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.
When I light your darkened door
When I light your darkened door
When I light your darkened door
Will you curse the day?
When your name breaks on my lips
When your name breaks on my lips
When your name breaks on my lips
Will you know the sound?
There are roses in your hair
And a lily on your breast
And a longing in your heart
Will you be ashamed?
When I light your darkened door
When I light your darkened door
Will you curse the day?
When your name breaks on my lips
When your name breaks on my lips
When your name breaks on my lips
Will you know the sound?
There are roses in your hair
And a lily on your breast
And a longing in your heart
Will you be ashamed?
Lyrics submitted by mctaggey
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To light your darkened door could be to bring light/life/love to a darkened home/heart/person. Or it may be a play on the phrase "to darken your door" which means to come in or visit. And therefore may be the speaker leaving. So is it a love being brought to a person unwilling, or a lover leaving. Either way the name breaks on his lips, and she is beautiful with roses and lilies(the flower of death?) there maybe more, has j. tillman said anything about it?
Gawd. I'm glad I stayed on the net till 4:53am.
I was listening to Leonard Cohen's Bird on the Wire, and there's a lyric, "[I saw] a pretty woman, leaning in her darkened door / She cried to me, 'Hey, why not ask for more?'" I've read that Tillman's a Leonard Cohen listener (he also played a cover for MOJO's The Songs of Leonard Cohen Covered), so I wonder if perhaps he took the phrase from that song.
I think of "Bird on the Wire" as a redemption song, or forgiveness song, written through the perspective of a guy who feels like he's fucked everything up. So it's cool to think about, that maybe this song was written to kind of continue on the relationship of those characters - a beautiful woman offering herself to this guy who considers himself to be unworthy and good for nothing. If you think of it like that, this song is like his inner dialogue, and his self-doubt in thinking that this woman doesn't know who she's looking at, that the "darkened door" refers to her not being able to see him clearly for who he is.