Fleas

Song Meaning

The narrator recalls childhood advice from both parents, framing it as a stark warning against a certain kind of life. His father's adage about sleeping with dogs leading to inevitable fleas sets a tone of consequence, a lesson learned at ten years old. This initial image suggests a direct correlation between bad company and unwelcome outcomes, a simple, almost proverbial piece of wisdom. The core tension emerges from the conflicting messages of his mother. She urges him to achieve the material success she couldn't provide, yet simultaneously warns him not to repeat her own perceived mistakes. The repeated phrase "Follow what I say, not what I've done" becomes the central, ironic directive, highlighting a life lived with regret and a desperate hope for her son to avoid it. The most striking craft element is the stark contrast between the father's simple, almost folk-tale warning and the mother's complex, emotionally charged plea. The father's lesson is about external actions leading to direct, physical consequences ("scratching those inevitable fleas"). The mother's is about internal aspiration and the avoidance of her own life's perceived failures, a more abstract and perhaps more burdensome inheritance. This lyrical structure effectively captures the weight of parental expectation and the potential for inherited anxieties. The narrator, presented as a child absorbing these pronouncements, is implicitly positioned to grapple with the legacy of his parents' choices. The effectiveness lies in the directness of the advice, which, while seemingly straightforward, carries a heavy undercurrent of unspoken history and parental disappointment.