This is about bronies. They communicate by stomping.
When the wind picked up
And the fire spread
And the grapevines seemed left for dead.
And the northern sky, looked like the end of day,
The end of days.
The wake up call to a rented room
Sounded like an alarm of impending doom.
To warn us it's only a matter of time.
Before we all burn
Before we all burn
Before we all burn
Before we all burn.
We bought some wine and some paper cups
Near your daughter's school when we picked her up
And drove to a cemetery on a hill,
On a hill.
Watched the plumes paint the sky gray
As she laughed and danced through the field of graves
There I knew it would be alright
That everything would be alright,
Would be alright
Would be alright
Would be alright
Would be alright.
And the news reports on the radio
Said it was getting worse
As the ocean air fanned the flames.
But I couldn't think of anywhere I would have rather been
To watch it all burn away,
To burn away.
The firemen worked in double shifts,
With prayers for rain on their lips,
And they knew it was only a matter of time.
And the fire spread
And the grapevines seemed left for dead.
And the northern sky, looked like the end of day,
The end of days.
The wake up call to a rented room
Sounded like an alarm of impending doom.
To warn us it's only a matter of time.
Before we all burn
Before we all burn
Before we all burn
Before we all burn.
We bought some wine and some paper cups
Near your daughter's school when we picked her up
And drove to a cemetery on a hill,
On a hill.
Watched the plumes paint the sky gray
As she laughed and danced through the field of graves
There I knew it would be alright
That everything would be alright,
Would be alright
Would be alright
Would be alright
Would be alright.
And the news reports on the radio
Said it was getting worse
As the ocean air fanned the flames.
But I couldn't think of anywhere I would have rather been
To watch it all burn away,
To burn away.
The firemen worked in double shifts,
With prayers for rain on their lips,
And they knew it was only a matter of time.
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Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
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Overall about difficult moments of disappointment and vulnerability. Having hope and longing, while remaining optimistic for the future. Encourages the belief that with each new morning there is a chance for things to improve.
The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future.
Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
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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.
No Surprises
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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.
Amazing
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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.
liqiedos, that is a very esoteric take on this song. Basically, what you're implying is that this song is only for residents of southern California. No one else could understand what happened during those fires, and Gibbard wrote a song about it FOR US.
Sorry to knock you off your Californian high horse, (are there horses in CA?) but that's not the case.
On the surface, this song is clearly about the fires in San Diego, yes. But there is absolutely nothing wrong with taking a look at what things mean on a grander scale. There is meaning behind things, liqideos, there's meaning behind everything; you're wrong when you say there isn't. There was meaning behind the fire when it happened, and there is meaning behind these lyrics besides what's on the surface. Whether that meaning is righteous or truthful is up to you to decide; but there is meaning.
Gibbard's lyrics in this song are too surreal (aside from the fires, which obviously actually happened) to not be pointing at some philosophical truth or belief. To me, plain and simply, the fires represent Hell. And not just Hell, but the vacuum-cleaner Jesus freaks who hold Hell over your head as a warning ('to warn us it's only a matter of time/before we all burn'). Gibbard's response to this is very similar to his response in "I Will Follow You Into the Dark"; 'what happens on the other side is a terrifying thought, but as long as I'm going to witness it with you that's O.K. with me'.
The child dancing in the field of graves in the cemetery on a hill really drives this point, this meaning, home. She's celebrating in her mortality and she is celebrating mortality in general.
Whether you agree with Gibbard's apparent atheistic tendencies is your own decision to make (I don't, I dig Jesus), but to me it's clear in this song that Gibbard, through illustrating the horrid reality of the fires in San Diego as a metaphor, is giving us his two cents on the biggest question in life.
I am pretty sure Ben Gibbard is Christian, or at least agnostic. Not positive though.<br /> <br /> And I completely agree with you. Goons who think the world revolves around Southern California, or California in general piss me off like nothing else.
Those kind of people are the reason I hate being a Californian; they give all of us a bad name.