When Matt was asked about the title of the song he said:
I used to be a bike messenger in Chicago for a number of years and one of my best friends who I worked with his name’s Virgil but over the radios when you talk to each other you don’t call each other by name. You have like a call number. His...
[Verse 1]
Schoolyard freaks are freezing down, getting teased again
I'm looking back and down and watching it go by
Down at the stockyards, cattle screaming, the trains squeak by again
I can see my breath and I'm so thankful I'm not one of them
[Verse 2]
The sound of the ground freezing is pounding once again
It comes with the wind that once wiped off our smiles
Alarm clock bells are screaming out the same routine again
Scrape open your eyes, rise and fucking shine, 7 AM
[Chorus]
Sit down, dead weight, and wonder
Unsure, unslept, uncovered
The new light of dawn discovered by ungrateful eyes
Through 5-3 eyes
[Verse 3]
Schoolyard freaks are freezing, pushed to the ground again
I'm looking up and west for black to fill the sky
The sound of bottles breaking still breaking in my ears
They opened just in time to empty out and gouge away the years
[Chorus]
Sit down, dead weight, and wonder
Unsure, unslept, uncovered
The new light of dawn discovered by ungrateful eyes
Through 5-3 eyes
[Verse 4]
Schoolyard freaks are bleeding down, getting kicked again
I can taste the earth and feel it in my eyes
The sound of cattle screaming still screaming in my ears
They came in metal coffins, chained me up and hacked me off my years
[Chorus]
Sit down, dead weight, and wonder
Unsure, unslept, uncovered
The new light of dawn discovered by ungrateful eyes
Through 5-3 eyes
5-3-10-4 was written by Matt Skiba & Dan Andriano & Glenn Porter.
5-3-10-4 was produced by Matt Allison.
Alkaline Trio released 5-3-10-4 on Tue Mar 14 2000.