Bones
Saves the Day Lyrics

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They're going out to meet inside an empty house
To hatch a plan to run me out of town
They'll come when I sleep

they'll circle the house
Put cyanide into the water pipes
Wait till I walk out fall onto my knees
To some family

then they'll drive me out
To the wasteland
To leave me for the wolves
To eat my face

We'll sit and shiver the maggots eat out my life that's in my ears
We'll sit and stare as the maggots eat out my life that's in my ears

They'll laugh about it to my horror
When my body's rotten and hollow

And the lights are finished on time
Nothing left except for my bones

Overall Meaning

The lyrics in Saves the Day's song Bones are about being betrayed by friends and the resulting feeling of isolation and vulnerability. The singer suspects that his friends are meeting and plotting to run him out of town, describing them as waiting till he falls to his knees, like a prey, and then sacrificing him to the wasteland. He then describes in graphic detail the physical damage that would come as a result of such cruelty. The maggots eating his life out of his ears symbolize the emotional pain which this cause would result in.

The song describes a level of pain so deep that it feels like it would be better to face death. It’s a frank confession of emotional emptiness and loneliness. The line "Nothing left except for my bones" sums up the feeling of being used and discarded by the people who were supposed to be his friends. The song seems to be reflective of the struggles that many people experience in their lives. It might have been written to represent the sense of betrayal that many of us have felt at some point in our lives or to create awareness of the pain that such experiences can cause.

Line by Line Meaning

They're going out to meet inside an empty house
A group of people are planning something against the singer in an empty house

To hatch a plan to run me out of town
The group is plotting to force the singer to leave the town

They'll come when I sleep
The group will attack or strike when the singer is asleep

they'll circle the house
The group will encircle the artist's house

Put cyanide into the water pipes
The group will poison the water supply with cyanide

Wait till I walk out fall onto my knees
The group will wait for the singer to leave the house and hurt them

To some family
The group will deliver the singer to a new family or community

then they'll drive me out
The group will force the artist to leave

To the wasteland
The artist will be left in a barren, desolate area

To leave me for the wolves
The artist will be abandoned to face harsh, dangerous surroundings

To eat my face
The wolves will attack and devour the singer