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.
We touched the walls of the city streets and
Dead ends plain, sadly showed us our ways
Of never asking why
Cast down it was heaven sent and
To the church, no intent to repent on my knees
Just to cry
Until you travel to that place you can't come back
Where the last painting's gone and all that's left is black
Grey nights he's coming to me and
Some day they'll punish my deeds and they'll find
All the crimes
But then they ask when they gonna see them
Then they gonna ask to feel the ghosts, the walls, the dreams
We'll I've got mine
At last those coming came and they never looked back
With blinding stars in their eyes but all they saw was black
Fooled them hoping to seem
Like a slave of evil but the product of greed and
It's not a mass so be honest with me
We can't afford to ignore that I'm the disease
Practical since we had to be and
When they were old they came back to me and they tried
Oh they tried
And when you follow through and wind up on your back
Looking up at those stars in the sky those white clouds have turned it black
Dead ends plain, sadly showed us our ways
Of never asking why
Cast down it was heaven sent and
To the church, no intent to repent on my knees
Just to cry
Until you travel to that place you can't come back
Where the last painting's gone and all that's left is black
Grey nights he's coming to me and
Some day they'll punish my deeds and they'll find
All the crimes
But then they ask when they gonna see them
Then they gonna ask to feel the ghosts, the walls, the dreams
We'll I've got mine
At last those coming came and they never looked back
With blinding stars in their eyes but all they saw was black
Fooled them hoping to seem
Like a slave of evil but the product of greed and
It's not a mass so be honest with me
We can't afford to ignore that I'm the disease
Practical since we had to be and
When they were old they came back to me and they tried
Oh they tried
And when you follow through and wind up on your back
Looking up at those stars in the sky those white clouds have turned it black
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This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
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For me this song is about how we screw up our lives and don't live up to our best because of our circumstances. The writer is thinking about dying and is reflecting on their life: "Until you travel to that place you can't come back" When you face death, all the lies you told about about yourself become irrelevant and you realize what you really are and what your legacy has been.
"Some day they'll punish my deeds and they'll find all the crimes" where 'they' is God. We desperately try and explain to him that there's way more to our lives than the bits we screwed up and we had dreams that we wanted to fulfill but found it so hard.
"Then they gonna ask to feel the ghosts, the walls, the dreams we'll I've got mine"
And even at the end, when you finally manage to make some progress it almost kills you "And when you follow through and wind up on your back" and then you die regardless.