This song is about the house we used to live in—me, Lucas, and random assorted members or friends over the years. It was a real club-house of sorts, and I feel like a lot of “growing up” went on there in a weird way. I still don’t even know how many keys existed to the door or who had them. It’s about “home” and what that can mean as a location and state of being, something you can posses, regardless of location. The lines, “stumble to the overpass, a repeat of three years ago,” are a parallel for the one of the first parties in the house and our last night in it. They were both spent walking to an interstate overpass with just a small group, and those are probably two of the most “home-like” moments I can recall. My grandmother owned the house. She had been ill for a while, and we rented it from my mom, who quit work to take care of her and her handicapped brother. When my grandmother passed away, everyone had sort of assumed that my mom would get the house, but in the end, everything ended up split between her and my uncle. Even though Mom had left work and spent years taking care of them, my uncle forced her to give up that house and some cash to keep my grandmother’s place (her childhood home, that I and a room mate rent from her now). We were all kind of floored by his sense of entitlement, and never expected to lose any of the houses, so that’s what the line, “you can’t rely on houses” is about. He’s a real piece of work.
The title was a phrase I’ve always clung to, and it sort of became ironically true last October. Lucas’ best friend and our room mate, Ron, had a motorcycle accident on our road and passed away. That was also one of the inciting incidents for “The Footholds.”
-Drew Justice (via Property of Zack)
lyrics
Am I allowed to say that I feel better these days?
Despite the rumors
Despite the plans that didn't go our way
Stumble to the overpass
A repeat of three years ago
Before the quitters, fights, and touring
Took us away from home
Whatever that means, considering
Changing casts and scenery
There are still some things I refuse to let go
We all missed something big when
We thought, "Home is where the heart is"
Anatomy suggests to me
It's something that I'm stuck with, thankfully
What became of the keys we made?
Maybe they all lost them or maybe they just threw them away
Wounds will fester and swell
Pushing out the worst parts
Because our tolerance is low for disloyal hearts
You can't rely on houses
You can't rely on towns
You can't rely on friends to always need you around
You can spend all your daylight with worry
Living like this it gets dark so early
We all missed something big when
We thought, "Home is where the heart is"
Anatomy suggests to me
It's something that I'm stuck with, thankfully
What became of the keys we made?
Maybe they all lost them or maybe they just threw them away
Along with me and everything it meant
How can this mean so much one day, just to mean nothing the next?
The door's still open but we've moved on
It doesn't need an address just to be considered a home
We all missed something big when
We thought, "Home is where the heart is"
Anatomy suggests to me
It's something that I'm stuck with, thankfully
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