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The Hopeless Housewife Lyrics
Oh me oh my
Get out of your 1950's fantasy,
Your face shines with misery transparently
Spew out that sobering
half-assed victim rhetoric
Make 'em all squirm
while they chew on it
It's a secret handshake
and a passing wink of the eye
As the witches bridge club weekly
meets to pen the tail on the sly
But they never ask
"why oh why don't we raise our voices to the sky?"
Instead you're mute
and fawn just waiting to die
Like some kind of hopeless housewife
But you can change while you're alive
and let 'em all know
at least you tried
to kill the demons inside
Oh me oh my
Damn your transcendental paralysis
We can work together
and make sense of this
Don't be so sure
you can chuck it all away
You've got to proceed
no matter how bad you want to stay
It's a natural cause
and a comfort zone
there in your head
And the world turns away
as you tap the snooze button in bed
But nobody can hear a word you said
Your history was never read
Instead you're mute and fawn
just waiting to die
Like some kind of hopeless housewife
But you can change while you're alive
and let 'em all know
at least you tried
to kill the demons inside
Get out of your 1950's fantasy,
Your face shines with misery transparently
Spew out that sobering
half-assed victim rhetoric
Make 'em all squirm
while they chew on it
It's a secret handshake
and a passing wink of the eye
As the witches bridge club weekly
meets to pen the tail on the sly
But they never ask
"why oh why don't we raise our voices to the sky?"
Instead you're mute
and fawn just waiting to die
Like some kind of hopeless housewife
But you can change while you're alive
and let 'em all know
at least you tried
to kill the demons inside
Oh me oh my
Damn your transcendental paralysis
We can work together
and make sense of this
Don't be so sure
you can chuck it all away
You've got to proceed
no matter how bad you want to stay
It's a natural cause
and a comfort zone
there in your head
And the world turns away
as you tap the snooze button in bed
But nobody can hear a word you said
Your history was never read
Instead you're mute and fawn
just waiting to die
Like some kind of hopeless housewife
But you can change while you're alive
and let 'em all know
at least you tried
to kill the demons inside
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this is simply a kinder way of saying "get of your fat ass and do something". the chorus "but they never ask why oh why don't we raise our voices to the sky?" totally blows me away since it's so true and the music is so amazing. definetely one of the best songs on the new america.
gofuckyourself, you make good points except when you refer to community. This song is all about the self. Rather than working as part of community, as many BR songs are about, this is more personal and talks to each person separately. Which, of course, could be helping the needy for you, but that is not the point for everyone.
This is my favorite BR song ever.
Yeah, if you want things to change you gotta take action yourself.
A common housewife doesn't make anything of herself, she stays at home and usually wishes she had made something of herself. They think it is too late, but it isn't, you just need to do something, stop complaining and make your life worthwhile, or you'll regret it for the rest of your life.
I believe this song isn't supposed to be taken literally. I think he's using the housewife as a metaphor for the people who live their lives without passion, those who live the way they believe is expected of them: graduate highschool, go to college, get a job (disregarding interest in the work), get married, have children, die. Hence, this song cries out to these people to live for themselves, to live with passion, to direct their lives in the way they see fit; indeed, they should discard the pattern of life that molds multitudes of people's decisions and create a life out of step with this routine-based mode even if, consequently, life becomes difficult. Dealing with the difficulty of living in this manner, the final lines of the song express (with a power that haunts me whenever I hear it) the imperative nature of attempting to live for one's self.
i agree with jeff i dont think it was meant to be taken literally. it seems kinda obvious when it says LIKE some kind of hopeless house wife
Nothing left to say about this song really, apart from the opening line 'Get out of your 1950s fantasy!' sends a shiver down my spine every time :)
We've been talking about Transcendentalist writings in my high school english class and i couldn't help but think of this song. It's the same concept - don't fall into the mindless trap of society and just go through the motions, you have to take the "open road," as whitman said, or the "road less traveled" like frost said. Go out and do something with your life!!
It's another one of those BR songs that just bleeds passion.
This comment is slightly younger than me, wow!
This comment is slightly younger than me, wow!
I get what this song is saying, but it doesn't give any solutions. sburke09 mentions "doing something" with my life, but what does that even mean? I can't do anything without money and the only way of getting money is to live the way this song advises one not to.