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.
The hole in the floor boards
The cot near the front door
The moon was gone from sight the
World was dark as nightmares
You took all my fears and
You wrapped them in wonders
But there's no magic inside the moon
It's just a rock you can't reach
I was never the sharp knife
But I was never the dull mind
I was somewhere in between
A thorn an acquiescent
So you said it was for me
When you tried to break me
Well you can save your breath
I know, I'm not the kind you pray for
Took a river of bad blood
But now I see where we came from
Can't grow a proper branch when
Half the trunk is rotten
And you swore that it hurt you
While pushing your knife through
Well you can save your breath
I know, we're not the kind you'll pray for
The cot near the front door
The moon was gone from sight the
World was dark as nightmares
You took all my fears and
You wrapped them in wonders
But there's no magic inside the moon
It's just a rock you can't reach
I was never the sharp knife
But I was never the dull mind
I was somewhere in between
A thorn an acquiescent
So you said it was for me
When you tried to break me
Well you can save your breath
I know, I'm not the kind you pray for
Took a river of bad blood
But now I see where we came from
Can't grow a proper branch when
Half the trunk is rotten
And you swore that it hurt you
While pushing your knife through
Well you can save your breath
I know, we're not the kind you'll pray for
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Great version of a great song,
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Ben Cooper's done something quite special here, not just with this song or this album, but all the music he's released.
Having said this, this song is so hauntingly beautiful and he did a commentary on YouTube about the whole 'Leaves' album and here is what he said about Bad Blood:
" So Bad Blood, um... this is not the song that I thought I would finish this whole 8 year project with. I mean that definitely was not my original plan... but after a pretty big falling out with a lot of my family last year, I had been looking at my own family history, and very differently, like now I have a lot more pieces and it's... it's a very different picture than I used to see it as.
"A lot of these things were happening when I was working on this last record so I wound up weaving it directly into this story. I mean there were elements of my family all along in all of the records, but this song is the most... direct I have ever been about my own past. And yeah without getting into too many gory details it kinda covers me getting kicked out of my house at 14 after coming out to my folks and... It kinda goes into, I guess how when you don't quite fit in or play into people's narratives, even your own family's, you can become easy to dispose of, or at least that's what I read into. I mean I'm not upset I wrote this song and I'm fine with it being the end of the whole project now, but... it's definitely one I don't think I will ever play again."
I could try and break this whole song down, but I don't really think that would be fair on Ben and this whole song is pretty self explanatory especially if you listened to his NPR interview he did just after the release - npr.org/2016/04/04/472541620/when-the-page-becomes-a-mirror-radical-face
@zeroremission whether or not Ben ever intended this to be the final song for the project, to me it is a perfect summation of what this whole journey has been about. Especially that final verse. Even though this isn't my favorite song from the project, I don't think there's been a verse that Ben has sung that cut me deeper than that one.