Indigo Girls — Hammer And A Nail
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Total ratings: 537
Length: 3:45
Plays (last 30 days): 0
clearing webs from the hovel
a blistered hand on the handle of a shovel
i've been digging too deep
i always do
i see my face on the surface
i look a lot like narcissus
a dark abyss of an emptiness
standing on the edge of a drowning blue
i look behind my ears for the green
and even my sweat smells clean
glare off the white hurts my eyes
i gotta get out of bed
get a hammer and a nail
learn how to use my hands
not just my head
i think myself in a jail
now i know a refuge never grows
from a chin in a hand
and a thoughtful pose
gotta tend the earth
if you want a rose
i had a lot of good intentions
sit around for fifty years
and then collect a pension
started seeing the road to hell
and just where it starts
but my life is more than a vision
the sweetest part is acting
after making a decision
started seeing the whole
as a sum of its parts
and i look behind my ears for the green
and even my sweat smells clean
glare off the white hurts my eyes
gotta get out of bed
get a hammer and a nail
learn how to use my hands
not just my head
i think myself in a jail
now i know a refuge never grows
from a chin in a hand
and a thoughtful pose
gotta tend the earth
if you want a rose
my life is part of the global life
i'd found myself becoming more immobile
when i'd think a little girl in the world
can't do anything
a distant nation my community
and a street person my responsibility
if i have a care in the world
i have a gift to bring
i look behind my ears for the green
even my sweat smells clean
glare off the white hurts my eyes
i gotta get out of bed
get a hammer and a nail
learn how to use my hands
not just my head
i think myself in a jail
now i know a refuge never grows
from a chin in a hand
and a thoughtful pose
gotta tend the earth
if you want a rose
a blistered hand on the handle of a shovel
i've been digging too deep
i always do
i see my face on the surface
i look a lot like narcissus
a dark abyss of an emptiness
standing on the edge of a drowning blue
i look behind my ears for the green
and even my sweat smells clean
glare off the white hurts my eyes
i gotta get out of bed
get a hammer and a nail
learn how to use my hands
not just my head
i think myself in a jail
now i know a refuge never grows
from a chin in a hand
and a thoughtful pose
gotta tend the earth
if you want a rose
i had a lot of good intentions
sit around for fifty years
and then collect a pension
started seeing the road to hell
and just where it starts
but my life is more than a vision
the sweetest part is acting
after making a decision
started seeing the whole
as a sum of its parts
and i look behind my ears for the green
and even my sweat smells clean
glare off the white hurts my eyes
gotta get out of bed
get a hammer and a nail
learn how to use my hands
not just my head
i think myself in a jail
now i know a refuge never grows
from a chin in a hand
and a thoughtful pose
gotta tend the earth
if you want a rose
my life is part of the global life
i'd found myself becoming more immobile
when i'd think a little girl in the world
can't do anything
a distant nation my community
and a street person my responsibility
if i have a care in the world
i have a gift to bring
i look behind my ears for the green
even my sweat smells clean
glare off the white hurts my eyes
i gotta get out of bed
get a hammer and a nail
learn how to use my hands
not just my head
i think myself in a jail
now i know a refuge never grows
from a chin in a hand
and a thoughtful pose
gotta tend the earth
if you want a rose
Comments (32)add comment
Beautiful lyrics.. I wonder of the college gals ever even read the liner notes? Hits harder when you're reading it present day, decades after over playing it in the (not yet) hipster cafe, downtown CowTown circa early 90's.
It's wild that the majority of the comments for this song are about two decades old! This album was central to a couple years when I worked at a coffee roaster and cafe in the late 1980s. What lovey memories of fine and interesting times. I have always loved the vocal alchemy these two have. Great inspiration to get outside and do something with my hands.
Well I like it!
Pyro wrote:
God, listeners on RP can be so SOUR. I think I'd RATHER smell sweet sweat than read some of the ugly, negative comments here. Even if I didn't like this song (which I do), I can't imagine posting such crappy comments.
WORD.
God, listeners on RP can be so SOUR. I think I'd RATHER smell sweet sweat than read some of the ugly, negative comments here. Even if I didn't like this song (which I do), I can't imagine posting such crappy comments.
these chicks drive me nuts. grody! :iamwith: i have no clue why...
You GO, Girls!!! A 9.
I can't add anything that hasn't been said already except to say: yep...
You know, it's pretty sad that the Indigo Girls' song is the most rocking song in this set, and I use the term "rocking" loosely
Come on Bill, can you please keep us awake? Not all of us live in a women's dormatory
Must resist catchy pop music in favor of hating cheesy hippie lyrics...
rulebritannia wrote:
This is quintessential dorm music. Please, RP Guru, this song might be alright by itself, but there's waaaay too much IG on RP of late.
Agreed! and well put. Just lower the dose.
beelzebubba wrote:
But there are just some songs that have no business leaving the halls of college dormitories. This is one of them. ![frustrated](https://img.radioparadise.com/emoji/icon_frustrated.gif)
This is quintessential dorm music. Please, RP Guru, this song might be alright by itself, but there's waaaay too much IG on RP of late.
![frustrated](https://img.radioparadise.com/emoji/icon_frustrated.gif)
Good to hear about their sweat. Great! I wanted to know how it smelled. And now I know!
Originally Posted by mr.selfdestruct:
Thinking of a sweaty Indigo Girl doesn't do anyone any good. ;)
au contraire !!! My sisters here may consider this beneath notice or (contempt) but I can't let that stand. Call it rather advanced empathy if you will, but I'm rather fond of
the smell of clean sweat, say with a touch of sunblock , although admittedly in a different context.
![lol](https://img.radioparadise.com/emoji/icon_lol.gif)
Originally Posted by beelzebubba:
But there are just some songs that have no business leaving the halls of college dormitories. This is one of them.
![frustrated](https://img.radioparadise.com/emoji/icon_frustrated.gif)
ouch ! ![frustrated](https://img.radioparadise.com/emoji/icon_frustrated.gif)
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This song is really beginning to grate on my nerves. And I\'m 90% sure it has to do with the sweaty part, and 10% just because it\'s the Indigo Girls. Come on, RP- just because you play a great eclectic mix doesn\'t mean that you have to play this!!
But there are just some songs that have no business leaving the halls of college dormitories. This is one of them.
![frustrated](https://img.radioparadise.com/emoji/icon_frustrated.gif)
![frustrated](https://img.radioparadise.com/emoji/icon_frustrated.gif)
I can NEVER hear to much of this.
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It was good the first hundred times I heard it, but after that...
Please take this off the "play a day list".
This song is a constant source of inspiration for me. One of their VERY best. ![clap](https://img.radioparadise.com/emoji/eusa_clap.gif)
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This really is dull and uninteresting
mmmmmmmmm... sweet sweet clean-smelling sweat. :p
Originally Posted by jpalembas:
i like this song, but the part about her sweat smelling clean always makes me cringe...
Me too jpal. Completely turns my stomach it does. ![lol](https://img.radioparadise.com/emoji/icon_lol.gif)
i like this song, but the part about her sweat smelling clean always makes me cringe...
\"If I have a care in the world, I have a gift to bring\"...
So great.
Originally Posted by tawanda:
Technically, in the history of music, this may not be the best song .... but it lifts my mood and that's always welcome.
I agree, think it's well worth having in the mix. I'm surprised it has such a low rating.
Technically, in the history of music, this may not be the best song .... but it lifts my mood and that\'s always welcome.