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.
The day is done and now we're older,
The feelings gone, so now you'll show her,
Where love went wrong, on your shoulder,
[Chorus]
But I tried,
I tried, goodbye,
You're all alone, and you can't take it,
You're just too tired to suffocate it,
And all along we'll just fake it,
[Chorus]
You try to breathe, you try to save it,
But it marks your skin, until they break it,
Well could you call when
They're taking all that you left for me
[Chorus]
The feelings gone, so now you'll show her,
Where love went wrong, on your shoulder,
[Chorus]
But I tried,
I tried, goodbye,
You're all alone, and you can't take it,
You're just too tired to suffocate it,
And all along we'll just fake it,
[Chorus]
You try to breathe, you try to save it,
But it marks your skin, until they break it,
Well could you call when
They're taking all that you left for me
[Chorus]
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Standing On The Edge Of Summer
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The Night We Met
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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"
Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
This is about bronies. They communicate by stomping.
Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
Silent Planet
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
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.
why isnt there any comments on here!? jeeze! well i love this song and its self-explanitory. i love it! and augustana (but mostly Dan Layus) ♥
i agree with the comment above. it is pretty self explanitory. it personally reminds me of being in a relationship that you really really want to save, but know is going nowhere. i think everyones been, or will be, in that situation at least once.
i love this song. x
people get older, people mature, they move on, and sometimes...you have to leave people behind. it hurts, and you don't want to, but that doesn't mean it's not the right thing to do.
The day is done and now we're older, The feelings gone, so now you'll show her, Where love went wrong, on your shoulder,
[Chorus] But I tried, I tried, goodbye,
-So beautifully sung, helpless and sad. He tried so hard, but it has taken it's toll on him.
You're all alone, and you can't take it, You're just too tired to suffocate it, And all along we'll just fake it,
-They are on and off, and when they're off she's in bad shape - she can't take it. She can't stifle or suffocate the feelings of loneliness. They will have to just pretend that it doesn't hurt as much as it does for their own sake. In on and off relationships, usually one person gets distant out of necessity and then the other person distances out of reaction to the first (faking it... faking their feelings). Fuck this is sad.
[Chorus]
[Beautiful guitar-lamenting which sounds a lot like crying]
You try to breathe, you try to save it, But it marks your skin, until they break it, But, could you call when they're taking all that you left for me?
-Between tears, breathing helps gather yourself and gain the strength to try again. They try to save the relationship again, but it wears her down. They (her family and friends) are the nail in the coffin that "break her skin" and finally cut her off for good from Dan. This last line "But, could you call when they're taking all that you left for me?" Sounds like "So let me know when they finally destroy any feelings you did have for me so I know its really over".
[Chorus]
This last chorus extends from 3:00 to 5:30 and is mainly repetitive cries... really sad stuff, sounds like he's really torn up about this whole thing. The climax of the song is in this last chorus, the guitar solo becomes uplifting along with the violins which sounds like he's finally resolving his feelings for this situation. Finally, we get that beautiful piano melody which seems to calmly gather itself and walk away.