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.
Everything is perfect now
I don't want to make a movement
I'm too scared to breathe; I might do something wrong
As you're sleeping silently
Perfect beauty laid before me
I feel every second is a life time long
Here's a place I've been before
A place some say I should go more
But every journey just leads me so far away
When I just wanted to stay
So that's why I won't wake you where you lie
If I could now I'd freeze time
I can't find forever in your eyes
I should leave you while they're dry
Living underneath this guilt
I can't leave a house that I have built
Though I feel it sinking further everytime
And th weight of my mistakes
Means that everything I touch breaks
I don't want to see you as the next in line
So that's why I won't wake you where you lie
If I could now I'd freeze time
I can't find forever in your eyes
I should leave you while they're dry
I don't want to make a movement
I'm too scared to breathe; I might do something wrong
As you're sleeping silently
Perfect beauty laid before me
I feel every second is a life time long
Here's a place I've been before
A place some say I should go more
But every journey just leads me so far away
When I just wanted to stay
So that's why I won't wake you where you lie
If I could now I'd freeze time
I can't find forever in your eyes
I should leave you while they're dry
Living underneath this guilt
I can't leave a house that I have built
Though I feel it sinking further everytime
And th weight of my mistakes
Means that everything I touch breaks
I don't want to see you as the next in line
So that's why I won't wake you where you lie
If I could now I'd freeze time
I can't find forever in your eyes
I should leave you while they're dry
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This is my favourite SB song.
She loves him but she doesn't see them together in the long run so she has to leave him for herself. However, because she loves him she doesn't want to see him hurting she she feels she should leave while he's sleeping. The song doesn't say whether she does or not, and that's why I love it, it's so fragile, so many things unspoken. I find myself crying for her more often than not, because there is so much hurt in her life and she's just trying to avoid another one.
Fantastic song.
She loves him but feels she has to leave him and thinks that the best time to do it is "now" while he is sleeping.
As for whether it is because she broke his trust, I think it is up to interpretation. I think that the guilt she doesn't want to feel is the guilt of staying in a relationship she knows will not work but still not wanting to leave.
She is one of Australia's best female artists.
In the song its clear that she has violated his trust in some regard by the overwhelming lyric "Living underneath this guilt I cant leave a house that I have built." She is lying beside the perfect guy in the perfect moment but she is overtaken by the her past indiscretion.
beautiful beautiful song.
Forgot to add in the music video it ends with her packing a bag and walking away from her sleeping lover. It is a beautiful video as well.
It doesn't seem like the reason that she has to leave is about him, really, at all. She "can't find forever in [his] eyes" because she's so scared of ruining what she has. It's "Perfect Now", but what happens when she succumbs to humanity and makes a mistake? She can't see the future because how can her situation get better? It's scary because she can't take the shame of being imperfect in a perfect moment. She says that she "should leave [him] while [the eyes] dry" but they aren't necessarily his. I think she wants to freeze the moment because she thinks it's going to be the pinnacle of her existence, she doesn't want to break her own heart by not living up to what she sees as the perfect situation.
My ex kind of uses this song to explain why he left me. I don't understand. I don't think it was ever about him at all.
This strikes me as somebody she’s scared of, someone who tramples her to keep her in line, has her dote on him.
“Perfect beauty” laid before me…. Is he a narcissist? “I’m too scared to breathe I might do something wrong” “I feel every second is a lifetime long”
When I lay with someone I love, every hour is a minute long. This seems the opposite for her.
But then… “ Living underneath this guilt I can't leave a house that I have built Though I feel it sinking further everytime And the weight of my mistakes Means that everything I touch breaks I don't want to see you as the next in line”
Did she cheat on him? Is she leaving him for someone else? Has the lyrical focus switched to somebody else?
Maybe she cheated on this dude in the past and as a result he has become controlling and psychotic to the point where she’s afraid to leave him because of what his insecurities and trust issues turn him into.
Sadly, that last paragraph could just be projection, because that’s exactly how it was for me. The problem is now whenever I hear this song I can’t help but relate to that last verse so heavily it’s hurts to think about
I reckon this song is about death, how everything will be 'perfect' then, as life is so painful.