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.
Sweet madness it must be wrong
What kind of fool imagines love
With all this going on
Stars burning in the empty sky
And the city is aflame
With a million lights
And they come and they go
In the blink of an eye
People are like suns
Science will enable us to hear
To be crystal clear
To make diamonds in the shifting sand
Better take all the love that you got in a single hand
And they come and they go
In the fullness of time
People are like suns
They are burning up inside
People are like suns
Breathing into life
All that's good in us
To saints become
And they come and they go
Yeah they come and they go
People are like suns
People are like suns
And we'll go out tonight
Set the town alight
All fade into white
What kind of fool imagines love
With all this going on
Stars burning in the empty sky
And the city is aflame
With a million lights
And they come and they go
In the blink of an eye
People are like suns
Science will enable us to hear
To be crystal clear
To make diamonds in the shifting sand
Better take all the love that you got in a single hand
And they come and they go
In the fullness of time
People are like suns
They are burning up inside
People are like suns
Breathing into life
All that's good in us
To saints become
And they come and they go
Yeah they come and they go
People are like suns
People are like suns
And we'll go out tonight
Set the town alight
All fade into white
Lyrics submitted by Loose Tongue
People Are Like Suns Lyrics as written by Neil Finn
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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I love the way the modern-day Crowded House turn depressing lyrics around - this song is similar to "Silent House" in that respect. This song starts with "What kind of fool imagines love; With all this going on." About as bleak as you get. It then turns into a song about how everything is temporary, we have no God-given purpose in life.
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It's about Paul Hester (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Hester).
'Doesn't stop me thinking out aloud I could have done something'
God speed Paul.
Life so transient. Full of anger. But that passes. Just like life and death. Technology and science creates so much aesthetics. So easy to be swayed by this beauty and revert to primal hedonism. Maybe ''love'' is inverted ''evol''-ution after all? Maybe that will save us? Not having money or many sexy partners. I feel that is what Neil Finn is expressing here.
Suns, like everything (ala The Gaia Hypothesis) can be correlated back to people (anything can be linked ala '''Seven Degrees Of Separation''' in life, the universe and everything). We/others/the inanimate all burn up: from happiness, love, joy, sorrow and pain. So many have died in wars or genocide, or even cancer, obesity and more mundane causes...ala 'they come and go in a blink of an eye'.
Is there a purpose or design, like the Final Destination films to it all? Quite loudly chaotic: all these puns, claims, counter-claims, newspapers, articles, magazines, books, Wikipedia and social media vitriol. In the end, we make sense of it in our own way. Little use trying to relate it to others innate and individual (probably different) wiring.
Please me with your promises, hurt me with your lies...baby can you hear the message that I'm sending? LOVE ME LIKE THE WORLD IS ENDING - BL.
[EDIT]: We/others/the inanimate all burn up: from happiness, love, joy, sorrow and pain ('boredom' even).