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.
Follow your heart to the water
Fill your pockets with stone
Throw your arms around me
Never let me go
You were the first; you wouldn't be the last.
What the river took, we could never replace
And as the pain set in, so did the realization
That you were never coming home
For nights we lay awake
Wishing for answers, hoping against all hope
And if love could change the course of fate
These nights, we move mountains
But as the news filtered down the line, the impact shook us
Shook us to the core
Loss struck like a dagger in our aching hearts
So follow your heart to the water
Fill your pockets with stone
Throw your arms around me
Never let me go
It's not the years in your life, it's the life in your years
Old soul, so it's said
The day we lost is the day I found regret
Not in the waters that embraced you
But in the wake your absence left
Sink into me
Hold our your hands, sink into me
Hold out your hands, I'll take you away
Hold out your hands, surrender the weight of this world
Follow your heart to the water
Fill your pockets with stone
Throw your arms around me
Never let me go
Never let me go
Fill your pockets with stone
Throw your arms around me
Never let me go
You were the first; you wouldn't be the last.
What the river took, we could never replace
And as the pain set in, so did the realization
That you were never coming home
For nights we lay awake
Wishing for answers, hoping against all hope
And if love could change the course of fate
These nights, we move mountains
But as the news filtered down the line, the impact shook us
Shook us to the core
Loss struck like a dagger in our aching hearts
So follow your heart to the water
Fill your pockets with stone
Throw your arms around me
Never let me go
It's not the years in your life, it's the life in your years
Old soul, so it's said
The day we lost is the day I found regret
Not in the waters that embraced you
But in the wake your absence left
Sink into me
Hold our your hands, sink into me
Hold out your hands, I'll take you away
Hold out your hands, surrender the weight of this world
Follow your heart to the water
Fill your pockets with stone
Throw your arms around me
Never let me go
Never let me go
Lyrics submitted by digitall
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Great point, AlexAsura, on the Virginia Woolf reference! It adds a whole new layer to the song. The band did an interview with AP and said the following:
"This song is about death. It is a narrative about the passing of a close friend of the band and what we went through during this time. The gospel vocals you hear on the record are sung as the character of death. I wanted it to be beautiful. Death is something most people fear, and yet it is a constant in this life. We fear it because we don't know anything else but life. Death is the ultimate question, but it is also the ultimate release. Every person I have lost in this life, I feel grateful for having known, but no one lives in vain. How do we judge our lives? A friend once told me, "It's not the years in your life, it's the life in your years." and life and death are what you make of them."