Both Crosses is the seventh track from the fourth The Hold Steady album Stay Positive, coming after Yeah Sapphire and before the title track Stay Positive.
Lyrics[]
She says sometimes she sees these things. Right before they're happening. Hail Mary, full of grace. Some nights she swears she feels her face.
She's known a couple of boys that died and two of them were crucified. The last one had enlightened eyes. The first guy he was Jesus Christ. Hey Judas. I know you've made a grave mistake. Hey Peter. You've been pretty sweet since Easter break.
Now she's 4am and she's wide awake. She's shivering and smiling.
Let's clutch and kiss and sing and shake tonight let's try to levitate. You Catholic girls start much too late. Baby, let's transverberate. Baby, lets transverberate.
She saw all the footage right before it got cut. She saw all the bodies. She saw all the blood. She saw the angel put a sword in his side. Baby, that's how we got canonized.
She saw him gushing blood right before he got cut. She saw them put a body in a bag in the trunk. She saw the guys coming in from the sides. Baby, that's how we get energized.
She said you know I'm down to pay for it. She said just grant me some indulgences. I've been mostly dying. I've been mostly coughing. I've been mostly crying. I've been thinking about both crosses.
She saw the film right before it came out. At first she thought Judas might go for the mouth. She saw the nails. She saw the hands. She saw the crowd. She heard the band.
The new kid begged them not to do it. Jesus just said I still love you Judas. Since you've been up in Massachusetts. I keep dreaming about dos cruces. I've been thinking about both crosses. I've been dreaming about dos cruces. I've been thinking about both crosses.
Analysis[]
Both Crosses details the visions of Sapphire and how they relate to the murder incident. In Yeah Sapphire it is shown that Sapphire has visions or premonitions of the future. She's known "couple boys that died" which refer to the murdered character in Navy Sheets. In Yeah Sapphire it ends with the murdered character becoming "enlightened" that Sapphire's visions are true, which is where the line "the last one had enlightened eyes" is derived from. The rest of the song depicts the actual fight but with religious characters as metaphors for the actual characters (The angel putting the sword in the side referring to the kid getting stabbed with the butterfly knife, the new kid begged 'em not to do it referring to the girl character trying to stop the fight).