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in: Get Lonely songs, Video

Maybe Sprout Wings

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Maybe Sprout Wings
GetLonelyFrontCover

Album

 Get Lonely

Released

 2006

Artist

the Mountain Goats

Length

2:46

Previous Track

"Get Lonely"

Next Track

"Moon Over Goldsboro"

Maybe Sprout Wings is the fifth song on the album Get Lonely.

Lyrics[]

A bad dream shook me in my sleep
And I woke up sweating
Ran through the dark to the shower
Already forgetting

Try to think good thoughts
Trying to find my way clear
Let the room fill with steam
Traced pictures on the mirror

Ghosts and clouds
And nameless things
Squint your eyes and hope real hard
Maybe sprout wings

I clawed my way to the living room window
Stood there in the cold
The last bits of my dream like figures in the distance
Hard to hold

I thought of old friends 
the ones who'd gone missing
Said all their names three times
Phantoms in the early dark
Canaries in the mines

Ghosts and clouds
And nameless things
Squint your eyes and hope real hard
Maybe sprout wings

Comments by John Darnielle About this Song[]

  • "This is a song about how sometimes you wake up and you say, 'oh, I'm ashamed,' and then you don't really know what it is you're ashamed of. So how would you tell anybody about that? You're not ashamed of any particular thing, just carrying a general sort of shame. It has its own sweetness to it if you live with it long enough." -- 2007-11-02 - Gardner Lounge - Grinnell, IA
  • "You reach a point in the pursuit of solitude where the booze isn't going to do the job anymore. I know, that's sad news for some people, man. But trust me, there comes a point, it's sort of like a, oh, what the hell, book or movie, I don't know. Some book or movie, oh, 'The Iceman Cometh' by Eugene O'Neill.... And in this book, in this play, if you haven't read it, uh, all these drunks are hanging around at the bar and some guy comes in and tells them all that they're never going to make anything of their lives and they should stop pretending that they are. And then the booze stops working. [audience member: 'More booze!'] No. At that point you have to drink your own helplessness. It's considerably more costly than booze. This song is about drinking your own helplessness." -- 2007-11-03 - The Slowdown - Omaha, NE

Things Referenced in this Song[]

  • "Canaries in the mines" refers to the old practice of using a live canary deep in a mineshaft to monitor air quality since they are so sensitive to air quality. If the Canary died the miners knew lethal amounts of gas were building up,and could escape.

Live Shows this Song Was Played at[]

Videos of this Song[]


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