Old Friend

oh, no. especially following a song called Pangea, and this one focusing on Pan, it seems to be about escaping the lack of the modern world, externally embodied by the death of nature (my old pan), internally by the loss of youth, irrationality, passion ('i can touch the mouths of these child gods/and these true minds that hurt man').

http://homepage.mac.com/cparada/GML/Pan.html

long story short, pan is the god of wild nature. he chased his love until she turned into the reeds, and he was left with only the sound of the wind blowing through the marsh. he made a pipe out of the reeds and wind is kind of the embodiment of his raging wild passion.

"and the will will go up to the crashing sails and the crushing wails of my old pan this wind screams while i'm asleep and dreams that these white eyes will smile again"

the death of pan was announced after a voyage when the sea turned calm, christianity was discovered ('i'm a cursed hand'), reason overtook madness ('western walls')....it's a song mourning the taming of nature, the death of the ('weary sands' of) the past. he's retreating into the forest and going wild again.

it's about somebody you haven't seen in a long time.

I have no idea what this is about. Any help?

It seems pretty obviously about divorce. "Taken out with the trash," "take the ring," "broken dreams"....it's clearly about a breakup, and the repeated ring references support it being about marriage. I think Future Islands' lyrics are somewhat poetically encoded but they're never nonsense.

Seems like these lyrics got overwritten with Flicker & Flutter. They used to be correct.

i whisper the tongue like an old friend i cherish my time here alone i wait in the eyes of the passing nights, to help me laugh brushfires again by the swallows sleeve, i'm a new hand cutting out the shapes that burn me i can touch the mouths of these child gods and these true minds that hurt man

and the will will go up to the crashing sails and the crushing wails of my old pan this wind screams while i'm asleep and dreams that these white eyes will smile again

and the will will go up to the crashing sails and the crushing wails of my old pan this wind screams while i'm asleep and dreams that these white eyes will smile again

i take to the road like an old man i cherish my time here alone i process the lines of the passing lights losing myself, i change my plans

by the western walls, i'm a cursed hand by the eastern seas, i'm hardly wrong i can swing myself down from these trees when i crave a glimpse of weary sands

i whisper the tongue like an old friend i cherish my time here alone i swing myself down from these trees to help me laugh brushfires again

come on man, it's Future Islands- it probably doesn't mean much of anything.

wonderful tune nonetheless