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If You Are To Bloom Lyrics

i'm thinking of your wide open eyes
smiling as they feed the nerves
that push the field of silver and the colorful lines
that only you could see, like only you could do

i'm picturing a foresept in ice
that you would see if you could reach
and reconnect the ends into the delicate threads
but I just sit and wait for a blip to break the perfect little thin, green line

i dreamt of jetless high
seeding clouds from the other side
and rolling softly til 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
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 wide
drinking down our days in haze and bliss
together till it tumbles aside
but i just sit and wait for a rhythm in a perfect little thin, green line
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 now
[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 you quietly make your way

I dreamt of jet this high
seeding clouds from the other side
and rolling softly til the underbelly shines
and the vat skims through the steam
feeding upturned mouths and sprinkling away
a dusty sleep you took too soon
and you
you need watering if you are to bloom
Song Info
Submitted by
vache On Jun 09, 2001
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9 Meanings

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Cover art for If You Are To Bloom lyrics by Hum

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

Cover art for If You Are To Bloom lyrics by Hum

great great song, absolutely beautiful

Cover art for If You Are To Bloom lyrics by Hum

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.

Cover art for If You Are To Bloom lyrics by Hum

honestly one of my favorite hum songs ever, especially once you derive what its meaning is.

Cover art for If You Are To Bloom lyrics by Hum

i always thought it might have been about someone dying, but not a child.

Cover art for If You Are To Bloom lyrics by Hum

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.

Not Valid
Cover art for If You Are To Bloom lyrics by Hum

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.

Cover art for If You Are To Bloom lyrics by Hum

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.

Not Valid

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.

Not Valid
Cover art for If You Are To Bloom lyrics by Hum

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.