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.
Closer than the clothes on your skin, wearing thin, you never tried
Sleeping under backyard stars, in present tense in your defense
I wonder why you never said good bye?
Resenting the letters, pretending forever
How many times can this be true? You make it sound so easy
It's hard to dig deeper without you to see through
Presenting those pretentious tenses as presents on Wednesdays
Thank you, alone, all along, all alone, say goodnight or say good bye
Candle light lies to line your eyes
Broken words to parted lips, just like the last time
Until I find you, choke you with your own tongue and watch you slip away
Timed lines hide in empty eyes
This seat you see as empty holds a hole for
You to look for, when you come through
Your face to face within me when you come through, and remember
Now you've gone too forget false ties
I never had the time to let you go
Keep killing with a canvas car crash into continuous call time for empty signs
Behind sight, fighting for time, the end of another December, and another second passes
Don't try this time, we can't rewind, I can stay away
If you can stay awake I'll figure it out, and bleed you now, give back your heart
Tear it apart and let you down, you'll see the seasons now Don't forget how to hold your affectation so proud
Your lies are too loud, never pretend to feel again
Because you can't laugh last, if I stab you in the throat with the knife that you left in my back
Sleeping under backyard stars, in present tense in your defense
I wonder why you never said good bye?
Resenting the letters, pretending forever
How many times can this be true? You make it sound so easy
It's hard to dig deeper without you to see through
Presenting those pretentious tenses as presents on Wednesdays
Thank you, alone, all along, all alone, say goodnight or say good bye
Candle light lies to line your eyes
Broken words to parted lips, just like the last time
Until I find you, choke you with your own tongue and watch you slip away
Timed lines hide in empty eyes
This seat you see as empty holds a hole for
You to look for, when you come through
Your face to face within me when you come through, and remember
Now you've gone too forget false ties
I never had the time to let you go
Keep killing with a canvas car crash into continuous call time for empty signs
Behind sight, fighting for time, the end of another December, and another second passes
Don't try this time, we can't rewind, I can stay away
If you can stay awake I'll figure it out, and bleed you now, give back your heart
Tear it apart and let you down, you'll see the seasons now Don't forget how to hold your affectation so proud
Your lies are too loud, never pretend to feel again
Because you can't laugh last, if I stab you in the throat with the knife that you left in my back
Lyrics submitted by qoem
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Yo La Tengo
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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,
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