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Piece of Cake Lyrics
Trying to get away
From banging on the tabletops, screaming at the top of my lungs
Did it in a day
When any other person would have taken off for most of a month
Then I had to pay
I was shaking from the aftershocks, never thought I’d steady again
Now I’m going grey
J. Jonah’s got a doppleganger playing in his own rock band
[Chorus]:
It was piece of cake
But making cake’s not easy
Sometimes the one you take
Can make a mess as we’ll see
Never wanted out
I was leaning on the door when the whole thing fell to the ground
Thought I was about
To make it go away and maybe tuck it where it’s safe and sound
If ever you’re in doubt
You never want to cut twice never having measured at all
Had to leave it out
‘Cause whether I had wanted to never really mattered in the freefall
[Chorus]
Everybody knows, but no one knows what went wrong
So the story grows; you never let truth get in the way of a good song
[Chorus x2]
From banging on the tabletops, screaming at the top of my lungs
Did it in a day
When any other person would have taken off for most of a month
Then I had to pay
I was shaking from the aftershocks, never thought I’d steady again
Now I’m going grey
J. Jonah’s got a doppleganger playing in his own rock band
It was piece of cake
But making cake’s not easy
Sometimes the one you take
Can make a mess as we’ll see
I was leaning on the door when the whole thing fell to the ground
Thought I was about
To make it go away and maybe tuck it where it’s safe and sound
If ever you’re in doubt
You never want to cut twice never having measured at all
Had to leave it out
‘Cause whether I had wanted to never really mattered in the freefall
So the story grows; you never let truth get in the way of a good song
Song Info
Submitted by
browns0286 On Jun 07, 2015
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This song strikes me as a fairly explicit metaphorical account of the 2009 split with former-bandmate Steven Page (or really any breakup or removal of a negative situation from your life), through the metaphor of trying to messily cut out a piece from a cake.
The opening verse of the song sets the stage: conflict, stress, fighting (“banging on the tabletops, screaming at the top of my lungs”), then follows with the day of the parting (“did it in a day”), and then the trauma/uncertainty of the immediate aftermath (“shaking from the aftershocks, never thought I’d steady again,” “going grey”).
The chorus introduces the cake metaphor that is the crux of the song. Sometimes removing the piece that needs to be cut out can “make a mess, as we’ll see...”
The second verse is the narrator’s stance on their involvement in the conflict buildup, suggesting it wasn’t his fault – that he “never wanted out” - and that the conflict/collapse came to him. I like the humorous imagery they use of him leaning on a doorway - and instead of walking through it on his own accord, the house falls toward/through him (thus making him “outside” in a sense... standing in what's left of the doorway amidst the rubble).
Although the narrator didn’t feel he had a choice in their breakup/conflict, he warns future ‘cake-cutters’ about the inherent messiness of cutting out pieces without preparedness if they can help it (“...you never want to cut twice never having measured at all...”); but ultimately, he had no choice but to “leave...out” the measuring step in his specific case.
The bridge is interesting. “Everybody knows, but no one knows what went wrong. So the story grows; you never let truth get in the way of a good song.”
Essentially the narrator is saying that everyone [friends, family, the public] knows generally about the split, but no one really knows the intimate specifics of what went down. Given that, both parties of the breakup can “grow” their side of the story to their liking, and the perfect truth doesn’t really matter. This is a very similar sentiment to the conflict/framing/storytelling lyrics of the “Fog of Writing” bonus track from the Grinning Streak album.
Great song overall; one of my favourite musically and lyrically from the new album.
I recently got laid off from my job. It was a tough situation with a new boss coming in and getting rid of a lot of people. I know in the long run I'll be better off, but I'm not there yet because I haven't found anything new and have kind of struggled to do so. This song has really resonated with my situation. I've listened to it a lot since then.