Sep. 19691 viewer51.4K views
Lungs Lyrics
[Verse 1]
Won't you lend your lungs to me? Mine are collapsing
Plant my feet and bitterly breathe up the time that's passing
Breath I'll take and breath I'll give, pray the day's not poison
Stand among the ones that live in lonely indecision
[Verse 2]
Fingers walk the darkness down, mind is on the midnight
Gather up the gold you've found, you fool, it's only moonlight
And if you stop to take it home, your hands will turn to butter
Better leave this dream alone, try to find another
[Verse 3]
Salvation sat and crossed herself and called the Devil "partner"
Wisdom burned upon a shelf, who'll kill the raging cancer
Seal the river at its mouth, take the water prisoner
Fill the sky with screams and cries, bathe in fiery answers
[Verse 4]
Jesus was an only son and love, his only concept
Strangers cry in foreign tongues and dirty up the doorstep
And I, for one, and you, for two, ain't got the time for outside
Keep your injured looks to you, we'll tell the world that we tried
Won't you lend your lungs to me? Mine are collapsing
Plant my feet and bitterly breathe up the time that's passing
Breath I'll take and breath I'll give, pray the day's not poison
Stand among the ones that live in lonely indecision
[Verse 2]
Fingers walk the darkness down, mind is on the midnight
Gather up the gold you've found, you fool, it's only moonlight
And if you stop to take it home, your hands will turn to butter
Better leave this dream alone, try to find another
[Verse 3]
Salvation sat and crossed herself and called the Devil "partner"
Wisdom burned upon a shelf, who'll kill the raging cancer
Seal the river at its mouth, take the water prisoner
Fill the sky with screams and cries, bathe in fiery answers
[Verse 4]
Jesus was an only son and love, his only concept
Strangers cry in foreign tongues and dirty up the doorstep
And I, for one, and you, for two, ain't got the time for outside
Keep your injured looks to you, we'll tell the world that we tried
About
This song bio is unreviewed
Genius Annotation
Van Zandt wrote this song in reference to the breathing issues he had caused by the insulin shock therapy he received after dropping out of college. The treatment was thought to help mental illnesses such as bipolar disorder in the fifties and involved putting the patient into a coma for weeks. The damage it caused to his body is explored in “Lungs”.
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Credits
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Recorded At
Bradley's Barn, Mt. Juliet, Tennessee
Release Date
September 1969
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