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"
The thrill here is quicker than you'd think
The way some jet-lagged bar kept pouring the wine
From over their heads then sit back down again
Four times is once too much for luck
And that's how many times the clock struck
I wandered home saying your name
The arches here were built 'cause they don't fall
The cathedrals to make you feel small
You might find your small soul
But leave the preaching to the president
The crowd cheers, his eyes get wet, I'm full as it is, I'm full as it is
So don't feed me more
You'll be having my head, big as a birthday
'Cause I left all my doubts on the airplane
I didn't know, I didn't know I'm not in control
I didn't know, I'm not invincible
Now maybe some things are better left unsaid
But if you wanted to test that out, well, yeah, I guess, I could've said
But there were nights in bars that I recall
Your breath was courage laced with alcohol
You leaned in, you said
"Make music with the chatter in here
And whisper all the notes in my ears"
I didn't know, I didn't know the weight of my tongue
I didn't know, I didn't know what I'd done
The lights here are softer than you'd think
The dim lit peacocks in the trees
Are hiding their eyes and their beauty, like me
But if my eyes were on my back
I know what I'd be looking at
Through every shade of browns and greens
I didn't know, I didn't know it was nothing new
I didn't know, I didn't know it was you
The way some jet-lagged bar kept pouring the wine
From over their heads then sit back down again
Four times is once too much for luck
And that's how many times the clock struck
I wandered home saying your name
The arches here were built 'cause they don't fall
The cathedrals to make you feel small
You might find your small soul
But leave the preaching to the president
The crowd cheers, his eyes get wet, I'm full as it is, I'm full as it is
So don't feed me more
You'll be having my head, big as a birthday
'Cause I left all my doubts on the airplane
I didn't know, I didn't know I'm not in control
I didn't know, I'm not invincible
Now maybe some things are better left unsaid
But if you wanted to test that out, well, yeah, I guess, I could've said
But there were nights in bars that I recall
Your breath was courage laced with alcohol
You leaned in, you said
"Make music with the chatter in here
And whisper all the notes in my ears"
I didn't know, I didn't know the weight of my tongue
I didn't know, I didn't know what I'd done
The lights here are softer than you'd think
The dim lit peacocks in the trees
Are hiding their eyes and their beauty, like me
But if my eyes were on my back
I know what I'd be looking at
Through every shade of browns and greens
I didn't know, I didn't know it was nothing new
I didn't know, I didn't know it was you
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I think this song is about a young man taking a trip overseas, possibly for the first time, and his first realization of what heartbreak is. I think that the over all tone of the lyrics, even though many are ambiguous, are in reference to his realization that HE broke someone ELSE'S heart. I think the fourth verse is evidence to that:
"And maybe some things are better left unsaid But if you wanted to test that, I will, yeah, I guess, I could've said But there were nights in bars that I recall Your breath was courage laced with alcohol You leaned in, you said, "Make music with the chatter in here, And whisper all the notes in my ears." I didn't know, I didn't know the way of my tongue I didn't know, I didn't know what I'd done"
I think the girl he's writing about and had these experiences with in Spain was someone he almost loved but her intensity and, quite possibly, her alcoholism always left him a bit rattled. He would tell her what he thought she wanted to hear, even if he didn't mean it, and in the end... there was just that:
an end.
......... I'm so full of shit.
I feel like it's about a girl whose heart he broke, but wanting her back. "Four times is once too much for luck," resonates with me as a man who has fallen in love with the same girl four times over, and knowing that it means something. It can't be luck. It must be fate.
Spain is ultimately irrelevant, I think. It may be the location of one of their encounters, but aside from that it stands only to make a statement about a foreign nostalgia, of a time that seems so different from what he now calls home.
"If my eyes were on my back, I know what I'd be looking at..." shows that he's hanging on tight to the past, to a happier time, when they were together.
"four times is once too much for luck"
"Cat dead drawls" is actually some foreign word either French or Spanish, Probably Spanish because Oviedo is in Spain.
"and if you wanted to test that out ... well ... Yeah ... I guess you couldn't-a said.
"the weight of my tongue"
Thank you, MickT.
Those last few lines kill me every single time.
catedrals. spanish for cathedral, or a city with a cathedral in it. makes sense. (The arches of the cathdrals are here to make you feel small, I guess.)
but cat dead drawls is an interesting interpretation too. : )
and yeah, definitely 'weight of my tongue'.
I think...
This song was written about the time he spent in Oviedo, Spain as an exchange student in college. He wrote a post card to a friend describing his experiences and turned it into a song. I also studied in Oviedo so this song means a lot to me. I can also explain a few things...<br /> <br /> The wine poured over the head is called Sidra. It's a hard cider from the north of Spain. It's carbonated so you hold the bottle over your head and the glass down low to get the bubbles going. It's really good :-)<br /> <br /> The clock striking four times is referring to the long nights and coming home from going out at 4 a.m. Most of the times you go out around 11 or 12 and don't get home unitl the morning. <br /> <br /> There are many roman arches and cathedrals in the city. Just being in a place where there is evidence of thousands of years of history gives you perspecive... it makes you feel small ;-)<br /> <br /> There is also a park in the middle of the city that has peacocks living in it. They are beautiful!!!<br /> <br /> The area is also very green. It's mountainous and beautiful. <br /> <br /> Also, food is really important in the Spanish culture. If you live with a host family they try and stuff you with food. Often times saying "I'm full" doesn't convince them and they try to give you more.<br /> <br /> Oh, I miss Oviedo!!!!
It's almost certainly a reference to Oviedo: a city in North-Western Spain. The Cathedral is the biggest landmark in this city, which coincidentally, plays host to exchange students from Oregon every year. Also he mentions the pouring wine from over the head - this is a little inaccurate, it's actually cider that is poured like that, but it's a nice nostalgic song.
Blind Pilot was recently on NPR and Israel said the did spend a year in Oviedo, Spain and that it was so beautiful that he had to write a letter to his friend. Check out the interview, it was awesome.
Also, cider is poured from above the head but so is wine. The vessel is called a porrom and it is used to pour wine directly into ones mouth. They are awesome and I want one really bad.
this song is so beautiful, i wish i understood what he meant when he said
"They're hiding their eyes and their beauty, like me But if my eyes were on my back I know what I'd be looking at Through every shade of brown and green" because that part is the most beautiful to me
sux4uu<br /> Its just a metaphor. The peacocks are the people in the streets. <br /> <br /> The verse starts out as "the lights here are softer than you'd think, the dim lit peacocks in the street..." then your favorite part.<br /> <br /> "They're hiding their eyes and their beauty, like me<br /> But if my eyes were on my back<br /> I know what I'd be looking at<br /> Through every shade of brown and green" <br /> <br /> The only peacocks with the beautiful brown green [and purple, but its hard to rhyme with purple] feathers are male peacocks. <br /> And male peacocks only show their feathers when they're trying to mate with female peacocks. (And the feather kind of look like eyes, and they're on its back)<br /> So... <br /> <br /> So for me, the entire song is a reflection on messing up an opportunity to sleep with a girl he liked in Oviedo, Spain, because he couldn't show her his inner beauty (like a peacock does), because he was probably nervous around her, and he was "hiding [his] eyes and [his] beauty" from her. Both literally, by not being able to stare into her eyes, and figuratively, because metaphors work better in songs than detailed explanations. <br /> <br /> But that's just what it feels like for me.<br /> I could be wrong.<br /> <br />
It's my favorite part of the song, too. I interpreted as the peacocks were just peacocks (he's describing all the beautiful things he's seeing in Spain), but his comparison of himself to the peacocks is the important part. "They're hiding their eyes and their beauty, like me," (such a beautiful line) I think implies shame. With "if my eyes were on my back," he uses the 'eyes' on their feathers in a figurative sense to represent looking backward, towards the past. "I know what I'd be looking at" - he's saying he would be looking at her (or whomever he's talking about) with that hindsight.
Also, it is "weight of my tongue"
I think it refers to the power of his words. <br /> his words have weight, make an impact. <br /> his tongue is powerful
my bad. thought you asked what it meant. :P
How does one get lyrics fixed on this site? "cat dead drawl" makes no sense at all, it is clearly "catedral", given the location of the song.