Veneer

Song Meaning

The lyrics for "Veneer" paint a vivid, almost cinematic picture of a highway scene. We open with "Thirteen miles on 31 are drying," setting a post-rain atmosphere. Empty "cans of masquerade" litter the roadside, hinting at discarded pretense. The sky is a beautiful "lavender with ivory clouds," promising more rain. This initial imagery establishes a central tension: a world where superficial layers are both present and actively being stripped away. Children in yellow raincoats innocently "splash the deeper purple / Of veneer," suggesting that even playful acts can expose what lies beneath. This idea deepens with the description of animals whose "shiver skin is painted different shades," their teeth stained an "incandescent green" from grazing. These details evoke a sense of unnaturalness, a forced artistry. The most striking craft element is the repeated observation: "Indifferent they watch the rainfall / Steady blend their spots and run their stripes / Of veneer." This phrase, first applied to the animals and then echoed throughout the outro, underscores a passive, almost inevitable process. The rain doesn't just fall; it actively dissolves these painted surfaces. Later, "lovely ladies" deliberately "strip themselves of furs" and "bathe themselves in technicolor mire," a stark image of shedding external layers only to immerse in something equally artificial or messy. Ultimately, these lyrics are effective because they use concrete, evocative imagery to explore the pervasive nature of superficiality and its eventual, often indifferent, dissolution. The narrator's final declaration, "At 85 on 31, I'm flying," offers a potent contrast, suggesting a personal escape or transcendence from the observed world where layers are constantly being applied and washed away. The repeated outro, with its hypnotic chants and the embedded lines about indifference and blending, leaves a lingering impression of a world where true colors are always on the verge of being revealed.