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.
it's okay, spread the peanut butter thick.
you're back home. sleep 'til noon
and listen to the shape shifters
in the volvo on your way to borrow
foreign movies from the library.
did they teach you french in new york?
did you learn to shave your face close
with dial soap and a steak knife?
how to slickly wipe a sweaty palm
on your pants thigh
before shaking hands firm
with the shadiest show promoters?
i know it's hard for a single person
to fold queen size bed sheets.
you left your reds hat
in the back seat of mom's volvo.
i know it's hard for a single person
to fold queen size bed sheets.
you left your reds hat
in the back seat of the volvo.
she wanted to have it cast in bronze
to be put on display next to your baby shoes
and first buck on the t.v. in the den.
but i knew you'd be back
to eat a bowl of peanut butter bumpers,
to jerk off to the lingerie ads
in the j.c. penny catalogue.
i knew you'd be back.
i knew you'd come back,
to go back to school
or get a job at the downtown library,
the health food store,
painting apartments for ray ritchie,
or to work at the cigar kiosk
at kenwood mall.
it's cool.
just make sure
you get out of here by december.
go to california. go to hawaii.
cincinnati sucks in the winter,
you know that like the bump
on the back of your neck.
it sucks the leaves from the trees,
and by the time the snow is melting,
they always find four or five
bodies hanging by belts
from the train trestles,
or in empty parking lots
slit wrists, turning what's left
of the snow into cherry slushy.
i know,
all beautiful places
are prone to natural disaster.
but being swallowed
by the earth in manilla
beats a slow death
in the midwest.
last night i practiced holding my breath.
my record is two minutes thirteen seconds.
but that was in the swimming pool last summer.
it's easier in water.
just do the dead-man's-float.
let your limbs drift.
don't count in your head.
ignore your pumping blood.
focus on the quiet.
you're back home. sleep 'til noon
and listen to the shape shifters
in the volvo on your way to borrow
foreign movies from the library.
did they teach you french in new york?
did you learn to shave your face close
with dial soap and a steak knife?
how to slickly wipe a sweaty palm
on your pants thigh
before shaking hands firm
with the shadiest show promoters?
i know it's hard for a single person
to fold queen size bed sheets.
you left your reds hat
in the back seat of mom's volvo.
i know it's hard for a single person
to fold queen size bed sheets.
you left your reds hat
in the back seat of the volvo.
she wanted to have it cast in bronze
to be put on display next to your baby shoes
and first buck on the t.v. in the den.
but i knew you'd be back
to eat a bowl of peanut butter bumpers,
to jerk off to the lingerie ads
in the j.c. penny catalogue.
i knew you'd be back.
i knew you'd come back,
to go back to school
or get a job at the downtown library,
the health food store,
painting apartments for ray ritchie,
or to work at the cigar kiosk
at kenwood mall.
it's cool.
just make sure
you get out of here by december.
go to california. go to hawaii.
cincinnati sucks in the winter,
you know that like the bump
on the back of your neck.
it sucks the leaves from the trees,
and by the time the snow is melting,
they always find four or five
bodies hanging by belts
from the train trestles,
or in empty parking lots
slit wrists, turning what's left
of the snow into cherry slushy.
i know,
all beautiful places
are prone to natural disaster.
but being swallowed
by the earth in manilla
beats a slow death
in the midwest.
last night i practiced holding my breath.
my record is two minutes thirteen seconds.
but that was in the swimming pool last summer.
it's easier in water.
just do the dead-man's-float.
let your limbs drift.
don't count in your head.
ignore your pumping blood.
focus on the quiet.
Lyrics submitted by fridgebuzz
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings
Standing On The Edge Of Summer
Thursday
Thursday
Mental Istid
Ebba Grön
Ebba Grön
This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
Holiday
Bee Gees
Bee Gees
@[Diderik:33655] "Your a holiday!" Was a popular term used in the 50s/60s to compliment someone on their all around. For example, not only are they beautiful, but they are fun and kind too ... just an all around "holiday".
I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
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."
Plastic Bag
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Plastic Bag” is a song about searching for an escape from personal problems and hoping to find it in the lively atmosphere of a Saturday night party. Ed Sheeran tells the story of his friend and the myriad of troubles he is going through. Unable to find any solutions, this friend seeks a last resort in a party and the vanity that comes with it.
“I overthink and have trouble sleepin’ / All purpose gone and don’t have a reason / And there’s no doctor to stop this bleedin’ / So I left home and jumped in the deep end,” Ed Sheeran sings in verse one. He continues by adding that this person is feeling the weight of having disappointed his father and doesn’t have any friends to rely on in this difficult moment. In the second verse, Ed sings about the role of grief in his friend’s plight and his dwindling faith in prayer. “Saturday night is givin’ me a reason to rely on the strobe lights / The lifeline of a promise in a shot glass, and I’ll take that / If you’re givin’ out love from a plastic bag,” Ed sings on the chorus, as his friend turns to new vices in hopes of feeling better.
'i know it's hard for a single person to fold queen size bed sheets.'
You're missing the very first line "You've gone skinny all alone in New York City", and listening to both the Why? and Reaching Quiet versions I'm pretty sure it's just "Did they teach you French in New York."
seems like it may be about Josiah
Where is this song from???
Love this song. It's on 'Almost live from anna's cabin'
it's also on "in the shadow of the living room" by reaching quiet
i can't decide which version of this song i like better.
where can I hear this song? I've heard the Europe Version "The Hollows" 12" EP, but not any other version? <br /> In that version he doesn't say the peanut butter and a few more lines are switched and taken out.
Every word and image in this song is amazing. I wonder what exactly he means by the bodies hanging by belts from the train trestles, does that really happen in Ohio?
I live in Cincinnati right now. It doesn't happen. I actually have no idea what he's talking about?! haha.
he's saying that the winters are long. and a lot of times places with long winters have high suicide rates. So after the winter snow melts, you can find the bodies.
This is a Reaching Quiet song off of their album In the Shadow of the Living Room I think it's about Yoni's older brother, Josiah, but there's really no telling it could also be about Doseone (the part about "shadiest show promoters" makes me think that's right)
anyway it's "Did they teach you french in New York?" in both versions (In the Shadow and Almost Live...)
It seems to me that this is autobiographical. He also mentions working at a health food store in Deceived from the Rubber Traits EP "I only wore it back when I worked at Wild Oats."
I almost completly agree with you apart from for the line<br /> "to be put on display next to your baby shoes<br /> and first buck on the t.v. in the den."<br /> I cant see Yoni with his strong vegetarian stance going out and shooting bucks, so I think its about a very close friend or his brother.
Sieni: I think by first buck Yoni means first dollar. It's like businesses that frame their first bill and put it on display.