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For Mayor in Splitsville Lyrics
Funny what you think of after a collapse
While lying in the dirt the first thing that comes back is never quite what you’d have guessed
And if you could have, you probably would’ve said you’d check if all your limbs were intact still and Then try to get out
We played house with the neighbors in their basement
Sister made me husband she was older so I did her bidding
I remember once their dad came in said, “You think this is bad?
You don’t know the half.” And he laughed.
It’s funny what things come back
The first things you see
How he sort of smiled like it’s only a joke but he was lying
There was something else inside of his eyes
All those secrets people tell to little children
Are warnings that they give them
Like, “Look, I’m unhappy. Please don’t make the same mistake as me.”
Why are those old worn out jokes on married life told at toasts at receptions still?
How does it never occur how often couples get burned and end uncertain in Splitsville?
Funny what you think of in the wreckage, lying there in the dirt and the dust and the glass
How you’re suddenly somewhere, in the desert, in the nighttime, and it’s getting close to Christmas
And then her and that movie voice she uses when she reads,
“Welcome to the Land of Enchantment” from a highway sign
And it’s late so you take the next exit
When that trip ended we came back the rent was due I was jobless
I guess in retrospect I should’ve sensed decay
Then that day, how you said, “I just don’t know” and I promised
We’d rearrange things to fix the mess I’d made here
But I guess in the end we just moved furniture around 3X
But I guess in the end...
It sort of feels like every day it’s harder to stay happy where you are
There are all these ways to look through the fence into your neighbor’s yard
Why even risk it? It’s safer to stay distant
When it’s so hard now to just be content
Because there’s always something else
Now I’m proposing my own toast, composing my own joke for those married men
Maybe I’m miserable, I’d rather run for mayor in Splitsville than suffer your jokes again
While lying in the dirt the first thing that comes back is never quite what you’d have guessed
And if you could have, you probably would’ve said you’d check if all your limbs were intact still and Then try to get out
Sister made me husband she was older so I did her bidding
I remember once their dad came in said, “You think this is bad?
You don’t know the half.” And he laughed.
The first things you see
There was something else inside of his eyes
All those secrets people tell to little children
Are warnings that they give them
Like, “Look, I’m unhappy. Please don’t make the same mistake as me.”
How does it never occur how often couples get burned and end uncertain in Splitsville?
How you’re suddenly somewhere, in the desert, in the nighttime, and it’s getting close to Christmas
And then her and that movie voice she uses when she reads,
“Welcome to the Land of Enchantment” from a highway sign
And it’s late so you take the next exit
I guess in retrospect I should’ve sensed decay
Then that day, how you said, “I just don’t know” and I promised
We’d rearrange things to fix the mess I’d made here
It sort of feels like every day it’s harder to stay happy where you are
There are all these ways to look through the fence into your neighbor’s yard
Why even risk it? It’s safer to stay distant
When it’s so hard now to just be content
Because there’s always something else
Maybe I’m miserable, I’d rather run for mayor in Splitsville than suffer your jokes again
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Incredible song.
"Funny what you think of after a collapse While lying in the dirt the first thing that comes back is never quite what you’d have guessed And if you could have, you probably would’ve said you’d check if all your limbs were intact still and Then try to get out" Collapse of relationship, collapse of bridge. Y'know. It's funny how things you'd never had thought of otherwise come to mind. Not sure what's going on with the limbs not being intact and trying to get out.
"How he sort of smiled like it’s only a joke but he was lying There was something else inside of his eyes All those secrets people tell to little children Are warnings that they give them Like, “Look, I’m unhappy. Please don’t make the same mistake as me.” The dad comes in and tells him, basically, married life sucks. Don't ever get married. But that's not really what he says and he just kinda chuckles about how our narrator thought he had it bad in the game of house.
"How you’re suddenly somewhere, in the desert, in the nighttime, and it’s getting close to Christmas And then her and that movie voice she uses when she reads, “Welcome to the Land of Enchantment” from a highway sign And it’s late so you take the next exit" Referencing one of the many road trips taken in an attempt to find somewhere or something to remedy their failing relationship (which has now basically failed entirely). In Stay Happy There, a visit for Christmas is mentioned, as are rest stops in the desert.
"When that trip ended we came back the rent was due I was jobless I guess in retrospect I should’ve sensed decay" The narrator had apparently lost his job as well and should've sensed that the relationship was getting worse and they attempted to sort of bandage it by rearranging furniture.
Like I said, incredible song.