Fever Dream

After reading all the interpretations, I listened to the song again and heard it in a totally new light. At first I thought he was singing about his love for her and how "sure" it was and how he desperately wanted it, but now I see that I was wrong. It's a lot deeper than that. The melody is surrounded with a twinge of sadness and it always made me contemplative and sad when I listened to it. I didn't know why until I had this interpretation:

Some days her shape in the doorway Will speak to me A bird�s wing on the window

• Some days when he sees her silhouette in the doorway he feels like he is seeing a bird outside, very close to his window, close enough to touch it with it's wing. I think this symbolizes the anticipation you feel when you want to touch a bird, but it could fly away at anytime. He is saying that sometimes, although she is staying near, he feels she could or wants to leave him at any moment.

Sometimes I�ll hear when she�s sleeping Her fever dream A language on her face

-When you sleep you are most vulnerable and all your true emotions come out. Her fevered dream means that she is not at peace, something in her life is causing her distress and the singer can read the pained expressions as if she were saying to him that she's unhappy.

I want your flowers like babies want God�s love

• I think because there is a woman singing with him, these are her words. Usually girls want flowers from guys because it means the guy likes them. So lets symbolize flowers with the singer's love. As people speculated before, babies need God's love, but it is not in their basic wants. She is saying that she needs his love, but doesn't necessarily want it.

Or maybe as sure as tomorrow will come

-This is an ironic line because no one is sure that tomorrow will come. People want the next day to come, they desperately need it to come, but it is beyond their control. She wants to try to love him, but is uncertain if she can.

Some days, like rain on the doorstep She�ll cover me With grace in all she offers

-It seems like to me, the singer knows that she doesn't love him but recognizes that she does show him some affection. The doorstep is part of the house, but it is not inside. She does not let herself fully "in" the relationship, but sometimes her affection will be there like hearing the sound of rain on the doorstep.

Sometimes I'd like just to ask her What honest words She can�t afford to say, like

I want your flowers like babies want God�s love Or maybe as sure as tomorrow will come

-It's comforting that she shows him some affection but it's not enough. He wants to ask her what she's hiding, if she is happy and wants to stay. She can't afford to say that she is unhappy and doesn't want to be in the relationship because it will hurt him, or because she still "needs" his love.

Basically in a nutshell it's about a relationship where the guy kind of gets the feeling that it's one sided. He loves her, but he feels like she is putting up a front and can leave at any second. We also get the side of the woman where she is in a dilemma. For some reason she can't leave, and her uncertainty leads her to have fever dreams. Well all I can say is if the chorus applied to me, I would be having fever dreams too!

there are always things we can't say. no matter how close we come to the people we love, there are always more layers, and more things left unsaid. there is always closer to be.

sometimes even the people we know the best are strange to us...

I aggree. This song, this entire album, is amazing. Our Endless Numbered Days is one of the most peaceful things in this world, its good to know that there is still good people around making honest music, its even calssifiable a s poetry to me. Sam Beam is amazing.

i think this song - as others have said - is about an absent love who won't give the needed assurance of love and commitment.

someone asked about the 'birds wing on the window' line - and i think this is a reference to what happens when a bird flies into the window and some form of dust comes off its feathers and leaves a beutiful imprint on the glass. he's saying the girl's shape reminds him of the ghostly imprint of something once there, now gone.

he's saying he needs her as much as children need love - of god or a parent. but he doesn't have that assurance - which is why he wants to ask her what she really honestly thinks (honest words you can't afford to say). I actually like to think he's saying "assurance" instead of "Sure as" but maybe it's a play on the ambiguity of the sounds of those phrases.

what do we think "I want your flowers" implies?

I agree with becloves idea about faith in the chorus. It's also significant that both the man and woman sing the chorus.

"I want your flowers like babies want God's love Or maybe as sure as tomorrow will come"

The last line of the chorus has an ambiguous/double meaning. The speaker wants his loved one to be faithful to him and have faith in the lasting of their relationship, just as she would have faith in there being a tomorrow.

And by reading it as "I want your flowers maybe as sure as tomorrow will come," represents their current feelings toward each other. The speaker's lover is hesitant about loving him, and he himself is beginning to doubt if their relationship will last until tomorrow.

The chorus also alludes to a wedding vow. The groom gives his bride flowers, and they promise to love each other unconditionally, as God loves, until their last tomorrow comes. And we all know that from marriage comes babies.

I think it's also important to take note of the song "Passing Afternoon", which comes not long after this one and is in the same key with a similar tempo. It seems like an afterthought of this song, dealing again with the themes of endless numbered days, children, and a lost loved. Noteworthy excerpts would be "Though she's lost her wedding ring," "And she's chosen to believe," and "A baby sleeps in all our bones, so scared to be alone."

I want your flowers like babies want God’s love Or maybe as sure as tomorrow will come

that's a beautiful line

This is a song of yearning. I agree with syncthia above, however in this case I believe the point of his affection, this woman, is incapable of expression or wont stop long enough to feel and express. He craves this though.

Probably one of the most amazing songs I've ever heard. Its so soft and simple. The guitar playing is haunting and stays with you the entire day that you listen to it. Beautiful song

i cnat believe nobody's thoguht that maybe someone that hes loved has died. the wing on the window, the fever, that whole"somedays she covers me like rain on a door step" thing...

radioledjango, It really doesn't feel like a sad song. More like a love song to me. A beautiful song. Sometimes clichés come in handy, eh? :]