Four and twenty years ago, I come into this life,
the son of a woman and a man who lived in strife.
He was tired of being poor and he wasn't into selling door to door
and he worked like the devil to be more.

A different kind of poverty now upsets me so.
Night after sleepless night, I walk the floor and I want to know- why am I so alone?
Where is my woman can I bring her home? Have I driven her away? Is she gone?

Morning comes to sunrise and I'm driven to my bed.
I see that it is empty and there's devils in my head.
I embrace the many colored beast. I grow weary of the torment, can there be no peace?
And I find myself just wishing that my life would simply cease.


Lyrics submitted by defective, edited by RMB

4+20 song meanings
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    General Comment

    This song is not hard to understand at all, and it really needs no interpretation. There isn't any layered symbolism, or multi-hued metaphors, or complex artistic constructions beyond an honest description of one person's pain. I'll describe the song in the first person, the way it is sung. I'm 24 years old. All during my childhood when I was growing up we were poor. My dad tried hard to support us, but his life had been hard and he was a broken man by the time he'd married my mom and had us kids.

    Now that I'm 24 years old and a grown man, I find that my childhood experience of coming from a broken home has defined my young adult life. I'm repeating all of my dads mistakes, and the poverty I'm experiencing now is exactly the same as when I was a child - but my own and not my dads, and not physical, but of the soul. I'm broken and dysfunctional, and lonely, and my only refuge is that of drugs and alcohol. And I'm oh, so tired of entertaining this monster which clings to me and will never ever let go, which only serves to distract me from my despair with the false hues of fake satisfaction and happiness, that I just want to kill myself.

    eliashon April 28, 2014   Link

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