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.
Wait 'til the day says it's closing
And public is put away
Write by the light of a pay phone
Your list of "I meant to say"
Like "Winter comes too soon"
Or "Radiators hum out of tune"
Out under the Disraeli
With rusty train track ties
We'll carve new streets and sidewalks
A city for small lives
And say that we'll stay for one more year
Wait near the end of September
Wait for some stars to show
Try so hard not to remember
What all empty playgrounds know
That sympathy is cruel
Reluctant jester or simpering fool
But six feet off the highway
Our bare legs stung with wheat
We'll dig a hole and bury
All we could not defeat
And say that we'll stay for one more year
Bend to tie a shoelace
Or bend against your fear
And say that you'll stay for one more year
With so much left to seek
The lease runs out next week
And public is put away
Write by the light of a pay phone
Your list of "I meant to say"
Like "Winter comes too soon"
Or "Radiators hum out of tune"
Out under the Disraeli
With rusty train track ties
We'll carve new streets and sidewalks
A city for small lives
And say that we'll stay for one more year
Wait near the end of September
Wait for some stars to show
Try so hard not to remember
What all empty playgrounds know
That sympathy is cruel
Reluctant jester or simpering fool
But six feet off the highway
Our bare legs stung with wheat
We'll dig a hole and bury
All we could not defeat
And say that we'll stay for one more year
Bend to tie a shoelace
Or bend against your fear
And say that you'll stay for one more year
With so much left to seek
The lease runs out next week
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"
Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
This is about bronies. They communicate by stomping.
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."
I Can't Go To Sleep
Wu-Tang Clan
Wu-Tang Clan
This song is written as the perspective of the boys in the street, as a whole, and what path they are going to choose as they get older and grow into men. (This is why the music video takes place in an orphanage.) The seen, and unseen collective suffering is imbedded in the boys’ mind, consciously or subconsciously, and is haunting them. Which path will the boys choose? Issac Hayes is the voice of reason, maybe God, the angel on his shoulder, or the voice of his forefathers from beyond the grave who can see the big picture and are pleading with the boys not to continue the violence and pattern of killing their brothers, but to rise above. The most beautiful song and has so many levels. Racism towards African Americans in America would not exist if everyone sat down and listened to this song and understood the history behind the words. The power, fear, pleading in RZA and Ghostface voices are genuine and powerful. Issac Hayes’ strong voice makes the perfect strong father figure, who is possibly from beyond the grave.
"the Disraeli" is another winnipeg reference that JKS seems to throw into a lot of songs. Is a big double bridge that connects Henderson Hwy to Main Street. Runs over the river and then a couple train tracks which he mentions in the same verse. The tracks border on the North End which is poorer part of winnipeg. ( Same North End that JKS mentions dieing in "One Great City"). My guess is he has his personal ties to the area. I live in winnipeg so when he mentions stuff like this, it just makes the songs that much more personal.
This song is absolutely one of their most underrated ones. It is so amazingly beautiful. People write this one off because they're too busy listening to "Left and Leaving" and "Aside." Shame on you people.
fallow = intelligance, fallow = beauty
aren was right, this song is way to underrated.
"Wait until the day says it's closing, and public is put away. Write by the light of a pay phone your list of "I meant to say". "
This song starts out beautiful, and ends the exact same way. The Weakerthans are wonderful.
I probably heard the weakerthans for the first time a little over a year ago. I didn't really "discover" this song until maybe four months ago. all I can say is "wow."
the feeling of uneasiness, unrest. oh my gosh. this is an example of what all music shoudl be. you can't put your finger on the emotion, but you know you've felt it before.
doesn't it feel like it's snowing? right til the end it feels like the first snow of the season then i see a field covered in snow
My favorite Weakerthans song, and I love all of them big bunches. I think it's the hope in the last verse, that there's all this sadness and unease and bitter nostalgia - then there's these sort of sweetly hopefull lines ("But 6 ft off the highway, our bare legs stung with wheat, we'll dig a hole and bury all we could not defeat") and they just break my heart.
"But six feet off the highway, our bare legs stung with wheat, we'll dig a hole and bury all we could not defeat, and say that we'll stay for one more year."
this line reminds me of my best friend and i, our long drives into the swamps and backwoods of florida, and how we talk about all the things we want, and how life makes our plans for us in the end. i love this song.
Im surprised no one brough up the Disraeli reference. Disraeli was the father of the conservative party. Which is way at the right side of the political spectrum. So I think that Disraeli is a Metaphor for traditional values.
Actually "the Disraeli" probably refers to the Disraeli Freeway in Winnipeg. Just a thought.