Songtext Family farm The Hold Steady

Family farm

St. Catherine's was a nightmare
You know they took away my headphones
Sure they let you keep your handset
But the courtyard is a dead zone

And the nurse that they assigned me
Had Eruption as her ring tone
Blasting out through built-in speakers like it's bug spray
Buzzing like a hornet halfway blown

If you're still in Pennsylvania
I'd advise you not to leave
Take some nickels from the fountain
Make your friends and fall asleep

Let your sins be of omission
I wish you wouldn't engage with all these creeps
'Cause they're never going to love you that one specific way
That you want 'em all to love you

(The way you want them to love you)
(The way you want them to love you)
With a flexible schedule and a willingness to trade your medications
(The way you want them to love you)
Obsessive and controlling and coming up on total suffocation
She came into the cantina singing "This Must Be The Place"
Said faithful has its limits, I just want to see his face
Before she took her shot she said a little grace
Said "Lord, grant me the power to stop these hands from shaking"

I'd been falling in the fountain since a week or so before
I'd been rattled by the accident, my shoulders were still sore
I almost rolled my eyes when they asked me how to score
But sometimes it feels sweet to be the teacher

When she was combing through the carpet I could not resist her charms
She brought me to a fortress, she called the family farm
And out along the towers there were guards with heavy arms
I guess there was some tension with the neighbors

Tripping at the airstrip, drinking on the runway
Laughing at the jets as we watched them fly away
She said you get what you get when you push too far ahead
They put us in these places for a reason

(The way you want them to love you)
(The way you want them to love you)
Shaking your head with resignation masquerading as wisdom
(The way you want them to love you)
Leaning on the lamp post just jangling the keys to the kingdom
(The way you want them to love you)
Listing in the lobby of a hotel on the highway
Not sure you even want to be rescued
(The way you want them to love you)
'Cause they're never going to love you that one specific way
That you want them all to love you
(The way you want them to love you)
And you want them all to love you