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.
Your stitches are all out
But your scars are healing wrong
The helium balloon inside your room has come undone
And it's pushing up at the ceiling
And the flickering lights it cannot get beyond
Everyone takes turns
Now it's yours to play the part
And they're sitting all around you
Holding copies of your chart
And the misery inside their eyes is
Synchronized and reflecting into yours
Hold on
One more time with feeling
Try it again, breathing's just a rhythm
Say it in your mind until you know that the words are right
This is why we fight
You thought by now you'd be
So much better than you are
You thought by now they'd see
That you had come so far
And the pride inside their eyes
Would synchronized into a love you've never known
So much more than you've been shown
Hold on
One more time with feeling
Try it again, breathing's just a rhythm
Say it in your mind, until you know that the
Words are right
This is why we fight
This is why we fight
But your scars are healing wrong
The helium balloon inside your room has come undone
And it's pushing up at the ceiling
And the flickering lights it cannot get beyond
Everyone takes turns
Now it's yours to play the part
And they're sitting all around you
Holding copies of your chart
And the misery inside their eyes is
Synchronized and reflecting into yours
Hold on
One more time with feeling
Try it again, breathing's just a rhythm
Say it in your mind until you know that the words are right
This is why we fight
You thought by now you'd be
So much better than you are
You thought by now they'd see
That you had come so far
And the pride inside their eyes
Would synchronized into a love you've never known
So much more than you've been shown
Hold on
One more time with feeling
Try it again, breathing's just a rhythm
Say it in your mind, until you know that the
Words are right
This is why we fight
This is why we fight
Lyrics submitted by looiz, edited by ReSpektFan
One More Time with Feeling Lyrics as written by Regina Spektor
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988.
"'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it."
"There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
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Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988.
"'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it."
"There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
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This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
Just A Little Lovin'
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I don't think it's necessarily about sex. It's about wanting to start the day with some love and affection. Maybe a warm cuddle. I'm not alone in interpreting it that way! For example:
"'Just a Little Lovin’ is a timeless country song originally recorded by Eddy Arnold in 1954. The song, written by Eddie Miller and Jimmy Campbell, explores the delicate nuances of love and showcases Arnold’s emotive vocals. It delves into the universal theme of love and how even the smallest gesture of affection can have a profound impact on our lives." https://oldtimemusic.com/the-meaning-behind-the-song-just-a-little-lovin-by-eddy-arnold/
I think Regina does a really clever job of using metaphor - in this case, acting vernacular - throughout the song. The speaker makes numerous references to acting and audition "language" - "everyone takes turns / now it's yours to play the part," just as actors take turns with lines during an audition...then there is the entire chorus with the director saying, "Hold on / one more time with feeling / try it again," etc. While this is going on, I'm pretty sure that the speaker is thinking about something bigger - what it's like to fight disease or something of that magnitude in this case.
She just does it so masterfully, I feel like it's as if Regina has these stories running through her head, and when she wants to, she sits down to choose an image or idea to focus on in one of her songs. Sometimes the image is related to the plot in her head, but sometimes it isn't, and then she just proceeds to kick the hell out of infusing that object into the plot because she's awesome and felt like sharing some of her badass talent with us through song.
I know everyone thinks this is about someone who is sick and in the hospital, I think this could be very true but personally I think the hospital references are just a metaphor for you to apply your own story. Personally I see it as giving up all your time and effort for one thing (for me dancing) and you feel like you put so much effort in and are getting nothing out and you wish that everyone would see that you are actually good and "you have come so far". You tell yourself that if you try just one more time "with feeling" and you keep working it will be worth it someday and that day is "why you fight" but it feels like the only reason you are fighting is to keep fighting.
also a comment on the breathing is just a rhythm line for me its talking about all the stuff you have to give up to keep pursuing. They say breathing is necessary but its "just a rhythm" they also say sleep is necessary but I dont get any of that.
This song is beautiful. It seems quite a few songs lately have been speaking to me. I lost my daughter in June after 19 months of hospitals, medicine and tests. The crazy thing is she loved helium balloons and always had on in her room and she ultimately died because she couldn't breathe on her own. When I hear this song it is so relevant to the feelings of detaching yourself from the situation and seeing it like a play, "hold on one more time with feeling, try it again breathings just a rhythm. This is why we fight" We fought because we could see the life in her and she wanted to show it.
So beautiful and so painful.<br /> Thanks for posting.
I think this song is about being hospitalised, hence the "helium balloons", "flickering lights" and "standing all around you holding copies of your charts"
It's saying to "hold on" and "this is why we fight", meaning this is why we fight to stay alive
I instantly thought this song was about a person in the hospital who is dying... the helium balloon pushing at the ceiling and the flickering lights is the soul, still attached to the body but trying to leave... and "everyone takes turns, now it's yours to play the part.."... ie dying.
They're proud of this person, but he/she still feels like their true self is not known, and this person is desperate, before they go, to make the people at the bedside understand him/her.
And Regina uses the metaphor, "hold on, one more time with feeling.." something you might hear a music instructor say.. comparing life to music, breathing to a rhythm, so hold on and try it again, keep breathing - keep the rhythm going, one last time to make them understand before you go...
I think flickering light just means a crappy hospital light.
This is how I interpret this song too. <br /> <br /> But I do think this part is imaginary:<br /> "and the pride inside their eyes<br /> is synchronised to a love you'll never know<br /> so much more than you can show"<br /> Because he/she thought they'd be feeling better by now and everyone will be proud for her/his brave "fight" and recovery, instead there's misery in their eyes.<br /> This song makes me feel very sad
i think you are generally right with this interpretation. LIke orbital, i tend to think the balloon and light are more about setting the seen than actual metaphor, but you could be right. I think "This is why we fight" is saying "this is why we fight to stay alive." Our family wants us to fight, begging us to hold on, and we feel like we haven't lived up to our potential. this song is a lot like chemo limo... basically the same topic. altho, i picture a woman in chemo and a man in this song. meh...
100% agree... especifically, i think that is a cancer patient... don know why... but it remind me.. "chemo limo" too
hmmmmm I think the album version (and the album itself) is FANTASTIC. but that's just me
I've always thought that this song was about someone who has trouble with public speaking. In the song the person is giving a presentation of some sort. That's what the charts are about. Regina is trying to give encourage. "Say it in mind until you know that the words are right." and so on. I don't know what the first four lines mean though.
Oh, Regina's new song is so gorgeous. She just keeps getting better. I absolutely LOVE this song.
I just heard this song for the first time, and the images blew me away. To me, it speaks to exactly how I felt when my best friend/lover tried to kill herself. She has severe bipolar, and because of that she feels as though she is always playing a part. She is never happy. She never truly wants to be alive, but she puts on a face and pretends. The image of the scars healing all wrong..like the giant purple scar on my friend's wrist... Like the helium balloon, she fights to pull herself up, but is always prevented from being free by her disease. And here, that freedom has two meanings. One path to freedom for her would be to obviously get better, to overcome her illness and learn to be happy. But for her, the only true path to freedom that she sees is death. The balloon is like her soul, caught in this artificial world struggling to be free from it all. I once tried to kill myself, and her and I have discussed how the worst part is the way everybody looks at you afterward...like you're fragile and broken and pitiful. It's the last thing you want but the only thing you can seem to see in anyone's eyes. In the chorus, she says "say it in your mind until you know the words are right." To me, this also has double meaning. One is trying to find the words to appease everyone, to tell them that you're fine and that everything will be okay. Another is trying to sort out exactly how you feel and why you did what you did, but the words never seem to convey the depth of the emotion. And so you just have to breathe. And the fight never ends. She does think that she would be better by now, that magically somehow she would start loving life. But it never seems to get better... And the love she'll never know...because so much self loathing prevents her from ever allowing anyone to truly love her...and the love of her parents, and from me, which she feels she doesn't deserve and thus doesn't understand or feel. This is why we fight...she's still fighting. Still trying to get better. And she and I are still fighting over it. She's fighting to live, I'm fighting for her to seek help, I'm fighting to stay strong...but something makes it worth it...that is why we fight.
I know that this was long and disjointed. But this song truly moved me, and hopefully it spoke to someone else who has struggled with this, which I am sure it has. Just don't forget why you're fighting.
I had a very similar interpretation. I have been battling an eating disorder for over 8 years, and I am merely twenty one years old. I am bi-polar as well, and I smiled when I read your input because its so similar to mine :) <br /> <br /> I heard it as coming to the end of the rope, trying to prove that you are improving. and when she says the stitches aren't healing as they are supposed to- to me, means that I am not getting better to anyone's standards. <br /> <br /> "everyone takes turns now its yours to play the part" - makes me think that everyone has taken their turn giving up, surrendering to their doubts in you, now its your turn to give up on yourself. <br /> <br /> "holding copies of your charts"- Judging you on the facts they can see, the only things they can measure. But cant understand the internal processing, the part that really matters.
wow...
This was my perception as well (and that's the beauty about art, isn't it, that regardless of author intent there's always room for esoteric interpretation?). But anyway. <br /> <br /> I've been hospitalized for similar issues many times, and this immediately struck me as being absurdly applicable. I've also been planning on dying via helium, so that adds another creepy layer of meaning to line 3. <br /> <br /> I suppose the main purpose of this comment is to articulate that I really, really hope you and she are both still here and both keep trying. And keep fighting. Maybe that's hypocritical because I don't think that I am able to do so myself, but, for what it's worth I hope you see this and can find a tiny bit of support in the words of a random stranger. On Song Meanings. Regardless, it's a beautiful song.<br /> <br /> Much love.
I always thought this song was about Regina watching a friend in a domestic abuse situation ("...and the pride inside their eyes is synchronised to a love you'll never know..."). Her friend's whole life is about acting like nothing's wrong. ("...everyone takes turns, now it's yours to play the part...") She and Regina argue about it ("...this is why we fight...") The doctors know and they don't know how to help ("...they're sitting all around you holding copies of your chart, and the misery inside their eyes is synchronised and reflecting into yours...")
Anyway. That's just my take on it... but I love the other interpretations too.