Anais Mitchell – Wait For Me Lyrics

Anais Mitchell · Hadestown

Folk

[Hermes:]
How to get to Hadestown*
You'll have to take the long way down
Through the underground, under cover of night
Laying low, staying out of sight
Ain't no compass, brother, there ain't no map
Just a telephone wire and the railroad track
Keep on walking and you don't look back
'Til you get to the bottomland
[Orpheus:]
Wait for me, I'm coming
Wait, I'm coming with you
Wait for me, I'm coming too
I'm coming to
[Hermes:]
River Styx is high and wide
Cinderbricks and razorwire
Walls of iron and concrete
Hound dogs howling round the gate
Them dogs'll lay down and play dead
If you got the bones, if you got the bread
But if all you got is your own two legs
You best be glad you got 'em
[Orpheus:]
Wait for me, I'm coming
Wait, I'm coming with you
Wait for me, I'm coming too
I'm coming to
[Hermes:]
You're on the lam, you're on the run
Don't give your name, you don't have one
And don't look no one in the eye
That town will try to suck you dry
They'll suck your brain, they'll suck your breath
They'll pluck the heart right out your chest
They'll truss you up in your Sunday best
And stuff your mouth with cotton
[Orpheus:]
Wait for me, I'm coming
Wait, I'm coming with you
Wait for me, I'm coming too
I'm coming
Wait, wait, wait, wait

Comments (1)

Anonymous 2011-05-01 22:11:00

Wow, great lyrics. I'd say that the last verse there is about not letting people know anything about you because if you "give your name", the word "give" implies that you're allowing someone else to possess your name and that they'll use that against you. Because it's like it all starts with a name, but that little bit of information could lead to who knows what, and they'll continue to "suck you dry" until they can "pluck the heart right out your chest" and that means that they'll take away what you stand for, being a rebel, and then turn you into one of them by "trussing [binding] you up in your Sunday best". And finally, they'll "stuff your mouth with cotton", which means they'll take away your ability to speak, but furthermore, to have a say in anything.