Well Papa go to bed now it's getting late
Nothing we can say is gonna change anything now
I'll be leaving in the morning from Saint Mary's Gate
We wouldn't change this thing even if we could somehow
'Cause the darkness of this house has got the best of us
There's a darkness in this town that's got us too
But they can't touch me now
And you can't touch me now
They ain't gonna do to me
What I watched them do to you

So say goodbye it's Independence Day
It's Independence Day
All down the line
Just say goodbye it's Independence Day
It's Independence Day this time

Now I don't know what it always was with us
We chose the words, and yeah, we drew the lines
There was just no way this house could hold the two of us
I guess that we were just too much of the same kind

Well say goodbye it's Independence Day
It's Independence Day all boys must run away
So say goodbye it's Independence Day
All men must make their way come Independence Day

Now the rooms are all empty down at Frankie's joint
And the highway she's deserted down to Breaker's Point
There's a lot of people leaving town now
Leaving their friends, their homes
At night they walk that dark and dusty highway all alone

Well Papa go to bed now it's getting late
Nothing we can say can change anything now
Because there's just different people coming down here now
And they see things in different ways
And soon everything we've known will just be swept away

So say goodbye it's Independence Day
Papa now I know the things you wanted that you could not say
But won't you just say goodbye it's Independence Day
I swear I never meant to take those things away


Lyrics submitted by oofus

Independence Day Lyrics as written by Bruce Springsteen

Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

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Independence Day song meanings
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    Memory

    For me, this song reminds me of my relationship with my ex-wife. When I read the lyrics and change the word "papa" to her name, the song's story rings true. At the very end of my marriage, there was nothing else that could be said, and I had to decide to move away from my hometown and somewhat cut ties with many people that I had a relationship. The darkness in the house definitely go the best of us. There was nothing else to do, we couldn't do anything more. The hurt was present in both of us and I knew it would never leave me, and it hasn't.

    By moving, they and her can't hurt me anymore. Only the memories do that now. But at least its just the memories so in a sense, I have had an independence day.

    Our words and lines were drawn and there is no chance to ever change them. That is the worst part and how this song affects me. In the end, the two of us were just too different and in some ways too much of the same, and our house just could not have held the both of us.

    Leaving town made me feel that they were not going to do to me what I saw them do to you is especially emotional for me as influences in her life made her her and me me.
    But I will always love her and will always feel the pain. Difficult combination.

    tmk3131on February 14, 2011   Link

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