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Letter Of Resignation Lyrics
Takes a dried up ball-point, lemon juice and water, keeps a diary invisibly, In the kitchen corner of a basement bachelor suite there's a certain search for certainty, you know we'll never see her hands touch her childhood home in photos that she took. It's one more omission from a high school history book; how whole lives get knifed and pushed aside. To whom it may concern... (to whom it may concern) There's a bus thats leaving half an hour from now. (this is to inform) It won't take her where she really wants to go. (yours sincerely yours) So she sits there with her luggage at her side. (yours sincerely yours) in the empty stations of our empty lives. Take a broken bottle. Take a rafter beam. Take a needle and a tarnished spoon. Or just words to kill off one more unheard statement of another dying afternoon. She says she's leaving soon. So so long to ten hour shifts and faking sympathies. Farewell to piles of bills, unpayed utilities. All rolled up and unfurled like a flag. Wake up and pack your bag. To whom it may concern... (to whom it may concern) There's a bus that's leaving half an hour from now. (this is to inform) It won't take her where she really wants to go. (yours sincerely yours) So she sits there with her luggage at her side. (yours sincerely yours) leaving empty stations, leaving empty lives.
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I know this was posted almost 20 years ago but thank you for the lyrics. I’ve been going crazy trying to figure out what her beautiful voice is saying in the background! My boyfriend loves this band and his parents showed him them. Trying to show my appreciation too bc i love him. Rock on guys. Hope yall still love this band. Btw it’s my first time using this old website. #2025
@shreeya I love the weakerthans so much i didn’t know anybody even still listened to them
@shreeya I love the weakerthans so much i didn’t know anybody even still listened to them
Yes it is. And a rafter beam references hanging yourself and a broken bottle references cutting wrists maybe. All means of escapes. Especially how he then goes on about "leading empty lives."
It could just be a thought of completely escaping for a person. When I read the title, for some reason, I always think of a "meeting someone new."
yeah, i would have to agree that this letter of resignation is most likely a suicide note. i think she is tired of her current situation. she's working 10 hour days, living in a basement suite, and still not being able to pay the bills. it almost sounds like she is at a cross-roads and thinking about either killing herself or moving somewhere. maybe home. it mentions luggage being packed several times. i always get the feeling that she is living away from home and when she is looking at the photo's of her childhood home, she is thinking those where happier times. now she is probably in her late twenties, her life is kinda dissapointing, and she is deciding whether to jump on a bus and move home (leave the empty station) or kill herself (leave the empty life). it also says that the bus won't take her where she really wants to go. i think that means that if she moves somewhere her problems will still follow her. I agree that the broken bottle, rafter beam and needle and spoon are ways that she has thought about killing herself. i am surprised no one mentioned the dried up ball-point, lemon juice and water. i think that she is filling the dried up pen with lemon juice and water to write in invisible ink. it sounds like she is writing this suicide note on the wall in her kitchen. i'm not sure if this formal toned letter is written in invisible ink, or if she has written a formal letter and then a second invisible note that says what she really wanted to say. i like that someone picked up on the formal tone. not sure what it means but it is interesting. i also like how the girls voice in the song reads some of the lines of the note. all you can gather from it, is it's formal tone, she doesn't reveal what is actually being wrtten.
this is just another great song, by this great band. i think everybody can relate to this. just wanting to get up and leave your life, writing a letter of resignation to your life and taking a bus and starting over again. i really like how he has that girl singing those lines in the backround, it fits perfectly.
I like this version of the song, but I think it lacks a certain quality that the Propagandhi version has. Great writing nonetheless.
this is really a great song. I so relate most people will
Yeah. As fnordboy indicated, this was written while John was still in Propagandhi. I also like the other version a little more. Either way, two great bands.
Just thought I'd mention that the line "Take a needle and a tarnished spoon" is talking about heroin. I don't know how this relates to the rest of the song though. Perhaps it's just another means of escape.
It seems strange that no one has seemed to notice that a "Letter of Resignation" is most likely a suicide note, or perhaps a formal letter to the family (the formal tone being shown in "to whom it may concern, this is to inform, yours sincerely yours"). The semantic fields of death and self destruction in this song (e.g. "another dying afternoon, she says she's leaving soon") help to emphasize this. With this in mind then, the bus that's leaving half an hour from now, not taking her where she really wants to go can be seen as death, with her luggage at her side being the bad memories of the life which she experiences (living in a basement-bachelor suite, working 10 hour shifts etc.). In my opinion this is the Weakerthans at their best.
yeah, i would have to agree that this letter of resignation is most likely a suicide note. i think she is tired of her current situation. she's working 10 hour days, living in a basement suite, and still not being able to pay the bills. it almost sounds like she is at a cross-roads and thinking about either killing herself or moving somewhere. maybe home. it mentions luggage being packed several times. i always get the feeling that she is living away from home and when she is looking at the photo's of her...
yeah, i would have to agree that this letter of resignation is most likely a suicide note. i think she is tired of her current situation. she's working 10 hour days, living in a basement suite, and still not being able to pay the bills. it almost sounds like she is at a cross-roads and thinking about either killing herself or moving somewhere. maybe home. it mentions luggage being packed several times. i always get the feeling that she is living away from home and when she is looking at the photo's of her childhood home, she is thinking those where happier times. now she is probably in her late twenties, her life is kinda dissapointing, and she is deciding whether to jump on a bus and move home (leave the empty station) or kill herself (leave the empty life). it also says that the bus won't take her where she really wants to go. i think that means that if she moves somewhere her problems will still follow her. I agree that the broken bottle, rafter beam and needle and spoon are ways that she has thought about killing herself. i am surprised no one mentioned the dried up ball-point, lemon juice and water. i think that she is filling the dried up pen with lemon juice and water to write in invisible ink. it sounds like she is writing this suicide note on the wall in her kitchen. i'm not sure if this formal toned letter is written in invisible ink, or if she has written a formal letter and then a second invisible note that says what she really wanted to say. i like that someone picked up on the formal tone. not sure what it means but it is interesting. i also like how the girls voice in the song reads some of the lines of the note. all you can gather from it, is it's formal tone, she doesn't reveal what is actually being wrtten.