In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
The footnote swallows the page
Today, New York kind of looks like Beirut,
But Beirut never looked like New York
Yet New York kind of cuts to the quick as it quickens
The dispossessed define the dying age
We were so wrapped up in the internecine strife of the last of the so-called 'European' centuries,
my compadres,
that we didn't see it coming
So the footnote works its way up from the bottom of the page,
Filled with a certain understandable sense of rage,
At justice unforthcoming.
I have seen,
Two feet standing proud in the sand,
Cathedrals worn away by the rain,
New dawns bringing season's change,
Relentless.
Today, New York kind of looks like Beirut,
But Beirut never looked like New York
Yet New York kind of cuts to the quick as it quickens
The dispossessed define the dying age
We were so wrapped up in the internecine strife of the last of the so-called 'European' centuries,
my compadres,
that we didn't see it coming
So the footnote works its way up from the bottom of the page,
Filled with a certain understandable sense of rage,
At justice unforthcoming.
I have seen,
Two feet standing proud in the sand,
Cathedrals worn away by the rain,
New dawns bringing season's change,
Relentless.
Lyrics submitted by Harry_Manback
Relentless Lyrics as written by Cameron David Dean Benjamin Russell Erring Dawson
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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<font color=#ff66ff><b>I think I have a meaning for this song, but I'm not sure whether it's correct or not, so hear me out. I think it's about the problems and conflicts in the Middle East, the West's meddling, culminating the the Trade Centre attacks.
<i>"Today New York kind of looks like Beirut"</i> - On the day of Sept. 11th, New York looked like a war zone. I've heard in the past, people use the comparison of any kind of mess as 'looking like Beirut' ie like a bomb hit it. So basically, New York looked like a war zone.
<i>"But Beirut never looked like New York."</i> - Beirut has never looked like New York however. It has never looked glamourous or expensive and has never been associated with being one of the most famous cities in the world.
<i>"So the footnote works its way up from the bottom of the page, filled with a certain understandable sense of rage at justice unforthcoming."</i> - America has supported Israel, whether it be overtly or covertly. No one was expecting the attacks to happen on the Trade Centre. Some people may not have even known that such people existed that wanted to harm America. They would be 'the footnote'; something that's tucked away at the bottom of a page that no one really takes any notice of. But if 'the footnote works it way up from the bottom of the page', people will have to take notice. Also, 'Filled with a certain understandable sense of rage', angry at the support for the Jewish from America and non for the Muslims.
<i>"We were so wrapped up in the internecine strife of the last of the so-called ‘european’ centuries, my compadres, that we didn’t see it coming."</i> - Governments were only caring about the Western world and their own countries that they never really expected such attacks to happen, hence the slack security that allowed the pilots to get on the planes and cause the attacks.
So there you go. If anyone else has any ideas about this song, feel free to say that I'm talking a load of shit.</font></b>
nice one harry, i didn't think of that.
Thats an amazing interpreration, I agree totally. I hadn't even considered the 'footnote works its way up from the bottom of the page', but what you said pretty much hits it on the head.
One thing I would add though is that I thought the lines "Today New York kind of looks like Beirut, but Beirut never looked like New York" is like appearance and reality. Both cities have had their problems, but Beirut never tried to gloss them over. Where Beirut has been humbled by its problems, New York has fought back. shrugs
Okay, now I'm the one talking shit lol.
I think "I have seen two feet standing proud in the sand," is a reference to Ozymandias by Shelley, which is about the fall of empires, however great they are at their peak:
"I met a traveller from an antique land Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand, Half sunk, a shatter'd visage lies, whose frown And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command Tell that its sculptor well those passions read Which yet survive, stamp'd on these lifeless things, The hand that mock'd them and the heart that fed. And on the pedestal these words appear: "My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings: Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!" Nothing beside remains: round the decay Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare, The lone and level sands stretch far away."
Amazing...
This song is fucking hardcore.