Missed the Boat - Modest Mouse

While we’re on the subject

Could we change the subject now?

I was knocking on your ear’s door

But you were always out

Looking towards the future

We were begging for the past

Well, we knew we had the good things

But those never seemed to last

Oh, please just last

Everyone’s unhappy

Everyone’s ashamed

Well, we all just got caught looking

At somebody else’s page

Well, nothing ever went

Quite exactly as we planned

Our ideas held no water

But we used them like a dam

Oh, and we carried it all so well

As if we got a new position

Oh, and I laugh all the way to Hell

Saying, «Yes, this is a fine promotion»

Oh, and I laugh all the way to Hell

Of course everyone goes crazy

Over such and such and such

We made ourselves a pillar

We just used it as a crutch

We were certainly uncertain

At least, I’m pretty sure I am

Well, we didn’t need the water

But we just built that good-God-dam

Oh, and I know this of myself

I assume as much for other people

Oh, and I know this of myself

We’ve listened more to life’s end-gong than

The sound of life’s sweet bells

Was it ever worth it?

Was there all that much to gain?

Well, we knew we’d missed the boat

And we’d already missed the plane

We didn’t read the invite

We just dance at our own wake

All our favorites were a-playing

So we could shake, shake, shake, shake, shake

Tiny curtain’s open

And we heard the tiny clap of little hands

A tiny man would tell a little joke

And get a tiny laugh from all the folks

Sittin', driftin' around on bubbles, and

Thinkin' it was us that carried them

When we finally got it figured out

That we had truly missed the boat

Oh, and we carried it all so well

As if we got a new position

Oh, and we owned all the tools ourselves

But not the skills to make a shelf with

Oh, what useless tools ourselves