Who do you call on when you have no one?
Who do you call on when you gave no one?
This might not be nice to say, but I'll say it anyway,
When you have no one, you are no one.
I used to work at the people pound.
I used to watch them line up, some sleeping on the ground.
Their diabetic bellies, gleaming fat and round,
When you have no one, you are no one.
Like I said:
I used to work at the people pound.
All these no ones clumped together, just like a human lost and found.
If they let them all be some ones, there wouldn't be enough to go around.
It's better for us all that there are no ones.
I knew a lot of no ones around that time.
They used to all be some ones until something took their life,
And all their some ones disappeared while they're stuck waiting in a line.
For them now, no one seems to have the time.
I knew someone who had a disease.
It took away all that mattered, his brain and dignity.
I tried my best to fight it off, to try to set him free.
Now that some one is no one to me.
Who do you call one when you have no one?
Who do you call one when you have no one?
This might not be nice to say, but I'll say it anyway,
When you have no one, you are no one.
And it takes no one to know one.
Who do you call on when you gave no one?
This might not be nice to say, but I'll say it anyway,
When you have no one, you are no one.
I used to watch them line up, some sleeping on the ground.
Their diabetic bellies, gleaming fat and round,
When you have no one, you are no one.
I used to work at the people pound.
All these no ones clumped together, just like a human lost and found.
If they let them all be some ones, there wouldn't be enough to go around.
It's better for us all that there are no ones.
They used to all be some ones until something took their life,
And all their some ones disappeared while they're stuck waiting in a line.
For them now, no one seems to have the time.
It took away all that mattered, his brain and dignity.
I tried my best to fight it off, to try to set him free.
Now that some one is no one to me.
Who do you call one when you have no one?
This might not be nice to say, but I'll say it anyway,
When you have no one, you are no one.
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"If they let them all be some ones, there wouldn't be enough to go around."
That's a heavy line. Definitely my favorite in this song. This lyric basically sums up why capitalism, rich-poor gap, socioeconomic class separation, whatever you want to call it, exists the way it does. There's scarcity of commodities, money, and power in the world so some people exploit the no-ones and hoard all the wealth while the no-ones get stuck at the bottom.
The next two verses are more about how the "someones" lost their opportunities to succeed because "something took their life" or they "had a disease." Maybe alcoholism or addiction or just plain depression, low self esteem, etc. When they eventually lose their friends and family or even school teachers for support, they then have no way to find opportunities to succeed in society or their careers. When they have no one, they're basically fucked. And the someones don't want to hang out with poor, depressed, loser no-ones (now that someone is no one to me). They eventually accept their situation or more likely, just give up, and then they are stuck as no ones for life.
Another idea that comes to mind from this song is, "It's not what you know, it's who you know."
But yea. It's pretty self explanatory.