9 Meanings
Add Yours
Follow
Share
Q&A
Behind The Wall Lyrics
Last night I heard the screaming
Loud voices behind the wall
Another sleepless night for me
It won't do no good to call
The police Always come late
If they come at all
And when they arrive
They say they can't interfere
With domestic affairs
Between a man and his wife
And as they walk out the door
The tears well up in her eyes
Last night I heard the screaming
Then a silence that chilled my soul
I prayed that I was dreaming
When I saw the ambulance in the road0
And the policeman said
"I'm here to keep the peace
Will the crowd disperse
I think we all clould use some sleep"
Loud voices behind the wall
Another sleepless night for me
It won't do no good to call
The police Always come late
If they come at all
They say they can't interfere
With domestic affairs
Between a man and his wife
And as they walk out the door
The tears well up in her eyes
Then a silence that chilled my soul
I prayed that I was dreaming
When I saw the ambulance in the road0
And the policeman said
"I'm here to keep the peace
Will the crowd disperse
I think we all clould use some sleep"
Song Info
Submitted by
nelly On Mar 08, 2002
More Tracy Chapman
Fast Car
The Promise
Baby Can I Hold You
Give Me One Reason
Talkin’ ‘Bout A Revolution
Add your song meanings, interpretations, facts, memories & more to the community.
this was the first song - that i remember - that had a strong enough emotional impact to make me actually cry. the lyrics are good, and the effect of tracy using only her vocals - which are absolutely amazing - gives me the shivers. this goes down in the books with strange fruit, by billie. absolutely amazing.
domestic violence is such a startling issue on it's own, and tracy does a really good job of opening up people's eyes to it and the surrounding issues.
magic. i can't say it enough.
This song talks about the historic ways that the public and the police often view domestic violence. People and the police often repeatedly say "I shouldn't interfere" until someone winds up dead. We as a people NEED to start paying attention to domestic violence. We need to do what we can to stop it. We need to get educated and to educate about it. We need to stop seeing people as property.... before its too late.
I worked on a GCSE drama performance using this song as a center piece it really worked strongly. We used it to portray the story of a man beating his wife in an abstract way it is a really beautiful song.
I think it is so stupid that the police cant interfere with domestic violence. Me and my flat-mate were harassed for months, and occasionally assaulted and the police wouldnt do anything about it at all.
My mother forced tracy onto me as a child! now im older its really useful! a bloke with strong emotions! lol..... this song is my fav
I think the thing is they don't want to interfere because it's usually the husband and then the police believed in a male dominated society like everyone else, so they didn't do anything because they sided with the husband. and eventually when they realize the abuse is a real problem it's too late
Well, If this isnt a song to make you cry when your all alone at 2 am, then i dont know what is. How amazing is this song.... Is just brings out whats happening in the world, That there is stuff that happens ebhind closed doors and people are just to affraid to open it themselves intill someone gets really hurt. And then still what do they jack shit. It hurts... Quite depressing, But her voice, Still takes my breath away
When I was younger, my mom used to place Tracy Chapman and when I first heard this song, I was so unbelievably sad. Its probably one of the first songs that got me thinking about deeper meaning in songs. From then on, its been music music music. I love it.
This song makes me cry. I've seen abusive marriages. It's awful. Tracy Chapman was right when she said "It won't do no good to call the police. Always coming late, if they come at all."
The song is beautiful. Her voice is amazing and I love when she sings "I prayed that I was dreaming..." Awesome song.
this song is so sad but it reminds me of my mum and what happend to her because of her boyfriend. this song really gets to you and makes you want to cry. shes so amazing.
R.I.P mum i love you xx