Cattle and the Creeping Things is the second track from Separation Sunday. It is 3:47. A live acoustic version of the song appears as the first track on the Live At Fingerprints EP and the first track on the bonus disc of the Boys and Girls in America: Special Edition. This version of the track is 4:41.
Lyrics[]
they got to the part with the cattle and the creeping things. they said i'm pretty sure we've heard this one before. don't it all end up in some revelation? with 4 guys on horses, and violent red visions famine and death and pestilence and war. i'm pretty sure i heard this one before. you in the corner with a good looking drifter. two cups of coffee and ten packs of sugar. i heard gideon saw you in denver. he said you're contagious. silly rabbit. tripping is for teenagers. murder is for murderers. and hard drugs are for bartenders. i think i might have mentioned that before.
he's got the pages in his pockets that he ripped out of the bible from his bedstand in the motel. he likes the part where the traders get chased out from the temple. i guess i heard about original sin. i heard the dude blamed the chick. i heard the chick blamed the snake. i heard they were naked when they got busted. i heard things ain't been the same since. you on the streets with a tendency to preach to the choir. wired for sound and down with whatever. i heard gideon did you in denver.
she's got a cross around her neck that she ripped off from a schoolgirl in the subway on a visit to the city. she likes how it looks on her chest with three open buttons. she likes the part where one brother kills the other. she has to wonder if the the world ever will recover. because cain and abel seem to still be causing trouble.
she said: i was seeing double for 3 straight days after i got born again it felt strange but it was nice and peaceful. it really pleased me to be around so many people. of course half of them visions. half of them were friends from going thru the program with me. later on we did some sexy things. took a couple photographs and carved them into wood reliefs. but that's enough about me. tell me how you got down here into ybor city. he said: i got thru the part about the exodus. up to then i only knew it was a movement of the people. but if small town cops are like swarms of flies and if blackened foil is like boils and hail. then i'm pretty sure we've been thru this before. and it seemed like a simple place to score. then some old lady came to the door and said mckenzie phillips doesn't live here anymore.
Live Version[]
The live version on Live At Fingerprints is most noticeable for Franz Nicolay's accordian part. There are also changes to the lyrics. Most of these are just improvisations, but these ones are more noticeable:
...out from the temple (careful)...
...wired for sound and down with whatever. i heard gideon ssssscrewed you in denver...
...in the subway on a visit to the city. she likes how it looks with 1, 2, 3 open buttons...
...cain and abel they still to still be causing trouble (let's cause some trouble here)...
...he said: i got to the part about the exodus. right up to then i only knew that it was a movement of jah people...
Preamble[]
CF: Check, check, check, check, check.
Instuments checking levels
CF: Check, chase. Hey, thanks for coming and, uh, thanks to Fingerprints for having us. We're The Hold Steady. Uh, we're gonna be doing something that we d- have done occasionally, uh, recently, its our acoustic set, and we're gonna play some stuff, uh, probably off of all our records. Um, this first song is called Cattle and the Creeping Things.
Postamble[]
CF: Thank you.