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.
On the highway
On the freeway
In the airport
In the airplane
In the airtrain
In Brooklyn U.S.A.
To a Tinsel Town
Where now
What the Dodgers play
And where they fired it
Where they tried it
Where they doubled it
Where they tripled it
Where they flippin' it
And where the car's parked
Where the girls dance naked
Where they know when you're fakin' it
And where the rubber meets the road yea
Where the hot meets the cold
Poor meet the soul
Where the young meet the old
Truth be told
I got somethin' on my mind
Y'all gotta know
I got a brother named Lee
Look just like me
He gotta lotta enemies
Got a brother named Lee
Look just like me
Both sides of the Mississippi [x2]
On the highway
On the freeway
In the airport
On the airtrain
In the airplane
In Brooklyn U.S.A.
To the Tinsel Town
Where now
What the Dodgers play
And when they're searchin' for something
That you will never find
When they lookin' at her and say 'so fine'
When they keep saying it was suicide
When they never seen that look in her father's eye
Where the rubber meet the road
Where the hot meet the cold
The spirit meet the soul
The young meet the old
I say truth be told
I got somethin' on my mind
Y'all gotta know
I got a brother named Lee
Look just like me
He gotta lotta enemies
Got a brother named Lee
Looks just like me
Both sides of the Mississippi [x2]
Both sides of the Mississippi yea
Both sides of the Mississippi yea
Both sides
Both sides
Both sides of the Mississippi yea
On the freeway
In the airport
In the airplane
In the airtrain
In Brooklyn U.S.A.
To a Tinsel Town
Where now
What the Dodgers play
And where they fired it
Where they tried it
Where they doubled it
Where they tripled it
Where they flippin' it
And where the car's parked
Where the girls dance naked
Where they know when you're fakin' it
And where the rubber meets the road yea
Where the hot meets the cold
Poor meet the soul
Where the young meet the old
Truth be told
I got somethin' on my mind
Y'all gotta know
I got a brother named Lee
Look just like me
He gotta lotta enemies
Got a brother named Lee
Look just like me
Both sides of the Mississippi [x2]
On the highway
On the freeway
In the airport
On the airtrain
In the airplane
In Brooklyn U.S.A.
To the Tinsel Town
Where now
What the Dodgers play
And when they're searchin' for something
That you will never find
When they lookin' at her and say 'so fine'
When they keep saying it was suicide
When they never seen that look in her father's eye
Where the rubber meet the road
Where the hot meet the cold
The spirit meet the soul
The young meet the old
I say truth be told
I got somethin' on my mind
Y'all gotta know
I got a brother named Lee
Look just like me
He gotta lotta enemies
Got a brother named Lee
Looks just like me
Both sides of the Mississippi [x2]
Both sides of the Mississippi yea
Both sides of the Mississippi yea
Both sides
Both sides
Both sides of the Mississippi yea
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The meaning of this song is that he's referring to his old self having enemies and his old ways how they were wrong and cruel and everyone wanted to get back at him. He's explaining how his old ways still effect him even to this day.
I think this song is about a homicide; a stripper got killed by either him (his alterego named Lee) or an actual look-alike brother named Lee.
this is one of those songs that only makes sense in my mind. If anybody's braindead, the Dodgers play in LA... and Brooklyn is in New York... They're on opposite coasts ;] haha. There was a book I read once that this song reminded me of.. I forget what it's called. Um. My Friend Leonard. I don't really know what it's about.
Speaking of opposite coasts, or west coast vs Midwest, Dawes "from a Window Seat" youtube.com/watch
actually the dodgers used to be the Brooklyn Dodgers, when Jackie Robinson played, but tinsel town would be LA
I think the song is talking about life in a big city and the unification of all the people living in them. When he goes into the chorus it sounds like he's giving a shout out to all those that can relate. Why he uses the name Lee I don't know.
I think the song is talking about life in a big city and the unification of all the people living in them. When he goes into the chorus it sounds like he's giving a shout out to all those that can relate. Why he uses the name Lee I don't know.
From what I gather from this song it seems like its a guy from Brooklyn (the singer) who wants to move to where the dodgers now play and tinsel town (LA, Cali). The closest airport to Brooklyn is JFK, they have an airtrain which takes to you the flights terminal. He glorifies LA as some place he wants to be (Where the half meets the whole). The mississippi river bisects the united states in half. So on one side of the Mississippi is Brooklyn, and on the other LA, so he's living in Brooklyn, but he can seem himself living in LA to escape his enemies. I don't know how close I may be to it being correct, but It was worth a shot!
im pretty sure he says "hot meets the cold" in both verses... anyway, im pretty sure its about him leading a double life, one in brooklyn, and the other in LA...both places are where the dodgers have played...
I think that he is talking about race. His brother named Lee that looks just like him is possibly General Lee. No matter where he goes he can't escape the fact that he is white. Especially in his genre of music. Despite that, he hints at something special happening when the lines of contrast are blurred. The rubber meeting the road, hot meeting the cold, and spirit meeting the soul. When shades of color meet and blur, something special happens.
ok, so i have no clue where you guys get those meanings but, he is obviously addressing Good and Evil / Opposites, and how he has a good and bad side in a sense and that both are everywhere... he doesn't leave one side on the east coast and the other on the west, he is himself which is both sides....and with out lee (the older been thru shit blame it on him guy) he himself would not be one within....
He has made a lot of enemies everywhere on both sides of the Mississippi.
"I got a brother named Lee who look just like me He got a lot of enemies" This just seems like him making an excuse. He didn't do the things which caused these people to become his enemies his brother lee did them and his brother lee is everywhere he is.