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.
A cadillac drives down my street
A bead of sweat pourin slow down a palm line
I see a bumper sticker
It's a bearded man with a wanted sign
A myth we've made to scare out fears away
A slogan that we slap on all our misdirected hate
A muddy symbol meant to mitigate our pain
But it's really just a desert corpse
We've painted on the wall out in some cave
Anyway
I don't know where he's gonna park that thing
My neighborhood drunk's on line at the deli
With his shaky hands and his swollen face he waits for his coffee
He blacks out curbside every night
And every day crawls back towards wall street
So I don't see it like it's us and them
I just see everybody working for that same eternal weekend
Droning on and on and on and never doing what we wanted
Heavy legs two steps behind some forever dangling carrot
And I'm tired of this
So who's to say that we can't just fucking change it?
And I know it seems dramatic
But I treat it like a crisis
The office to the coffin
All our time and talent wasted
And that weight against your throat
Is that a noose dressed like a necklace?
From here I couldn't
Really tell the difference
Either way I say
Let's not take any chances
'Cause I don't know where he's gonna park that thing
No I don't know where he's gonna park that thing
No I don't know where he's gonna park that thing
A bead of sweat pourin slow down a palm line
I see a bumper sticker
It's a bearded man with a wanted sign
A myth we've made to scare out fears away
A slogan that we slap on all our misdirected hate
A muddy symbol meant to mitigate our pain
But it's really just a desert corpse
We've painted on the wall out in some cave
Anyway
I don't know where he's gonna park that thing
My neighborhood drunk's on line at the deli
With his shaky hands and his swollen face he waits for his coffee
He blacks out curbside every night
And every day crawls back towards wall street
So I don't see it like it's us and them
I just see everybody working for that same eternal weekend
Droning on and on and on and never doing what we wanted
Heavy legs two steps behind some forever dangling carrot
And I'm tired of this
So who's to say that we can't just fucking change it?
And I know it seems dramatic
But I treat it like a crisis
The office to the coffin
All our time and talent wasted
And that weight against your throat
Is that a noose dressed like a necklace?
From here I couldn't
Really tell the difference
Either way I say
Let's not take any chances
'Cause I don't know where he's gonna park that thing
No I don't know where he's gonna park that thing
No I don't know where he's gonna park that thing
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regarding "i don't know where he's gonna park that thing," a cadillac is a big car and finding parking in big cities (especially NYC) is notoriously hard. driving a big, flashy, expensive car (with a bumper sticker of osama bin ladin) and trying to park it could represent a person with a huge sense of entitlement, or an attitude of trying to go into places one doesn't normally belong-- e.g. u.s. in iraq.