Do You Know What They Say?

By Andrew R. Duckworth

Do you know what they say
When they look at your face?
Do you know what they say?
They want your head on a tray.

Words like knives
Skinning you alive.
You’ll never be better
No matter how hard you try.

Do you know what they say
While you’re earning your pay?
Do you know what they say?
They want to ruin you today.

The Doors and Talking Heads are two of my favorite bands (although, if I’m to really compile a list of favorites I have, this post would not be possible. I would still be writing them all down a year from now). Lately, I’ve been listening to both a bit more than usual. The themes that both bands cover in their work are excellent and the writing in general is amazing. For some reason, while I was writing this, I could almost hear Morrison singing it, that disembodied voice floating in from the unknown.

As for the theme, the overarching meaning, etc. I won’t comment on. I would rather let the reader interpret as they may, yet the opening to the second stanza, if not the closing of the first, are fairly illuminating on this point.