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Passing Afternoon Lyrics
There are times that walk from you
Like some passing afternoon
Summer warmed the open window of her honeymoon
And she chose a yard to burn
But the ground remembers her
Wooden spoons, her children stir her Bougainvillea blooms
There are things that drift away
Like our endless numbered days
Autumn blew the quilt right off the perfect bed she made
And she's chosen to believe
In the hymns her mother sings
Sunday pulls its children from their piles of fallen leaves
There are sailing ships that pass
All our bodies in the grass
Springtime calls her children until she lets them go at last
And she's chosen where to be
Though she's lost her wedding ring
Somewhere near her misplaced jar of Bougainvillea seeds
There are things we can't recall
Blind as night that finds us all
Winter tucks her children in, her fragile china dolls
But my hands remember hers
Rolling around the shaded ferns
Naked arms, her secrets still like songs I'd never learned
There are names across the sea
Only now I do believe
Sometimes, with the window closed, she'll sit and think of me
But she'll mend his tattered clothes
And they'll kiss as if they know
A baby sleeps in all our bones, so scared to be alone
Like some passing afternoon
Summer warmed the open window of her honeymoon
And she chose a yard to burn
But the ground remembers her
Wooden spoons, her children stir her Bougainvillea blooms
There are things that drift away
Like our endless numbered days
Autumn blew the quilt right off the perfect bed she made
And she's chosen to believe
In the hymns her mother sings
Sunday pulls its children from their piles of fallen leaves
There are sailing ships that pass
All our bodies in the grass
Springtime calls her children until she lets them go at last
And she's chosen where to be
Though she's lost her wedding ring
Somewhere near her misplaced jar of Bougainvillea seeds
There are things we can't recall
Blind as night that finds us all
Winter tucks her children in, her fragile china dolls
But my hands remember hers
Rolling around the shaded ferns
Naked arms, her secrets still like songs I'd never learned
There are names across the sea
Only now I do believe
Sometimes, with the window closed, she'll sit and think of me
But she'll mend his tattered clothes
And they'll kiss as if they know
A baby sleeps in all our bones, so scared to be alone
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i spent a great deal of time thinking about this song. Sam compares the narrator of the song to the different seasons <b>summer, autumn, spring and winter = the narrator</b> also, the <b>Bougainvillea flower</b> is a <b>metaphor</b> for the woman's <b>heart.</b>
according to me, this is what the song is saying
There are times that walk from you Like some passing afternoon <b>there are instances in your life where things escape you
Summer warmed the open window of her honeymoon And she chose a yard to burn But the ground remembers her Wooden spoons, her children stir her Bougainvillea blooms
<b>-he meets a married woman and has an affair with her she chooses to end it but he still remembers her their love (children) moves (stirs) her heart </b>
There are things that drift away Like our endless numbered days
<b>-he restates that there are things that drift away (this love in particular)</b>
Autumn blew the quilt right off the perfect bed she made And she's chosen to believe In the hymns her mother sings Sunday pulls its children from their piles of fallen leaves
<b>-he complicates her life/marriage (messes up her bed) and she chooses to believe in the morals/beliefs of her mother (ie: trying to salvage the marriage) so she tries to pull out the love that was once in her marriage </b>
There are sailing ships that pass All our bodies in the grass
Springtime calls her children until she lets them go at last And she's chosen where to be Though she's lost her wedding ring Somewhere near her misplaced jar of Bougainvillea seeds
<b>he (springtime) holds onto their love (children) until she lets it go and she chooses where she wants to be (with her husband) even though she lost her wedding ring (her love for her husband) somewhere near her misplaced heart (which is currently dead/dormant) </b>
There are things we can't recall Blind as night that finds us all
Winter tucks her children in, her fragile china dolls But my hands remember hers Rolling around the shaded ferns Naked arms, her secrets still like songs I'd never learned There are names across the sea Only now I do believe Sometimes, with the window closed, she'll sit and think of me But she'll mend his tattered clothes And they'll kiss as if they know A baby sleeps in all our bones, so scared to be alone
<b>he tucks the love to sleep but his hands remember hers he doesn't understand why she chose to go back to her husband but out of everyone she knows even though she's now faithful to her husband (the window has been closed) he still hopes that she thinks of him but instead she tries to mend the marriage with her husband and she'll kiss him but they'll both know they're together only because they're afraid of being alone. </b>
well that's my interpretation.. this song is simply beautiful.
Great interpretation; this totally fits as you've described it.
Great interpretation; this totally fits as you've described it.
I love Sam's songs, you can listen to them over and over, feel and interpret them in different ways, and never get tired of them. They are like a gift that keeps on giving...
I love Sam's songs, you can listen to them over and over, feel and interpret them in different ways, and never get tired of them. They are like a gift that keeps on giving...
@honeyplum I made an account for the sole purpose to thank you for your interpretation of this beautiful song. You made it even more special, Thank You
@honeyplum I made an account for the sole purpose to thank you for your interpretation of this beautiful song. You made it even more special, Thank You
This song is stunning. Notice how there's different seasons in each verse, and the progress of the gardening (first there's blooms, then there's fallen leaves, then there's jars of seeds). All beautifully reflected in the wistful memories. Phenomenal song.
This song is, in my opinion, written from the perpsective of a man who lost his wife to another man. The author and said woman are together during the summer when it was warm and her "Bougainvillea blooms". Then she left him and her children in the autumn, which "blew the quilt right off the perfect bed she made." This line comes from the popular phrase "you made your bed, now you have to sleep in it." The "perfect bed she made" was the love the author and woman used to have, but autumn messed it up. The woman has chosen to be with the new man, but the author finds closure in the fact that she still thinks of him while ignoring the outside world. "Only now I do believe Sometimes, with the window closed, she'll sit and think of me" The last line of the song means that she chose to be with the new man only because she was afraid to be alone.
all very thoughtful and clever, i will explain all my ideas and back them up with lyrics. but unfortunately i believe the song is about a man who was married and had a family and children, and now she has become a part in another mans life. the children are simply enjoying life laying out and watching the clouds roll by, playing in the leaves and stirring the bougainvillea seeds not knowing that their father is over seas. what suggests that she has remarried is, "summer warmed the open window of her honeymoon And she chose a yard to...
all very thoughtful and clever, i will explain all my ideas and back them up with lyrics. but unfortunately i believe the song is about a man who was married and had a family and children, and now she has become a part in another mans life. the children are simply enjoying life laying out and watching the clouds roll by, playing in the leaves and stirring the bougainvillea seeds not knowing that their father is over seas. what suggests that she has remarried is, "summer warmed the open window of her honeymoon And she chose a yard to burn". her honeymoon is to her new husband, and the yard to burn is the home that she has chosen to live. another line that suggests a new marriage is, " And she's chosen where to be Though she's lost her wedding ring Somewhere near her misplaced jar of Bougainvillea seeds." shes not focused on what shes doing. she took her ring off to daydream, as well as the sitting out the window as shes thinking. that whole paragraph tells you that he has left his children with his last name behind, and her to continue on with her new life. it may have been an affair. but i highly doubt it. the children are simply living out the seasons. they are stirring seads in summer, someone else also commented on the whole "you made your bed now you have to sleep in it. that was good. but the children...playing in the leaves, the winter, its too cold for them outside so they stay cozy in bed. the whole song to me is yes about how life passes us by but i also think its about making the right choices. making that decision to stay with that one special person for the rest of your life. cause i think that she feels that she made a mistake. hence why she spends so much time daydreaming about him. i dont know im high as hell but let me know what y'all think
this song makes me speechless.... well done.
If you break apart the song by lines based on the first 4 verses/sections it is somewhat interesting. Here it is:
There are times that walk from you Like some passing afternoon There are things that drift away Like our endless numbered days There are sailing ships that pass All our bodies in the grass There are things we can't recall Blind as night that finds us all
These set the tone for that particular verse in my opinion all of course have to deal with how time passes us by and it being both odd how we remember various experiences throughout our lives and how we forget some.
Next section:
Summer warmed the open window of her honeymoon Autumn blew the quilt right off the perfect bed she made Springtime calls her children until she lets them go at last Winter tucks her children in, her fragile china dolls
These lines give an analogy for the breakdown of a life being like a year. Perhaps this is simply a comparison to the narrator's story/memory to a single year. It could also be simply the way the narrator remembers the woman being described in this song. It is possible that a series of events happened over a year but I don't think that is the case...
Next section:
And she chose a yard to burn But the ground remembers her And she's chosen to believe In the hymns her mother sings And she's chosen where to be Though she's lost her wedding ring But my hands remember hers Rolling around the shaded ferns
Informs the listener to the state of the woman in those parts of her life or during that "year".
Next section:
Wooden spoons, her children stir her Bougainvillea blooms Sunday pulls its children from their piles of fallen leaves Somewhere near her misplaced jar of Bougainvillea seeds Naked arms, her secrets still like songs I'd never learned
All lines have something to do with the children in this song. Not all lines stand alone well particularly the last two but I think they are appropriate for my theory of breaking the song apart a bit. The lines still have to do with the children in relation to the narrator and the woman.
The last verse is taken separately.
There are names across the sea Only now I do believe Sometimes, with the window closed, she'll sit and think of me But she'll mend his tattered clothes And they'll kiss as if they know A baby sleeps in all our bones, so scared to be alone
This is the reflection of the narrator. Based on this break down I think this song is about one or some combination of three things:
It seems extremely clear it is about a marriage that ended for some reason. Given the lines about children it almost seems like they had children then as the nest emptied the love between narrator and woman faded. The only problem I see with this is the last verse. When you take the song as a whole but keeping the breakdown of sections into consideration and tie in the last verse it almost seems like there was a happy marriage that had children in it or planned to be in it. Then as time passes for various reasons this relationship sours I think it is either due to the death of the child/children or even possibly an abortion.
It also seems clear that the second man (not the narrator) the woman ends up with knew both the narrator and woman. "They'll kiss as if they know a baby sleeps in all our bones..."
That all being said my last idea which is the one I lean closest to is the following: Narrator and woman are married, things are great, they have a kid or kids, they get divorced due to an affair on the part of the woman. It isn't that she is simply lusting after this other man that is presumably a friend of the family, but perhaps the man she loved and married isn't quite the same anymore or even simply the love they had has changed over time. A Bougainvillea is a flower that blooms all year obviously this could be a metaphor for an everlasting love but the woman's seems to have dried up. Maybe the kid leaves or is messed up from the divorce the ending of the song suggests that everyone understands that they all in various ways abandoned a child through perhaps a series of coincidental actions. But regardless, all their actions were chosen. Meh, just a theory and certainly not flawless I'm tired of typing though.
I agree with Sam and Way. The song seems to follow a progression through her life, from when they married. Springtime is left off, because thats childhood and the characters arent together then. Summer is linked to a honeymoon, autumn is domestic and God-fearing, winter brings death and loniness.
i gather that this song is about how our lives are so temporary (endless numbered days, sailing ships that pass, things we can't recall) and how we're scared as human beings that we don't remember everything and that everything in our lives isnt permanent.
this is such a brutiful song.
oh wow. such a great song. that's all.
oh wow. such a great song. that's all.
i agree w/ tactforwit, but i also think it could be about a lost love who has gotten married and/or started a new life.
"But my hands remember hers, rolling around the shaded ferns Naked arms, her secrets still like songs I'd never learned "
these lines seem to suggest that he can never know her now, all he has is the memory of her. i imagine this song takes place as he is imagining what her life is like.