Welcome Home Lyrics
I'm actually surprised at the variance in interpretation of this song, as I thought the title of it made it pretty straightforward. I suppose we all have our own perspectives, though. I do think that anyone that mentioned it being about returning to a "childhood home" is pretty much right on the money.
"Sleep don't visit, so I choke on sun
And the days blur into one
And the backs of my eyes hum with things I've never done"
This is quite honestly the only verse in the song that I have a problem with making sense of, but as far as I can see, he is talking about just arriving at his old home, where he grew up. He can't manage to get to sleep because he's spending all his visit thinking about the memories he has of this place. "And the days blur into one" is quite obviously about his memories, all blurring into one. Never to return to again. "And the backs of my eyes" is probably referencing his brain, remembering things that he did or did not experience.
"Sheets are swaying from an old clothesline
Like a row of captured ghosts over old dead grass
Was never much but we made the most
Welcome home"
Of course signifying specific memories he had of his old home. Clarifying his family's old struggles not with disdain, but optimism. They didn't have much, but they did what they could.
"Ships are launching from my chest
Some have names but most do not
If you find one, please let me know what piece I've lost"
This is about relationSHIPS, with "launching from my chest" meaning his heart. Some of them were lasting, some of them he loved, but most of them were just passing flings. The last line of the stanza I believe is him saying he wants to know how these relationships all failed. It's not that he wants them back, he just doesn't fully understand how/what happens to people to make them sever ties. I don't fully believe this is about people he dated, but moreso relationships in general, including friendships.
"Heal the scars from off my back
I don't need them anymore
You can throw them out or keep them in your mason jars
I've come home"
Him telling of his past harmful experiences, those behind him. He's done fretting about them, they're not important anymore. He's in a place comfortable to him, where he is protected from his "mental" scars, or they are at LEAST kept at bay while he is here, Home.
"All my nightmares escaped my head
Bar the door, please don't let them in
You were never supposed to leave
Now my head's splitting at the seams
And I don't know if I can"
This stanza I believe both emphasizes the last one, and clarifies why exactly he came back. Clearly, he lost someone dear to him, most likely a parent, as the "you" he is referencing in this song is most definitely either his mother or father. He is struggling dealing with his loss.
"Here, beneath my lungs, I feel your thumbs press into my skin again"
This seems to be the line that everyone has the most trouble with, but as soon as I heard it the first time, I immediately knew what he was talking about. When a parent picks up their child, where do they grab them? From beneath the lungs. Their thumbs press into them.
He is obviously looking back with fondness to his former life. Being home, secure, at peace. He's never surprised when someone lets him down, but he has a place to fall back on when it's too much for him to handle.
That was my first interpretation of the line "Here, beneath my lungs, I feel your thumbs press into my skin again"
That was my first interpretation of the line "Here, beneath my lungs, I feel your thumbs press into my skin again"
While at first I strongly related to the whole lost-love theory, and still do, now I definitely can see it differently.
While at first I strongly related to the whole lost-love theory, and still do, now I definitely can see it differently.
I didn't think this song could possibly be more heartbreaking, but damn. I identify so much with your interpretation - I'm going to be making a trip back home to see some family in a few months, and I'm dreading the onslaught of bittersweet nostalgia, because it's almost always accompanied by plain old ugly bitterness.
I didn't think this song could possibly be more heartbreaking, but damn. I identify so much with your interpretation - I'm going to be making a trip back home to see some family in a few months, and I'm dreading the onslaught of bittersweet nostalgia, because it's almost always accompanied by plain old ugly bitterness.
On one hand it does make me feel safe, warm, welcome. I mean - these are the people who really know me, this is...
On one hand it does make me feel safe, warm, welcome. I mean - these are the people who really know me, this is the place that made me who I've become for better or worse. On the other, just...no. So many regrets, so many painful memories. And at the same time I find myself struggling to hold onto them, because there's good there, too.
I have to fight the unwanted pangs of happiness even harder than the moments of sadness. Because those are the ones that hurt the most when they inevitably evaporate within the span of a second. That barely-there, nearly-worn-away person I used to be, dances around the spotlight and haunts the edges of the stage.
My family has changed so much yet they are exactly as I remember, or at least how I imagine they used to be, because now I'm not sure how skewed my perceptions are. How different they might actually be. If I even saw who they really were way back then. If they even saw who I was.
Home is such a weird place to be.
@HandForTender - "Sleep don't visit, so I choke on sun And the days blur into one And the backs of my eyes hum with things I've never done" - This is quite honestly the only verse in the song that I have a problem with making sense of...
@HandForTender - "Sleep don't visit, so I choke on sun And the days blur into one And the backs of my eyes hum with things I've never done" - This is quite honestly the only verse in the song that I have a problem with making sense of...
I don't know what the writer was saying, but as a listener I was hearing a relatable description of using drugs. In recovery programs, newcomers to anonymous meetings are given a chip and a hug, and very often the meeting chair says "welcome home" as they literally embrace the newcomer....
I don't know what the writer was saying, but as a listener I was hearing a relatable description of using drugs. In recovery programs, newcomers to anonymous meetings are given a chip and a hug, and very often the meeting chair says "welcome home" as they literally embrace the newcomer. Many stimulant drugs (both legal and prescription, such as those intended to treat narcolepsy or ADD) can let you go a couple days on no sleep. From my personal perspective, I'd think I was "up late" studying, and when I'd see light coming through my windows my heart would sink as I realized it was already tomorrow and I was starting the day, ready or not. Most embarrassingly, I would catch myself talking about doing something "yesterday" and the other person would say "that was two days ago." Because I had not allowed each day to have a beginning and an end, they literally blurred into one day.
The backs of your eyes, where your stimulant-induced brilliance takes place, are often just ideas that you never follow through with (on many stimulants). Another thing taking place in that spazmatic brain is--in the case of many amphetamines--hallucination, delusion, and other shit that looks identical to Schizophrenia, which doctors have dubbed "Stimulant-induced psychosis."
During a recovery program, one of the twelve steps is the directive requiring the individual to unload all past wrongdoings (mostly secrets) to another human being. The feeling has been described to me in many ways by those in recovery, and while "ships launching from one's chest" was never one of those descriptions, I believe it very well could have been from the accounts I've heard.
The beauty of music of such genuine quality, is that this could have actually been about the writer planting his first backyard garden and his emotional reaction to that, where someone conquering an addiction hears--and relates entirely to--the exact same string of words. That's the divine in music.
I think a song like this, especially coming from a "concept album" as it does, is open to multiple interpretations. Personally for me, this song is about overcoming depression, or negative thinking, and emerging from the other side, coming home, as it were, to yourself.
I only recently discovered this song and I immediately thought of this interpretation, maybe because it relates to my own life as I am currently working really hard to heal myself after living for years with severe depression and a huge inferiortiy complex. I think the lines which really make this song meaningful for me are:
Peel the scars from off my back I dont need them anymore You can throw them out or keep them in your mason jars I've come home
When I heard those lines I couldn't stop the tears because they meant so much to me - for me that line is expressing the feelings of freedom you can get when you realise that all the old wounds that were hurting you and causing you negativity can be shaken off, and it is no concern of yours what is done with them because they have no bearing on your current state of mind. I guess in a nutshell that is the feeling you get when you realise that you are able to move on from something that has been such a negative force in your life for so long.
I also really related to the line "And the backs of my eyes hum with things I've never done" - for me positivity is about how you see the world, and as the back of your eyes contain the retina, which gives you vision, this line made me think of your retina "humming" with activity as you are able to see the world in a new way.
In short I don't think any interpretation of this song is any more valid than the other, I think lyrics are meant to speak to people in different ways...you take what you can from them I suppose. I think any songwriter would be happy if their lyrics were able to help someone in any way - regardless of what the listener took from them. This is such a gorgeous song - I'm SO glad I found it when I did!
"You were never supposed to leave" Reading the earlier interpretations tells me that this is the key sentence. For me the meaning of the song is much more general, than leaving a house and going back, or thinking of it. Leaving means leaving everything, and it still not happened: before leaving everything, we look for our memories. People are really not thinking of being at the end of their way. They never suppose to leave. And I think this is good. You can not always be thinking of death, but it is neither bad to remind you to it sometimes. That...
"You were never supposed to leave" Reading the earlier interpretations tells me that this is the key sentence. For me the meaning of the song is much more general, than leaving a house and going back, or thinking of it. Leaving means leaving everything, and it still not happened: before leaving everything, we look for our memories. People are really not thinking of being at the end of their way. They never suppose to leave. And I think this is good. You can not always be thinking of death, but it is neither bad to remind you to it sometimes. That makes this song so powerful.
Welcome home - means that you arrived, at the end of your way, you have no target to reach.
Sleep don’t visit, so I choke on sun And the days blur into one And the backs of my eyes hum with things I’ve never done First part of the first sentence refers to the final sleep I think, second part tells that it is nothing but uncomfortable to BE. If you think it is bullshit what I am writing, go on reading. Second line tells that every day is the same, there is nothing that made them different, you have nothing to do. Like those minutes after arriving home at the end of a day: having nothing to do, you look back to the things you have done that day [instead of watching TV or surfing net until you fall asleep, looking back is more useful]. The time blurs, you are thinking of your day. At the end of your life you look back to your life, current days blur into one - not those days are the important ones. Back of your eyes: your head, your mind. It hums with things you never done: I am 30, but I am sure that the things, I have never done (but I ought to do) in my life would be those, that I would be thinking of the most, when I am going to be at the end of my life. Therefore it is the first kind of memory, that the song mentions. Then come the other things that you experienced in your life. Just go on reading.
Sheets are swaying from an old clothesline Like a row of captured ghosts over old dead grass Was never much but we made the most Clothesline is the time axis of your life. Sheets are your memories, "swaying" expresses very well how they appear in your mind. Calling the sheets ghosts only tells that they are really only memories in your head, nothing more. Old dead grass is the surrounding, those things that still physically exist and can be connected to your memories. These things exist, but they do not have the meaning, that they had in the past. Therefore they are dead from your point of view. This emphasizes that the only thing you have and you find important are your memories. In the last sentence I think there is nothing to explain - you do the most in your life. It is very nice that "most" is practically used as a noun
Welcome home [my first time to cry when listening to the song]
Ships are launching from my chest Some have names but most do not If you find one, please let me know what piece I've lost Ships represent your memories as well, they are leaving you. Nice to use chest, makes the picture powerful. Some memories can be connected to objects, places, persons, whatever. They have names. Others are general things, things that if you know, other people call you wise. They are all leaving you. Of course, you do not want to loose your memories, the only hope is that other people remind you.
Peel the scars from off my back I don't need them anymore You can throw them out or keep them in your mason jars You have wounds, you collect them in your life. Other people hurt you, or you just loose things and it hurts you. But when you are the end of your life, you have nothing in front of you, you feel peace. The scars are not important any more: you can peel them off: they cause no pain, peeling them off causes no pain. The last line makes this complete: what you throw out is what you are over. What you keep in a mason jar is also peeled off, you set these apart from you, they do not hurt you any more. But they are so deep, that you will never forget them until you actually die.
I've come home Notice: not welcome home, I come home. You arrived at the end of the way - wow, it is tough. It is also important, that this was the last point where he mentioned "home". Until this point I feel accepting the situation. The last part of the song has different approach a bit! In the other hand, the reason for leaving out "home" is not that the song does not contain the refrain any more: the melody is repeated in the last part of the song, with different text!
All my nightmares escaped my head things that you have been afraid of. You are not afraid of them any more.
Bar the door, please don't let them in maybe there are some that you are still afraid, and they may come back... They are so strong, that it is not enough to just simply lock the door and they keep out, you have to bar the door. (indirect proof: lock would also work instead of bar) I think this fear is dying. The next sentence is in line with this idea.
You were never supposed to leave Leaving means dying. Normally you never think of it, you only fear it, but you set it aside. When you feel that your life is close to it’s end, death is the only fear that you have. Notice, that until this point he was talking about himself (I, my), he was turning inside. This here is a general "you". When he is using "you" in the song, he tells something that he considers generally true, just look for the above you-s.
Now my head's splitting at the seams again, he is talking about loosing what he has in his head. I find this very beautiful: seams on your head are not artificial! These are the natural seams / by God made seams (depending from what you think) that are now splitting by nature / God. Of course, still it is a metaphor of forgetting!
And I don't know if I can this sentence is obviously not complete. Can do what? I think this verifies my understanding: he does not feel to be strong enough to what comes: death. Every normal person is afraid of one’s own death, and prefers not saying a word about it, not even thinking about it. Until first time he feels it so close.
Here, beneath my lungs, I feel your thumbs press into my skin again To my understanding beneath the lungs you find the heart... I think it is a masterpiece
Check the video on youtube. Look the many things around, in the garden, on the shelves, in the rooms of the house: how old and for several years untouched they are. They also represent the memories. The side, sometimes the center of the picture is blurred, representing the "launching ships".
I do not think that those who understand the songlike this should be sad. "Splitting at the seams" comes sooner or later. Therefore I think the best is to consider this song as a warning: collect as many memories, as possible, and shrink the number of "things you’ve never done" as much, as possible.
I, like someone else, interpreted this song to be about overcoming grief/depression, but I love how it can be interpreted in so many different ways.
Here's how I came to my own personal interpretation:
"Sleep don't visit, so I choke on sun And the days blur into one And the backs of my eyes hum with things I've never done"
Insomnia is a symptom of depression. The days blurring into one bit suggests life is a daze for the narrator--he's losing sight of reality. I interpret 'the backs of my eyes hum with things I've never done' as the narrator pretending he leads a different life to escape this dismal reality. He lives in a dream world because the real world is getting too much for him--or isn't enough. Perhaps both things simultaneously.
"Sheets are swaying from an old clothesline Like a row of captured ghosts over old dead grass Was never much but we made the most Welcome home"
I imagine the narrator visiting his old family home. All his family are dead and all that's left are memories (hence 'ghosts'). Perhaps this is why he's depressed in the first place, because he has no family left. It's a bittersweet moment where he remembers how his family had little but 'made the most' of it.
"Ships are launching from my chest Some have names but most do not If you find one, please let me know what piece I've lost"
The ship imagery I find more difficult to interpret. Perhaps his chest, his heart, is a port, and the ships represent the people who made his life worthwhile who have left him--people he can remember vividly like family, but perhaps also people from distant memories who he can only remember the faces of but who also had a place in his heart, like friends at nursery. I think the line 'please let me know what piece I've lost' refers to how, when you lose someone or are depressed, you feel like you've lost an important piece of yourself that made you who you are, which ties in with how all the ships (people) leave his port (heart), and leave him alone and depressed.
"Peel the scars from off my back I don't need them anymore You can throw them out or keep them in your mason jars I've come home"
The narrator is determined to rid himself of the scars brought about by the grief/depression--he's trying to fight against it by coming home and facing his demons.
"All my nightmares escaped my head Bar the door, please don't let them in You were never supposed to leave Now my head's splitting at the seams And I don't know if I can"
He's pushed his nightmares away by pretending they don't exist by barring the door, but now, because he's home, it's all coming back to him--these people he loved were never supposed to leave him, but now they're haunting him and his head feels ready to explode. I think the unfinished sentence, finished, would end with 'breathe'--he can't breathe, because he has been swept off his feet by released emotion brought about by his return home.
"Here, beneath my lungs, I feel your thumbs press into my skin again"
After many years of avoiding his feelings, he now lets them in, and he can feel the people he loves like they are pressing on his heart with their thumbs. Though possibly painful, he is closer to them now than he has ever been in years, so I reckon he's achieved some sort of closure by actually accepting his losses and letting himself feel again.
This song, I believe, is about home with everything it has to offer and heal or even damage. In the first verse I think that's how he feels at that time. Maybe there was something in his childhood he missed out on. He's obviously missing out on sleep because of something so he has no escape from this world. No escape from reality so "I choke on sun"... Sun is an enlightening thing.. something that shows whats in the darkness. And the fact he uses the word 'choke' obviously means he cannot handle the fact that his bliss is being shattered. The least he could do would be to dream but he can't even sleep. "And the backs of my eyes hum with things I've never done" That line is so beautiful. The backs of his eyes, maybe being his mind but it could also just be his eyes, are humming with the things he's missed out on and not seen. And maybe his eyes are humming because he's so tired from not sleeping and having to live with the fact that he didn't do the things he wanted to.
It the second verse I think he's returned to his home. His home that he grew up in. He sees sheets on the clothesline and compares them to ghosts.. maybe ghosts of the past that maybe make the sheets very nostalgic. Or maybe they're representing the bad things that may have happened in this home. And the fact that they're swaying over dead grass doesn't make this line seem all that positive either. But then he goes on to say "was never much but we made the most" saying obviously that 'No our house wasn't much and lots of bad things happened here but we lived there and we made the most and I love it for it is my home and that's why I've returned'.. Basically no home is perfect but, as the old saying goes, 'There's no place like home'. And then comes those two eternally reassuring words 'Welcome home'.. all these ghosts of the past are welcoming him home because he needs the innocence of childhood and the sanctuary of home to heal him.
The third verse is quite hard to understand I think. These ships that he describes leaving his chest are maybe elements of the heart he is letting voyage away from him because they've let him down in the past. He's losing a part of him because of his heart breaks. "Some have names but some do not" is a hard line to figure out. Maybe some have a clear meaning like maybe one is called 'Being able to trust'... maybe that's leaving him. But the fact that most don't have a name makes it obvious that he doesn't know what parts of him are leaving but he knows that a lot of things are. and maybe in order for him to get them back he needs to go back to the people that truly know him (Parents) so they can help him find what he's lost and go back to his innocence, back when no real heart breaks occurred so he can start a whole new slate. "If you find one, please let me know what piece I've lost" I just explained that line I think.
The fourth verse is obviously about healing. The scars on his back are from those backstabbing people in his life and the hurts that he may have caused himself because of these backstabbers.. self punishing you might say. He says he doesn't need them anymore because he doesn't because like I've already said, he's starting a new slate. He's talking to his home or his parents in this verse. "You can throw them out or keep them in your mason jars" he's giving his home the option of keeping them just as long as they're still not on his back. Because he knows that the past is the past and to get rid of them fully would be quite unhealthy. He would remember mason jars being in the kitchen, remember them when his mother or father cooked so he thinks they are a safe and harmless place to keep his scars.. they won't get out. Then he says 'I've come home'.. three self reassuring words telling himself this time that he is home for he has been healed which is the reason why he came home in the first place.
Now the fifth verse is a bloody hard one to figure out. To me it's either he's left his home and everything that made him return home is coming back or he's at home but someone's left it and he can't handle it. I'm not sure but I think I'll go with the first one. Well he's left his home because it healed him like he wanted it to. But because he was away from the real world and the only nightmares were something he would think about (because what bad things would attack him at home?) now that he's in the real world again where he's choking on sun, on reality that he so obviously can't handle, he's begging reality to not come through that door. And maybe he's asking his home or his parents to come and save the day again. "please don't let them in". Now the next line he could either be talking to all the people that ever left him, to his parents or himself "You were never supposed to leave"... someone wasn't meant to leave him (parents, home, friends, girlfriends) or he wasn't meant to leave his home. But if he is actually saying that to himself then he has gone too far and craves so much for escapism it's not healthy. But he knows it isn't and that's why his "head's splitting at the seams".. everything that sewed his head together before and are actually the thread (his home and his parents) are leaving him again and he doesn't understand why he needs his home so much. And that's why he says "I don't know if I can"... replying to the line "You were never supposed to leave".. basically saying because you can't handle reality maybe now, in fact, you can't leave your home. "Here, beneath my lungs, I feel your thumbs press into my skin again" the final line, I think it refers to his home. He feels the hands of his home near his lungs helping him breath, pressing into his skin telling him he can return again.. but he knows that but he may think it's dangerous to return because he doesn't know if he'll leave it.. for he is an escapist. Escaping from reality and all the harshness it brings searching for that innocence and safety his childhood and his old childhood home brought him so long ago. This song is about an escapist. Hahaha I'm sorry if I bored you.. you probably didn't even read it :).. haha But I love this song and when I'm passionate about it I become a bit of a loser.
You made a few mistakes Here are the lyrics that came with the album itself:
Sleep don't visit, so I choke on sun. And the days blur into one. And the backs of my eyes hum with things I've never done. Sheets are swaying from an old clothesline, like a row of captured ghosts, over old dead grass. Was never much, but we made the most. Welcome Home.
Ships are launching from my chest. Some have names, but most do not. If you find one, please, let me know what piece I've lost. Peel the scars from off my back. I don't need them anymore. You can throw them out or keep them in your mason jars. I've come home.
All my nightmares escaped my head. Bar the door, please don't let them in. You were never supposed to leave. Now my head's splitting at the seams. And I don't know if I can...
Here, beneath my lungs, I feel your thumbs, press into my skin again.
This song has brought me to tears. This is about forgiving the past and returning to the good times, maybe remembering everything before death. " You were never supposed to leave, now my head's splitting at the seams" gets me every time.
I was introduced to Radical Face a few days ago, and to say the least, this song is amazing.
It seems like this song is about returning to a better place or finally getting there after going through some rough times.
SO GOOD.
Sometimes when I hear this song and I really pay attention, I cry because of it. Its amazing. The first time I heard it I had it stuck in my head all day, before I went to bed, then I had dreams about it, and then I woke up and it was still in my head, and I did not mind at all.
"You were never supposed to leave. Now my head's splitting at the seams. And I don't know if I can..."
That is my favorite part, it describes what my heart feels like when I hear this song, it feels like its splitting at the seams. This song is epic.
first radical face song i've ever heard, and it just gives you that feeling i don't know how to describe it but it just makes me think a lot. personally i thought the song was about, for some reason, towards the end when its about a funeral. "Here, beneath my lungs, I feel your thumbs press into my skin again " at the wake when you go up to see the body, i don't know why but thats the image i get.
and it kind of seems like there could be two narrators in the song. between the person dying and someone close to them.
another way to say that those that pass on are always with us
i dont know, i love it though.