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.
In the basement waiting for a statement
But station's frequency is vacant
Why don't we go outside
In the break room waiting for a big boom
Smoke haze rising in a big plume
Everyone's dissatisfied
The pools have dried
The trial's been tried
But the leak's still spilling
They don't know what to do
The flow won't stop
Pressure still won't drop
Tanks are overfilling
Forward we crawl
Backwards we fall
Through the ebb and the flow
Living within a dream wading through the stream
Beyond the ebb and flow
Up late to earn the proceeds
All stressed out, working until your eyes bleed
Overtime to buy things we don't need
Always on the go and you're thirty thirty
Gotta make the ends and get dirty dirty
Will it ever stop will it ever end, is it worthy?
Reality of this is you go loco loco
And too much of this way and you'll go postal postal
Happens all the time just get in line and go comatose
The moms and pops have all closed up shop
And who can blame them? I don't know anyone
The kids just hide scared to go outside
And just who can blame them?
And at times it seems unreal
We can see but we can't feel
And no one's at the wheel
Born here all alone
Growing old with hearts of stone
The lights are on but no one's home
Forward we crawl
Backwards we fall
Through the ebb and the flow
Living within a dream wading through the stream
Beyond the ebb and flow
And then just we have faith
Cross invaded to the ebb and flow
But station's frequency is vacant
Why don't we go outside
In the break room waiting for a big boom
Smoke haze rising in a big plume
Everyone's dissatisfied
The pools have dried
The trial's been tried
But the leak's still spilling
They don't know what to do
The flow won't stop
Pressure still won't drop
Tanks are overfilling
Forward we crawl
Backwards we fall
Through the ebb and the flow
Living within a dream wading through the stream
Beyond the ebb and flow
Up late to earn the proceeds
All stressed out, working until your eyes bleed
Overtime to buy things we don't need
Always on the go and you're thirty thirty
Gotta make the ends and get dirty dirty
Will it ever stop will it ever end, is it worthy?
Reality of this is you go loco loco
And too much of this way and you'll go postal postal
Happens all the time just get in line and go comatose
The moms and pops have all closed up shop
And who can blame them? I don't know anyone
The kids just hide scared to go outside
And just who can blame them?
And at times it seems unreal
We can see but we can't feel
And no one's at the wheel
Born here all alone
Growing old with hearts of stone
The lights are on but no one's home
Forward we crawl
Backwards we fall
Through the ebb and the flow
Living within a dream wading through the stream
Beyond the ebb and flow
And then just we have faith
Cross invaded to the ebb and flow
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This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
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Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
This is about bronies. They communicate by stomping.
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,
Magical
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
How would you describe the feeling of being in love? For Ed Sheeran, the word is “Magical.” in HIS three-minute album opener, he makes an attempt to capture the beauty and delicacy of true love with words. He describes the magic of it all over a bright Pop song produced by Aaron Dessner.
I think this song is about the current state of society. The opening verse is a general statement about how everyone in society is always wanting more, not doing anything, and just not being happy. I totally see the next part being about the BP oil spill ("The trial's been tried/ but the leaks still spilling/ they dont know what to do").
The next part is obviously about how we have become a consumer society that buys stuff we don't need to be happy. Then when they talk about the "Moms and Pops" I think they're referring to these big corporations like Walmart that make it impossible for local, small businesses to succeed in today's society.
When I hear "the kids just hide/ scared to go outside/ and who can blame them?" I think about all these horrendous school shootings that have taken over the past few years and how in today's society kids can't even go out to school and be safe.
The part before the last chorus is referring to how in today's 24/7 news cycle, we hear about all these ills of society but we really don't feel the impact of them. Growing old with "hearts of stone" is saying how society is becoming desensitized. We see all this but we do NOTHING.
Hence the chorus "Forward we fall, backward we crawl". We hear about how much we as humans are evolving and advancing, but in the end we are taking steps backwards, with the examples the song provides. And we know its happening, but we're more worried about "me" (consumerism) instead of fixing society as a whole. Definitely a more pessimistic/dark/deep song within the 311 spectrum.