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.
I had one chance to tell you
I was worth it,
As we stood between the graves in our town,
And the dead folks sang their forgotten songs,
As I watched your eyes stare at the ground.
On the one hand you're hoping I'm lying,
On the other you hope I'm a fool,
And the wind, it blew
All the thieves around you,
As you watched all our dreaming come true.
Two sides of lonely,
One is heart,
One is duty.
Two sides of lonely
One's in the grave,
And the other should be.
We were alone together in Brooklyn,
And the midnight snow fell in the park
And the wind, it crashed
Through the trees above us
And we watched the frost freeze
Our dead hearts.
Two sides of lonely,
One is heart,
One is duty.
Two sides of lonely,
One's in the grave,
And the other should be.
And the dead folks they hum
All the songs that you'd sung
In the grave you dug yourself
When we were young.
And the dead folks they sway
Back and forth to the drum
And the sides of lonely
Lay to rest in their arms.
You rock back and forth
As the seasons change
Just like your mind in the dark,
And the nights you sleep,
You dream of me
And the love you let die.
I was worth it,
As we stood between the graves in our town,
And the dead folks sang their forgotten songs,
As I watched your eyes stare at the ground.
On the one hand you're hoping I'm lying,
On the other you hope I'm a fool,
And the wind, it blew
All the thieves around you,
As you watched all our dreaming come true.
Two sides of lonely,
One is heart,
One is duty.
Two sides of lonely
One's in the grave,
And the other should be.
We were alone together in Brooklyn,
And the midnight snow fell in the park
And the wind, it crashed
Through the trees above us
And we watched the frost freeze
Our dead hearts.
Two sides of lonely,
One is heart,
One is duty.
Two sides of lonely,
One's in the grave,
And the other should be.
And the dead folks they hum
All the songs that you'd sung
In the grave you dug yourself
When we were young.
And the dead folks they sway
Back and forth to the drum
And the sides of lonely
Lay to rest in their arms.
You rock back and forth
As the seasons change
Just like your mind in the dark,
And the nights you sleep,
You dream of me
And the love you let die.
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The singer has a flashback, standing in a cemetery with a girl he loves. The girl's boyfriend died in a war, and she's standing at his grave. She is heartbroken over his death, and throughout her life she never lets herself love again because she never lets go of her dead lover. The "two sides of lonely" are the girl and her boyfriend, separated by the ground. One lonely is her, heartbroken, and the other is "duty" because his duty to serve his country as a soldier is what killed him and put him in the ground.
"One's in the grave, and the other should be" The soldier is in the ground, and the singer resentfully believes that since she never lets her heart love another man, it is essentially dead and might as well be in the ground as well.
The song opens with the last time he saw her, in the graveyard. He confesses his love for her, but all she can think of at the time is her lost love, as she stares at the ground.
"In the grave you dug yourself when we were young" He makes clear that her boyfriend's death killed her on the inside, and she was never the same, never able to love again as she buried her soul with her lover, as "the two sides of lonely [her soul and his body] laid rest in their [the dead, the grave] arms."
At the end of the song, its the present day, many years since that day in the graveyard. He describes her dreaming of him and the "love you let die" because while the singer loved her when they were young, since she couldn't love him back, he eventually moved on, and his love for her died. But he can't really know that, because they are not together. So she might not really be musing about his love or wishing for it, but he resentfully hopes she is, since we only have the singer's point of view.