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Thomas Jefferson Lyrics
Every song I sing, cuts a little bit more, till you could never connect copper cast with the mold.
You could never guess
You could never guess
You could never guess where I come from, no!
Every mile I drive, further down this road, tears a little more off of my bones,
And you could never guess
you could never guess
you could never guess where I come from, no!
The first thing they was taught, was how to load and lock.
Take that aim and shot, embrace the pain of shoulder blade taking stock.
Watch em drop, pull the bolt back, load another up till the clip goes "pop"
Till you sweep your block, and you can hear a pin drop
in a place that more comfortable with "POP! POP! POP! POP!"
The first thing they learned was how to plant that carbine in the earth,
pop that helmet on the stock, hang them dog tags from the lock.
Say your prayers and mark the spot, where the body's interred, then turn, taciturn,
and talk that walk, taste that salt!
Sprinkle a little bit of lye in the earth, don't cry when it hurts, cause you ain't done yet son.
Spill a little bit more blood, everybody knows what comes from the warm wet red mud.
Best believe, when you fall to your knees, you're gonna cry, you'll pray for peace
and they gonna plant them seeds of the winter wheat and Georgia peach watered up with your red rum.
Every song I sing, cuts a little bit more, till you could never connect copper cast with the mold.
You could never guess
You could never guess
You could never guess where I come from, no!
Every mile I drive, further down this road, tears a little more off of my bones,
And you could never guess,
you could never guess
you could never guess where I come from, no!
I know he would've love this, but he had to die to give it.
I melted down his musket, turned it to a tool
tilling like a fool, to see where his blood went.
To see if I can grow something beautiful above it?
Standing guard above my garden till the seeds take root.
Taking shade under the trees with the sweet grapefruit.
I'll take my yield and his old boots till the leaves shake loose
I will die in these fields, but my seeds will move.
The ox and yoke know every note I hum,
written in the grass by the midday sun.
The lamp lit ahead of me, with the earth between my feet
I'll sing this song into the breeze.
Let if fold the wheat.
Every song I sing, cuts a little bit more, till you could never connect copper cast with the mold.
You could never guess
You could never guess
You could never guess where I come from, no!
Every mile I drive, further down this road, tears a little more off of my bones,
And you could never guess,
you could never guess
you could never guess where I come from, no!
You could never guess
You could never guess
You could never guess where I come from, no!
Every mile I drive, further down this road, tears a little more off of my bones,
And you could never guess
you could never guess
you could never guess where I come from, no!
Take that aim and shot, embrace the pain of shoulder blade taking stock.
Watch em drop, pull the bolt back, load another up till the clip goes "pop"
Till you sweep your block, and you can hear a pin drop
in a place that more comfortable with "POP! POP! POP! POP!"
The first thing they learned was how to plant that carbine in the earth,
pop that helmet on the stock, hang them dog tags from the lock.
Say your prayers and mark the spot, where the body's interred, then turn, taciturn,
and talk that walk, taste that salt!
Sprinkle a little bit of lye in the earth, don't cry when it hurts, cause you ain't done yet son.
Spill a little bit more blood, everybody knows what comes from the warm wet red mud.
Best believe, when you fall to your knees, you're gonna cry, you'll pray for peace
and they gonna plant them seeds of the winter wheat and Georgia peach watered up with your red rum.
You could never guess
You could never guess
You could never guess where I come from, no!
Every mile I drive, further down this road, tears a little more off of my bones,
And you could never guess,
you could never guess
you could never guess where I come from, no!
I melted down his musket, turned it to a tool
tilling like a fool, to see where his blood went.
To see if I can grow something beautiful above it?
Standing guard above my garden till the seeds take root.
Taking shade under the trees with the sweet grapefruit.
I'll take my yield and his old boots till the leaves shake loose
I will die in these fields, but my seeds will move.
The ox and yoke know every note I hum,
written in the grass by the midday sun.
The lamp lit ahead of me, with the earth between my feet
I'll sing this song into the breeze.
Let if fold the wheat.
You could never guess
You could never guess
You could never guess where I come from, no!
Every mile I drive, further down this road, tears a little more off of my bones,
And you could never guess,
you could never guess
you could never guess where I come from, no!
Add your song meanings, interpretations, facts, memories & more to the community.
This song is about life on the road as a musician, as well as reflecting on his childhood which was in a very rough neighborhood with a lot of violent crime.
Thomas Jefferson was of a firm belief that "[t]he tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants." This song has a lot of the same imagery of war, and the imagery in the first half brings to mine the old, "honourable" way of fighting. The two sides would work out a time and place to fight, then line up and take turns shooting and being shot. However, part of the reason that the Americans won was because they wouldn't wait for their turn to shoot: Watch em drop, pull the bolt back, load another up till the clip goes "pop" Till you sweep your block, and you can hear a pin drop
The next few lines reference the battlefield cross, a kind of monument for wounded soldiers that involves sticking a gun in the earth, placing their helmet on top of it, and sometimes hanging dog tags on it or putting their boots on the ground in front of it. However, this started in the civil war (which Thomas Jefferson wasn't alive for), not to mention that dog tags weren't used during the revolution, so either Astronautalis is forgoing historical accuracy for imagery this time or the title is only symbolic and not literal.
The song mentions the Georgia peach watered by "red rum", an obvious metaphor for blood which leads back to Jefferson's ideology. However, this also seems to point towards the civil war as Georgia (along with much of the South) played a much more influential part there.
The second verse, both by the lyrics and the voice change, seems to indicate that this is the first narrator's son singing. His father has died in battle, and while I'm not entirely sure, the civil war connection implies that the son is a slave. Still, he tries to sow seeds of rebellion even as he sows actual seeds, even though he knows he won't live to see freedom himself.
Finally, the chorus: I'm not sure just how much it connects to the song, especially because I don't know enough of Jefferson's history to refer to it, but it seems like the narrator is drifting further and further from his ideals or what he was raised to believe. "Every song I sing" - war songs?
Anyways, I can definitely see it all being an extended metaphor for a rough neighborhood (which would make sense with the mixing of Thomas Jefferson and the Civil War), but I don't think it has to do with music. The only connection there I can see is that Astronautalis himself is a musician, but usually he sings songs about separate characters rather than about himself.
Chorus sounds to me like Modest Mouse. Brilliant song!