Folk / 2026-06-12
Chainsaw Serenade
A reflective folk song envies a chainsaw's simple purpose, contrasting human doubt with a tool's certainty and work.
Recording
Chainsaw Serenade
Smartass Amoeba
Lyrics
Chainsaw Serenade
By Smartass Amoeba
verseFolks spend their whole lives searching
For a reason they can name
Chasing after meaning
Through fortune, love, and fame
verseBut out behind the woodshed
Hanging where the tools all stay
Is a machine that knows its purpose
Every single day
chorusChainsaw serenade
Singing through the pines
You don't doubt tomorrow
You don't second-guess your design
verseSmoke and steel and gasoline
Honest as the falling rain
Lord, I wish I knew myself
Like you know your chain
verseEvery tooth along that bar
Knows exactly where it goes
Never asks the meaning
Of the timber that it throws
verseWhile I stand here counting years
Wondering what remains
You just pull the world apart
One clean cut at a time
chorusChainsaw serenade
Singing through the pines
You don't doubt tomorrow
You don't second-guess your design
verseSmoke and steel and gasoline
Honest as the falling rain
Lord, I wish I knew myself
Like you know your chain
bridgeMaybe purpose isn't hidden
Maybe it ain't all that deep
Maybe life is simply doing
What you promised you would keep
verseMaybe all this overthinking
Is a game we humans play
While the answers idle quietly
Out behind the shed all day
instrumental break
chorusChainsaw serenade
Singing through the pines
You don't doubt tomorrow
You don't second-guess your design
verseSmoke and steel and gasoline
Honest as the falling rain
Lord, I wish I knew myself
Like you know your chain
outroWhen my own teeth all grow dull
And my seasons start to fade
I hope I leave this world behind
With half your certainty, old blade