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've been waiting on the slide
Suggest I open wide
No incentive to hide
Happy coursing through my veins
Don't even know my name
When I'm up you're coming down
Inside of me, some sight to see
Some sight to feel our earthy bed
When we're wrapped in polythene
What's that supposed to mean
Paper flowers bring me luck
No birds in sight I fear
Stick sticks in you my dear
When I'm up you're coming down
Some say I'm vague
And I'd easily fade
Foolish parade of fantasy
Drink in your eyes
Drink in you sighs
Grass in my thighs my aching legs
Suggest I open wide
No incentive to hide
Happy coursing through my veins
Don't even know my name
When I'm up you're coming down
Inside of me, some sight to see
Some sight to feel our earthy bed
When we're wrapped in polythene
What's that supposed to mean
Paper flowers bring me luck
No birds in sight I fear
Stick sticks in you my dear
When I'm up you're coming down
Some say I'm vague
And I'd easily fade
Foolish parade of fantasy
Drink in your eyes
Drink in you sighs
Grass in my thighs my aching legs
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings
Standing On The Edge Of Summer
Thursday
Thursday
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
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"
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.
Head > Heels
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Head > Heels” is a track that aims to capture what it feels like to experience romance that exceeds expectations. Ed Sheeran dedicates his album outro to a lover who has blessed him with a unique experience that he seeks to describe through the song’s nuanced lyrics.
I always thought it was about having sex outside. On a playground, no less (I thought it was "I've been waiting on the slide").
"I've been waiting on the side" it's slide, not side "I've been waiting on the slide"
I remember reading an interveiw with LUSH in which miki claimed that this song was "about having sex at 9 in the morning while high on X..." Sounds about right...
Maybe the sexiest alt-rock song ever.
I think it IS about having sex outside in a playground. Or at least in a park, near the playground, where she's waited for her boy to make his move.
25 years ago for a woman to be this bold about her sexuality, singing about "suggest I open wide," "when I'm up you're coming down" (lifting her hips as he's thrusting), "inside of me," and finally "my aching legs" (after having very active sex). Also, if they were on X, the drug retards orgasm, so it might have gone on for quite a long time.
Heady stuff. Even living in San Francisco and playing in the underground music scene, I wasn't used to women being that matter-of-fact.
And then when I went to see them, Emma was this tiny English librarian-looking girl! And they rocked so hard.
I came away from that show swearing that I was going to start my own shoegaze/dream pop band, and I did. One of the most creatively fulfilling times of my life.
^ Oh, I would LOVE to find that interview...
"Some say I'm vague And I'd easily fade Foolish parade of fantasy"
the greatest lines everrr
One of the greatest songs EVER!!! Hypnotic and alive. Bought this CD @ 20 years ago and still listen to it.
One of the greatest songs EVER!!! Hypnotic and alive. Bought this CD @ 20 years ago and still listen to it.
Sex and drugs and rock and roll
What's not to love