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"
I was lost for a while in a mirrored hallway of a high-rise hotel
Umbrella drink in my hand, sitting down
Saw ten thousand me's, numb cocaine teeth in their chattering mouths
Thought about home, thought about death, thought about moving south
Rodeo wind blew in, now the candle's out and everyone's scared
Call my broker, sell everything, I want to be prepared
Heard the cavalry cry of my girl for the night when I entered her
Sounded so fake, always feels fake, finishes and then it feels worse
Every hallway has a camera
Every hallway has a camera don't you know
They never let you open the window
They never let you open the window
Smoke signals of thought, white ribbons of loss
High above the tree line, they cry out
I froze up for a second on the pyramid side of the Las Vegas strip
My brother hunched over in the bushes getting sick
Security knew took one look and threw us out
Life's not fair
I tried to die young with my true love, ended up a millionaire
The mechanical world, a loud sound you've never heard that's always there
Radio's trailing through the desert, keep driving until you disappear
We made a gentlemen's pact: no stopping, no looking back
Lace those shoes.
Take the first step
Take the next step
That's a boy!
It is never too soon
All that you keep is the journey, all you keep are the spaces in between
It's not the fresh start or the ending
All that you keep is the journey
Smoke rings round my thoughts
Blue ribbons at the dawn
High beyond the tree line we pass out
Smoke signals of thought, white ribbons of loss
High above the tree line they cry out
Umbrella drink in my hand, sitting down
Saw ten thousand me's, numb cocaine teeth in their chattering mouths
Thought about home, thought about death, thought about moving south
Rodeo wind blew in, now the candle's out and everyone's scared
Call my broker, sell everything, I want to be prepared
Heard the cavalry cry of my girl for the night when I entered her
Sounded so fake, always feels fake, finishes and then it feels worse
Every hallway has a camera
Every hallway has a camera don't you know
They never let you open the window
They never let you open the window
Smoke signals of thought, white ribbons of loss
High above the tree line, they cry out
I froze up for a second on the pyramid side of the Las Vegas strip
My brother hunched over in the bushes getting sick
Security knew took one look and threw us out
Life's not fair
I tried to die young with my true love, ended up a millionaire
The mechanical world, a loud sound you've never heard that's always there
Radio's trailing through the desert, keep driving until you disappear
We made a gentlemen's pact: no stopping, no looking back
Lace those shoes.
Take the first step
Take the next step
That's a boy!
It is never too soon
All that you keep is the journey, all you keep are the spaces in between
It's not the fresh start or the ending
All that you keep is the journey
Smoke rings round my thoughts
Blue ribbons at the dawn
High beyond the tree line we pass out
Smoke signals of thought, white ribbons of loss
High above the tree line they cry out
Lyrics submitted by mytwohands
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I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
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I love this song. I think it's about being tired of life. It's certainly not a new theme for bright eyes, but he makes it original.
This is not Bright Eyes.
his new songs make no sense...waaah...
They make perfect sense. try listening to them again.
wow amazing! i love ittttttt and i love him!
surprisingly good, especially when the drums come in
I haven't Thought too much about this song, but the first concept i made about this song is its about thinking of life, and "Smoke signals of thought" are like those cartoon think bubbles.
"Heard the cavalry cry My girl for the night when I entered her Sounds so fake, always feels fake Finishes and then it feels worst"
Bad sex haha
im really upset this and breezy didnt make it on the album
omg aaaa this didn't make it on the album along with "let them in" "breezy" and "where pilgrims disappear" !!!! let them in was my fav song, im actually soooo pissed of! i hope they're on the B-side of the album!
"where the pilgrims disappear" is called Sausalito and its on his self titled album. And Breezy and Let Them In/ Synesthete Song are on the gentleman's pact ep which came out before Outer South.
beautiful song.. it really seems like this album was influenced more by leonard cohen than any other work conor has put out.
oh, and gazsafa... "where pilgrims disappear" did make it on the album, it's just called "sausalito."
This song is actually called "Gentleman's Pact."
It was on the set list when I saw Conor at the Bowery Ballroom in NYC.
this is called gentleman's pact and its part of an ep thats coming out of the same name.