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.
Go tell this town I've built them all their coffins.
As for this face, best it be forgotten.
"Baby, baby, I've got a reason to leave, but I'm not going far.
Baby, baby, come on I'm begging you, please. I'm not the one in chains."
"They call me Jesse James and I own the night life.
I drift from town to town across the nation.
Praise the lord, lock and load boys.
We go down, we go down, we go down together."
"Baby, baby, I've got a reason to leave, but I'm not going far.
Baby, baby, come on I'm begging you, please. I'm not the one in chains."
Your gun's firing blanks.
No way out. (x4)
No way out.
Gun's firing blanks.
Go tell this town I've built them all their coffins.
As for this face, best it be forgotten.
Hells on it's way, no one's gonna stop it.
I wear this suit, on one's gonna top me.
As for this face, best it be forgotten.
"Baby, baby, I've got a reason to leave, but I'm not going far.
Baby, baby, come on I'm begging you, please. I'm not the one in chains."
"They call me Jesse James and I own the night life.
I drift from town to town across the nation.
Praise the lord, lock and load boys.
We go down, we go down, we go down together."
"Baby, baby, I've got a reason to leave, but I'm not going far.
Baby, baby, come on I'm begging you, please. I'm not the one in chains."
Your gun's firing blanks.
No way out. (x4)
No way out.
Gun's firing blanks.
Go tell this town I've built them all their coffins.
As for this face, best it be forgotten.
Hells on it's way, no one's gonna stop it.
I wear this suit, on one's gonna top me.
Lyrics submitted by Toast1288
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings
Standing On The Edge Of Summer
Thursday
Thursday
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
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."
Punchline
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.
Page
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
There aren’t many things that’ll hurt more than giving love a chance against your better judgement only to have your heart crushed yet again. Ed Sheeran tells such a story on “Page.” On this track, he is devastated to have lost his lover and even more saddened by the feeling that he may never move on from this.
i think this song is just comparing the murderer and his village to an outlaw in an old western town, and how jesse james terrorized the people there.
I love how the guitars sound like spiraling down after he says "Your gun's firing blanks. No way out."
"I'm not the one in chains." proves that hes held someone captive buliding the town their coffins means he plans on kiilling them all and people should forget his face. cuz alot of songs seem to mention forgetting. and he's unstoppable. but idk
Maybe he thinks he's Jesse James? As for "I own the night life". No one goes out at night because of him, their too scarred. So I get that part. The rest of that doesn't make too much sense. He mentions "we" sometimes so he's either a skitso or theres more than one killer? Possibly a wife type figure.
Sticking to my latest theory about having a female accomplice that he got rid of in "45223", and by looking at what appears to be a police badge hanging from the chair on the cover of the album, here's my idea for this one.
The killer is either a cop, or ex-cop. He knows the business, and he's pretty confident that he's not going to get caught now that he got rid of his partner.
"Go tell this town I've built them all their coffins. As for this face, best it be forgotten."
He's basically talking to himself. Bragging a bit and deciding to lay low so he won't become a suspect.
"Baby, baby, I've got a reason to leave, but I'm not going far."
He's going to leave town so that he'll slip under the radar a bit. But he's going to stay close so he can keep killing.
"Hells on it's way, no one's gonna stop it. I wear this suit, no one's gonna top me."
Again, bragging. The suit part is a reference to his police uniform. I think...
The chains and the firing blanks totally stumps me. I don't see what that means. Maybe that all the suspicions of the people in town are wrong, they're "firing blanks" when naming possible killers. Here2solve nailed the night life part I think.
"I drift from town to town across the nation. Praise the lord, lock and load boys. We go down, we go down, we go down together."
No idea. Someone please figure this part out for me.
CF Riot ...wow very well done as for the last part im not sure but i feel that the "lock and load boys" is about being a cop aswell... just a gut feeling
that looks like a locket its definitely not a police badge
Well, first of all, this whole thing about Saylor Lake is a fictional story that Danny Stillman, the lead singer of the band, created. And according to all the articles I read, the rest of the band got super into the idea and created the whole story line. And its the fans job to use the lyrics, and their website worsethanafairytale.com, to figure out the mystery of who the killer is. This website and the songs are like clues. Well, since I have been a dedicated fan for two years, I've analyzed like EVERY song. Haha. I have this theory that the killer is a vampire.
"They call me Jesse James and I own the night life. I drift from town to town across the nation. Praise the lord, lock and load boys. We go down, we go down, we go down together."
First of all, he owns the night life. Obviously vampires only come out at night. Yes, I understand serial killers usually do too, but if you read my other ideas about this on other songs, then you might understand.
And he's using his new found power to get revenge on all the girls that have done him wrong in his life.
"Go tell this town I've built them all their coffins. As for this face, best it be forgotten. Hells on it's way, no one's gonna stop it. I wear this suit, on one's gonna top me. "
It just seems fishy. But if he is a vampire, then who bit him? Find out my theory by reading my comment on the last song: "I Want to Master Life and Death".
The song's about him leaving the town, the first line "Go tell this town I've built them all their coffins" is basically saying "Don't get too comfortable; I'm leaving but staying closeby to kill."
I also think "I own the night life" is about people being afraid to go out cuz of him, as others mentioned.
The line "As for this face, best it be forgotten", to me, means he wants to lay low so as not to get caught. He doesn't want to appear as a suspect so he's leaving town but still committing murders.
this song kidna reminds of the old western by "we" he means the gang because all of the infamous wild west outlaws had a gang