Awakening

Switchfoot

Face down with the LA curbside endings
And the ones in zeros.
Downtown was the perfect place to hide.
The first star that I saw last night was a headlight
Of a man-made sky, but man-made never made our dreams collide,
Collide.

Here we are now with the falling sky and the rain,
We're awakening
Here we are now with our desperate youth and the pain,
We're awakening
Maybe it's called ambition, you've been talking in your sleep
About a dream, we're awakening

Last week saw me living for nothing but deadlines,
With my dead beat sky but, this town doesn't look the same tonight
These dreams started singing to me out of nowhere
And in all my life I don't know if I've ever felt so alive,
Alive

Here we are now with the falling sky and the rain,
We're awakening
Here we are now with our desperate youth and the pain,
We're awakening
Maybe it's called ambition, you've been talking in your sleep
About a dream, we're awakening

I want to wake up kicking and screaming
I want to wake up kicking and screaming
I want to know that my heart's still beating
It's beating,
I'm bleeding
I want to wake up kicking and screaming
I want to live like I know what I'm leaving
I want to know that my heart's still beating,
It's beating, it's beating, it's beating,
I'm bleeding

Here we are now with the falling sky and the rain,
We're awakening
Here we are now with our desperate youth and the pain,
We're awakening
Maybe it's called ambition, you've been talk-talking in your sleep
About a dream, we're awakening dream, we're awakening, yeah


Lyrics submitted by eltroyo11

Awakening Lyrics as written by Jon Foreman

Lyrics © CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC

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Awakening song meanings
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67 Comments

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  • +2
    General Commentactually, i believe when jon writes "i wanna wake up kicking and screaming" i believe he means that he wants to be born again into a new life as said in the Bible. being in reborn into the kingdom of God. however this is what i think of the song. i may totally be wrong but we all have our ways of interpreting songs. so yeah. being born again. he wants to know that his heart will keep beating instead of dieing in this sinful world. i love this song
    burreyeanton December 30, 2006   Link
  • +1
    General Commenthonestly, this is one of the best sounding song on their new album; but i havent grasped the full message of this song yet. but possibly it means something like we are breaking out of our own little life and realizing that there is more, that there is hope, that there is love and that there is God. im continuingly listening to this song to figure it out but as for now that is wut i get from these lyrics.
    burreyeanton December 26, 2006   Link
  • +1
    General Commentwell i read an interview where jon says its about finding the innocence of a child amidst the chaos of the world
    drummerjoe2610on January 01, 2007   Link
  • +1
    General CommentI get kind of a sense of desperation and desire from this song. Like the singer is fully aware of the shallow and meaningless nature of our world, and he wants more than anything to get away, to break out. He knows that God grants real life and joy, and he has gotten tastes of it before but is not quite there. More than anything, he wants to claw his way out of the frozen sleep of our world and into the wild, ruddy life he can feel just a hair breadth away. Hence the happy, excited tone of these lines:

    I want to wake up kicking and screaming
    I want to wake up kicking and screaming
    I want to know that my heart's still beating
    It's beating, I'm bleeding
    I want to wake up kicking and screaming
    (I want to wake up)
    I want to live like I know the meaning
    (I want to wake up)
    I want to know that my heart's still beating
    (I want to wake up)
    It's beating, it's beating
    It's beating, I'm bleeding

    A beating heart is associated with life and also with adrenaline and excitement. He's coming to life, and his heart is beating again. Bleeding and blood are also associated with this. You don't bleed when you're dead. Furthermore, when you are bleeding you usually have been doing something active and thrilling, maybe something a little bit dangerous. Something that you do not usually do, sort of the antithesis to a dull and pointless existence. While bleeding also can have negative connotations, it seems like it is supposed to represent coming alive. "Kicking and screaming" probably shows both his desperation to break out and the frenzied, concentrated life just out of his reach. It might also be saying that you don't just wake up without fighting for it. Just like you don't attain eternal life without an effort.

    My take on it, at least. I love this song--in addition to the wonderful tune, it depicts Christianity and eternal life as the exhilarating, lively blessings they truly are, instead of the dull and pastel sort of things people all too often think of them as.
    inkychipmunkon January 05, 2007   Link
  • +1
    General Commentagain, you cant say that our interpretations and beliefs are wrong. its just going deeper into meaning and trying to learn about the song. and yeah im pretty sure u know they are Christians but maybe if you're a christian yourself you should kind of like try to understand that there is more meaning, even in a small phrase like "i wanna wake up kicking and screaming" you can connect this song to many different aspects of christianity which i wont go in cause it'll take a long time. check out rob bell's new video called "breathe" its a great video. check that out at Nooma.com
    burreyeanton January 18, 2007   Link
  • +1
    General Commenti think this song is about someone who is a christian, and believes in god, and was strong in the faith, but without realizing it has fallen away. the lines about "Last week saw me living for nothing but deadlines" talks about how he let everything else in his life take center stage, and shoved god to the back of his mind, as in "You've been talking in your sleep about a dream". that's when he 'awakens' or realizes that this isn't the life god wants for him. so he wants to to wake up kicking and screaming", get back to worshiping god to the fullest instead of just at the bare minimum. also, i think when he awakens, he can finally see the world god made, and how he is a part of it. "Here we are now with falling sky and the rain" meaning, i think, that he is part of it all, part of god's plan, and he needs to kick it into gear.
    thatwasimpliedon January 19, 2007   Link
  • +1
    General Commenti think that this person is trying to get past their own past n become in sight of their own dreams and breaking free of what has happened and moving on with their life to become a new person.
    save your breathon February 20, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General CommentBased on about 5 live recording of this song, I believe these are all right. The bridge is slightly different on some of the recordings, but these lyrics are from this recording: youtube.com/…
    For a couple of reasons: 1. It's the best quality version I've heard, and 2. I was at that show. I think I'm just off screen to right for most of the video. I can see my friend who was standing next to me though.
    eltroyo11on June 02, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General CommentI heard that they (Switchfoot) are still perfecting the lyrics, so it is (or at least was) changing fron show to show.
    Spittermanon June 06, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General CommentAnd this song will be on the next album. : D
    ThisSettingSunon July 15, 2006   Link

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