You should actually probably tell them to be darker. For the sake of art.

Vegangelica, how sweet of you to post about the boys' song! And to you, as well as to ribbons and Blarobbarg, thank you very much for your kind praise for it! I've felt SO dumb that I posted specifics about the song without thinking what a newbie no-no that might be on a music message board. But you've made me feel forgiven and I so appreciate your kind praise for what these boys are accomplishing. :)

And the kind things all three of you said to me, about the kind of parenting we are trying to do, really meant a lot.

Mrd00d, thanks for your post, too! I love the Cake songs my husband breaks out sometimes. I hadn't heard this one and I'm so glad you brought it up. I totally agree that it leans in a much less negative direction. In fact, I think it makes an important point, like in "Ozymandias", that much of the stuff we get so excited about, and maybe make bad decisions to obtain, eventually turns out to be insignificant or ruined or, at the least, one more thing to be taken care of, stored, replaced, disposed of, etc. The song definitely doesn't leave me with the picture of one person verbally abusing another.

And you asked about the musical emotion-if I understand your meaning, both songs are musically upbeat, Cake's being more so than the song my sons wrote. I LOVE the trumpets. Thanks again, Mrd00d.

Neapolitan, I appreciate your input, as well. Good observations about another part of the song. I haven't worried about the heart/head/hand part being literal because these boys, while they love a touch of "dark", are not into hateful or violent music or art. They are generally happy, carefree guys. I know that "heart in hand" traditionally means charity/love given from one's heart; I figured my son was just extending that meaning a bit with the added "head in hand". The "pouring poison" part does give me pause. But when I ask about that, I will do so in a much gentler, open-minded, and supportive way, thanks to all the great posts here. :)

I'm so glad I came to this board to ask my question!

Neapolitan, I would take the line "Heart in hand head in hand" as a feeling of despair (ie I have my head in my hands, you know, when you're at your wits' end?) not as literally cutting someone's head off, which I think is how you took it? Of course it may mean something else but I think that's it: a sense of coming to the end of your rope.

As for the problem line: could it not be taken as a decision to face the truth, realise something is never going to happen and cut the ties, instead of going on blindly and hoping it'll all work out? Sometimes the phrase "sick of you" can have positive meanings, and although this is generally a negative I still think it works very well in this song by Tom Waits and Crystal Gayle.