Husha’ traces the story of a couple visiting the narrator's hometown while in the death throes of their relationship. The town could be any forgotten corner of post-industrial North America, and the song perfectly captures the nostalgia and feeling of uprootedness that accompany economic decline and displacement. The story was apt before, but it seems particularly resonant now that the pandemic has punctured our collective sense of security.
lyrics
We went back to our hometown.
Used to know it blind, just by the sound:
The wind off the lake here,
And the way people talk.
What a shock to hear it again.
Husha, husha, darling.
Let me sing you a little song
Before it all goes wrong.
Husha, husha, darling.
It's a beautiful life.
Everything's all right.
See it now.
It's a lonesome place.
In the theatres of our youth, vacant space.
You say, "The colours have faded.
All the faces have closed."
I propose,
And you pat my head.
Husha, husha, darling.
Let me sing you a little song
Before it all goes wrong.
Husha, husha, darling.
It's a beautiful life.
Everything's all right.
Here's the house where I grew up.
Someone's selling it for nothing.
Boarded shut.
But we break in the back door,
Sleep in two different rooms
While the loons call to satellites.
Husha, husha, darling.
Let me sing you a little song
Before it all goes wrong.
Husha, husha, darling.
It's a beautiful life.
Everything's all right.
Morning, as you float downstairs
In your Cobain shirt and underwear,
There's sun through a window,
But there's rain in the air.
I wish I could flip some switch,
Make this simulation reel and glitch.
Have it melt all around me.
Try it over again.
What a shame there's no going back.
Husha, husha, darling.
Let me sing you a little song
Before it all goes wrong.
Husha, husha, darling.
It's a beautiful life.
Everything's all right.
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