“So Says I” is the third track of The Shin’s second album. It was written by the band’s lead singer, James Mercer, and compares communism and capitalism as social models, ultimately concluding that humans are not suited to peaceful and happy living. Despite (or perhaps because of) its pessimism, t...
[Verse 1]
An address to the golden door
I was strumming on a stone again
Pulling teeth from the pimps of gore
When hatched a tragic opera in my mind
And it told of a new design
In which every soul is duty bound
To uphold all the statutes of boredom
Therein lies the fatal flaw of the red age
[Chorus 1]
Because it was nothing like we'd ever dreamt
Our lust for life had gone away with the rent we hated
Because it made no money
Nobody saved no one's life this time
[Verse 2]
So we burned all our uniforms
And let nature take its course again
And the big ones just eat all the little ones
Sent us back to the drawing board
[Bridge]
In our darkest hours
We have all asked for some
Angel to come
Sprinkle his dust all around
But all our crying voices, they can't turn it around
You've had some crazy conversations of your own
[Verse 3]
We got rules and maps and guns in our backs
But we still can't just behave ourselves
Even if to save our own lives (So says I)
We are a brutal kind, woah
[Chorus 2]
'Cause this is nothing like we'd ever dreamt
Tell Sir Thomas More we've got another failed attempt
'Cause if it makes them money
They might just give you life this time
So Says I was written by James Mercer.