Ages Of You Lyrics
Pristine indigo without
Banded ottoman as such
Sofa seated one too much
Ages of you
Conductor looks up, thinks
Out and down, hands stuck to the left
To the right, you should fall,
The horses just don’t gossip anymore
This melody is a swift and flowing piece of REM lightweight breezy, perfection. Once again, the lyrics defy any easy interpretation (which is their charm). We can all attach something personal to them, but ultimately, they're a meaningless jumble of vowels and consonants to fill the space like mortar between the musical bricks. Perfection all the same. Words mean nothing but the meaning that we want to grant them, and, in essence, Stipe's the son and you're not deaf.
One of the best songs on Dead Letter Office. It would have fit on Reckoning very well (although Peter Buck said that the band had got tired of the song).
The lyrics are a bit strange, but I think it's about someone remembering a girl he loved long qgo. All her postcards are stowed away in a drawer, but whenever he looks at them again, he remembers the past (earlier "ages" of her).
The second verse is even less clear, but I think the train is a metaphor for love, and the hanging bridge is the relationship that's over with the moment when the train falls.
FWIR this song was originally recorded for the Chronic Town EP. I think the lyrics not making sense was somewhat intentional.