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.
When I was baby, I looked like a pig
My nose a snout and my ears were too big
My mother would poke at the hole
At the back of my head where my brain was exposed
I didn't know it then but never again
Would recapture those wonderful days
When I was a baby, I fell down a well
I landed deep down in the furnace of hell
The devil would rock me to sleep
With stories of cities of ivory and gold
It took a long, long time before I could
Escape from that terrible hole
When I was a baby, I lived in a crib
I crawled on floors and ate with a bib
But then I was taken away
And was sold to the circus for trinkets and beads
Now I lie awake at night and dream about
What I would do if I was ever set free
My nose a snout and my ears were too big
My mother would poke at the hole
At the back of my head where my brain was exposed
I didn't know it then but never again
Would recapture those wonderful days
When I was a baby, I fell down a well
I landed deep down in the furnace of hell
The devil would rock me to sleep
With stories of cities of ivory and gold
It took a long, long time before I could
Escape from that terrible hole
When I was a baby, I lived in a crib
I crawled on floors and ate with a bib
But then I was taken away
And was sold to the circus for trinkets and beads
Now I lie awake at night and dream about
What I would do if I was ever set free
Lyrics submitted by Anderson_Council, edited by Mellow_Harsher
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings
Standing On The Edge Of Summer
Thursday
Thursday
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
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"
Mental Istid
Ebba Grön
Ebba Grön
This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
This is about bronies. They communicate by stomping.
No Surprises
Radiohead
Radiohead
Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
For some reason, I think this song's about the foster care system. Like when she was at baby she was mistreated by her mother ("My mother would poke at the hole at the back of my head where my brain was exposed"), but those were still her best childhood memories, because then she talks about falling into hell and having the devil as her new caretaker. The funny thing is that the devil caretaker "rocks her to sleep" and sings songs, but she still feels like she's in hell. The next part is a rehash of the foster care thing, I think... she was neglected by her original caretaker, and then she was taken away and put in a "circus for trinkets and beads", which I think might mean foster care for unwanted children. She can't be free from it, and for whatever reason she doesn't like it (maybe it's sort of wild or an usual, being described as a "circus") so she remembers her mother's problems happily. That's what I got out of it anyway.
I could see that, and maybe one of the three verses is. But really, I get the feeling that there are three different speakers in this song - with three different stories. Maybe its just a mindf*** song.
Ahhh, would love it if they played this song live sometime. Hmm, meaning. I don't really know. Perhaps its self explanatory. Neglected children?
the decemberists covered this one time...but the np version is a cover also, right? who sings this?
this is a donner party song. donner party being a band that sam coomes(of quasi) was in during the late 80's. really good stuff.
No way! This is one of Sam's songs! I had no idea. Ok, it would of been totally cool if they had played this at the Portland show (while touring with Belle and Sebastian) because Sam Coomes and Janet Weiss were hanging out backstage.
Oh, also, I forgot to mention: the description of a pig baby definitely conjures up Alice in Wonderland.