Helplessness Blues

Album: Helplessness Blues (2011)
Play Video
  • I was raised up believing I was somehow unique
    Like a snowflake distinct among snowflakes, unique in each way you can see
    And now after some thinking, I'd say I'd rather be
    A functioning cog in some great machinery serving something beyond me

    But I don't, I don't know what that will be
    I'll get back to you someday soon you will see

    What's my name, what's my station? Oh, just tell me what I should do
    I don't need to be kind to the armies of night that would do such injustice to you
    Or bow down and be grateful and say, "Sure, take all that you see"
    To the men who move only in dimly-lit halls and determine my future for me

    And I don't, I don't know who to believe
    I'll get back to you someday soon you will see

    If I know only one thing, it's that everything that I see
    Of the world outside is so inconceivable often I barely can speak
    Yeah I'm tongue-tied and dizzy and I can't keep it to myself
    What good is it to sing helplessness blues, why should I wait for anyone else?

    And I know, I know you will keep me on the shelf
    I'll come back to you someday soon myself

    If I had an orchard, I'd work 'til I'm raw
    If I had an orchard, I'd work 'til I'm sore
    And you would wait tables and soon run the store

    Gold hair in the sunlight, my light in the dawn
    If I had an orchard, I'd work 'til I'm sore
    If I had an orchard, I'd work 'til I'm sore
    Someday I'll be like the man on the screen Writer/s: Robin Noel Pecknold
    Publisher: Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
    Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 1

  • Bill from UsBefore I found out who Fleet Foxes were (thanks to this song) I thought this WAS Graham Nash, that explains it!
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Angelo Moore of Fishbone

Angelo Moore of FishboneSongwriter Interviews

Fishbone has always enjoyed much more acclaim than popularity - Angelo might know why.

Alan Merrill of The Arrows

Alan Merrill of The ArrowsSongwriter Interviews

In her days with The Runaways, Joan Jett saw The Arrows perform "I Love Rock And Roll," which Alan Merrill co-wrote - that story and much more from this glam rock pioneer.

Rob Thomas of Matchbox Twenty

Rob Thomas of Matchbox TwentySongwriter Interviews

Rob Thomas on his Social Distance Sessions, co-starring with a camel, and his friendship with Carlos Santana.

Rufus Wainwright

Rufus WainwrightSongwriter Interviews

Rufus Wainwright on "Hallelujah," his album Unfollow The Rules, and getting into his "lyric trance" on 12-hour walks.

Classic Metal

Classic MetalFact or Fiction

Ozzy, Guns N' Roses, Judas Priest and even Michael Bolton show up in this Classic Metal quiz.

Ian Anderson: "The delight in making music is that you don't have a formula"

Ian Anderson: "The delight in making music is that you don't have a formula"Songwriter Interviews

Ian talks about his 3 or 4 blatant attempts to write a pop song, and also the ones he most connected with, including "Locomotive Breath."