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.
I speak to the sky
with apples in my mouth
I look to the sky
god picks the stems from my mouth
I reach to the sky
monkey wrench in hand
I unfasten the sky
bright night to the land
I have sinned but no punishment awaits
The judge sits dead, dead on his bench
Dead deity deliver me
I wade through the sea
as quick as cholera
History lies in the sea
I cover my tracks with death
with apples in my mouth
I look to the sky
god picks the stems from my mouth
I reach to the sky
monkey wrench in hand
I unfasten the sky
bright night to the land
I have sinned but no punishment awaits
The judge sits dead, dead on his bench
Dead deity deliver me
I wade through the sea
as quick as cholera
History lies in the sea
I cover my tracks with death
Lyrics submitted by skeephop
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"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"
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"I had all and then most of you"
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"Some and now none of you"
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This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
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First of all, I fucking love this band. From listening to all the previous Sabertooth Zombie albums, I'm fairly familiar with the singer's subject matter BUT this album is a little different from the others.. the lyrics are a little more vague (to me, atleast), leaving more to the imagination. You really need to explicate this stuff to understand it and give the song meaning. I'm just going to talk about the first part of the song, I'm not sure about the rest.
"I speak to the sky with apples in my mouth I look to the sky god picks the stems from my mouth"
Apples and God together kinda make me think this has something to do with the Bible, more specifically Adam and Eve and the whole apple story. God tells Adam not to eat an apple from the tree. A snake tells Eve to eat an apple, and she does, because shit, it's the fuckin' tree of knowledge and it will bring wisdom to the person who eats it. Eve and Adam both eat the apples, and as a result become ashamed of themselves in their nakedness (because their eyes were opened) and they hide from God.
He's speaking to the sky "with apples in [his] mouth," declaring to God that he's eating one of these magical fuckin' apples. He wants knowledge.
"I reach to the sky monkey wrench in hand I unfasten the sky bright night to the land"
This is amazing imagery to me. He's unfastening/opening up the sky with a MONKEY WRENCH, bringing night to the day. Using a man-made tool to "unfasten" the sky. But why would he be unfastening the sky? To expose God and bring truth.
"I have sinned but no punishment awaits The judge sits dead, dead on his bench"
It's a sin to eat from the tree of knowledge. I'm going to say he's talking about God in the second line. I like the description of God, because it seems like people DO think of their God in that way, as a judge, punishing people. They would rather not eat from the tree of knowledge, because they are afraid of being punished.
He's using religious imagery to help prove his point. He's using their own shit! God didn't want Adam and Eve to eat from the tree of knowledge. Doing so resulted in punishment for both of them. Here, the singer ate from the tree and there's nothing God can do about it, because he's dead. He's opening the sky, exposing this idea that knowledge (or eating from the tree of knowledge) will lead to punishment.
He's saying eat from the fucking tree of knowledge, because it's not a bad thing. No one will punish you.