There's a plane, and I am flying
There's a mountain waiting for me
Oh, these years have been so trying

I don't know if I can use them
Am I strong enough
To be the one?
Will I live to have some children?

Help me get down
I can make it
Help me get down
Help me get down
I can make it
Help me get down

If I only knew the answer
I wouldn't be bothering you

Father
Help me get down
I can make it
Help me get down
Help me get down
I can make it
Help me get down

If I only knew the answer
And if all our days are numbered
Then why do I keep counting?

My sugar sweet
Is so attainable
This behavior so unexplainable
The days just slip and slide
Like they always did
The trouble is my head
Won't let me forget

I took one last good look around
So many unusual sounds
I gotta get my feet on the ground

Help me get down
I can make it

Help me get down
I can make it
Help me get down
Help me get down
I can make it
Help me get down

If I only knew the answer
I wouldn't be bothering you

Father
Help me get down
I can make
Help me get down
Help me get down
I can make it
Help me get down

If I only knew the answer
And if all our days are numbered
I wouldn't be bothering you

Would you help me get down?

If I only knew the answer
If I change my way of living
And if I pave my streets with good times
Will the mountain keep on giving?

And if all of our days are numbered
Then why do I keep counting?


Lyrics submitted by ultradirrty

Why Do I Keep Counting? Lyrics as written by Dave Brent Keuning Brandon Flowers

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

Lyrics powered by LyricFind

Why Do I Keep Counting? song meanings
Add Your Thoughts

46 Comments

sort form View by:
  • +1
    General Comment

    well i can see how brandon would write this song based on his fear of flying....but i think it much more than that

    to me its about someone at the end of there ropes....like they have nothing else to live for." the days just slip and slide" and its not so much religious than it it spiritual....becasue i know when he says "father." its like god....but father help me get down....i translate that as help me go on with life....help me reach nirvana....or something like....so i think the main message is that more positive.

    "If I only knew the answer. If I change my way of living, and if I pave my streets with good times, will the mountain keep on giving? And if all of our days are numbered, then why do I keep counting? "

    this quote i think pretty much sums it up. cuz you want all the answers of how to live you rlife right, so even if you live a good life....that mountain...(death) is still at the end of the road....so why count the days...just live.

    Thats what it means to me

    mlfm256on November 07, 2008   Link

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

Album art
Standing On The Edge Of Summer
Thursday
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.
Album art
The Night We Met
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"
Album art
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
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,
Album art
Blue
Ed Sheeran
“Blue” is a song about a love that is persisting in the discomfort of the person experiencing the emotion. Ed Sheeran reflects on love lost, and although he wishes his former partner find happiness, he cannot but admit his feelings are still very much there. He expresses the realization that he might never find another on this stringed instrumental by Aaron Dessner.
Album art
Amazing
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran tells a story of unsuccessfully trying to feel “Amazing.” This track is about the being weighed down by emotional stress despite valiant attempts to find some positivity in the situation. This track was written by Ed Sheeran from the perspective of his friend. From the track, we see this person fall deeper into the negative thoughts and slide further down the path of mental torment with every lyric.