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.
Reading the madness they took her away
Under the cross.
Bailiff and bishop and mon
Malleus Maleficarum the law
Prayed for salvetion, I fought for her soul
Scared by the horned.
The devil was creeping around
Until she died in the flames as he saw.
Father forgive me for I've hardly seen
The human deep within. Just an intention
So holy and clear paving the way to madness
For us
Serpents on the way to paradise
Dying for love, fighting for ages.
Serpents on their way to paradise
Raging with anger and pain for the cross.
Father forgive me for what I have done.
For I betrayed the one that I loved like a son.
Demons and spells are they reality?
The pest and the schism; the power of the Moor
We've got to fight. Keep our people afraid
Keep them away from what they shall not see.
I see a menace to our paradise
In these evil times.
Heaves is burning, people are yearning
For a new doctrine, they are
Serpents on the way paradise.
Don't know they'll end in final damnation.
Serpents on the way to paradise
Raging with anger and pain against the cross.
Lord if I'm an unbeliever what do I believe?
Can you tell me lord what you had done
If you were me?
I have stared into the eyes
Of innocence and fear.
I saw Anna in the tower in a lake of tears.
Something strange is going on and
Still I don't know why.
I have stared into the secrets
They still try to hide.
Vandroiy can you tell me what you know about it all?
Vandroiy can you help me
To leave this prison hall?
Vandroiy can you help me
Free Anna from the chain?
Vandroiy can you help me
To become a little sane?
Serpents on the way to paradise
Dying for love, fighting for ages.
Serpents on their way to paradise
Raging with anger and pain.
Under the cross.
Bailiff and bishop and mon
Malleus Maleficarum the law
Prayed for salvetion, I fought for her soul
Scared by the horned.
The devil was creeping around
Until she died in the flames as he saw.
Father forgive me for I've hardly seen
The human deep within. Just an intention
So holy and clear paving the way to madness
For us
Serpents on the way to paradise
Dying for love, fighting for ages.
Serpents on their way to paradise
Raging with anger and pain for the cross.
Father forgive me for what I have done.
For I betrayed the one that I loved like a son.
Demons and spells are they reality?
The pest and the schism; the power of the Moor
We've got to fight. Keep our people afraid
Keep them away from what they shall not see.
I see a menace to our paradise
In these evil times.
Heaves is burning, people are yearning
For a new doctrine, they are
Serpents on the way paradise.
Don't know they'll end in final damnation.
Serpents on the way to paradise
Raging with anger and pain against the cross.
Lord if I'm an unbeliever what do I believe?
Can you tell me lord what you had done
If you were me?
I have stared into the eyes
Of innocence and fear.
I saw Anna in the tower in a lake of tears.
Something strange is going on and
Still I don't know why.
I have stared into the secrets
They still try to hide.
Vandroiy can you tell me what you know about it all?
Vandroiy can you help me
To leave this prison hall?
Vandroiy can you help me
Free Anna from the chain?
Vandroiy can you help me
To become a little sane?
Serpents on the way to paradise
Dying for love, fighting for ages.
Serpents on their way to paradise
Raging with anger and pain.
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
Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
Silent Planet
I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988.
"'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it."
"There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
Blue
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Blue” is a song about a love that is persisting in the discomfort of the person experiencing the emotion. Ed Sheeran reflects on love lost, and although he wishes his former partner find happiness, he cannot but admit his feelings are still very much there. He expresses the realization that he might never find another on this stringed instrumental 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.
This song carries on the themes from Reach Out For The Light - namely, the struggle and confusion between good and evil, and temptation.
In the beginning - verse 1 - Gabriel is either watching, or has heard about, Anna being crucified for witchcraft (the Malleus Maleficarum, or Hexenhammer, is the Medieval law of Witchcraft and Heresy).
Afterwards, in verses 2 and 3, he goes into uber-coward mode, and starts begging for mercy, claiming that although he was related to her, he hardly knew the real Anna (‘Father forgive me, for I’ve hardly seen the human deep within’), and would never have stood up for herhad he known she was a witch (‘Prayed for salvation, I fought for her soul, scarred by the horned’).
Serpents on the way to Paradise I’d hope was obvious. Garden of Eden, serpent, apple. ‘nough said? It’s all about temptation, and how (according to Friar Jakob), his congregation are faciong more and more of it each day.
’Father forgive me for what I have done. For I betrayed the one that I loved like a son. Demons and spells are they reality?’
Now it’s Jakob’s turn to say sorry to God, for letting Gabe stray from God’s path.
’The pest and the schism; the power of the Moor’
The Moors were North African Islams, who lived in southern Iberia/north Africa during the Medieval period (in what is now Morroco, Algeria, southern Spain and Portugal). Christians considered them evil - basically because they weren’t Christian.
’We've got to fight. Keep our people afraid... Keep them away from what they shall not see.’
The classic Medieval scare tactics. Prevent people from realising there’s an alternative to Christianity. If they don’t know an alternative exists, they won’t keep trying to find one all the time, and will keep people like Jakob rich.
Then we’re back to Gabriel, who’s now questioning everything again, and asking God what God would do if he were in Gabriel’s shoes. He’s confused, because everyone says Anna is a witch, but he keeps having visions of her crying in a tower. Does that make him a witch too? Or is Anna not a witch, and actually in trouble, which would mean Gabe was the good guy?
Eventually he gives up and turns to the Druid for help.