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Lyrics:
I am the ghost of haunting hope
A trailing phantom
Some withering wisp of smoke slipping by
And these are my words flung through the sky
Trailing red like a cape
Longing to fly
On this, their thirteenth try
This prison of mine is to carry alone
The light of one red sun
Beneath my skin
And never, ever go home
To watch the ravens fly so very far, far away
Chorus:
Fortress of solitude,
I値l stay here, I値l make you all believe
And if my words have forked no lightning
Never shall I sleep again
With sickening speed, red hearts on blue sleeves
The bullets of your words
Could scarcely set their teeth into me
But I am made frail in one single bound
My traitorous soil
Slings me so far down without a sound
To watch the ravens fly so very far, far away
Chorus
Never going to stop, not a break in my stride
Never let this cancer eat from inside
Raise the flag high with fists to the sky
I値l finish this or this is goodbye
Spies to the right set their claws to kill me
Lies from the left clasp their jaws on the guilty
I値l break free, I値l break free
Just you watch me
So discouraged, so dismayed
See the poison, dripping from their blades
There is lightning left in these words
I will still fly, rising with the birds
I have carried the sun in my skin
I cannot stop, I cannot win
Forked tongues, forcing me to kneel
As if I was no man made of steel
What if these weak words that I have tripped on
Sing that I am the last son of Krypton?
I hate you all, I hate you all
This will never sleep
Behind the Song:
'I tried to use a lot of Superman imagery, because what this song is really about is my own unobtainable struggles with achieving perfection. The main reason this album took so long to make, is because I thought that the more of its production that I could control, the better it would be. But that didn't prove to be true. I've never had the ability to sit in the basement every night after work and make music, and in some ways this was great, not having to answer to a label, or anyone else. The problem is that I had to be the only gatekeeper of what I felt should be allowed to go on the album, and so I became obsessive about it. I felt like my whole musical history up to this point had been laden with mistakes, so I had to try to make this album perfect. It's not that I hated any of our fans, it's just that when some kid gets your number off of the internet and keeps calling you to ask if you are going to get Five Iron back together, it puts all of your failure under a microscope. What I hated, at the time, was myself, and that voice in my head that kept telling me that i wasn't good enough, or the songs weren't going to make it. So this song was me fighting that. I made a pretty song, and then destroyed it.
Originally, this song had an actual voice mail from that kid calling me, but we took it off, because I wouldn't want that guy to think that I was saying I hated him. (It was Andy on the album version, pitch corrected to sound like a 12 year old). Yeah, I want him to stop calling me, but more than that, I want something that we can only achieve in death, and that is for God to say 'Well done, my good and faithful servant.' And know that I tried my hardest. To know that we don't have to be like Superman, heck... even Captain America *wink*, but maybe to settle for just being Spider-man. Just to know that even though life sucks, you get up each new day, and make tomorrow a better place for somebody else in this world.' - Reese Roper
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