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Permanent Smile Lyrics
Oh God, can you feel the sun in your back
Oh God, can you see your shadow, inky black
on the sand
Oh God, can you hear the saltwater
drying on your skin
Oh God, can you feel my heart beating
in my tongue
Oh God, by being quiet, I hope to alleviate my debt
Oh God, by sitting still, I hope to lighten your load
And when your shadow covers me from head to toe
And curtonevrae flies tell me it's my time to go
Seven waves of insects make babies in my skin
Seven waves of insects make families in my skin
It's just like animals at play
And the flesh rotted off my skull
And then I will have earned my permanent smile
Oh God, I never, never ask why
Oh God, I never, never ask why
Oh God, can you see your shadow, inky black
on the sand
Oh God, can you hear the saltwater
drying on your skin
Oh God, can you feel my heart beating
in my tongue
Oh God, by sitting still, I hope to lighten your load
And curtonevrae flies tell me it's my time to go
Seven waves of insects make babies in my skin
Seven waves of insects make families in my skin
It's just like animals at play
And the flesh rotted off my skull
And then I will have earned my permanent smile
Oh God, I never, never ask why
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This song, to me, is sort of about the uncertainty and greatness of feeling that comes with the interplay between G-d and man.
"A personal meditation on death, what inspired it, and if a spiritual thread runs through everything he writes, he replied: "The particulars of the seven replied: "The particulars of the seven stages of decomposition were taken from L'Enfer by Barbusse, and the first line ( your back) came to me when I was your back recording in a dim studio, then walked outside into the sun. Aren't all songs hymns to one spigot or another?"
-from lazy-I interview: http://www.timmcmahan.com/smog.htm
That was supposed to begin: "Asked if the song is Callahan's personal meditiation..."
That was supposed to begin: "Asked if the song is Callahan's personal meditiation..."