Effect And Cause

(album: Icky Thump - 2007)

I guess you have to have a problem
If you want to invent a contraption
First you cause a train wreck
Then they put me in traction, mm
Well, first came an action
And then a reaction
But you can't switch 'em 'round
For your own satisfaction
Well you burnt my house down
Then got mad
At my reaction
Well in every complicated situation
Of a human relation
Making sense of it all
Takes a whole lotta concentration, mm
Well you can't blame a baby
For her pregnant ma
And if there's one of these unavoidable laws
It's that you just can't take the effect
And make it the cause, no

Well you can't take the effect
And make it the cause
I didn't rob a bank
Because you made up the law
Blame me for robbing Peter
But don't you blame Paul
Can't take the effect
And make it the cause

I ain't the reason that you gave me
No reason to return your call
You built a house of cards
And got shocked when you saw them fall, yeah... yeah
Well I ain't saying I'm innocent
In fact the reverse
But if you're headed to the grave
You don't blame the hearse
You're like a little girl yelling at her brother
'Cause you lost his ball, yeah
Well you keep blaming me
For what you did
But that ain't all
The way you clean up a wreck
Is enough to give one pause, yes
Well, you seem to forget just how this song started
I'm reacting to you
Because you left me brokenhearted
See you just can't just take the effect
And make it the cause

Well you can't take the effect
And make it the cause
I didn't rob a bank
Because you made up the law
Blame me for robbing Peter
But don't you blame Paul
Can't take the effect
And make it the cause