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.
I’m from the city of light, with a sky of vanilla
Known as the city of churches home of the serial killer
And in the summer it feels like a hundred degrees
Where i’m from you might see suffa mc
Walking the traps trying to escape the map
Ninety one was my shit i’m trying to take it back
To when writers ran the line and transits ran the gambit
My memories the paint, let the track be my canvas
Thirteen sitting in a park, sipping wine casks
Watching whole cars as they went flying past
I couldn’t paint so I rhymed to the writers
They’d laugh, light up a smoke, and get blinded by their lighters
‘nasty arts’ ran my line evading cop cars
And we looked up to them like they were rock stars
Paint stained hands and fame like Manson
That’s Charles not Marilyn, a city held to ransom
Cans and markers, country road parkers
Hands of an artist left the landscape enchanted
Until the government pigs had all the paint washed
From our city walls, end of the renaissance
And so the walls where the colors once played
Were replaced by the buff, now a sullen blunt grey
White washed, shitty, all grey, all black
Waiting for the kids of this city to take their walls back
I’m from the city of light, with a sky of vanilla
Known as the city of churches home of the serial killer
And in the winter, the city sleeps dead in the freeze
Where i’m from you might see pressure mc
Walking the traps trying to escape the map
Ninety three was my shit i’m trying to take it back
Got kicked out of school but I would have left in time
With nothing but an ego and rap to get me by
I swept floors, packed orders, when poor racked from porters
Liquor store just to score me a four track recorder
Fifteen, sneaking in the back door to the gig
Thought I could rip, bro trust me I fought for this shit
Cos the city’s darker than a starless night
And treats a starter like a fresh piece of meat, greet the carving knife
Till the day came when i’d scar consortiums
I’d lay waiting, train stations and parks my audience
Before we had our beats made, before we had a dj
We’d rock to a beat box, before that shit was clichéd
You see mate, I refused to lay low and gave those
Better years of my life to pave roads
Live as hell, we did it by ourselves
The only secret to this shit is one that time will tell
So breathe in cos the city invites, jealously, pity and blight
You’re in the city of light
Known as the city of churches home of the serial killer
And in the summer it feels like a hundred degrees
Where i’m from you might see suffa mc
Walking the traps trying to escape the map
Ninety one was my shit i’m trying to take it back
To when writers ran the line and transits ran the gambit
My memories the paint, let the track be my canvas
Thirteen sitting in a park, sipping wine casks
Watching whole cars as they went flying past
I couldn’t paint so I rhymed to the writers
They’d laugh, light up a smoke, and get blinded by their lighters
‘nasty arts’ ran my line evading cop cars
And we looked up to them like they were rock stars
Paint stained hands and fame like Manson
That’s Charles not Marilyn, a city held to ransom
Cans and markers, country road parkers
Hands of an artist left the landscape enchanted
Until the government pigs had all the paint washed
From our city walls, end of the renaissance
And so the walls where the colors once played
Were replaced by the buff, now a sullen blunt grey
White washed, shitty, all grey, all black
Waiting for the kids of this city to take their walls back
I’m from the city of light, with a sky of vanilla
Known as the city of churches home of the serial killer
And in the winter, the city sleeps dead in the freeze
Where i’m from you might see pressure mc
Walking the traps trying to escape the map
Ninety three was my shit i’m trying to take it back
Got kicked out of school but I would have left in time
With nothing but an ego and rap to get me by
I swept floors, packed orders, when poor racked from porters
Liquor store just to score me a four track recorder
Fifteen, sneaking in the back door to the gig
Thought I could rip, bro trust me I fought for this shit
Cos the city’s darker than a starless night
And treats a starter like a fresh piece of meat, greet the carving knife
Till the day came when i’d scar consortiums
I’d lay waiting, train stations and parks my audience
Before we had our beats made, before we had a dj
We’d rock to a beat box, before that shit was clichéd
You see mate, I refused to lay low and gave those
Better years of my life to pave roads
Live as hell, we did it by ourselves
The only secret to this shit is one that time will tell
So breathe in cos the city invites, jealously, pity and blight
You’re in the city of light
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i love this song. can anyone tell me what the "home of the serial killer" line is all about?
"Known as the city of churches home of the serial killer" it's obviously talking about Adelaide as it is known for its churches lol and apparently Adelaide has had a few serial killers in it's time too...
this song just screams adelaide.
The song is definetly about Suffa's and Pressures childhoods in Adelaide.
Not sure what the serial killer line is on about but it isn't related to him saying Charles Manson later on.
The line about "home of the serial killer" relates to Adelaide as particularly in the past it has been known as a state with a number of serial killers/murders.
I remember this was compounded a few years back when a British documentary (i think) labelled Adelaide as the "murder capital of the world".... They later re-aired the docco with the lines cut out because of the negative backlash it caused. Whether this actually did any good is debatable.
Clearly Adelaide is not the murder capital of the world, and clearly this song is awesome!
ILY RADELAIDE!!!!
this song is awesum.. so adelaide its heaps good
kay bet no one will get that 'less u live in here
heres sum explaination:
city of churches: in the middle of the city theres heaps of cathedrals and churches
home of the serial killer: therev been a few, in particular SNOWTOWN massacre (bodies in the barrel) where these peeps were killed, cut up and thrown in barrels of acid and left in a storage place
weather references; the weathers extreme, when its hot its FUCKING hot, like being in an oven when its cold, like being in th freezer
WHOOO!!! 93... i was born in 93... anyway sick as song ADELAIDE IS ON THE MAP!!!!
xxx
I adore this song. Ambient and textured.
The first verse is about suffa and painting (graff)
My memories the paint, let the track be my canvas, here he is talking about painting trains
Watching whole cars as they went flying past, Whole cars are trains completely covered in graff
and he just keeps talking about painting and shit
Anyone love the acoustics?, i do. the reason i love the hilltops is that they mix genres, this song uses a bit of spainsh/south american laidback acoustics. the first song i heard was "chase that feeling" I love the classics, mixed together it was such an ingenius combo. Still standing, light you burned, are the bomb, just hearing the aussie accent makes me proud to my roots. Go aussies!!! "Breathe" used contempt piano which I also equally love.
It's the best music to listen to when you're pissed off i find.