Annotated lyrics for The Hold Steady song 'Barely Breathing' - You shoulda seen 'em just after midnight / Well they were down on their luck and still high from a street fight / Told it like it wasn't really much of a big thing / To be out on the tiles and barely breathing / We were barely breathing / Showing up at shows like you care about the scene still? / Where were you when the blood spilled? / They almost killed me / It got pretty sketchy / We tried to push forward / Now we're pointing at the scoreboard, and it feels so amazing / And the crowd's going crazy / Summer '88 was all heat and intensity / Saw the Youth Of Today at the 7th Street Entry / There were skins in the pit, some of them tried to kill me / Same club next summer, and now they're called Shelter / And after the show I spoke with the singer / And he tried to hand me a pamphlet about Hare Krishna / I said 'You gotta be kidding' / Who the hell is the blue guy? / But then he said something special / Using only his eyes / The kids are all distracted / No one wins at violent shows / The kids are a distraction / No one wins at violent shows