Music Fanon Wikia
Register
Advertisement

Paperback is an acoustic rock song from the alternative rock band Snow, off of their debut album. It gained notoriety when alternative metal band Wisdom Tree covered it for their 2001 album Menace Sunday.

Meaning[]

The concept of the song came when the band learned that one of their former classmates hung himself. They recalled that the student was highly apathetic and it was foretold that he would die at some point. It's a cynical approach to what goes through one's mind before they ultimately kill themselves.

Lyrics[]

You wanted Venice

I gave you Cheyenne

Give me my peace

Or I'll suffer again

If you treated me better

I'd make it through the day

Now should I just fade away

Or rub elbows with the greats

(chorus)

I'd go the way

Of my tome

Like my hope from years ago

x2

You say that I will make it

But just for how long?

You take my inhibitions

And make me feel so wrong

You say that I'm not sane

That I could still get better

Yet you change your mind

As much as Yellow Ledbetter

(chorus)

I've trotted holy ground

I took the high road

How could I have regret

When there's so little I've known

I couldn't take my time

Fought back off the dime

Will I be forgiven

When I reach my time?

(solo)


Wisdom Tree Cover[]

Wisdom Tree covered the song for their 2001 album Menace Sunday.

Music Videos[]

The first music video, by Snow, is a recording of a live performance at Central Park, interspersed with footage of the band on vacation in Hawaii with their faces blurred out.

Two videos were made for the Wisdom Tree cover. The first, for the promotional release, featured the band performing in a boiler room and featured distortion and washed-out colors. The second video featured the spirit of a young man who watches his family attempting to resuscitate his real body. Throughout the video, there're cuts to items such as a rope and pills, which hints at how he died and scenes of the band performing the song in a bathroom. The video ends with the family leaving the room and the man re-entering his body.

Advertisement