Haligh, Haligh, A Lie, Haligh lyrics

Song information

Artist: Bright Eyes
Album: Fevers & Mirrors

Lyrics

The phone slips from a loose grip
Words were missed, then some apology
I didn't want to tell you this—
No, it's just some guy she's been hanging out with—
I don't know, the past couple of weeks, I guess

Thank you and hang up the phone
Let the funeral start, hear the casket close
Let's pin split-black ribbon to your overcoat
The laughter pours from under doors in this house
I don't understand that sound no more
Seems artificial, like a t.v. set

Haligh, haligh, a lie, haligh
This weight, it must be satisfied
You offer only one reply
You know not what you do
As you tear and tear your hair from roots
Of that same head you've twice removed
Now a lock of hair you said would prove
Our love would never die
Well, ha ha ha

I remember everything
The words we spoke on freezing south street
All those mornings watching you
Get ready for school
You combed your hair inside that mirror
The one you painted blue
And glued with jewelry tears
Something about those bright colors
Would always make you feel better

But now we speak with ruined tongues
And the words we say aren't meant for anyone
It's just a mumbled sentence to
A passing acquaintance
But there was once you
You said you hate my suffering, and you understood
And you'd take care of me
You'd always be there
Well, where are you now?

Haligh, haligh, a lie, haligh
The plans were never finalized
But left to hang like yarn and twine
Dangling before my eyes
As you tear and tear your hair from roots
From that same head that you have twice removed
Now, a lock of hair you said would prove
Our love would never die
And I sing and sing of awful things
(The pleasure that my sadness brings)
As my fingers press onto the strings
Yet another clumsy chord

Haligh, haligh, an awful lie
This weight would now be satisfied
I'm gonna give you only one reply
I know not who I am
But I talk in the mirror
To the stranger that appears
Our conversations are circles
Always one sided, nothing is clear
Except we keep coming back
To this meaning that I lack
He says the choices were given
And now, you must live them
Or just not live
But do you want that?