I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
I wrote a goodbye note
In lipstick on your arm
When you passed out
I couldn't bring myself to call
Except to call it quits
Best friends
Ex-friends till the end
Better off as lovers
And not the other way around
Racing through the city
Windows down
In the back of
Yellow-checkered cars
This city says
Come hell or high water
When I'm feeling hot and wet
I can't commit to a thing
Be it heart or hospital
Best friends
Ex-friends till the end
Better off as lovers
And not the other way around
Racing through the city
Windows down
In the back of
Yellow-checkered cars
The tombstones are waiting
They were half engraved
They knew it was over
Just didn't know the date
And I cast a spell over the West
To make you think of me
The same way I think of you
This is a love song in my own way
Happily ever after below the waist
Best friends
Ex-friends till the end
Better off as lovers
Racing through the city
Windows down
In the back of
Yellow-checkered cars
Best friends
Ex-friends till the end
Better off as lovers
And not the other way around
Ex-friends till the end
Better off as lovers
In lipstick on your arm
When you passed out
I couldn't bring myself to call
Except to call it quits
Best friends
Ex-friends till the end
Better off as lovers
And not the other way around
Racing through the city
Windows down
In the back of
Yellow-checkered cars
This city says
Come hell or high water
When I'm feeling hot and wet
I can't commit to a thing
Be it heart or hospital
Best friends
Ex-friends till the end
Better off as lovers
And not the other way around
Racing through the city
Windows down
In the back of
Yellow-checkered cars
The tombstones are waiting
They were half engraved
They knew it was over
Just didn't know the date
And I cast a spell over the West
To make you think of me
The same way I think of you
This is a love song in my own way
Happily ever after below the waist
Best friends
Ex-friends till the end
Better off as lovers
Racing through the city
Windows down
In the back of
Yellow-checkered cars
Best friends
Ex-friends till the end
Better off as lovers
And not the other way around
Ex-friends till the end
Better off as lovers
Lyrics submitted by rust3dxh3art
Bang the Doldrums Lyrics as written by Joseph Mark Trohman Andrew John Hurley
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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As for the title of the song, the metaphors some of you have been making about pirates make perfect sense. And the "bang the drums" thing... lol. But the way I've always seen it is this: the doldrums are an area very close to the equator. They're hot, humid, and sticky. And being that a lot of this song is about lust and sexual desire, I figured it was a clever innuendo on that feeling ("when I'm feeling hot and wet," "happily ever after below the waist"). Has anyone else seen it like this or is that just me being science-y?