I think this song is speaking about hypocracy in religion, specifically modern day Christians. People who live one way in the open, but behind closed doors are living a life in contrast to what Christianity teaches. It’s interesting how each stanza explores a different grammatical person; talking about the mother, talking to the alcoholic, then finally talking as the speaker.
“look what I did so I could feed them”
The mother is only taking care of her kids to receive praise, and she’s not feeding them anything substantial if the roll is the only thing of value (I’m unsure if the apostrophe is part of the lyric, because if so that line could have a different meaning). Doing things just for praise goes against Christian values
"shuttled between LA and Oakland
miles and miles between and above them
born and raised to be an alcoholic
were you too old or young to stop it'”
The “Shuttling” references a service helping people make the trip from LA to Oakland. I’m unsure of the specifics, but shuttles are usually free which makes it sounds like a charitable act. The distance is both geographical (LA to Oakland) but also symbolic, as though the distance between the person in this story and God above is also very far. Despite the acts of charity, the person lives a life of “Drunkeness” which is a sin. S/he was at one point young and watched helplessly as a parent drifted into alcoholism, or is now an alcoholic parent so its too late.
"faked election" is also a religious reference. "Election" is when God chooses someone for a particular task, for example a TV Evangelist who claims God chose him to preach or take people’s money to build a super church. In any case, he’s faking it and people may look to him for help but his idle eyes aren’t going to meet their true needs even though they’re expressing their feelings out in the open. He’s not an honest person, so for him, it’s just another day... business as usual.
I think this song is speaking about hypocracy in religion, specifically modern day Christians. People who live one way in the open, but behind closed doors are living a life in contrast to what Christianity teaches. It’s interesting how each stanza explores a different grammatical person; talking about the mother, talking to the alcoholic, then finally talking as the speaker.
“look what I did so I could feed them”
"shuttled between LA and Oakland miles and miles between and above them born and raised to be an alcoholic were you too old or young to stop it'”
"faked election" is also a religious reference. "Election" is when God chooses someone for a particular task, for example a TV Evangelist who claims God chose him to preach or take people’s money to build a super church. In any case, he’s faking it and people may look to him for help but his idle eyes aren’t going to meet their true needs even though they’re expressing their feelings out in the open. He’s not an honest person, so for him, it’s just another day... business as usual.