Passing Through a Screen Door

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“Passing Through a Screen Door” is the second track on The Greatest Generation, as well as the first full-length track on that album. It details lead singer and lyricist… Read More

Mar. 27, 20131 viewer65.5K views

Passing Through a Screen Door Lyrics

[Intro]
Cigarette smoke dances back in the window
And I can see the haze on the dome light
I’m conjuring ghosts on a forty-hour ride home
And they keep asking me what I’m doing with my life
While my cousins go to bed with their wives
I’m feeling like I've fallen behind

[Verse 1]
Well, the highway won
I’m listening to traffic reports one on one
Coming quietly undone
I was born to run
Away from anything good
An escape artist's son
Sun-drenched pavement in my blood
The first thing that I do when I walk in
Is find a way out for when shit gets bad, and

[Chorus]
I’ve been looking for
Tears in the screen door (Tears in the screen door)
I’ve been waiting for
Another disaster (Another disaster)

[Verse 2]
Well I’m terrified
Like a kid in the sixties
Staring at the sky
Waiting for the bomb to fall
And it’s all a lie
What they say about stability
It scares me sometimes
The emptiness I see in my eyes
And all the kids' names I’ve ever liked
Are tied to tragedy
And I don’t want my children growing up to be
Anything like me

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[Chorus]
I’ve been looking for
Tears in the screen door (Tears in the screen door)
I’ve been waiting for
Another disaster (Another disaster)
And I was kinda hoping you'd stay
I was kinda hoping you'd stay

[Bridge]
I keep a flashlight
And a small knife
In the corner of my bed stand
I keep a flashlight
And the train times
But you wouldn't understand
How could you understand?
Jesus Christ, I’m twenty-six
All the people I graduated with
All have kids
All have wives
All have people who care if they come home at night
Well, Jesus Christ, did I fuck up?

[Chorus]
I’ve been looking for
Tears in the screen door (Tears in the screen door)
I’ve been waiting for
Another disaster (Another disaster)
And I was kinda hoping you'd stay
I was kinda hoping you'd stay
I was kinda hoping you'd stay

About

“Passing Through a Screen Door” is the second track on The Greatest Generation, as well as the first full-length track on that album.

It details lead singer and lyricist Dan ‘Soupy’ Campbell’s life-crisis, where he questions the decisions he’s made and dwells on his nature of running and cowering when things inevitably go wrong.

Mostly, it features him breaking down as he regrets not settling and creating a family, comparing himself to his graduating class as well as his cousins, who did just that. Other underlying themes could be paranoia, panic attacks, and/or fight or flight responses.