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'm thinking of your wide open eyes
Smiling as they feed the nerves
That push the field of silver and the colorful lines
Like only you could see, like only you could do
I'm picturing forcep in ice
That you would see if you could reach
And reconnect the engine to the delicate lens
But I just sit and wait for a blip to break the perfect little
Then green line
I dreamt of jet-less high
Seeing clouds from the other side
And rolling softly until the underbelly shines
And the back skims through the steam
Feeding upturned mouths and sprinkling away
A dusty sleep you took too soon
And you need watering if you are to bloom
I'm thinking of your failing green eyes
Smiling as they greet the day
They can't see me
And now I'm picturing us opening up wide
Drinking down our days in haze and bliss
Together till it stumbles aside
But I just sit and wait for a rhythm in a perfect little
Feeling
It's true
So soon
And the coil speaks
I'd like to see us together
I'd like to lay my head low
I need to lean on a soft one
And bring the spin of the world to a halt
And the coil sleeps
And you've been gathering angels
And fading further each day
I love you right now as I never
Remember my face as it quietly you make your rain
I dreamt of jet-less high
Seeing clouds from the other side
And rolling softly until the underbelly shines
And the back skims through the steam
Feeding upturned mouths and sprinkling away
A dusty sleep you took too soon
And you need watering if you are to bloom
Smiling as they feed the nerves
That push the field of silver and the colorful lines
Like only you could see, like only you could do
I'm picturing forcep in ice
That you would see if you could reach
And reconnect the engine to the delicate lens
But I just sit and wait for a blip to break the perfect little
Then green line
I dreamt of jet-less high
Seeing clouds from the other side
And rolling softly until the underbelly shines
And the back skims through the steam
Feeding upturned mouths and sprinkling away
A dusty sleep you took too soon
And you need watering if you are to bloom
I'm thinking of your failing green eyes
Smiling as they greet the day
They can't see me
And now I'm picturing us opening up wide
Drinking down our days in haze and bliss
Together till it stumbles aside
But I just sit and wait for a rhythm in a perfect little
Feeling
It's true
So soon
And the coil speaks
I'd like to see us together
I'd like to lay my head low
I need to lean on a soft one
And bring the spin of the world to a halt
And the coil sleeps
And you've been gathering angels
And fading further each day
I love you right now as I never
Remember my face as it quietly you make your rain
I dreamt of jet-less high
Seeing clouds from the other side
And rolling softly until the underbelly shines
And the back skims through the steam
Feeding upturned mouths and sprinkling away
A dusty sleep you took too soon
And you need watering if you are to bloom
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
Son Şansın - Şarkı Sözleri
Hayalperest
Hayalperest
This song seemingly tackles the methods of deception those who manipulate others use to get victims to follow their demands, as well as diverting attention away from important issues. They'll also use it as a means to convince people to hate or kill others by pretending acts of terrorism were committed by the enemy when the acts themselves were done by the masters of control to promote discrimination and hate. It also reinforces the idea that these manipulative forces operate in various locations, infiltrating everyday life without detection, and propagate any and everywhere.
In general, it highlights the danger of hidden agendas, manipulation, and distraction, serving as a critique of those who exploit chaos and confusion to control and gain power, depicting a cautionary tale against falling into their traps. It encourages us to question the narratives presented to us and remain vigilant against manipulation in various parts of society.
Cajun Girl
Little Feat
Little Feat
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”
When We Were Young
Blink-182
Blink-182
This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
No Surprises
Radiohead
Radiohead
Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
This song is pretty much a love song. (No crap). I think it's about how the guy's patiently waiting for a girl to like him and sees so much beauty in her. If thats now what it means, you try
great great song, absolutely beautiful
i think it is about someone who is slowly dying (by whatever means). Many of the phrases seem to lend thmselves to this
"like only you could see, like only you could do" past tense
in the the second part that starts "i'm picturing a foresept in ice"
i think it is "i'm picturing a force left in eyes" which would make more meaning to the entire part
"but I just sit and wait for a blip to break the perfect little thin, green line" This makes me think of the green line you would see on a heart monitor, the blip would mean that the heart would beat again.
the cloud seeding in order to induce rain upon the earth, "a dusty sleep you took to soon" seems to illustrate burial, the rain would feed the soil thathas been fed by the dead. basically dust to dust and the path of new life through death.
"but i just sit and wait for a rhythm and a perfect little thin, green line" this line maybe has to do with his waiting for his own passing in order to have these dreams someday come true and he can be wih this person once again.
@LX Basically this song is about his son who died as a baby after being born. And he's saying he's waiting for the thin green line to blip means that he was waiting for his son's heart to start again.
honestly one of my favorite hum songs ever, especially once you derive what its meaning is.
i always thought it might have been about someone dying, but not a child.
I always thought this song had a very heavenly vibe to it. Without even reading the lyrics it makes you feel like you are defying gravity and flying through clouds. Ive been trying to analyze these lyrics and somehow tie a loss of a child with it. "seeding clouds from the other side" the other side refers to the afterlife and seeding clouds could mean that his son is now an angel pouring out his blessings. "vat skims through the steam. feeding upturned mouths" What's interesting about those lines is that a vat is a container which could refer to a baby bottle and one method of sterilizing baby bottles is with steam. and the following line is feeding upturned mouths. I saw HUM live back in march and they didnt play this song and i havent been able to find a live version anywhere. Perhaps it is too emotional for Matt if it really is a song about his sons death. By far my favorite HUM song!
Sorry! It wasnt march, it was June 1st. at Millennium park. I even got to meet Matt before the show. I should have just asked him what all the songs meant but I read somewhere that he got tired of people asking.
I always used to just read this as a really awesome love song, but LX's interpretation made me rethink that. That really makes sense, especially if you add in the "fading/failing green eyes" (I can never figure out which it is). Whichever way, these lyrics are great. I just wish I could buy Hum albums in shops in this country, rather than having to order them online.
You guys are on the right track. Let me say first my friends band recorded at Mat Talbots studio in Indiana, so this is third hand, but from the scource. This epic masterpiece is an endearing love song. However its a narrative of his own experience in the delivery room where he watched his son die shortly after delivery. He's wishing that his son could look back at him just to see him once, and one of you was right about the thin green line. Your all intuative people, give it a listen again and walk yourself through. (R.I.P.)
I simply cannot listen to this song without getting teary eyed. He poetically touches the gut wrenching love that you feel once you have a child, but is able to find the beauty in the unimaginable loss of a baby. Once I heard this song it became my favorite Hum song, and after finding out the story behind the song it still is. I just can't listen to it all that often anymore.
That truly puts the lyrics in perfect context - and it made me cry. Even 10 years later, Hum continues to find new ways to wow me.
A lost child definitely fits here. "A dusty sleep you took too soon. Failing green eyes smiling as they greet the day," his first day in the world. One of the meanings I get from the song title is that the best way for Mat to remember his son after only knowing him for so short a time is to plant flowers on his grave. Something blooming over his son is the closest thing to having time together, and it needs water to develop into the memories they couldn't share. Amazing song.