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.
Well, I'm afraid that the circles I've been drinking myself in
Aren't big enough for the vowels that I try to fit inside of them
When I was young I drank too much and I'd be lying if I said
I didn't feel so goddamn young tonight
Maybe too young to ask what's on my mind
Like if freedom means doing what you want
Well don't you gotta want something?
And won't you tell me that we want something more than just more beer?
And my friends, if that ain't true, won't you lie to me tonight?
Well I've been listening to Minor Threat records all day
And shit if I do not know every word; I sing along as I tie off
And Ian screams he's out of step
As I throw the cotton into the spoon, draw up into the syringe
I'll know just what he means until I hit a vein
But after that I won't have to bother
With knowing who I am, for a while at least
In a moment the whole world is gonna melt around me
And I'll swear I don't miss it as a I lie to you tonight
Because I'm afraid to look the world in the eye
If nothing's gonna change, well then, I'd rather die
And I'm too unemployed to organize a union
I'm too intoxicated to tear down a building
I'm too hopeless to look for a solution
I'm afraid that if I found one, I'd be out of excuses
For the way I waste away in the gutters that I chose
Like fashion accessories to go with my dirty clothes
I haven't bathed in months, but you know it's not because
I've been fighting bourgeois morals; I'm just lazy and I'm young
I've seen the best minds of my generation dying drunk or high
From the rooftops to the parking lots
Stomped to death in West Philadelphian squats
They've got me waiting on a day
When we can say "fuck the police!" with a little bit of integrity,
When it'll mean "I've got your back if you've got mine!"
Give me a scene where I believe in more
Than bad hair cuts, guilt, and misery
I don't know where I fit between the vegans and the nihilists
That might be the first thing I've said that wasn't a lie tonight
'Cause there's gotta be something more
Than lying in the front yard naked screaming at the constellations
I want something more than an apology to say
When I look the world in the eye
I'll tell you, man, my friend william came to me with a message of hope
It went, "fuck you and everything that you think you know
If you don't step outside the things that you believe they're gonna kill you"
He said, "no one's gonna stop you from dying young and miserable and right
But if you want something better, you gotta put that shit aside"
I thought about how for thousands of years
There have been people who told us that things can't go on like this
From Jesus Christ to The Diggers
From Malthus to Zerzan
From Karl Marx to Huey Newton
But the shit goes on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on.
Now I'm not saying that we can't change the world
Because everybody does at least a little bit of that
But I won't shit myself: the way I'm living is a temper tantrum
And I need something else, need something else
Need something else to stay alive (ohohoh)
And on the night that I play my last show
I'll be singing so loud that my heart explodes
And I'll be singing, and I'll be singing, "we are free!"
Oh but won't you promise me
That we won't ever forget what the means?
I know it's hard to give a shit sometimes
But promise me we'll always try
Because I don't wanna hate you and I don't wanna hate me
And I don't wanna have to hate everything anymore
Aren't big enough for the vowels that I try to fit inside of them
When I was young I drank too much and I'd be lying if I said
I didn't feel so goddamn young tonight
Maybe too young to ask what's on my mind
Like if freedom means doing what you want
Well don't you gotta want something?
And won't you tell me that we want something more than just more beer?
And my friends, if that ain't true, won't you lie to me tonight?
Well I've been listening to Minor Threat records all day
And shit if I do not know every word; I sing along as I tie off
And Ian screams he's out of step
As I throw the cotton into the spoon, draw up into the syringe
I'll know just what he means until I hit a vein
But after that I won't have to bother
With knowing who I am, for a while at least
In a moment the whole world is gonna melt around me
And I'll swear I don't miss it as a I lie to you tonight
Because I'm afraid to look the world in the eye
If nothing's gonna change, well then, I'd rather die
And I'm too unemployed to organize a union
I'm too intoxicated to tear down a building
I'm too hopeless to look for a solution
I'm afraid that if I found one, I'd be out of excuses
For the way I waste away in the gutters that I chose
Like fashion accessories to go with my dirty clothes
I haven't bathed in months, but you know it's not because
I've been fighting bourgeois morals; I'm just lazy and I'm young
I've seen the best minds of my generation dying drunk or high
From the rooftops to the parking lots
Stomped to death in West Philadelphian squats
They've got me waiting on a day
When we can say "fuck the police!" with a little bit of integrity,
When it'll mean "I've got your back if you've got mine!"
Give me a scene where I believe in more
Than bad hair cuts, guilt, and misery
I don't know where I fit between the vegans and the nihilists
That might be the first thing I've said that wasn't a lie tonight
'Cause there's gotta be something more
Than lying in the front yard naked screaming at the constellations
I want something more than an apology to say
When I look the world in the eye
I'll tell you, man, my friend william came to me with a message of hope
It went, "fuck you and everything that you think you know
If you don't step outside the things that you believe they're gonna kill you"
He said, "no one's gonna stop you from dying young and miserable and right
But if you want something better, you gotta put that shit aside"
I thought about how for thousands of years
There have been people who told us that things can't go on like this
From Jesus Christ to The Diggers
From Malthus to Zerzan
From Karl Marx to Huey Newton
But the shit goes on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on.
Now I'm not saying that we can't change the world
Because everybody does at least a little bit of that
But I won't shit myself: the way I'm living is a temper tantrum
And I need something else, need something else
Need something else to stay alive (ohohoh)
And on the night that I play my last show
I'll be singing so loud that my heart explodes
And I'll be singing, and I'll be singing, "we are free!"
Oh but won't you promise me
That we won't ever forget what the means?
I know it's hard to give a shit sometimes
But promise me we'll always try
Because I don't wanna hate you and I don't wanna hate me
And I don't wanna have to hate everything anymore
Lyrics submitted by concreteblues
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