Shed Some Skin
Christmas in Paris, Failed Pursuits, and the Journey Home: Shedding Some Skin
Lyrics
It's Christmas Day in gay Paris
Setting the scene on Christmas Day in Paris.
Not so gay for Galen Z.
Contrasting the festive atmosphere with Galen Z's personal struggles.
Sixteen hours in a sweaty kitchen
Describing a long and exhausting workday in a hot kitchen.
For money that makes
Highlighting the challenging nature of the job for meager pay.
minimum wage look good.
Emphasizing how low-paying jobs seem appealing in comparison.
6 a.m. on the subway
Depicting the early morning commute on the subway.
Stop station, through the doorway
Observing the chaotic scenes at the subway station.
Crowds of people
Describing the crowded and noisy environment.
Standing, yelling, screaming
Portraying people standing and expressing frustration.
"What's going on? I must be dreaming."
Expressing confusion and disbelief about the situation.
And the city forgets
Commenting on the city's collective forgetfulness.
They didn't even perceive
Noting the lack of awareness or acknowledgment.
And the trains keep blowing up
Referencing recurring incidents of subway explosions.
week after week.
Highlighting the persistence of these incidents.
Franzel's traveled wide and far
Mentioning Franzel's return from the U.S.S.R.
Back from the U.S.S.R.
Connecting Franzel's journey to a failed pursuit.
Went there to pursue a lifelong calling
Explaining Franzel's unfulfilled aspirations.
You found only numb toes and helpless longing.
Describing the disappointment and frustration in the return.
Now you're back at home today
Highlighting the return to the familiar, the USA.
Back in the old USA.
Describing the mode of travel across the country.
Scoop up handfuls of your native dust
Suggesting a futile attempt to reconnect with roots.
And cross the country in a Greyhound bus.
Emphasizing the circular nature of failed attempts.
Another failed attempt
Acknowledging another unsuccessful endeavor.
It's no use trying to pretend
Rejecting the possibility of pretending otherwise.
Now you're right back where you started again.
Expressing the return to the starting point.
I saw what's wrong but I didn't see how
Realizing the problem without understanding how it occurred.
I saw, I saw
Repeating the realization for emphasis.
We're all grown up now.
Asserting collective maturity or adulthood.
Today's your twentieth birthday
Marking Franzel's twentieth birthday and solitude.
Alone you walk the banks of Maine
Depicting a lonely walk along the banks of Maine.
As time runs out to write the second verse of
Highlighting the pressure to complete a creative task.
The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock.
Referencing T.S. Eliot's poem "The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock."
While you're gone we'll be here still
Assuring Franzel's friends will be there despite his absence.
Just beyond those distant hills
Suggesting that challenges lie beyond distant hills.
Could be that you got the upper hand
Speculating on Franzel's potential advantage in leaving.
When you left this rustic never-never land.
Describing the rustic setting left behind by Franzel.
And my breathing constricts
Expressing a sense of suffocation or pressure.
I feel the walls closing in
Conveying a feeling of confinement and impending change.
Could it be that finally we're all
Suggesting a collective process of growth or transformation.
Shedding some skin.
Metaphorically referring to personal renewal or change.
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