Ricochet

The lyrics portray people living with insecurity and routine hardship. Workers wait for jobs, news, and the daily journey to factories or mines, while fear seems to follow them. The mood grows from bleak observation into a more personal sadness: exhausted people return home and hold their children, trying to offer comfort despite having little certainty about the future. The repeated question about being forgotten suggests a strong need to matter to someone.

“Like weeds on a rockface waiting for the scythe” compares vulnerable people to plants that may be cut down at any moment. “Ricochet” literally means a sound or object bouncing off a surface; here, its repetition may suggest events or troubles that keep striking and returning. Turning holy pictures to face the wall could imply despair, rejection of faith, or simply a private act of distress. “March of flowers, march of dimes” brings together images of beauty and small amounts of money, set against the harsher refrain about prisons and crimes.

The song does not explain exactly what the “prisons” are. They might be literal institutions, but they can also suggest poverty, repetitive work, or social conditions that limit people’s choices. The “devil breaking parole” sounds like danger escaping restraint, though it remains symbolic. The final promises to children are described as impossible to fulfill, yet the embrace is real: love offers relief, even if it cannot solve the hardship.