Someday the Waves

I think this is basically a love song. "waking before you, I've got a fever and a childish wish for snow" I think this line is Sam wishing for snow so that he can stay inside with his lady all day and not have to attend to any other obligations he may have. I think the next line is him commenting that its been to long since he and his lady held each other and just danced to music from the old radio, which may have some significance to their relationship. Basically i think this song is Sam wishing he could spend more time with the woman that he loves. I can relate to this feeling. i was once in a long distance relationship where we only saw each other twice a month. I often had this same feeling on the morning that i would have to drive back to college. I would wake up before her and watch her sleep and quietly wish that we could have more time together. there is never enough time i guess. this is my take on the song at least

I don’t know if there is an official meaning to the song, but it has it’s interpretations. My interpretation is as follows:

“Waking before you I’ve got a fever and a childish wish for snow”

-- I think the “fever” and “childish wish for snow” isn’t so much actually wishing for snow, rather a child’s feeling in wanting it to snow. The wishful anticipation for her to wake is as if he is a child waiting by a window early morning looking to the sky.

“Seems like a long, long time Since I spun you to this borrowed radio”

-- Probably my favorite line of the song. I can’t help think of “The Bridges of Madison County” when I hear this line of when they first dance in the kitchen. I think in a way it’s clouded my idea of what this song is about because I’ve molded it around that line. -- There’s a since of regret in this line. Perhaps a “wish I woulda” tone to it. I think that is why it flows perfectly into the next line --

“You pick a place that’s where I’ll be Time like your cheek has turned for me”

-- I think the chorus really is a request to make things right again. I think that in this moment of “waking” the writer has fully realized how much he loves this person sleeping next to him. And out of that realization has come an awareness that nothing is worth losing this person. “You pick a place that’s where I’ll be,” is a commitment to making thinks work no matter how hard or long it might take as heard in “Time like your cheek has turned for me.” It seems that she has been the one turning the other cheek up to this point and now it is his turn.

“ Someday the waves will stop Every aching old machine will feel no pain Someday we both will walk Where a baby made tomorrow is a gain”

Every human dies and will no longer feel any pain, but with death comes birth. I think that this is symbolic to the dying relationship at hand with a chance to start a new.

“Waking before you I'm like the lord who sees his love though we don't know Seems like a long, long time Since I've been above you seen and loved you so

You pick a place that's where I'll be Time like your cheek has turned for me”

This is in a way restating the first verse again. It is in this moment that the realization of how much love there really is inside still burning. She lays there unknowing of his revelation. The next line restates a sense of regret of how things had been going. He hasn’t loved her in this way since the beginning.

And now, as the chorus restates, he’s ready to make things better again.

That’s my take on it anyhow and is probably way off the mark.

NW

"You pick a place, that's where I'll be." Does it get any better than that??

I'm not quite sure about this one.. I'm surprised there aren't any comments; I've really taken a liking to this song as of late.

"Time like your cheek has turned from me" Hmm.. "Turning the other cheek" is a form a nonviolent resistance, and he is saying "Time" has turned similarly.. so both time and this woman are offering him the chance to resist nonviolently, and he decides for her to pick a place, and to be there. I suppose he's just waiting peacefully for this girl, and not reacting in a violent manner, and just being full of acceptance?

I suppose. Great song though.

i picked up this song after listening to sea and rhythm (the song) and it became one of my favorites from iron & wine. the song feels so good, like an old western classic.

http://www.purevolume.com/hakarat check this out if you are bored and care to listen to a recording of mine of this song.

Usually I cringe when people say, "This song is about abortion!" because a lot of people think all songs are about one of three things - love, drugs, or abortion.

In this case, though, I do think these lyrics could - potentially, at least - lean towards the abortion angle.

"Waking before you/I've got a fever and a childish wish for snow/Seems like a long, long time/Since I spun you to this borrowed radio" Waking up, as if to find reality was just a dream, and the abandoned dream is reality - like how it can seem when in the grip of a high fever, delirious with it. Childish wish for snow symbolizes the innocence of the lost child, and the line about spinning 'you' to the borrowed radio symbolizes The Same Old Song... like saying, It's been a long time since you became the same old heartache for me.

"You pick a place that's where I'll be/Time like your cheek has turned for me" Instead of making the choice for the unborn, this time the choice is given to it. A wistful fantasy that the unborn could somehow give it's could-have-been parent(s) a second chance to decide by turning the other cheek, along with time.

"Someday the waves will stop/Every aching old machine will feel no pain/Someday we both will walk/Where a baby made tomorrow is a gain" Again, wishful thinking for an easy way out from the pain of such a difficult decision, from deciding that the child would have been a burden somehow.

"Waking before you/I'm like the lord who sees his love though we don't know-" Religious aspect: sometimes people blame god for bad things happening, saying it's because he doesn't love them or care about their suffering. This would be the parent looking at the aborted fetus, knowing how much they did love the thought of that child, but for whatever reason they could not explain to it, had to terminate the pregnancy.

"-Seems like a long, long time/Since I've been above you seen and loved you so" Reinstating the love he/she felt for unborn child, but was 'above,' or unable to express.

"You pick a place that's where I'll be Time like your cheek has turned for me"

'course, I could be totally off my rocker, and it may have nothing at all to do with what Sam B. had in mind when penning these lyrics.

Just my personal and heartfelt take on this song.