Warren wanted a Beach Boys thing for this one, and Carl Wilson and Billy Hinsche came in, with Carl arranging the vocal parts. The other harmony vocalists (credited as the "Gentlemen Boys") were Jackson Browne, J.D. Souther, Zevon's longtime backers Waddy Wachtel and Jorge Calderon, and Linda Rondstadt/Stone Poneys guitarist Kenny Edwards.
I'm growing out my hair like it was when I was single
It was longer than I'd known you
I had no money then. I had no worries then at all
But with such a high standard of living
I just feel like I am dying
I would start an argument but you can barely even talk
But there is always good reason for your silence
You have to take care of some business
So I fix your plate and I stay out of the way
And you will stay like that forever
Right in front of your computer
You'll look up one day but you won't recognize me
So now you want to change
You read a letter from a lawyer
Want to take me out to dinner
You want to bury me under a mound of shopping bags
Like it would really make a difference
Or make up for your disinterest
I'm a bill you pay. I'm a contract you can't break
And it's like I'm under water
Or on an endless escalator
I just go up and up but I don't ever reach the top
And it reads just like the Bible
Twenty centuries of scandal
I guess it all depends on how you interpret it
The word is love, the word is loss
The words are damaged goods
That's what I am.
A lifetime gets chalked up to an experience
Coincidence. we are chained to the events
That's it.
It was longer than I'd known you
I had no money then. I had no worries then at all
But with such a high standard of living
I just feel like I am dying
I would start an argument but you can barely even talk
But there is always good reason for your silence
You have to take care of some business
So I fix your plate and I stay out of the way
And you will stay like that forever
Right in front of your computer
You'll look up one day but you won't recognize me
So now you want to change
You read a letter from a lawyer
Want to take me out to dinner
You want to bury me under a mound of shopping bags
Like it would really make a difference
Or make up for your disinterest
I'm a bill you pay. I'm a contract you can't break
And it's like I'm under water
Or on an endless escalator
I just go up and up but I don't ever reach the top
And it reads just like the Bible
Twenty centuries of scandal
I guess it all depends on how you interpret it
The word is love, the word is loss
The words are damaged goods
That's what I am.
A lifetime gets chalked up to an experience
Coincidence. we are chained to the events
That's it.
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Both as a standalone and as part of the DSOTS album, you can take this lyric as read. As a matter of public record, Jourgensen's drug intake was legendary even in the 1980s. By the late 90s, in his own words, he was grappling with massive addiction issues and had lost almost everything: friends, spouse, money and had nearly died more than once. "Dark Side of the Spoon" is a both funny & sad title for an album made by a musical genius who was losing the plot; and this song is a message to his fans & friends saying he knows it. It's painful to listen to so I'm glad the "Keith Richards of industrial metals" wised up and cleaned up. Well done sir.
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Fast Car
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Holiday
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I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
maybe he is jesus?