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.
Oh my story is not the oldest of its kind.
I was to touched to see you clearly,
far too young to realize I had loved so dearly you,
whose world I had designed,
but the sweet smoke came with mirrors
and it brought tears to my wide eyes.
Dying just to see you...
dying since I misconstrued
your blue heart, black eyes,
feigning falling, words I won't forget.
I died right when I saw you
while you shared that cigarette.
Oh I saw you every time I close my eyes,
in the Hughes film I had scored,
produced and starred in, in my mind.
I could recite you, well,
I'd written every line...
but you strayed far from my flawless script
on which I'd spent a lifetime!
Falling over dead.
Dying since I had misread
your blue heart, black eyes,
feigning falling, words I won't forget.
I died right when I saw you
while you shared that cigarette.
I was to touched to see you clearly,
far too young to realize I had loved so dearly you,
whose world I had designed,
but the sweet smoke came with mirrors
and it brought tears to my wide eyes.
Dying just to see you...
dying since I misconstrued
your blue heart, black eyes,
feigning falling, words I won't forget.
I died right when I saw you
while you shared that cigarette.
Oh I saw you every time I close my eyes,
in the Hughes film I had scored,
produced and starred in, in my mind.
I could recite you, well,
I'd written every line...
but you strayed far from my flawless script
on which I'd spent a lifetime!
Falling over dead.
Dying since I had misread
your blue heart, black eyes,
feigning falling, words I won't forget.
I died right when I saw you
while you shared that cigarette.
Lyrics submitted by aristuma21
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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,
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.
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I think that this song is about when you see someone and think they are a certain way and you keep believing it until the reality of who that person truely is smacks you in the face. Your opinions and expectations of someone are crushed because you were too naive to look at them as anything more than what you wanted.
"Oh my story is not the oldest of its kind. I was to touched to see you clearly, far too young to realize I had loved so dearly you, whose world I had designed, but the sweet smoke came with mirrors and it brought tears to my wide eyes."
This basically says that this is a common thing(my story is not the oldest of its kind). You see and like someone from the first impression and think that their whole life is like what they were. You create this whole world in your mind for them. "The sweet smoke came with mirrors and it brought tears to my wide eyes" says that the world you created was an illusion, some wishful thinking that was shattered and the shock of that hurts.
"Dying just to see you... dying since I misconstrued your blue heart, black eyes, feigning falling, words I won't forget. I died right when I saw you while you shared that cigarette."
You wanted to see them but when you did you learned you were wrong. The shared cigarette is supposed to symbolize the truth of how that person was not as perfect as you had imagined.
"Oh I saw you every time I close my eyes, in the Hughes film I had scored, produced and starred in, in my mind. I could recite you, well, I'd written every line... but you strayed far from my flawless script on which I'd spent a lifetime!"
This says that the fantasy was obviously created like a movie in your head. You knew everything about the person that you'd created but the person had not done what you had wanted them to do. You spent so much time creating who they were but they turned out all wrong from the flawless persona you had given them.
"Falling over dead. Dying since I had misread your blue heart, black eyes, feigning falling, words I won't forget. I died right when I saw you while you shared that cigarette."
This is mostly the same as the first verse except that now it's as though your world fell apart and you die because you didn't see the person for what they were.
Well, that's my two cents.