Overall about difficult moments of disappointment and vulnerability. Having hope and longing, while remaining optimistic for the future. Encourages the belief that with each new morning there is a chance for things to improve.
The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future.
Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
My cheeks were reflecting the longest wavelength
My fan was folded up and grazin' my forehead
And I kept touching my neck to guide your eye to where I wanted
You to kiss when we find some time alone
My scars were reflecting the mist in your headlights
I looked like a neon zebra shakin' rain off of stripes
And the rivulets had you riveted to the places that I wanted you to
Kiss me when we find some time alone
And then we can do anything we want (x3)
We started out sippin' the water
And now we try to swallow the wave
And we try not to let those bastards get us down
Oh, we don't worry anymore
Cuz we know when the guff comes we get brave
After all look around it's happening it's happening
It's happening now
Let's pretend we're 8 years old playin' hookey
I'll draw on the wall and you can play UFC rookie
Then we'll grow up and take our clothes off
And you remind me that I wanted you to kiss me
When we find some time alone
And then we can do anything we want (x4)
My fan was folded up and grazin' my forehead
And I kept touching my neck to guide your eye to where I wanted
You to kiss when we find some time alone
My scars were reflecting the mist in your headlights
I looked like a neon zebra shakin' rain off of stripes
And the rivulets had you riveted to the places that I wanted you to
Kiss me when we find some time alone
And then we can do anything we want (x3)
We started out sippin' the water
And now we try to swallow the wave
And we try not to let those bastards get us down
Oh, we don't worry anymore
Cuz we know when the guff comes we get brave
After all look around it's happening it's happening
It's happening now
Let's pretend we're 8 years old playin' hookey
I'll draw on the wall and you can play UFC rookie
Then we'll grow up and take our clothes off
And you remind me that I wanted you to kiss me
When we find some time alone
And then we can do anything we want (x4)
Lyrics submitted by lisasonoda
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings
Cajun Girl
Little Feat
Little Feat
Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
Silent Planet
I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo
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,
When We Were Young
Blink-182
Blink-182
This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
Punchline
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.
“My cheeks were reflecting the longest wavelength” Within the visual spectrum, the longest wavelength is red. She is blushing. “My fan was folded up and grazin' my forehead” In Victorian-era fan language, the fan being run across a lady’s forehead meant, “We are watched.” “And I kept touching my neck to guide your eye to where I wanted You to kiss when we find some time alone” This one is self-explanatory. They’re being watched but she wants him to know she’s thinking about where she wants him to kiss her later.
“My scars were reflecting the mist in your headlights” Her paramour’s gaze is powerful and makes her feel like her metaphorical scars are in a spotlight, and she’s sweating from the intensity she feels. “I looked like a neon zebra shakin' rain off of stripes” Nice imagery here. You can really picture her in this spotlight with all her scars highlighted as she shakes beads of sweat from her body. “And the rivulets had you riveted to the places that I wanted you to Kiss me when we find some time alone” The rivulets of sweat, or “mist” rolling down her neck, resting on her collarbones, guided his eyes. And then we can do anything we want (x3)
“We started out sippin' the water And now we try to swallow the wave” Their courtship started out slowly, to test it out, like someone sipping something they are wary of, and they were overcome with adoration of this delightful drink and wanted to consume all of it with passion, more than what was possible for the situation and time. “And we try not to let those bastards get us down” There are some against their relationship.
“Oh, we don't worry anymore Cuz we know when the guff comes we get brave” When people question our relationship, we stand up for our love because we believe in it. There must be something about their relationship that people are against, otherwise they wouldn’t have to “get brave.”
“After all look around it's happening it's happening It's happening now”
They’re being brave right now. Look around, they’re being brave just being together, ignoring the stares from others.
Does anyone have suggestions about the last stanza? I'm a little lost on that one.
The last stanza sort of reminds me of when you love someone so much and you want to consume them so much that you imagine you've known them forever; you want to rewrite history and put them in elementary school with you so that you can maybe feel like you know them more authentically?<br /> <br /> Maybe it also contrasts nicely with "and we can do anything we want" -- like, when they were kids they couldn't do anything they wanted, but now they can? Just some thoughts! What an amazing song.
@sultryq very perceptive and I'd certainly go with it. I take the song's ending to be her invitation to him to be carefree, to allow themselves to be kids again and cast off inhibitions, and not in a sexual way, either. It's a celebration of and a return to innocence, before the stripes/scars. The sex comes later when "we'll grow up, take off our clothes." I have to say the instrumentation of this song is a huge part of its success.