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.
We met first in cafes, and later in ruins. My best friend and I are saying goodbye to Hiroshima. We walked down the tarmac, again grey on grey. My sweetheart and I are saying goodbye in Hiroshima. Chorus: I was an architect, she was an actress. I drew the Eiffel Tower upon her dress. So we could see the world... The flash burnt our shadows right into the wall. But my best friend and I will leave them behind in Hiroshima. I will keep her secrets, I will change my name. My sweetheart and I are saying goodbye to Hiroshima (Repeat Chorus) The songs we sung and then forgot, The hearts that would burn and the hearts that would not. And the saint in tower, died for her sins not ours. All of this snow just made us glow in the dark. La La La La. From the boy in the bubble, to a whore in the rubble. All of this snow just made us glow in the dark. La La La La. All of this snow just made us glow in the dark.
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Cajun Girl
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Overall about difficult moments of disappointment and vulnerability. Having hope and longing, while remaining optimistic for the future. Encourages the belief that with each new morning there is a chance for things to improve.
The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future.
Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
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Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988.
"'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it."
"There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
No Surprises
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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.
A lot of the imagery here can be read as literally about the atomic bombing of Hiroshima (there's more to the city, but Americans tend to refer to it exclusively for that). The shadows of people burned into the wall by the bomb's flash are one of the most enduring symbols of the devastation of nuclear war. snow that makes us glow may be a reference to fallout.
If we instead read hiroshima as a metaphor, the song is perhaps about leaving behind something that's brutal, ruined, or just depressing. The images deal with death, but the character's actions aren't about dying, or about haunting the rubble. They're about getting the hell out.
"The saint in the tower / died for her sins, not ours" is a tremendously liberating line. We're not bound here out of guilt. No one else is suffering on our behalf. We'll deal with our consequences, and they'll deal with theirs, and if we want to say goodbye to Hiroshima and go to Paris, no one can stop us.
"From the boy in the bubble to a whore in the rubble..." This is one of my favorite MF songs. The video with the random shots of live footage of this song is pretty sweet, too - gotta love Andrea Vaughn on the melodica.
if you have a melodica and want to play it (hell, it even sounds good on the piano) the notes are:<br /> Burning Hearts Intro<br /> B -G -E -D -E -G -B 2x<br /> E -C -B -A -B -C- E 2x<br /> E -F -G -F -E -B