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"
Arnica might take out the throes that I threw in my head
Bruno, your wife shakes the bedclothes as she makes up your bed
I'm tired of life, I'm tired of waiting for someone
I'm tired of prices, I'm tired of waiting for something
I have a right to know what's in store, to know what should be said
Could I have it all, could I have you for a night in the warmth of your bed?
I'm tired of life, I'm tired of waiting for someone
I'm tired of prices, I'm tired of waiting for something
I'm tired of life, I'm tired of life
I'm tired of life, I'm tired of life
I'm tired of life, I'm tired of life
Oh be patient with me, for the night weighs on my chest with a terrible storm
Though we may disagree on how things should be done, on how crisis is born
Don't consider it done, wait until Leviathan lovingly creeps in your sill
For he waits in the dark, brooding magically, mustering paperback feelings
No I'm not afraid of death or strife or injury, accidents, they are my friends
Bruno, your wife shakes the bedclothes as she makes up your bed
I'm tired of life, I'm tired of waiting for someone
I'm tired of prices, I'm tired of waiting for something
I have a right to know what's in store, to know what should be said
Could I have it all, could I have you for a night in the warmth of your bed?
I'm tired of life, I'm tired of waiting for someone
I'm tired of prices, I'm tired of waiting for something
I'm tired of life, I'm tired of life
I'm tired of life, I'm tired of life
I'm tired of life, I'm tired of life
Oh be patient with me, for the night weighs on my chest with a terrible storm
Though we may disagree on how things should be done, on how crisis is born
Don't consider it done, wait until Leviathan lovingly creeps in your sill
For he waits in the dark, brooding magically, mustering paperback feelings
No I'm not afraid of death or strife or injury, accidents, they are my friends
Lyrics submitted by lesea, edited by WhisperinPines
Arnika Lyrics as written by Sufjan Stevens
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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The Night We Met
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This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
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Just A Little Lovin'
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I don't think it's necessarily about sex. It's about wanting to start the day with some love and affection. Maybe a warm cuddle. I'm not alone in interpreting it that way! For example:
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Magical
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FUCKING depressing.
I'm pretty sure this song is about suicide. Arnica is a plant that can cause you to die. Normally I hate when people always think that complex songs such as this one have something to do with religion but Sufjan is known for that theme. With that said, Leviathan is a sea creature used by christians as the image of hell or one of its monsters. (I'm not saying this as a preachy christian, in fact I am Atheist who knows a lot about religion) When I hear this song I imagine it is him convincing someone that he wants to go this way. Mostly because of the line where he says they disagree on how to deal with a crisis. I wouldn't put the issue of suicide past him even though it seems rather intense. A lot of his songs are that way. They deal with issues hardly touched so deeply in music. i.e. John Wayne Gacy. This song is terribly haunting and beautiful. I love the sound of the rope swinging. And I mean that in the least morbid way. It's so creative.
@iamcharlatan To add to this, I feel like this song captures exactly what it's like to be in the state where you simply want to give up. The "I'm going" part reminds me of when you try and convince yourself this is the time where you actually end it all. <br /> <br /> You give yourself the reasons this is it. But you don't do it, cos there's something to live for I suppose, for Sufjan it's Religion, or whatever. I don't know, that's just what I feel.
I love how much he's experimenting with his sound; you can hear it most in the way he sings. His melodies are weirder, harder, and with different inflections. It's not strictly breathy and soft anymore.
this song is so beautiful, i'm surprised that only 3 people have commented on it so far.
on the surface, it seems like this song is simply about lovesickness and longing. could be wrong.
Way_AE...I agree with you completely. He's exploring into the unknown and doing it perfect.
"Could I have it all could I have you for a night in the warmth of your bed"
Little slip up in your lyrics up there.
Yeah I agree with you two guys
I think he's dealing with an apocalypse of sorts and he wants to be with this girl for his final night.
Any idea who Arnika and Bruno are? What does Leviathan represent and what are those paperback feelings! I need answers, i have no insight whatsoever to this song! I cant wait for a live version of this song with Sufjan's storytelling, shedding some light on these mysteries. He sounds so vulnerable here. Ah! what a beautiful song, Sufjan makes me run out of adjectives.
Does anyone else hear the sound of a rope swinging around 2:40? It fades in and out of the song after that point on, but it always reminds me of someone being hanged. I've heard someone say it's the sound of a swing, which makes sense, but it also sounds of someone being hanged, or at the end of their rope, so to speak. Makes perfect sense with the lyrics as well ("I'm tired of life.../Oh, be patient with me; for the night weighs on my chest with a terrible storm/...No I'm not afraid of death or strife or injury, accidents, they are my friend").
Gives a creepy/almost unlistenable vibe to the song when I think of it that way, though.
I too would like to know, who the hell are Arnika/Arnica and Bruno? The lyrics that are embedded in my mp3s show the title as "Arnika" and the name in the lyrics as "Arnica." Not sure if this is just a typo. Arnica with a "c" is a homeopathic treatment for bruises and sprains. Maybe he's feeling battered and bruised, literally or figuratively, or both?
I always thought that the creaking was something like a rocking chair, a sound he kept in as part of a lo-fi feel. The Owl and The Tanager also has artifacts like that. You can hear him pressing down the pedals as he's playing the piano. It almost sounds like someone is rowing a boat. I really love that about ADP. If you haven't listened with headphones, give it a try.
That last line, "No, I'm not afraid of death or strife or injury, accidents, they are my friends," just haunts me.
This might be my favourite song on the EP. So melancholy. But with a sense of release.
I hear the creaking and yeah, it may well be a rope, or a rocking chair - I just love that it keeps 'creaking' as the last parts are repeated with the repetitious chorus of 'I'm goin.....I'm goin.....I'm goin........'
It's kinda almost like he's just sick of it all and he's really ready to 'go', whether that means to die or whatever...... I have days like that sometimes. Not to the point of wanting to die!! Thank goodness... but just like 'I am so over this life and all of its problems and pains - Lord I just wana come home.'
Bitchin song.