kid is coming around with a matching backpack
i didn't know that you could dance like that
i'm gonna have to ask that you take two steps back

sing sing sing every song we know
blowing out the speakers on your stereo
you finally stopped talking about that boy back home
maybe that's just better, if you want you can sleep over

we're good guys but we can't be good every night
we're good guys but we can't be good our whole lives
we're good guys but we can't be good every night
now father i have sinned and i wanna do it all again tonight

the townies taking off their tavern jackets
making guitars out of tennis racquets
and it's been getting so the hardest part
is trying to talk some sense into our sparkling hearts

ring ring ring goes the telephone
tell my little lambs that i ain't coming home
yes, yes, yes go the majorettes
they lead the band on to the field with their cigarettes
bang bang bang she's a cleaning freak
she scrubs the surface until it's sparkling
neat neat neat until her fingers bleed
she was giving off blue light on the first light that she came to me

we're good guys but we can't be good every night
we're good guys but can't be good our whole lives
we're good guys but we can't be good every night
we're good guys but can't be good our whole lives
she was giving off blue light on the first night that she came to me
father i have sinned, and i want to do it all again eventually
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Cover art for Our Whole Lives lyrics by Hold Steady, The

This is my favorite of the newer songs I've heard at shows. Here's some fixes:

"Ring, ring, ring goes the telephone" "Maybe something stronger from the right guys on the corner" "Cheerleaders dreaming quarterbacks" All the recordings I have sound like that one line really is "tourettes". I dunno.

Cover art for Our Whole Lives lyrics by Hold Steady, The

I think the first part is:

"Kids are ripping into sugar packets Townies wearing ancient starter jackets. I'm in the pew putting bills into the basket Praying that they're cool when I come pick up the package."

Cover art for Our Whole Lives lyrics by Hold Steady, The

I'm pretty sure some of these are wrong on the studio version. Great song, great lyrics, regardless.

should now be fixed up to match what's in the liner notes. some interesting changes from the live version i originally based this off: "sing sing singing the song we know" becomes "bang bang bang goes the quarter notes"; "kids are ripping in their sugar packets" (?) becomes "the townies taking off their tavern jackets"; "ring ring ring goes the telephone/tell my little lambs that i ain't coming home" sort of appears out of nowhere; and "now they're waving them around to treat some troubled hearts/ the band sounded stiff no one's even listening" sort of vanishes....

Cover art for Our Whole Lives lyrics by Hold Steady, The

is "i like the lights" a reference to lifter puller

definitely -- the bit about taking off tavern jackets is in lftr pllr's "viceburgh" as well.

Cover art for Our Whole Lives lyrics by Hold Steady, The

magic backpack.

 
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