18 Meanings
Add Yours
Follow
Share
Q&A
Civil Twilight Lyrics
My confusion corner commuters are cursing the cold away
As December tries to dissemble the length of their working day
And they bite their mitts off to show me transfers, deposit change
and I can't stop finding your face in their faces, all rearranged
And angry like you never were;
and I ease us back into traffic
Dusk comes on and I wonder
Why I'm always remembering you, in civil twilight
For the most part I think about golfing and constantly calculate
all the seconds left in the minutes, and so on, etcetera
Or recite the names of provinces and Hollywood actors;
Oh, Ontario! Oh, Jennifer Jason Leigh!
This part of the day bewilders me
Streets slow down and ice over,
Dusk comes on and I struggle to stop,
To stop to stop thinking of you,in civil twilight
Hey, every other hour I pass that house,
Where you told me that you had to go
I wonder if the landlord has fixed the crack,
That I stared at, instead of staring back at you;
My chance to say something seemed so brief, but it wasn't.
Now I know I had plenty of time
Between the sunset and certified darkness
Dusk comes on and I follow the exhaust from memory up to the end
The civil twilight
The civil twilight
The civil twilight
The civil twilight
As December tries to dissemble the length of their working day
And they bite their mitts off to show me transfers, deposit change
and I can't stop finding your face in their faces, all rearranged
and I ease us back into traffic
Dusk comes on and I wonder
Why I'm always remembering you, in civil twilight
all the seconds left in the minutes, and so on, etcetera
Or recite the names of provinces and Hollywood actors;
Oh, Ontario! Oh, Jennifer Jason Leigh!
Streets slow down and ice over,
Dusk comes on and I struggle to stop,
To stop to stop thinking of you,in civil twilight
Where you told me that you had to go
I wonder if the landlord has fixed the crack,
That I stared at, instead of staring back at you;
Now I know I had plenty of time
Between the sunset and certified darkness
Dusk comes on and I follow the exhaust from memory up to the end
The civil twilight
The civil twilight
The civil twilight
Add your song meanings, interpretations, facts, memories & more to the community.
So after listening to this song for about a week, it finally hit me. The song is about a bus driver who is remembering a past relationship. How anyone would ever think about writing a song from that perspective blows my mind, but that's why John Samson is the man.
From http://aa.usno.navy.mil/faq/docs/RST_defs.php :
"Civil twilight is defined to begin in the morning, and to end in the evening when the center of the Sun is geometrically 6 degrees below the horizon. This is the limit at which twilight illumination is sufficient, under good weather conditions, for terrestrial objects to be clearly distinguished; at the beginning of morning civil twilight, or end of evening civil twilight, the horizon is clearly defined and the brightest stars are visible under good atmospheric conditions in the absence of moonlight or other illumination. In the morning before the beginning of civil twilight and in the evening after the end of civil twilight, artificial illumination is normally required to carry on ordinary outdoor activities. Complete darkness, however, ends sometime prior to the beginning of morning civil twilight and begins sometime after the end of evening civil twilight."
Wow, what a great song. A few lyric changes...
"Confusion corner commuters are cursing you pulled away"
should be "Confusion corner commuters are cursing the cold away"
and "the life of the working day" should be "the length of their working day."
I agree that the perspective of the busdriver is brilliant - J.K. Samson/The Weakerthans are pretty amazing!
However -im not certian if the nostalgic interest is a common passenger, or actually someone who the driver was significantly involved. I dont think it's clear in the song, and I think i kind of want it to be the latter - so... there's my muddled and bias take.
Reagrdless - Brilliant! Thanks for everyone who submits thier thoughts - it's always comforting to connect with those of similiar sentiment!
"Hey, every other hour I pass that house, Where you told me that you had to go"
His bus route takes him by their old place a couple times a day, no wonder he can't forget her.
just clicked the link in my profile to read my "last comment," noticed distorted_lens' reply, and chuckled - you're right, i should have added something more significant, but i didn't know what civil twilight was and figured maybe someone else was in the same boat as me. didn't really have any novel ideas to add :)
favorite weakerthans song by far. "and i cant stop finding your face in their faces all rearranged." epic line. I think we can all relate.
Am am siding with the faction that thinks it is not a passenger, but just an ex. If it were a previous passenger, I don't see why he would be in her apartment. So they were involved romantically, but it was cut short for whatever reason. I think sund and Pakko hit the nail on the head. Anyone who has had a relationship end knows what it is like when you go past the place where he/she used to live, and the feelings that seem to come out of nowhere. How you can't stop thinking of that person. Then having to drive past her place several times a day and trying to get over her and move on. It is a very relatable song, written from an insanely creative perspective.
oh, wow. i've been listening to this song for far longer a week and i got that it was about missing someone, but - yeah! it is definitely about a bus driver. that is amazing!
the ???? part in the song i think is "so on, etcetera"
I think that this song is about a bus driver's relationship with a reglular commuter. For some reason, the commuter no longer takes his bus. The relationship never evolved to be anything of substance, so the driver is looking back on the time spent with the commuter; comparing them to the onther, angier commuters and longing for them to take the bus again. The driver regrets never telling the commuter their feelings. "My chance to say something seemed so frequent--it was, and now I know I had plenty of time".