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 wish, I wish, I wish
To every city
I wish, I wish, I wish
Every hood
I wish, I wish, I wish
And every block
Ghetto America!
Rollin' through the hood
Just stopped by to say what's up
And let you know
Your baby boy ain't doing so tough
And even though you passed
Going on four long years
Still waking up late at night crying tears
Just thinking about those days
You used to talk to me
Smilin' while I'm sippin' on this Hennessey
And remember we bragged on how rich we would be
To get up out this hood was like a fantasy
And now you hear my songs the radio is bangin'
Oh, I can't believe my ears
And what everybody's sayin'
And boy I'll tell you, folks don't know the half
I would give it all up, just to take one ride
(With you)
How I used to kick it on the front porch
(With you)
And how I used to lay back and smoke weed
(With you)
And all the little basement party joints we'd do
Now I'm just missing you
How I wish
I wish that I could hold you now
I wish that I could touch you now
I wish that I could talk to you
Be with you somehow
I know you're in a better place
Even though I can't see your face
I know you're smiling down on me
Saying everything's okay
And if I make it out this thug life
I'll see you again someday
I wish, I wish, I wish
I wish, I wish, I wish
Now ever since this money come
It's been nothing but stress
Sometimes I wish that I could just trade in my success
Y'all look at me and say boy you've been blessed
But y'all don't see the inside of my unhappiness
Man I swear this shit gets heavy like a ton
That's why you hear me shootin', this real shit off like a gun
Hmm, I wonder how my friends would treat me now
If I wasn't iced up with a Bentley and a house
That's why fake ass niggas get fake ass digits
And fake ass playas get a real playa hatin' 'em
Honey Love goes platinum and y'all ass come around
But y'all don't want to raise the roof
Until my shit is going down
And now you hear my songs the radio is bangin'
Oh, I can't believe my ears
And what everybody's sayin'
Boy I'll tell you, folks don't know the half
I would give it all up, just to take one ride
(With you)
How I used to hoop off in them tournaments
(With you)
And how I used to club hop on weekends
(With you)
Your family called the morning of the tragic end
Damn, my condolences
I wish that I could hold you now
I wish that I could touch you now
I wish that I could talk to you
Be with you somehow
I know you're in a better place
Even though I can't see your face
I know you're smiling down on me
Saying everything's okay
And if I make it out this thug life
I'll see you again someday
I wish, I wish, I wish
I wish, I wish, I wish
Voices in my head be telling me to come to church
Said the Lord is the only way for you to stop the hurt
Dreaming of windows black tinted like a hearse
When waking up to life sometimes seems worst
And all I ever wanted is to be a better man
And I try to keep it real with my homies now
For me to save the world I don't understand
How did I become the leader of a billion men?
And now you hear my songs the radio is bangin'
Oh, I can't believe my ears
And what everybody's sayin'
Boy I'll tell you, folks don't know the half
I would give it all up, just to take one ride
(With you)
How I used to street perform on Friday
(With you)
And how I used to go to church on Easter Sunday
(With you)
Standing here throwing them songs at me
Somebody pray for me
I wish that I could hold you now
I wish that I could touch you now
I wish that I could talk to you
Be with you somehow
I know you're in a better place
Even though I can't see your face
I know you're smiling down on me
Saying everything's okay
I wish that I could hold you now
I wish that I could touch you now
I wish that I could talk to you
Be with you somehow
I know you're in a better place
Even though I can't see your face
I know you're smiling down on me
Saying everything's okay
I wish that I could hold you now
I wish that I could touch you now
I wish that I could talk to you
Be with you somehow
I know you're in a better place
Even though I can't see your face
I know you're smiling down on me
Saying everything's okay
To every city
I wish, I wish, I wish
Every hood
I wish, I wish, I wish
And every block
Ghetto America!
Rollin' through the hood
Just stopped by to say what's up
And let you know
Your baby boy ain't doing so tough
And even though you passed
Going on four long years
Still waking up late at night crying tears
Just thinking about those days
You used to talk to me
Smilin' while I'm sippin' on this Hennessey
And remember we bragged on how rich we would be
To get up out this hood was like a fantasy
And now you hear my songs the radio is bangin'
Oh, I can't believe my ears
And what everybody's sayin'
And boy I'll tell you, folks don't know the half
I would give it all up, just to take one ride
(With you)
How I used to kick it on the front porch
(With you)
And how I used to lay back and smoke weed
(With you)
And all the little basement party joints we'd do
Now I'm just missing you
How I wish
I wish that I could hold you now
I wish that I could touch you now
I wish that I could talk to you
Be with you somehow
I know you're in a better place
Even though I can't see your face
I know you're smiling down on me
Saying everything's okay
And if I make it out this thug life
I'll see you again someday
I wish, I wish, I wish
I wish, I wish, I wish
Now ever since this money come
It's been nothing but stress
Sometimes I wish that I could just trade in my success
Y'all look at me and say boy you've been blessed
But y'all don't see the inside of my unhappiness
Man I swear this shit gets heavy like a ton
That's why you hear me shootin', this real shit off like a gun
Hmm, I wonder how my friends would treat me now
If I wasn't iced up with a Bentley and a house
That's why fake ass niggas get fake ass digits
And fake ass playas get a real playa hatin' 'em
Honey Love goes platinum and y'all ass come around
But y'all don't want to raise the roof
Until my shit is going down
And now you hear my songs the radio is bangin'
Oh, I can't believe my ears
And what everybody's sayin'
Boy I'll tell you, folks don't know the half
I would give it all up, just to take one ride
(With you)
How I used to hoop off in them tournaments
(With you)
And how I used to club hop on weekends
(With you)
Your family called the morning of the tragic end
Damn, my condolences
I wish that I could hold you now
I wish that I could touch you now
I wish that I could talk to you
Be with you somehow
I know you're in a better place
Even though I can't see your face
I know you're smiling down on me
Saying everything's okay
And if I make it out this thug life
I'll see you again someday
I wish, I wish, I wish
I wish, I wish, I wish
Voices in my head be telling me to come to church
Said the Lord is the only way for you to stop the hurt
Dreaming of windows black tinted like a hearse
When waking up to life sometimes seems worst
And all I ever wanted is to be a better man
And I try to keep it real with my homies now
For me to save the world I don't understand
How did I become the leader of a billion men?
And now you hear my songs the radio is bangin'
Oh, I can't believe my ears
And what everybody's sayin'
Boy I'll tell you, folks don't know the half
I would give it all up, just to take one ride
(With you)
How I used to street perform on Friday
(With you)
And how I used to go to church on Easter Sunday
(With you)
Standing here throwing them songs at me
Somebody pray for me
I wish that I could hold you now
I wish that I could touch you now
I wish that I could talk to you
Be with you somehow
I know you're in a better place
Even though I can't see your face
I know you're smiling down on me
Saying everything's okay
I wish that I could hold you now
I wish that I could touch you now
I wish that I could talk to you
Be with you somehow
I know you're in a better place
Even though I can't see your face
I know you're smiling down on me
Saying everything's okay
I wish that I could hold you now
I wish that I could touch you now
I wish that I could talk to you
Be with you somehow
I know you're in a better place
Even though I can't see your face
I know you're smiling down on me
Saying everything's okay
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Standing On The Edge Of Summer
Thursday
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
"Fast car" is kind of a continuation of Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run." It has all the clawing your way to a better life, but in this case the protagonist never makes it with her love; in fact she is dragged back down by him.
There is still an amazing amount of hope and will in the lyrics; and the lyrics themselve rank and easy five. If only music was stronger it would be one of those great radio songs that you hear once a week 20 years after it was released. The imagery is almost tear-jerking ("City lights lay out before us", "Speeds so fast felt like I was drunk"), and the idea of starting from nothing and just driving and working and denigrating yourself for a chance at being just above poverty, then losing in the end is just painful and inspiring at the same time.
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"
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.
Punchline
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.
This was my brothers faverite song. My brother was killed April 14,2002. He was 22 and has a 3 year old son. He was shot. I think about him every day. I wish, just makes me cry now. Only because I feel the words and I understand how it feels to lose someone you love. You dont know what to say to someone when they lose a loved one, but when you lose someone you love you know then that no words can bring them back or make the pain go away. All you can do is let that person know that you are there for them. I'm just thankful that I still have people here that love me and that are in my corner. Knowing that you'll never see that person again will make you cry, but then you should know that the person is in a better place. That doesn't make you feel better but its better then sitting and thinking there gone forever because in the end you will be united......Much luv
TendersweetR.I.P Duane Harrison jr. July 11, 1979-April 14,2002