Ain't No Rest For the Wicked: Song Review

This song was also a lost treasure that I found late one night while browsing the Alternative genre top 150 charts. The Caged Elephants have made so much music that I love still to this day. And they are still coming out with new stuff!! Right now, I can’t stop listening to their latest hit song “Cigarette Daydreams”. But let’s save that one for another time. Right now I want to talk about one of the greatest songs by The Caged Elephants ever made called “Ain’t No Rest For the Wicked” and what my interpretation of the song is.

To me, each verse represents something that could completely take control of you. The street he's walking on represents the course of his life.

In the first verse, the narrator encounters sex or lust. When he says, "You're such a sweet young thing, why do you do this to yourself?," I think he overcomes his temptations in search of a deeper form of love, though not completely.

I like to picture the person that the narrator encounters in the second verse as a drug dealer. I think that the whole verse vaguely talks about the risks and struggles associated with drugs and drug deals. I think it takes a while for him to overcome his temptation for drugs, contrasting the fifteen minutes that passed after his first encounter and the couple hours after his second encounter.

In the third verse, the narrator finally gets off of the street and into his house, as his life is winding down. He encounters religion, as a lot of people do towards the end of their life. He witnesses the corrupt bullshit that can take place behind the scenes of a church. He ends the verse in understanding because he has confronted these different temptations and he understands how easy it can be to get lost on the street of wickedness, even when you're subscribed to a religion that is meant to be pure.

These social issues exist as a result of our flawed capitalist system. Money fuels impurity and everybody is looking for their next thrill. It is sad that the world has come down to money and doing anything just to make a quick buck. I think that’s the main reason the group sang the song the way that they did. With anger and “wickedness”.