Song Lyrics

Papa don't preach,
I beseech you man,
Your devilish deeds teach more than a teacher can.
What have we learned?
Which lessons won't stick?
Tracing the edges of wisdom and shit.

Knowing how the world works is not knowing how to work the world.
Knowing how the world works is not knowing how to work the world.

You're tracing it's movements,
Predict it's every turn;
You watch down from above and record what you learn.
You're graphing the data and tagging up our ears.
Complex simulations with graph paper gears.

Knowing how the world works is not knowing how to work the world.
Knowing how the world works is not knowing how to work the world.

Wistful in his widows peak,
So to speak,
He stands.
A son confronts his father with his hat in his hands.
All the things you never could do I never can
All the things I blamed on you I see I now do too.

Knowing how the world works is not knowing how to work the world.
Knowing how the world works is not knowing how to work the world.

A handful of stories,
A house full of cards,
A mouthful of sorrys,
And a heart full up of scars.
I take a handful of you and you take a handful of me,
I put it in my mouth and chew it up so thoroughly

I learnt just one thing when I was young,
Pretend that you hate everything you love

Syd Butler, Tim Harrington, Harrison Haynes, Seth Jabour

The duration of Knowing How the World Works is 4:49 minutes and seconds.