Standing In Line
Sections:
Lyrics
We shared the world like a private joke
Laughed our way out of hues and cries
Inhaled under the Bridge of Sighs
It's not the way it was
The weather came you were skating on fire
And love spilled out like antifreeze
The ice floes melted in separate seas
If I was slow to learn
I will wait for another turn
I've been standing in line so long
I've been standing in line so long
I've been weighing the shape of things to come
You draw your lines from memory's cage
I write songs for a jealous god
Two spoiled kids and a velvet rod
It's not the way it was
And I'd pursue you through any hell
I'd swim upstream 'til I find the source
Dam the Mississippi and change its course
If it was up to me
If it was mine to turn
I've been standing in line so long
I've been standing in line so long
I've been weighing the shape of things to come
I've been standing in line so long
I've been wondering what went wrong
I've been weighing the shape of things to come
You'll come to
Sooner or later
You'll come to
You'll come to
Sooner or later
You'll come to
I've been standing in line so long
I've been standing in line so long
I've been weighing the shape of things to come
I've been standing in line so long
I've been wondering what went wrong
I've been weighing the shape of things to come
I've been standing in line so long
I've been wondering what went wrong
I've been weighing the shape of things to come
I've been standing in line so long
I've been wondering what went wrong
I've been trying to understand
And I'm not gonna leave
And I'm not gonna leave
Recorded Appearances
Albums
- Goliath (2014)
- Goliath Deluxe Edition (2015)
- Daytrotter Sessions (2015)
- Wow To The Liveness (2016)
About The Song
From Interview: Steve Taylor & the Perfect Foil, Standing in Line, October 10th, 2014:
Interviewer J. Edward Keyes: So, this song, to me, seems to be about two people whose lives started in the same place, but as time went on, they began taking different paths. What got you thinking along those lines?
Steve: I always reserve the right to mix up autobiographical and non-autobiographical stuff in the same song, and that's probably the case with this one as well. It just started going and grew -- there was that line about "inhaling under the bridge of sighs / it's not the way it was," it seems like any relationship goes through peaks and valleys and I've found that in my relationship with my wife, our commitment to stay together supersedes all of those valleys. That was the basic ideas, that sometimes when those are happening, you feel like you're in a waiting room, but you're determined not to leave.
From Goliath: A Song By Song Description, NewReleaseTuesday.com, November 17th, 2014:
I don't think I've ever written a wholly biographical song. Part of the thrill of writing comes in mixing fact and fiction in varying combinations. But those of us who have enjoyed long and mostly happy marriages--all four of us are still married to our original wives--know that any relationship lasting decades goes through ebbs and flows. This was written during one of the ebbs."