Old Jaw

Song Meaning

This track opens with a disorienting, almost circular insistence: "And you're about what you're about what you're about." It’s a phrase that feels like a verbal tic, a way to circle around an unspoken truth or a persistent, unshakeable characteristic of another person. The repetition suggests a kind of exasperated observation, a recognition that someone is fundamentally themselves, for better or worse, and the narrator has come to accept or at least acknowledge this. The core tension here seems to be the narrator's relationship with someone whose words and stories held significant sway. "Every word in your mouth" is repeatedly emphasized, suggesting a powerful influence, perhaps even a manipulative one, that "got the lashes out." This imagery hints at a reaction, a defense mechanism or a painful consequence triggered by these words. The narrator confesses, "I guess I marked my life / With your lines more than I ever did mine," a stark admission of how deeply this other person's narrative has shaped their own existence. The lyrics then pivot to a more visceral, almost physical sense of decay and loss. The narrator's "face rusted like those wind chimes in rust light," a potent image of aging and neglect, perhaps mirroring the state of their relationship or their own self-perception after being so influenced. The specific, almost bizarre references like "old jaw jokes," "old Ed size," and "Robert's prison guard skin" feel like attempts to grasp at concrete, perhaps even crude, memories or traits of this influential person, highlighting a struggle to define them beyond their words. Ultimately, the song seems to grapple with the lasting impact of another's influence, particularly how their narratives can become internalized. The narrator learns "it's the fingers and the placement" – a detail that suggests a subtle, perhaps even intimate, mechanism of control or connection. The "weight giving way" and the startling awakenings point to a slow, painful process of realization and perhaps detachment, where memories are reduced to simple markers like "the photo and the frame," before the cyclical phrase about what someone "is about" returns, suggesting the enduring nature of that core characteristic.