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.
Think I'm stranded but I don't know where
I got this diamond I don't know how to shine
In the sun where the dark winds wail
And the children leave their rumors behind
As you cross that ?
The matchsticks for my bones
If we can learn how to freeze ourselves alive
We can learn to leave these burdens to burn
Cast out these creatures of woe
Shatter themselves
Fighting the fire with your bare hands
Now my journey takes me further south
I want to hear what the blind men sing
With the fossils and the gypsy bones
I stand beside myself so I'm not alone
How can I make new again?
Or rust every time it rains?
And the rain, it comes
Floods are low
But you stop until the tidal waves wake
If I wake up and see my maker coming
With all of his crimson and his iron desire
We'll drive the streets with baggage alone
To be lost, I strive from a void
To a grain of sand in your hand
Ah
Ah oh oh
Ah oh oh
Ah oh oh
I got this diamond I don't know how to shine
In the sun where the dark winds wail
And the children leave their rumors behind
As you cross that ?
The matchsticks for my bones
If we can learn how to freeze ourselves alive
We can learn to leave these burdens to burn
Cast out these creatures of woe
Shatter themselves
Fighting the fire with your bare hands
Now my journey takes me further south
I want to hear what the blind men sing
With the fossils and the gypsy bones
I stand beside myself so I'm not alone
How can I make new again?
Or rust every time it rains?
And the rain, it comes
Floods are low
But you stop until the tidal waves wake
If I wake up and see my maker coming
With all of his crimson and his iron desire
We'll drive the streets with baggage alone
To be lost, I strive from a void
To a grain of sand in your hand
Ah
Ah oh oh
Ah oh oh
Ah oh oh
Lyrics submitted by chickenflicker, edited by blackapache
Orphans Lyrics as written by Beck Hansen
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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I love how over Beck lyrics there always seems to be an argument in the end. And also: how you can see what everybody's mind is occupied with at the moment. Cause that is what we interpret into the lyrics. Beck said himself that he loved the Tora (yes, the Tora. He was raised jewish) because there was a million different intepretations for every sentence. And that is what he tries to recreate, something that everybody can fit to their momentary situation to make sense. So my guess: I think it's about being lost. The longing for things that you can't have but you don't know what it is. Whether it's a person (after a break-up) or your home (feeling like one has no parents anymore because they seem so distanced after leaving home) or a religion, i think it's about needing to be guided for a while.