3 Meanings
Add Yours
Follow
Share
Q&A
Escape Route Lyrics
His first kicking came on January 1st
They said, “Welcome to the club,
we’ll take your shoes and your shirt.”
He wore his nosebleed like a red rosette
And it was a prize he would win again and again and again.
He had to find an escape route.
It was a rumour, but it soon became true
When he was drunk in the suburbs
with a boy from a different school.
All his good friends soon left him for dead
Now he stands staring down at the Clyde from a bridge
And then he saw an escape route
From the dogs of West Renfrew
From the bitches and bruises
He chose Ohio to run to
The name came to him just as he perched
On the amber lit bridge, his whole face pursed
It had a ring to it in American songs
Like a glittering release from a crippling curse
He dreamt of the place of a cinematic space
And all the pointing fingers they just melted away
Who knows, maybe he’ll never take flight
But he swears Ohio pulled him from the bridge that night
It became an escape route
From the dogs of West Renfrew
From the bitches and beatings
Midwestern chest to fall into
Some are saved by the good arms
Some are saved by the church
Some get saved by the skin of their teeth
By the thought that it couldn’t get much worse
Some are saved by professors
Some are saved by police
Some get saved by a distant place
By an impossible American dream
We all need an escape route [x2]
From the punches and kicks
The fingernails and the pricks
All the sharp little knives
In the dark pockets of life
From the bitches and bruises
From the burden of youth
The public hangings and stonings
Save us from fellow humans
Just give us an escape route
They said, “Welcome to the club,
we’ll take your shoes and your shirt.”
He wore his nosebleed like a red rosette
And it was a prize he would win again and again and again.
He had to find an escape route.
It was a rumour, but it soon became true
When he was drunk in the suburbs
with a boy from a different school.
All his good friends soon left him for dead
Now he stands staring down at the Clyde from a bridge
From the dogs of West Renfrew
From the bitches and bruises
He chose Ohio to run to
On the amber lit bridge, his whole face pursed
It had a ring to it in American songs
Like a glittering release from a crippling curse
He dreamt of the place of a cinematic space
And all the pointing fingers they just melted away
Who knows, maybe he’ll never take flight
But he swears Ohio pulled him from the bridge that night
From the dogs of West Renfrew
From the bitches and beatings
Midwestern chest to fall into
Some are saved by the church
Some get saved by the skin of their teeth
By the thought that it couldn’t get much worse
Some are saved by police
Some get saved by a distant place
By an impossible American dream
The fingernails and the pricks
All the sharp little knives
In the dark pockets of life
From the burden of youth
The public hangings and stonings
Save us from fellow humans
Just give us an escape route
Song Info
Submitted by
cyberghost On Mar 15, 2013
More Frightened Rabbit
Poke
Good Arms vs. Bad Arms
The Modern Leper
Keep Yourself Warm
Backwards Walk
Add your song meanings, interpretations, facts, memories & more to the community.
The "Escape Route" signifies the ways we find and need to deal with the burdens of life.
Anybody else immediately notice from the first part of the song that it's about a boy who was bullied and abandoned for being gay?
I even wonder if it could've been about the birth of the band--that the escape route for the boy was "The name [of the band] came to him just as he perched On the amber lit bridge, his whole face pursed It had a ring to it in American songs"
That second part is more wild of a guess, but it just came to me as I read the lyrics. Anyway, this is one of my favorite songs by them.
I think "the name" refers to Ohio. But you're definitely spot on with the first part
I think "the name" refers to Ohio. But you're definitely spot on with the first part
I think the first few lines are about a football (soccer) player. Judging by the fact that the british transfer window opens in january his first day at the club could be january 1st. I also think that "Escape Route" is another meaning for suicide- Finding an escape route from awful situations. This makes sense in terms of how some people being saved by police, professors and the church (people are saved from suicide in different ways). Plus the police bit makes sense in terms of the person standing over the clyde on a bridge.