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.
When I walk beside her
I am the better man
When I look to leave her
I always stagger back again
Once I built an ivory tower
So I could worship from above
And when I climbed down to be set free
She took me in again
There's a big
A big hard sun
Beaten on the big people
In the big hard world
When she comes to greet me
She is mercy at my feet
When I see her pin her charm
She just throws it back again
Once I dug an early grave
To find a better land
She just smiled and laughed at me
And took her blues back again
There's a big
A big hard sun
Beaten on the big people
In the big hard world
There's a big
A big hard sun
Beaten on the big people
In the big hard world
When I go to cross that river
She is comfort by my side
When I try to understand
She just opens up her eyes
There's a big
A big hard sun
Beaten on the big people
In the big hard world
Once I stood to lose her
When I saw what I had done
Bound down and flew away the hours
Of her garden and her sun
So I tried to warn her
I'll turn to see her weep
Forty days and forty nights
And it's still coming down on me
There's a big
A big hard sun
Beaten on the big people
In the big hard world
There's a big
A big hard sun
Beaten on the big people
In the big hard world
There's a big
A big hard sun
Beaten on the big people
In the big hard world
There's a big
A big hard sun
Beaten on the big people
In the big hard world
I am the better man
When I look to leave her
I always stagger back again
Once I built an ivory tower
So I could worship from above
And when I climbed down to be set free
She took me in again
There's a big
A big hard sun
Beaten on the big people
In the big hard world
When she comes to greet me
She is mercy at my feet
When I see her pin her charm
She just throws it back again
Once I dug an early grave
To find a better land
She just smiled and laughed at me
And took her blues back again
There's a big
A big hard sun
Beaten on the big people
In the big hard world
There's a big
A big hard sun
Beaten on the big people
In the big hard world
When I go to cross that river
She is comfort by my side
When I try to understand
She just opens up her eyes
There's a big
A big hard sun
Beaten on the big people
In the big hard world
Once I stood to lose her
When I saw what I had done
Bound down and flew away the hours
Of her garden and her sun
So I tried to warn her
I'll turn to see her weep
Forty days and forty nights
And it's still coming down on me
There's a big
A big hard sun
Beaten on the big people
In the big hard world
There's a big
A big hard sun
Beaten on the big people
In the big hard world
There's a big
A big hard sun
Beaten on the big people
In the big hard world
There's a big
A big hard sun
Beaten on the big people
In the big hard world
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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"
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Hayalperest
Hayalperest
This song seemingly tackles the methods of deception those who manipulate others use to get victims to follow their demands, as well as diverting attention away from important issues. They'll also use it as a means to convince people to hate or kill others by pretending acts of terrorism were committed by the enemy when the acts themselves were done by the masters of control to promote discrimination and hate. It also reinforces the idea that these manipulative forces operate in various locations, infiltrating everyday life without detection, and propagate any and everywhere.
In general, it highlights the danger of hidden agendas, manipulation, and distraction, serving as a critique of those who exploit chaos and confusion to control and gain power, depicting a cautionary tale against falling into their traps. It encourages us to question the narratives presented to us and remain vigilant against manipulation in various parts of society.
Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
Silent Planet
I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo
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,
For me this song is a spiritual song about the meaning and the decision you take in life. A life in compliance with society's ideals (self confidence and happiness through money, consumption and status) vs. a life according to your own personal goals and values. The sun is your inner voice, which guides you in order to become who you really want to be.
When I walk beside her I am the better man when i look to leave her I always stagger back again
When you're life is aligned with your feelings, your real desire and guided by your inner voice, your "heart" or gut, you will be happy. You can try to silence the voice but it will always be there and come up in certain moments, questioning if you're really doing what you want to do.
Once I built an ivory tower so I could worship from above when I climb down to be set free she took me in again
The ivory tower is a life or a career which might pay a lot or guarantees you a great status in society..the tower was built to worship from above, e.g. power or money to find meaning in life and to silence the voice. When you climb down the tower, setting yourself free of your plain, meaningless everyday life, you feel that you're back on the right track.
There’s a big a big hard sun beating on the big people in the big hard world
The big people are ruthless or maybe even mindless people with lots of power and money and the big hard world is today's society (kind of like the matrix, where everyone tries to build his ivory tower) telling everyone how to live their life in order to become happy. If you live your life by the rules of the big hard world, your inner voice will constantly remember you that you did not suceed in this or that, so you're a loser.
When she comes to greet me she is mercy at my feet I see her inner charm she just throws it back at me
But when you life accoring to your own rules, values and goals everything becomes easy as you don't care any more about the big people in the big hard world.
Once I dug an early grave to find a better land she just smiled and laughed at me and took her rules back again
Maybe you were thinking about suicide because life has no meaning, but then, the inner voice comes back reminding you that this is not your path, but only the path others have chosen for you.
Once I stood to lose her and I saw what i had done bowed down and threw away the hours of her garden and her sun
So I tried to want her I turned to see her weep 40 days and 40 nights and its still coming down on me
The last two paragraphs describe the feeling when he tried to get back into the "matrix" but then realized what he has done and that he was on the wrong path.
this is fantastic!! I've been thinking like this everytime I hear this song, today I wanted to check what ppl think about.. and here we are!.. amazing interpretation!
@drofphilosophy I love this song and everyone's enthusiasm, but sadly everyone misses an important point. Gordon Peterson, the original author of the song, took so much exception to the changes made by Eddie Vedder, that he sued Vedder and the label. He lost, but for those so interested in the nature sybolism, to neglect Vedder's replacing of "when I stay to pillage her" with "when i see her inner charm" (sometimes interpretted as "bitter charm") is just sad. Pillage is probably the most important word in the song. Lastly, the fact that Vedder change the nature sybolism in a nature focused song as part of a soundtrack to a film from a book about a young man who died trying to return to nature is even more ridiculous. Epic artistic fail by Vedder but of course not commercially. I even like Vedder somewhat, but Indio's version is so much more powerful, both rythmically (the original drums are literally inspirational) but especially lyrically, even if just by a few key words.