Dig a hole,
in the middle of the street.
Dig it down,
Dig it down,
Six - feet - deep.

You should know,
what's really going down, below.
Dressed in their best clothes,
there are rows & rows & rows,

Of dead man's bones!
I'm talkin' 'bout dead man's bones!
Wherever you go,
take a look at your feet,
& down six feet deep
there's dead man's bones!

Bones! Bones! Bones, bones, bones, bones!

Dig 'em up, (Dig 'em up)
Dig 'em up, (Dig 'em up)
Take 'em home (Take 'em home)
Take 'em home (Take 'em home)
They've been livin' (They've been livin')
Six -feet - deep!

You should know,
for when down you go (Down you go!)
Dressed in their best clothes,
there are rows & rows & rows!

In the basement! (In the basement)
In the schoolhouse!
In the pavement!
In the water!
It's a sound, (underground!)
there's a sound! (underground!)
Six - feet - deep!

You should know,
that the world was built on bones.

Wherever you go,
take a look at your feet
down six feet deep
there's dead man's bones!
Bones! Bones! Bones, bones, bones, bones!


Lyrics submitted by crossofflowers

Dead Man's Bones song meanings
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4 Comments

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  • +2
    General Comment

    Yeah this meaning is pretty basic. It's trippy to know that wherever you go something has died there. A lot of the time, that something is still there.

    My favorite line is "dressed in their best clothes, there are rows and rows and rows..." it gives me the willies for some reason. It's funny how when you die they dress you up all nice-for what? The worms don't care. And when you die (if you're not cremated) the same thing happens to you that happens to everyone else. They doll you up and put you in the ground next to hundreds of rows of other dead people.

    I guess dying isn't so lonely after all.

    Frostypeanuton February 26, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    hahaha, love this one. Just think about it next time you take a walk. [someone has died/is dead here or underneath me]

    rockersx4on October 26, 2009   Link
  • 0
    My Interpretation

    It's how we prepare death and burial, in lyrics it appears surreal that we're buried "in the middle of the street." it's rather sympathetic to death, we're technically placed anywhere, humanity is becoming more and more revolutionized, ironically humans are becoming less and less the priority. "You should know, what's really going down, below." this indicates the dead, essentially we should be cognizant of the death and how they're treated. We should mourn them not forget them. The song is excessively negative and it does not praise death - "dressed in their best clothes" this scarcely juxtaposes with the other sector of the song, we're almost preparing the dead, for what? heaven/hell. It emerges that dead isn't mournful (anymore); however it's depicted in a different way, or is it looking at the other prospect of death? "rows and rows" suggest there are a myriad and they're merely forgotten. The only remains are their "bones" which is pointless, however they have left their imprint? "basement" "water" "pavement" we're thrown into places which we are besieged by everyday, they're literally thrown anywhere and everywhere. We walk along the pavement, we swim in the water and we use the basement to add additional things in - what's going under, is starkly juxtaposed on what's going up. They're continuing to live, whereas the dead are dead.

    Furthermore, "You should know, that the world was built on bones" is a pivotal sector of the song, it implies humans created the world, and ironically they're being put to death, additionally, the song is preparing us for death. We should know that death is always around the corner, seemingly we're omniscient.

    "You should know, for when down you go " It's referring to us, it's preparing us for death? When we're also plunged into the ground, we'll witness the dead.

    aidaveon July 21, 2013   Link
  • -1
    General Comment

    It's about dead people being everywhere. We ARE running out of space.

    Bones of the dead being right under our feet.

    Why does it have them as Gothis genre on here?

    They are clearly indie? You can hear to much of the snare for it to be anything alse?

    canarycriedkayeon January 11, 2011   Link

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