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.
You are watching a programme for exactly an hour
All of these hours they will add up to a day
You will sit there till they're done but there are 24
To play
There'll be rims around your eyelids by the 7th or the
8th
But if you go to sleep tonight you will be older when
You wake
And you say one man is the parachute and the other is
The knife that cuts the brake
First we were born then we ran slowly out of luck
You are still not Charles Bukowski and I am not Diane
Cluck
And I would suck the life from you if there was any
Left to suck
And I would love you if you told me there was something
There to love
I would marry you for money
I would marry you for money
I would marry you for money or for luck
I would marry you for money but I don't suppose you'll
Ever have enough
Well the man on the screen he has done more in a minute
Than you have achieved in your whole entire life
When you finally realize I was the best thing you had
In it
We'll be closing up your eyelids on the bed or once you
Die
And I'll be sorry if it happens to you
Sorry if it happens to you
Sorry if it happens to you but
I guess if one man is the cancer then his death is just
The knife that makes the cut
24 for every year that we have slept
Day by day into the neck of the abyss
And I am 24 today I don't believe I'll sit
Through another year of this while you are sewing up
Your lips
And I'll be sorry that you happened to me
Sorry that you happened to me
Sorry that you happened to me but
They say that one man is the accident the other is the
Hand that stops the blood
And I am looking for the other one I'm looking for the
Blade to make the cut
Oh if one man is the accident I'm looking for a hand to
Stop the blood
All of these hours they will add up to a day
You will sit there till they're done but there are 24
To play
There'll be rims around your eyelids by the 7th or the
8th
But if you go to sleep tonight you will be older when
You wake
And you say one man is the parachute and the other is
The knife that cuts the brake
First we were born then we ran slowly out of luck
You are still not Charles Bukowski and I am not Diane
Cluck
And I would suck the life from you if there was any
Left to suck
And I would love you if you told me there was something
There to love
I would marry you for money
I would marry you for money
I would marry you for money or for luck
I would marry you for money but I don't suppose you'll
Ever have enough
Well the man on the screen he has done more in a minute
Than you have achieved in your whole entire life
When you finally realize I was the best thing you had
In it
We'll be closing up your eyelids on the bed or once you
Die
And I'll be sorry if it happens to you
Sorry if it happens to you
Sorry if it happens to you but
I guess if one man is the cancer then his death is just
The knife that makes the cut
24 for every year that we have slept
Day by day into the neck of the abyss
And I am 24 today I don't believe I'll sit
Through another year of this while you are sewing up
Your lips
And I'll be sorry that you happened to me
Sorry that you happened to me
Sorry that you happened to me but
They say that one man is the accident the other is the
Hand that stops the blood
And I am looking for the other one I'm looking for the
Blade to make the cut
Oh if one man is the accident I'm looking for a hand to
Stop the blood
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Love it, but it's so many errors in the lyrics above. The correct one is as follows:
You are watching a programme for exactly an hour All of these hours they will add up to a day You will sit there till they're done, now there are 24 to play
And there are rims around your eyeballs by the 7th or the 8th But if you go to sleep tonight you will be older when you wake
And you say one man is the parachute and the other is the knife that cuts the brakes
First we were born then we ran slowly out of luck You are still not Charles Bukowski and I am not Diane Cluck And I would suck the life from you if there was any left to suck And I would love you if you told me there was something there to love
I would marry you for money
I would marry you for money I would marry you for money if it stuck I would marry you for money but I don't suppose you'll ever have enough
Man on the screen he has done more in a minute Than you have achieved in your whole entire life When you finally realise i was the best thing you had init We'll be closing up your eyelids on the bed on which you die
And I'll be sorry if it happens to you Sorry if it happens to you Sorry if it happens to you but They say one life is the cancer and another is the blade that makes the cut
24 for every year that we have slipped Day by day into the neck of the abyss And I am 24 today I don't believe i'll sit Through another year of this while you are sewing up your lips
And I'll be sorry that you happened to me Sorry that you happened to me Sorry that you happened to me but
They say that one man is the accident the other is the hand that stops the blood And I am looking for the other one, for the hand to stop the blood
this is a brilliant song. "you are still not charles bukowski and i am not diane cluck"
i really hope it's on the album.
Love those last lines, amazing.
meaning is pretty clear imo, it comes across as one of those moments on your birthday after you've celebrated and what not and the whole growing old and your life so far thing hits you.
Really incredible song though.
The part about watching a programme for an hour with 24 seems to suggest watching a tv series or boxset all the way through non-stop, like 24.
To me this song is addressed to a boyfriend who she thinks is wasting his and her time watching TV, like e.g. 24. She is warning him that he is wasting his life little by little, and as she turns 24, she realizes she doesn't want to stay idle by his side, and she will leave him.