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How to Rent a Room Lyrics

No I don't really want to die
I only want to die in your eyes
I'm still here below the chandelier
Where they always used to read us our rights

I want to wander through the night
As a figure in the distance even to my own eye
Have you ever rented a room
Have you ever even rented a room?

An anchor lets you see the river move
But now that your evil dreams came true
There on your face
A row of teeth he'll come to replace

I know you laughed when I left
But you really only hurt yourself
When you see your curtains move in the wind
You can bet I'm betting against you again

'Cause I'm a man who has a wife who has a mother
Who married one but she loved another
You're a tower without the bells
You're a negative wishing well

I should have checked the stable door
For the name of the sire and dam
You were always at the dogtrack
With your brother and all his friends

Chalk lines around my body
Like the shoreline of a lake
Your laughter made me nervous
It made your body shake to hard

Now there's a lot of things that I'm gonna miss
Like thunder down country and the way water drips
When you're running for the door in the rain
Read the metro section...see my name

No I didn't really want to die
I only wanted to die in your eyes
Grant me one last wish
Life should mean a lot less than this
9 Meanings

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Cover art for How to Rent a Room lyrics by Silver Jews, The

How is it possible for one person to be so goddamn clever?

Cover art for How to Rent a Room lyrics by Silver Jews, The

I believe the metro section refers to the obits

Cover art for How to Rent a Room lyrics by Silver Jews, The

obviously the greatest song ever.

Cover art for How to Rent a Room lyrics by Silver Jews, The

A metro section of a newspaper most commonly refers to the local city's news and events. It may include "human interest" or "lifestyle" articles. I believe it could also mean obituaries.

The line in 3rd stanza definitely is "an anchor," Berman just says is oddly.

Song Meaning
Cover art for How to Rent a Room lyrics by Silver Jews, The

It's "An Anchor", I have the LP with the lyric sheet. This is one of my favorite DC Berman songs. What I get from this song, it's kind of about a botched suicide attempt, but then maybe the death really did happen. Maybe the narrative is coming from a ghost perspective. I don't know. Great song though.

Cover art for How to Rent a Room lyrics by Silver Jews, The

Always took this song to be aimed at DCB's father (even before he revealed the true nature of their relationship). By only wanting 'to die in your eyes' he means he wants to do the one thing that will more than anything else distance him from his father.

Cover art for How to Rent a Room lyrics by Silver Jews, The

magic and cognac my friend, magic and cognac.

Cover art for How to Rent a Room lyrics by Silver Jews, The

i always took the metro section as meaning she saw an article written about him (about his poetry book) and realized he was brilliant, but since he's talking about dying that's probably true. I also always thought it said "chop lines around my body" meaning cocaine, but i guess chalk lines makes a lot of sense.

Cover art for How to Rent a Room lyrics by Silver Jews, The

i created an account here just so i could say that Berman's poetry book was published three years after this song was released. also, the first words of the third stanza are not 'an anchor', although i can't figure out what they actually are.

I actually think that the line does start "An anchor lets you see the river move" as I think he's making reference to watching the river flowing while standing still. I'm not making any assumptions interpretatively, but I believe the lyric is correct as above.

yeah, anchor makes sense to me too. i appreciate the info on berman's book also.

 
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