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Tired Eyes Lyrics
Well he shot four men
in a cocaine deal
And he left them
lyin' in an open field
Full of old cars
with bullet holes
in the mirrors.
He tried to do his best
but he could not.
Please take my advice,
please take my advice
Please take my advice.
Open up the tired eyes,
Open up the tired eyes.
Well, it wasn't
supposed to go
down that way.
But they burned his brother,
you know,
And they left him lying
in the driveway.
They let him down with nothin'.
He tried to do his best
but he could not.
Please take my advice,
please take my advice
Please take my advice.
Open up the tired eyes,
Open up the tired eyes.
Well tell me more,
tell me more,
tell me more
I mean was he a heavy doper
or was he just a loser?
He was a friend of yours.
What do you mean,
he had bullet holes
in his mirrors?
He tried to do his best
but he could not.
Please take my advice,
please take my advice
Please take my advice.
Open up the tired eyes,
Open up the tired eyes.
Please take my advice,
please take my advice
Please take my advice.
Open up the tired eyes,
Open up the tired eyes.
in a cocaine deal
And he left them
lyin' in an open field
Full of old cars
with bullet holes
in the mirrors.
He tried to do his best
but he could not.
please take my advice
Please take my advice.
Open up the tired eyes,
Open up the tired eyes.
supposed to go
down that way.
But they burned his brother,
you know,
And they left him lying
in the driveway.
They let him down with nothin'.
He tried to do his best
but he could not.
please take my advice
Please take my advice.
Open up the tired eyes,
Open up the tired eyes.
tell me more,
tell me more
I mean was he a heavy doper
or was he just a loser?
He was a friend of yours.
What do you mean,
he had bullet holes
in his mirrors?
He tried to do his best
but he could not.
please take my advice
Please take my advice.
Open up the tired eyes,
Open up the tired eyes.
please take my advice
Please take my advice.
Open up the tired eyes,
Open up the tired eyes.
Add your song meanings, interpretations, facts, memories & more to the community.
This is a song about an actual drug deal gone awry in Topanga Canyon in the 1970s. However, according to Neil Young's bio "Shakey", it's also a more personal lament to his departed friends Danny Whitten and Bruce Berry. Asking them to "open up the tired eyes" is pleading with them to become undead.
Made me think of No Country for Old Men
What do you mean, he had bullet holes in his mirrors?
I love that line.
I love the way it's so lazy, and still deadly (literary speaking) serious
This is the most gut renching cold as early morning song Neil as ever done. It is his emotions flayed open for all to see. He is raw and real. It' Neil at his best on his (arguably) best album. In everyday life, I so often want to turn to my 16, 17 & 18 year old children in my best emotional Neil Young voice and say OPEN UP YOUR TIRED EYES!
Poetic brilliance matched by an amazing sound that led towards Neil Young inventing grunge. The above posters are right that this song is based off an actual incident and on a more personal note the song is also about Danny Whiten's fatal heroin overdose---the Needle and the Damage done is a song purely about his death
a drug deal gone awry, watfo.