Alkaline Trio: Continental Meaning
Continental Lyrics
too close for comfort, bed and breakfast in a spoon
the shortest breath of your young life
a long walk home on friday night
you made, one last stop at the store
so close to perfect, swear to hell...
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I agree with what everyone else is saying, this song is about the death of a heroin using friend. Bed and breakfast in a spoon is obviously a reference to the gear used to cook a shot. The shortest breath of your young life and baby turning blue are both referring to how one dies when ODing on heroin, which is that they stop breathing and suffocate. And I've always assumed coffin nail meant not cigarette but needle.
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i kinda always thought this was about a friend who was always taking crazy risks. one night, he decided to rob a store (liquor store, convenience store doesn't really matter) the robbery didn't go as planned. the store owner had a gun and shot and killed the friend. "this won't take long, you said, i'm not going far. go wait in the car." these were the last words that his friend said to him before he died.
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As a friend of a former addict and a former addict myself, this song is definately about a friend who was heavily addicted and OD'd. The reference to making one last stop at the store refers to making one last stop for drugs, that stop being the final stop that took the friends life. The reference to this won't take long, I'm not going far... is probably reference to his friend stopping off to buy drugs and leaving him in the car. Oh, and the dying urge to feel the way you do has to do with friends and family of user's curiosity of how something could feel so good that it is worth lying, cheating, and dying for. I experienced this curiosity with my friend and I ended up an addict because of it. I just couldn't see how something could be worth all the trouble. This song moves me to no end. Love it.
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I'm going to break down each part of the song, based on what it means to me.
Intro: This song is written in the perspective of a friend of a heroin user (I put "he" but it could be a "she." Based off watching Youtube videos, and the song being written by Matt Skiba, I'm assuming Skiba is the friend. If anyone wants to argue you this…you win..I won’t argue back..its just easier to interpret that way.
Couplet #1
I've got a dying urge to feel the way you do
too close for comfort, bed and breakfast in a spoon
the shortest breath of your young life
a long walk home on Friday night
you made, one last stop at the store
Skiba ran into his friend on the street. Skiba starts by saying he'd like to feel high like the heroin user. "Feeling" clearly is describing the high you get using heroin. He says too "close for comfort"...he is referring to death. When someone uses heroin, even though the high is very good, it is very risky that someone can overdose and die, thus being "too close for comfort." Obviously "spoon" directs the listener to know he is talking about heroin. The shortest breath is implying the heroin user is in bad shape, being "short of breath" just walking home. Making "one last stop at the store" tells us that Skiba was driving his heroin user friend home, and the user asked Skiba to stop at a store real quick.
Couplet #2
So close to perfect, swear to hell thought it was you
this bouncing baby boys now turning baby blue
I've got your pictures on my walls, I got a long list of calls I must make...to your existing family
With "Thought it was you" Skiba is referring to seeing the old friend on the street, and since the friend has been using heroin so much, the friend is barely recognizable. The friend used to be young and healthy, which is why he mentions “Baby Blue.” Skiba has "pictures of him or her" hanging out with his old friend when he was healthy. Seeing this, Skiba feels obligated to get his friend help, so he says he has to call the user's family to try get someone to help the user. He also is giving the user a ride home.
Chorus
you had 9 lives and one by one you chewed them up
your final coffin nails been driven far too much
this won't take long you said I'm not going far
go wait in the car
go wait in the car
The 9 lives obviously is reference the old "cats have 9 lives" saying, but the idea is that the user had so many chances to clean up, but kept messing up...and using heroin again. The coffin line is basically saying that the heroin user has beat up their body so much that they will never make a full recovery. The user asked Skiba to stop at the store real quick. The user then asked Skiba to wait in the car. The user promises Skiba they won't bail on him. As someone mentioned earlier, I believe Skiba's car is a Lincoln Continental.
Couplet #3
i often wonder whats it feels like to be you
a mess like this stuck on your hands with crazy glue
ran out of time, no kiss goodbye
wish I could learn to let this sleeping dog die
with out lying to myself
Skiba again admits that he has curiosity to know what it feels like to be high on heroin. The mess that is stuck on the user's hands is a heroin addiction, and its hard to get rid of like “crazy glue.” "Ran out of time" explains more of what the chorus means more. The user most likely died, but "Ran Out" also explains that the drug user didn't come back. Skiba's friend clearly didn't come back to the car because he or she ran off. Skiba regretfully trusted his friend enough to go into the store, and they didn't even get a chance to say goodbye since the user ran off. Skiba then feels disappointed because he thought he could help the heroin addict friend out, when in actuality, he should have left them on the street to die high in peace...like a "sleeping dog."
you had 9 lives and one by one you chewed them up
your final coffin nails been driven far too much
this won't take long you said I'm not going far
go wait in the car
go wait in the car
you had 9 lives and one by one you chewed them up
your final coffin nails been driven far too much
this won't take long you said I'm not going far
go wait in the car
go wait in the car
The last chorus is sang an octave higher, and with much more frustration. Obviously, because of this, we can further assume Skiba’s friend never came back. Skiba probably didn’t see his friend again, and he just assumed they died from their heroin addiction. He also must feel angry about the whole situation.
Clearly the person meant something to Skiba. Here is a link of Alkaline Trio performing the song, and you can clearly see 50 seconds into the video that Skiba is heavily balling his eyes out as he sings the song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1vg_aq1Gdo
The overall message….instead of waiting in his Continental, and instead of having all the user’s family/ friends forget about them, maybe they could have done something sooner.
With this interpretation, I think this is by far the most powerful Trio song to date. Hope this makes sense. If anyone has questions, please respond. I spent a lot time on this haha... -
Matt said at a show that it was about a friend of his who he used to drive to rehab in his lincoln continental. Ultimately his friend overdosed.
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I read somewhere the song is about the addiction of someone close.
~nick -
I think it's about an overdose...
he wants to feel the way a dead person does, so he does heroin.. Too close for comfort...
baby boy turning baby blue - son/little brother crying till out of breath - possibly not born yet..
chewed one by one/coffin nail drivin far too much -= pills she always did ... This time too many..
i think it was his mom.. cause of the referance of being perfect.. Thought it was you....maybe
love these guys, just wish they didn't have such an Emo visual sometimes..
kyle -
Yea its a suicide type of thing but maybe a suicide by drugs while the girl is pregnant or maybe a self abortion thing. only reason I think this is the line "this bouncing baby boy's now turning baby blue"
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Not sure if it's true, but me and my sister interpreted all the lines into an abortion thing...involving drugs maybe
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There are references to heroine with the spoon, but also there are references to cigarettes, like "your final coffin nails been driven far too much" cigarettes are sometimes referred to as coffin nails. I'm not saying the whole song is about that, but that line does sound like that, maybe cigarettes and heroine?
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Matt said he wrote this song while on warped tour when he heard about how his friend overdosed.
So possibly his friend was constantly destroying himself with drugs, and it finally caught up to him. -
I heard somewhere that this song was about losing a friend to drugs. I forget where I heard that, though, but I thought I'd toss it out there. "Too close for comfort bed and breakfast in a spoon" this could refer to cooking heroin or something so I guess like she died of an overdose.
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This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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