Wettin' Down the Dirt - Lyrics - Jared Mees & The Grown Children

You can build it up or you can break it down You can tell it, "Kid, you're on the wrong side of the town." You can wear it out or you can wisen up You can drink white risky from your old man's coffee cup* But don't forget about the time you wasted all those pretty days Lying silent in the bedroom while they vanished in the haze The possibilities you'll find will only serve to change your open mind Lay there long enough and you'll end up getting bored Until you realize all you need is just the truth and a couple simple bar chords You can talk and talk or you can shut your mouth You can burn the photographs in the shed behind the house You can crane your neck to see the rising sun Or you can sit and wait for it with an old sod off shot gun But it'll creep up on behind you from the place you least expect And then break your bleeding heart before it rings your weary neck And even though it never quite belongs, sneaks into your every single song All those petty things you never meant to say Like, "Hi there, nice to meet you, please drive safely, have a very pleasant day." You can blink or gawk at the hand that you've been dealed But either way you know your crops are rottin' in the field You can go to mass, you can go to church You can make believe your blood ain't meant for wettin' down the dirt So throw a palm tree on the fire, girl - watch those leaves ignite And sing the blues out on some island 40 days and 40 nights And maybe all that Mexico blood you spill on that cracking bridge of yours will last you until the firelight is gone and leaves you cold Sleeping with the gray whales, white bones, and black ghosts until the day that you get old You can protest wars, say the president's a liar But in this type of town, you're only preaching to the choir Cause the thing that's gonna get us ain't the one we're protesting It's all happened before, it will all happen again And the only thing I claim to know about the enemy They use a dash of violence and a dire look of subtlety So go ahead, expose those evil plans Cause you always got an inside man Do whatever makes you feel fine Just know whatever you swallow's always attached to some sort of lie