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.
What would it take to gain acceptance
To the grounds behind your eyes
You know I'm open to suggestion
The one you made we never tried
Let it slip right out from under
Your breath and it rolled around my head
It was nothing I'd consider
I knew it had to happen then
Stood on the banks of the Potomac
We watched the water rushing by
You said we should live in the moment
Then I'd miss you all the time
And I know no one will believe me
But I don't want a second chance
To be an object of desire
If that means slipping through your hands
If I had tried to make you mine
You would have walked away
I can't compete with memories
They never have to change
This world is full of missing persons
All of these unsolved mysteries
If someone says they know for certain
They're selling something certainly
So when I set myself to wonder
All the questions that remain
The only one that even matters
Is when I'll see you're face again
I keep looking back for artifacts
To prove that you were here
The sound that's been keeps echoing
It never disappears
To the grounds behind your eyes
You know I'm open to suggestion
The one you made we never tried
Let it slip right out from under
Your breath and it rolled around my head
It was nothing I'd consider
I knew it had to happen then
Stood on the banks of the Potomac
We watched the water rushing by
You said we should live in the moment
Then I'd miss you all the time
And I know no one will believe me
But I don't want a second chance
To be an object of desire
If that means slipping through your hands
If I had tried to make you mine
You would have walked away
I can't compete with memories
They never have to change
This world is full of missing persons
All of these unsolved mysteries
If someone says they know for certain
They're selling something certainly
So when I set myself to wonder
All the questions that remain
The only one that even matters
Is when I'll see you're face again
I keep looking back for artifacts
To prove that you were here
The sound that's been keeps echoing
It never disappears
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"Fast car" is kind of a continuation of Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run." It has all the clawing your way to a better life, but in this case the protagonist never makes it with her love; in fact she is dragged back down by him.
There is still an amazing amount of hope and will in the lyrics; and the lyrics themselve rank and easy five. If only music was stronger it would be one of those great radio songs that you hear once a week 20 years after it was released. The imagery is almost tear-jerking ("City lights lay out before us", "Speeds so fast felt like I was drunk"), and the idea of starting from nothing and just driving and working and denigrating yourself for a chance at being just above poverty, then losing in the end is just painful and inspiring at the same time.
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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”
Holiday
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@[Diderik:33655] "Your a holiday!" Was a popular term used in the 50s/60s to compliment someone on their all around. For example, not only are they beautiful, but they are fun and kind too ... just an all around "holiday".
I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
Plastic Bag
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Ed Sheeran
“Plastic Bag” is a song about searching for an escape from personal problems and hoping to find it in the lively atmosphere of a Saturday night party. Ed Sheeran tells the story of his friend and the myriad of troubles he is going through. Unable to find any solutions, this friend seeks a last resort in a party and the vanity that comes with it.
“I overthink and have trouble sleepin’ / All purpose gone and don’t have a reason / And there’s no doctor to stop this bleedin’ / So I left home and jumped in the deep end,” Ed Sheeran sings in verse one. He continues by adding that this person is feeling the weight of having disappointed his father and doesn’t have any friends to rely on in this difficult moment. In the second verse, Ed sings about the role of grief in his friend’s plight and his dwindling faith in prayer. “Saturday night is givin’ me a reason to rely on the strobe lights / The lifeline of a promise in a shot glass, and I’ll take that / If you’re givin’ out love from a plastic bag,” Ed sings on the chorus, as his friend turns to new vices in hopes of feeling better.
It seems Conor loves a woman deeply, but is afraid to commit. I think the "suggestion" he refers to is her wanting to get married. His feelings for her are both a blessing and a curse, as he is afraid if he surrenders his heart, she will leave him. This is evident in the lines "If I had to tried to make you mine, you would have walked away".
When he says "I can't compete with memories. They never have to change", I think he's talking about how he will always be remembered as desirable to her because he was unattainable, whereas she may not have seen him that way had he been easy.
The lines "If someone says they know for certain, they're selling something certainly" seem to say that he can't promise her what will happen tomorrow, and that he will always be there. I think he loves her far more than he's letting on though, which is actually why he's pushing her away. It's not that he doesn't want to commit. It's that he can't bare the thought of being vulnerable to her, and potentially being left, so he goes ahead and walks away.
The last few lines "I keep looking for artifacts to prove that you were here. The sound that's been keeps echoing. It never disappears" are so heartbreaking to me. They make chills run up my spine every time I hear them. If you've ever loved someone that way, you will understand.
One small correction in the lyrics:
It is not "I can't compete with memories". The correct lyrics are "Life can't compete with memories.
This song took me a while to get into compared to the rest of the record but I find it more beautiful each time I listen. A lot goes unsaid about this song between Conor and the listener. For instance, the "suggestion" that the subject made that the speaker never tried. This is only one way to interpret it, but I think he may be talking about having a child with the subject. If you look at subtext, there is evidence of this.
"It was nothing I'd consider, I knew it had to happen then." He could be talking about a pregnancy, which is something that does not permit a lot of freedom to responsible and loving adults. In the rest of the album, Conor voices his qualms about having a child, like in the video for Common Knowledge, in the introduction. He also laments his unwillingness to be tied down in Lonely At The Top with "til then I'm walking out the door...running through the airport, til then i'm waiting around for no one."
In the next lines, he describes standing on the banks of the river, watching the water rush by. Water is a universal symbol of life and fertility. He is watching new life rush by him, doing nothing about it. The next line explains why (you said we should live in the moment, but then i'd miss you all the time), saying that he would never be around for her, and also in the subtext, the baby, since the pronoun "you" is not limited to one person.
The rest of the song, not particularily about the baby, just explains how the subject is extremely important to him, and how hard it is to be away from her all the time.
The final evidence of this song being about childbearing is the title iself, and the lyric derrived from it. "I keep looking back for artifacts to prove that you were here." Having a child with the subject would probably be the hardest evidence of their love, since he can't seem to find any the way that things are between them. A child would suite the title of "Artifact #1" very well, don't you think?
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