Shins, The - 40 Mark Strasse Lyrics






Is it all so very simple
And horribly complex?
You suffer in a thimble
And there's nothing coming next

Your mom smokes in the kitchen
Her voice a cutting drone
So creeping out, you pass the bar
Your father's second home
That leaves you on your own

Nights I'd often watch you
Float across the grounds
Out the gate to the motorway
What secrets have you found?

You had to know I wanted
Something from you then
Too young to know just what it was
Something more than a friend
Is that you at the end?

Where you play in the street at night
Blown like a broken kite
My girl, you're giving up the fight
Are you gonna let these Americans
Put another dent in your life?

My mother says you're dirty
They're gonna find you dead
But have you got that final chapter
Written in your head?

Cause every single story
Is a story about love
Both the overflowing cup
And the painful lack thereof
You got the heart of a dove

But you play in the street at night
Blown just like a broken kite
My girl, you're giving up the fight
You'll have to lose all them childish notions
If you're gonna let these American boys
Put another dent in your life

You play in the street at night
Blown just like a broken kite
My girl, you're giving up the fight
You'll have to lose all them childish notions
Are you gonna let these Americans
Put another dent in your life?





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Shins, The 40 Mark Strasse Comments
  1. L.... S....

    This song is just too painful for me to listen to all the way through. My girlfriend struggles with depression amongst other things. I try to help but now she just pushes me away, I feel so helpless and I don’t know what to do.

    L.... S....

    I might not know you both, but, i do know that you both can really get through this, life is one of many circles revolving each other around, lines that don't end and make new lines. Everything changes and everything stays. I believe in you two.

  2. J.... C....

    😍 the best song of the shins, the lyrics of the chorus are top 🙌

  3. j.... m....

    dent?....get to work

  4. H.... G....

    James Mercer is a god.

  5. A.... r....

    4th feb, 2019.. Monday

  6. M.... R....

    my fav shins song no question

  7. N.... S....

    3:39 am and I needed this.

  8. G.... ....

    Is it all so very simple
    And horribly complex?
    You suffer in a thimble
    And there's nothing coming next

    Your mom smokes in the kitchen
    Her voice a cutting drone
    So creeping out, you pass the bar
    Your father's second home
    That leaves you on your own

    Nights I'd often watch you
    Float across the grounds
    Out the gate to the motorway
    What secrets have you found?

    You had to know I wanted
    Something from you then
    Too young to know just what it was
    Something more than a friend
    Is that you at the end?

    Where you play in the street at night
    Blown like a broken kite
    My girl, you're giving up the fight
    Are you gonna let these Americans
    Put another dent in your life?

  9. I.... ....

    SIGN UP



    40 Mark Strasse

    The Shins

    James Mercer’s dad was in the Air Force and he lived in Germany when he was younger. “40 Mark…read more »

    40 MARK STRASSE LYRICS

    Is it all so very simple
    And horribly complex?
    You suffer in a thimble
    And there's nothing coming next

    Your mom smokes in the kitchen
    Her voice a cutting drone
    So creeping out, you pass the bar
    Your father's second home
    That leaves you on your own

    Nights I'd often watch you
    Float across the grounds
    Out the gate to the motorway
    What secrets have you found?

    You had to know I wanted
    Something from you then
    Too young to know just what it was
    Something more than a friend
    Is that you at the end?

    Where you play in the street at night
    Blown like a broken kite
    My girl, you're giving up the fight
    Are you gonna let these Americans
    Put another dent in your life?

    My mother says you're dirty
    They're gonna find you dead
    But have you got that final chapter
    Written in your head?

    Cause every single story
    Is a story about love
    Both the overflowing cup
    And the painful lack thereof
    You got the heart of a dove

    But you play in the street at night
    Blown just like a broken kite
    My girl, you're giving up the fight
    You'll have to lose all them childish notions
    If you're gonna let these American boys
    Put another dent in your life

    You play in the street at night
    Blown just like a broken kite
    My girl, you're giving up the fight
    You'll have to lose all them childish notions
    Are you gonna let these Americans
    Put another dent in your life?

  10. a.... ....

    Been years still listening❤️

  11. L.... a....

    I prefectly synced this video at the same time as I played the song out of another app, both on my laptop. It sounded really cool.

  12. E.... P....

    This song makes me profoundly nostalgic for the past..... to think that one could have had all the girls one wanted for 40 marks, nowadays one has to shell out more than the double.

  13. j.... r....

    the best song on the whole album

  14. M.... F....

    That chorus... oh my god his voice

  15. F.... F....

    awesome song

  16. W.... ....

    what's on the album cover?

    W.... ....

    I think it's a llama...but I just found this band

    W.... ....

    do you like them cuz ik i do

    W.... ....

    @ambiee e. I LOVE LLAMAS....SHINS ROCK

    W.... ....

    hells yea

  17. M.... F....

    my favorite one

  18. w.... ....

    Who disliked this

    w.... ....

    Kanye did.

    w.... ....

    😂😂😂

    w.... ....

    The Russians. 😂😂😂😂😂

    w.... ....

    wintersuga50 people who blow like a broken kite

  19. R.... M....

    I just listened to this song and frankly I love it!

  20. M.... S....

    This is so fkin perfect, when you listen to it during some nice sunny day :)

  21. P.... W....

    this is more touching if you know about story of this song which from Mercer's childhood experience.

    P.... W....

    yeah! i'm actually really glad to hear that story. i love this song, but there were a few lines in here that i could tell were referring to something i couldn't quite catch without the back story

    P.... W....

    Would be helpful if lyricists included some more info in their songs. 'when I was a kid, I lived on an air force base in germanyyyy - lots of prozzies'. From there everything would flow nicely.

    P.... W....

    I learned a little German in school so I deduced the military base, but I always put myself into it. I'm sure that military families have social class structures too, and I imagined myself the Army brat girl the song's about... sneaking out to wander the dark sanctuary outside-away from the flawed parents, and all the idiots looking down their noses at me/us... like my real adolescence, but conscripted in Deutschland lol

    P.... W....

    Thanks for this, I always wondered what the back story was.

    P.... W....

    @Tor Parsons Dude, thank you so much for the back story.. I believe I was stationed at that base: Ramstein. The road mentioned was a shortcuts of sorts to the local city, Kaiserslautern. Ironically perhaps, there was a McDonald's just before the campers these ladies did their business in. The area was (perhaps apocryphally) known as the largest contention of Americans outside of the US, there was a large USAF hospital nearby in addition to RAB and a few army posts of various sizes as well; we referred to the area as the "KMC." Incidentally, 40 marks would have equaled roughly $25 in '96 or so.
    I've jammed this song since the album dropped and never knew. Wild.

  22. A.... M....

    "both the over-flowing cup, and the painful lack there-of" wow

    A.... M....

    Beautiful c:

  23. E.... L....

    Takes me back to Kaiserslautern, Germany, early 1980s and seeing the prostitutes walk the street around the air base. 

    E.... L....

    @Esmeralda's Life Fandango I knew this street and I love this wonderful song. i was born and grown up in Kaiserslautern. In the early seventies i met some GIs who where there and had Appearances in Vietnam...and had services in Ramstein, Vogelweh etc...Not funny for this quys..I am glad that this Band handle this topic ...Great Band..

    E.... L....

    Ktown whores!

    E.... L....

    I remember that street. There was a record store I used to ride my motorcycle to, and it was the first time I saw prostitutes openly soliciting like that. This was in 1977. I felt kind of sorry for them.

  24. 1.... ....

    Mmm. Work dat falsetto.

  25. D.... K....

    Gotta listen to entire records to get to these gems. Great to see there are new artists out there making real music... you just got to look for it. Great song and album.

    D.... K....

    new artist? The Shins have been making music since 1996...

    D.... K....

    New to me I guess, regardless, good stuff.

    D.... K....

    @Dave K I don't know if you know this by now, but there's an app called Pandora that you can create a personalized radio station on by typing in a band name, and it will play songs from that band and other bands that sound like it, and you can thumbs up and thumbs down songs so it will either play them more often or never play them again. I don't know a single Shins album, but I know this song because it comes up on my Shins Pandora channel.

  26. e.... n....

    Hauntingly beautiful.

  27. R.... H....

    It's " a heart of a dove "

  28. R.... ....

    This song is straight up "groovy". Listen to that chorus! Fuck yeah!

  29. T.... K....

    the best song ever of port of morrow

  30. H.... G....

    beautiful

  31. w.... ....

    Wake up America!!

  32. S.... B....

    This is one of my favorite songs. James mercer is amazing!!

  33. T.... ....

    "Every single story is a story about love. Both the overwhelming kind, and the painful lack thereof." <3

    T.... ....

    TheHouseOffice Literally just heard that lyric in sync with reading this.

  34. G.... M....

    Is it just me or does this song sound like 'heart songs' by Weezer. And Weezer sounds like the acoustic version of 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' by Nirvana.
    Also in 'Heart Songs' they reference Nevermind the Nirvana album...
    Am I really onto something, or is it just me?

  35. J.... R....

    it's magic!

  36. J.... W....

    Basically, it's James Mercer. He replaces the entire band for every album.

  37. s.... ....

    I believe that it's about a prostitute that used to hang around 40 Mark Strasse street, Germany, during WW2. The "American boys" lyric is in reference to the American soldiers who would visit that street. Or this is what I was told, anyway.

    s.... ....

    sapphireblueifyable it was still a 40 mark strasse when i was there in the early 90s

    s.... ....

    Mark Beaver it was 50 mark strasse by the time I got there lol

  38. S.... ....

    So what's the story?

  39. s.... ....

    My friend was the one who explained this song to me, and I love the story behind it.

  40. s.... m....

    This reminds me of a girl I used to know..

  41. N.... M....

    ugh so perfect

  42. r.... ....

    I love this album so much, its just so chilled 3 saw them live at Leeds fest last year, unbelievable! I do.hope they come back this year

  43. E.... A....

    whoa! really? I gotta join the people who praise this collection--the whole thing is solid ... it's like reading a book that someone spent time polishing, sentence for sentence, for years vs. a cranked-out pile of raw-muse/repeat stream of consciousness ... loads of heart on this one guys--mega bravo!!!

  44. G.... ....

    ? um no I just don't find a majority of the songs on this album good, I think James is running out of creative energy, but I'm sure he can still make more great music :)

  45. p.... ....

    There are plenty of good songs on this album, you're just addicted to the chorus.

  46. K.... R....

    i think u r right S.A. VATO

  47. G.... ....

    FINALLY A GOOD SONG ON THIS ALBUM

  48. L.... C....

    This is the first album that I listened of them, and every single time I heard it again I love it more and more. It's such a beautiful work of artistic expression. Love the themes, the melodies, the voice and style of the band. One of the best albums of 2012!

  49. t.... ....

    <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 - all the hearts in the world cannot explain to what extent I love this song :)

  50. p.... t....

    james mercer is the shins, whats the diff who plays behind him songs sound just as great!!

  51. P.... ....

    whats that sound that kinda sounds like a dolphin?

  52. K.... L....

    Best song on the album in my opinion!

  53. s.... h....

    songs in this album have grown on me i must say :D not all great but not terrible xD

  54. p.... t....

    james murcer........ty

  55. t.... ....

    This song is so beautiful. I was worried about the new album, with the new line up, but any doubt I had is entirely gone.

  56. S.... H....

    Ohhhhhhhhhhh myyyyyyyyyyy gaaaaaaaaawwwwwwd!!! <3

  57. K.... F....

    This is just beautiful

  58. J.... T....

    Best shins release!!!

  59. V.... C....

    this is gold