From the album Stovall
This is a plea to someone who left home chasing something that poisoned them, wrapped in the specific panic of winter closing in. The 'tarred lungs' are not metaphorical. Someone is strung out, physically wrecked, and the people who love them are watching the window to get them home narrow by the hour.
Sleeping oak / You've had us so worked up / Just come back where your roots grow
Calling someone an oak tree turns them into something that should not move, should not uproot itself. The nickname carries both affection and accusation. You were supposed to stay planted.
Let out your tarred lungs / And fill them back up / With the air you used to use to pray
Prayer here is what you did before you started smoking whatever ruined your lungs. The song does not say drugs directly but 'tarred lungs' and 'air you used to use to pray' tells you everything. This person used to be someone else.
We lost hope / The day you swore the soil was gone and dug a new hole
This line pins the exact moment things broke. They declared home dead and left. The 'new hole' could mean a grave or just another bad place to land, and the ambiguity makes it worse.
So fuck the pigs that locked you up / Cause you weren't hurting anyone / But, you should have known this day would come
The song defends them and blames them in the same breath. Yes, the system is cruel. Yes, you also made choices. That contradiction is what watching someone self-destruct actually feels like.
I guess, if you're gonna be stupid, then you gotta be tough
This is the most brutal line in the song because it sounds like something someone's dad would say while helping them pack for rehab. It is a cliche that lands like a curse because it is true and useless at the same time.
The song never says if the person makes it home. That silence is the point. Some pleas do not get answered. Some winters close in too fast. The best you can do is leave the door open and hope.