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.
Cruising the magnetic strip
I seized the ship
I wanted it to be me that was with you
Site unseen shot through with meaning
I ran to the door, looked around
I fell to the floor just to see if it was down there
Your little chorus of angels
Howling "What gives in?
Hey, what is with you?"
Just look around at how the other half lives
So you did
but you couldn't decide it
Entering white Cecilia
Entering white Cecilia
What's eating you tonight?
Who cares?
There's a bunch of them
So what if you saw one of them go?
Cruising the magnetic strip
I seized the ship
I wanted it to be me that was with you
Site unseen shot through with meaning
You ran to the door
I fell to the ground
You had a view and the ballroom was down there
Entering white Cecilia
Entering white Cecilia
What's eating you tonight?
Who cares?
There was a bunch of them
So what if you had one of them go?
I seized the ship
I wanted it to be me that was with you
Site unseen shot through with meaning
I ran to the door, looked around
I fell to the floor just to see if it was down there
Your little chorus of angels
Howling "What gives in?
Hey, what is with you?"
Just look around at how the other half lives
So you did
but you couldn't decide it
Entering white Cecilia
Entering white Cecilia
What's eating you tonight?
Who cares?
There's a bunch of them
So what if you saw one of them go?
Cruising the magnetic strip
I seized the ship
I wanted it to be me that was with you
Site unseen shot through with meaning
You ran to the door
I fell to the ground
You had a view and the ballroom was down there
Entering white Cecilia
Entering white Cecilia
What's eating you tonight?
Who cares?
There was a bunch of them
So what if you had one of them go?
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A great song - more brilliance by Dan Bejar.
maybe, "I ran to the door, looked around I fell to the floor -- Cecilia was down there!" I'm probably wrong because I don't have the lyrics sheet or anything, but that's how I hear it.
Anyway, great song! I have a wildebeest named after Cecilia, and she loves hearing it.
dan bejarrrr is a god.
This song strangely, maybe, reminds me of the Virgin Suicides (novel by Eugenides and the film by Sofia Coppola). The youngest daughter and first suicide is the very young and relatively innocent 13 year old Cecilia. Maybe it's just that due to this connotation, anything regarding Cecilia conjures the Virgin Suicides, but this seems exceptionally fitting.
That reading makes sense. The only line I can't make fit this interpretation is "cruising the magnetic strip." <br /> <br /> Hmm...o.k, what if the "magnetic strip" is cassette tape? They played albums in the movie (and the book too, I think), but "cruising the magnetic strip" is undeniably more evocative than, say, "cruising the vinyl groove." Nifty. I had just ignored that line till now because I couldn't make sense of it thinking it referred to credit/debit cards or ID cards - that sort of thing. So, thanks.
that's sad, why would an innocent 13 year old want to kill herself? This song really makes no sense s:
I feel strongly that it's probably "sight unseen" not "site unseen." The first is a common expression (especially among older people) that means much the same thing as "(buying) a pig in a poke" or "(getting sold) a bill of goods." To buy something "sight unseen" is to buy it having never laid eyes on it.
There are a few other things I just hear differently: "I fell to the floor just to see what was down there" vs. "I fell to the floor just to see if it was down there"
"Howling, “What gives?” and/“Hey, what is with you?” vs. "Howling, "What gives in?/Hey, what is with you?"
"Just look around at how the other half lives/So you did/They appeared undecided" vs. "Just look around at how the other half lives/So you did/But you couldn't decide it"
"(You) had a feeling about what was down there" vs. "You had a view and the ballroom was down there"
Absent printed lyrics it's hard to say for certain.
One other little thing: I think it might be important to include the Las since they comprise the chorus and the lines "So what if you saw one of them go" and "So what if you had one of them go" both appear to be endjambed.
"Entering white Cecilia"...fitting line. Of course the name matters not after you've lost count ;)