This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
Deep green hills whose shoulders fade into thick grey
Tall wet grass whose flesh makes fools of grazing sheep
Whose fleecing makes a fool of me
Who shall I blame for this sweet and heavy trouble for every stupid struggle I don't know
I could buy you a drink
I could tell you all about it
I could tell you why I doubt it and why I still believe
I can't say it like I sing it
I can't sing it like I think it
I can't think like I feel it
And I don't feel a thing
Why I still believe it
Why I need it
And what the pharisees can't see
We'd have more drinks
And speak of so many things
But I don't know you and you don't know me
Tall wet grass whose flesh makes fools of grazing sheep
Whose fleecing makes a fool of me
Who shall I blame for this sweet and heavy trouble for every stupid struggle I don't know
I could buy you a drink
I could tell you all about it
I could tell you why I doubt it and why I still believe
I can't say it like I sing it
I can't sing it like I think it
I can't think like I feel it
And I don't feel a thing
Why I still believe it
Why I need it
And what the pharisees can't see
We'd have more drinks
And speak of so many things
But I don't know you and you don't know me
Lyrics submitted by sarahsavedlatin
The Fleecing Lyrics as written by David Shannon Bazan
Lyrics © DOMINO PUBLISHING COMPANY
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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exactly how i feel.
i love this song. its my favorite song on the album of achilles heel.
but i can't say it like i sing it and i can't sing it like i think it and i can't think it like i feel it and i don't feel a thing o, no, i don't feel it
i love that
another sadisitc, morbid like song, speaking about a regular guys hard times in life and trying to figure himself out.
I feel like that the past few comments completely miss the importance of the words "and why i still believe it / and why i need it / and what the pharisees don't see." Pharisees were a ancient sect of jews which was reestablished after the destruction of the Second Temple whose beliefs have been the foundation of the several forms of modern Judaism. (see wikipedia for more)
Knowning that David Bazan is a fervent Christian, and that christianity segments away from judaism on the matter of the appearance of the messiah, IMO the song is about David attempting to a convince non-Christian why he holds true to his religion and Jesus. "Every stupid struggle" seems refer to the strife between religions of opposing view, probably applying to less-modern times.
Then again, I'm basing my argument on only one, albeit strong, line that might just be a turn of phrase David throws out there from time to time.
awesome though, i really love how he sings this one so effortlessly, yet with so much yearning and sadness. pedro the lion rocks!
I'm mostly with weezeology, but I also think that "every stupid struggle" refers more to the pain he experiences within himself, concerning the doubts he has about his faith, and how he (sometimes reluctantly) ignores or looks past these doubts. That's how I feel a lot, because there's a lot of generic brand Christianity flowing around the evangelical mainstream. It sometimes makes a person with a more unique faith feel lonely, to the point that they'd go to a bar and talk about it with a complete stranger who might not even care. I could also just be projecting. Pedro does rock.
The first stanza is an image alluding to Gideon (Christian Bible, Book of Judges). Gideon tested God multiple times through leaving a fleece on the grass and asking God to make the grass wet and the fleece dry in the morning, or the opposite, etc. This was all an excercise in building Gideon's faith to do great things for God. Bazan has a faith where he has doubted and tested God and each time he has ended up more sure of God's existence, "makes a fool of me". The song goes on to point out the futility of explaining his faith. It is a very personal and very strong belief even with doubt, but others are unable to understand personal faith through any explaination. He takes it one step further "I can't think it like I feel it and I don't feel a thing," indicating that he can't even fully explain his faith fully to himself, yet he still believes. Bob Dylan: "Faith doesn't have a name. It doesn't have a category. It's oblique. So it's unspeakable. We degrade faith by talking about religion."
This song has always been my favorite song. I'm listening to it right now and i put a connection togehter that i'd never heard before. But i believe that this song is about an ordinary guy live a christ like life, which is what the bible ultimately calls us to do.
If you ever get a chance to see David Bazan play, take it. It's everything you'd expect from him live.
Keep in mind, at least in the Christian circles I used to travel in, that modern day Christians who worry more about the letter of the law than the grace of God are sometimes derogatorily referred to as Pharisees and in all reality, that makes sense with a guy struggling with his faith considering they'd get this guy on swearing and declare him a heathen for such stupid things as that... and I speak from personal experience, that tends to weigh down on a guy.
I've always really liked this song and felt like I could relate to it. To me, it's basically about having doubts but still maintaining a belief in God. It also touches on how difficult it is to explain to someone, because it is more of a "feeling" than a logical decision... I saw David Bazan perform with a backing band last night, and they played this song. I found it a little depressing, but he changed some words to reflect his changed perspective: "I could buy you a drink I could tell you all about it I could tell you why I doubt it And why I don't believe it And why I grieve it And what for years I did not see..."