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 keep on burying our dead
We keep on planting their bones in the ground
But they won't grow
The sun doesn't help
The rain doesn't help
If my garden would have a fence
Then the rabbits couldn't just come in
And sit on the grass
And eat all the flowers
And shit
Hi, I'm Icarus, I'm falling
Down, man for judgment must prepare me
Spare, oh god, in mercy spare me
Man, I have a terrible feeling
That something's gone awful, very wrong with the world
Is it something we made?
Is it something we ate?
Is it something we drank?
Hi, I'm Icarus, I'm falling
From the dust of earth returning
Man for judgment must prepare me
Spare, oh god, in mercy spare me
Lacrimosa
We keep on burying our dead
We keep on planting their bones in the ground
But they won't grow
The sun doesn't help
And all we've got
Is a giant crop
Of names and dates
Hi, I'm Icarus, I'm falling
Down on this day of tears and mourning
From the dust of earth returning
Man for judgment must prepare me
Spare, oh god, in mercy spare me
Lacrimosa
We keep on planting their bones in the ground
But they won't grow
The sun doesn't help
The rain doesn't help
If my garden would have a fence
Then the rabbits couldn't just come in
And sit on the grass
And eat all the flowers
And shit
Hi, I'm Icarus, I'm falling
Down, man for judgment must prepare me
Spare, oh god, in mercy spare me
Man, I have a terrible feeling
That something's gone awful, very wrong with the world
Is it something we made?
Is it something we ate?
Is it something we drank?
Hi, I'm Icarus, I'm falling
From the dust of earth returning
Man for judgment must prepare me
Spare, oh god, in mercy spare me
Lacrimosa
We keep on burying our dead
We keep on planting their bones in the ground
But they won't grow
The sun doesn't help
And all we've got
Is a giant crop
Of names and dates
Hi, I'm Icarus, I'm falling
Down on this day of tears and mourning
From the dust of earth returning
Man for judgment must prepare me
Spare, oh god, in mercy spare me
Lacrimosa
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This song makes my brain hurt. I've got a fuzzy image of what it's about, though. I'm having trouble finding a central theme for all of the verses. Religion is definitely involved. It talks about man being imperfect because of original sin (I think?). In the second verse, the "rabbits" are mankind; basically, if we're not prevented from doing wrong, we're going to go ahead and do it because it's in our nature to make mistakes... Which is also a lesson learned from the story of Icarus and his wax sings. Then there's the dust of earth returning line, which is a reference to the bible: when a person dies, the dust they are made from goes back into the ground, and their spirits return to God, where they are judged. So the narrator (Icarus) is asking God to have mercy on him because he is only a mortal man and is therefore imperfect (?).
The only thing I'm having trouble with is connecting the above concept with the idea of burying our dead so they can come back to life... Maybe it's because only God has the power to do that, and man, hard as he seems to try, cannot live forever? Like I said, it's fuzzy.
Oh, and I'm not religious. We've just had long discussions about this stuff in my English class after we read excerpts from the Bible. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. ^^;