This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
I looked at your face
I saw that all the love had died
I saw that we had forgotten to take the time
I, I saw that you couldn't care less about what you do
You couldn't care less about the lies
You couldn't find the time to cry
We forgot about love
We forgot about faith
We forgot about trust
We forgot about us
Now our love's floating out the window
Our love's floating out the back door
Our love's floating up in the sky
In heaven, where it began
Back in God's hands
You said that you had said all that you had to say
You said, "baby, it's the end of the day"
We gave a lot
But it wasn't enough
We got so tired
That we just gave up
Now our love's floating out the window
Our love's floating out the back door
Our love's floating up in the sky
In heaven, where it began
Back in God's hands, back in God's hands
We didn't respect it
We went and neglected it
We didn't deserve it
But I never expected this
Our love floated out the window
Our love floated out the back door
Our love floated up in the sky
To heaven, it's part of a plan
It's back in God's hands, back in God's hands
Oh, it didn't last, it's a thing of the past
No, we didn't understand, oh, just what we had
Oh, I want it back, just what we had
I want it back, oh, just what we had
I saw that all the love had died
I saw that we had forgotten to take the time
I, I saw that you couldn't care less about what you do
You couldn't care less about the lies
You couldn't find the time to cry
We forgot about love
We forgot about faith
We forgot about trust
We forgot about us
Now our love's floating out the window
Our love's floating out the back door
Our love's floating up in the sky
In heaven, where it began
Back in God's hands
You said that you had said all that you had to say
You said, "baby, it's the end of the day"
We gave a lot
But it wasn't enough
We got so tired
That we just gave up
Now our love's floating out the window
Our love's floating out the back door
Our love's floating up in the sky
In heaven, where it began
Back in God's hands, back in God's hands
We didn't respect it
We went and neglected it
We didn't deserve it
But I never expected this
Our love floated out the window
Our love floated out the back door
Our love floated up in the sky
To heaven, it's part of a plan
It's back in God's hands, back in God's hands
Oh, it didn't last, it's a thing of the past
No, we didn't understand, oh, just what we had
Oh, I want it back, just what we had
I want it back, oh, just what we had
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I think this song is about a couple who were madly in love, but slowly things changed and they drifted apart. However, even though they aren't together anymore, their love is "back in God's hands" meaning that if they ever want to get back together, God has their love safe in his hands and will be able to reunite them. Beautiful song, I cried the first time I heard it because it's so nice.