<Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This section does not cite any sources . Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources . Unsourced material may be challenged and removed . (May 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) </Td> </Tr> <P> Holmes has cited the country song "Sixteen Tons" (a 1947 song about the hard life of a coal miner) and the 1959 film adaptation of the Tennessee Williams play Suddenly, Last Summer (which also contains allusions to cannibalism) as inspirations for "Timothy ." He decided to combine the themes of those two works into a ballad of three miners--Timothy, Joe and the singer--trapped by a cave - in, sung in the first person from the perspective of one of the miners . By the time they're rescued, only two of them remain . Although the fate of the missing man, Timothy, is never explicitly revealed, it is strongly implied by the fact that the two survivors, once hungry and with no access to food and only enough water for two people, show no sign of hunger when they're rescued . Indeed, the singer's "stomach was full as it could be;" how they found food, however, is purposely left blank, and the singer has blacked out the experience leaving him unable to recall how they found food or what happened to Timothy (the lyrics make it clear he suspects he and Joe ate Timothy; "God, why don't I know?!"). To make the song appealing to listeners, Holmes disguised the borderline - gruesome lyrics to a degree by juxtaposing them against a light, bouncy melody with heavy emphasis on brass and string accompaniment, arranged and conducted by Howard Reeves . </P> <P> Although not an official member of the band, Holmes did play piano on this song in addition to writing it . </P> <P> "Timothy" attracted little attention when it was first released, in large part because Scepter Records did not promote the record . Soon, however, it became popular among young listeners who were able to deduce Timothy's fate from the lyrics . Only as the song became more frequently requested did radio stations begin to take note of the song and its unsettling subject matter . Then, just as Holmes and the Buoys had expected, the song started getting banned . </P>

Timothy where on earth did you go lyrics