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.
[Ooh, ooh, ooh ...]
Up from the basement to my best friend's farm
Where we'll work so hard, we can do no harm
We'll till the land and duck our debts
Underneath soft sun, chewing Nicorette
This will be a better year
This will be a better year
Make a little money, take a lot of shit
Feel real bad, then get over it
This will be a better year
Oh I keep pushing boulders
I stay game till sun'll shake my shoulders
Oh, I keep feeling older
I stay game, stay game, stay game
The East Coast kids, man, we just don't know
Singing wait, wait, stop, drop me, go, go, go
But I'm taken by the hand to a blue pay phone
We can break blue laws with our skin and bones
And now I'm back in the city, I'm counting brick brick brick
Heard of milk crate things, speaking soft and thick
He said, "If life gives you lemons, then thus god bade.
So put a little bit of bitter in your pink lemonade"
I'm sick of thee sheep, I'm sick of thou shepherd
Sick of dressing like a human when I'm feeling like a leper
I'm sick of slow rock, I'm sick of quick quips
Sick of holding on to nothing when I just want to hold your hips
This will be a better year
This will be a better year
Make a little money, take a lot of shit
Feel real bad, then get over it
This will be a better year
Oh I keep pushing boulders
I stay game till sun'll shake my shoulders
Oh I keep feeling older
I stay game, stay game, stay game
[Nah, nah, nah...}
Up from the basement to my best friend's farm
Where we'll work so hard, we can do no harm
We'll till the land and duck our debts
Underneath soft sun, chewing Nicorette
This will be a better year
This will be a better year
Make a little money, take a lot of shit
Feel real bad, then get over it
This will be a better year
Oh I keep pushing boulders
I stay game till sun'll shake my shoulders
Oh, I keep feeling older
I stay game, stay game, stay game
The East Coast kids, man, we just don't know
Singing wait, wait, stop, drop me, go, go, go
But I'm taken by the hand to a blue pay phone
We can break blue laws with our skin and bones
And now I'm back in the city, I'm counting brick brick brick
Heard of milk crate things, speaking soft and thick
He said, "If life gives you lemons, then thus god bade.
So put a little bit of bitter in your pink lemonade"
I'm sick of thee sheep, I'm sick of thou shepherd
Sick of dressing like a human when I'm feeling like a leper
I'm sick of slow rock, I'm sick of quick quips
Sick of holding on to nothing when I just want to hold your hips
This will be a better year
This will be a better year
Make a little money, take a lot of shit
Feel real bad, then get over it
This will be a better year
Oh I keep pushing boulders
I stay game till sun'll shake my shoulders
Oh I keep feeling older
I stay game, stay game, stay game
[Nah, nah, nah...}
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i think it's brick brick brick, not frick frick frick. and also milk crate kings, not milk great things.
i must concur. sorry, fixed it.
it's pretty much about living through tough times and through the occasional good times, and looking foward to great things. when life gives you a bad situation, you just get through it, and that's it.
"Sick of dressing like a human when I'm feeling like a leopard" favorite line. love this song :]
Oh and I keep pushing boulders!
This song is exceptional! Dave from Tokyo Police Club did a great cover of this acoustic.
What do you guys think "He said, "If life gives you lemons, then thus god bade. So put a little bit of bitter in your pink lemonade"" means?
It means that God lets us experience bitterness to let us experience and then know what the sweet things in life truly are? I didn't think the song was that deep?
kinda like a fancy way of saying if life gives you lemons, god willed it, so make lemonade.
As I said on the post below, the singer has been given a sweet life, the milk crate king advises that he add some bitterness to his sweet life.
I thought of "bitters"-- i.e. a kind of alcohol. More of a call to drink your problems away, if anything else. I can imagine a homeless guy (milk crate king) spewing fire and brimstone, encouraging everyone to get drunk because God has it out for us.
This song is about facing your problems, I have been obsessed and will take a shot of breaking this song down: Talking about working on the farm, he is saying that he is avoiding his problems, ducking debts doing no harm etc. The chorus is about taking drugs (take a lot of shit) just my opinion. Pushing boulders is just saying that he is doing the same grind all the time. The east coast kids are always moving. They are off the walls and he, like them, does not know what to do with his life. But in this verse he is just reminiscing about his time in the city. Then he is back in the city, hearing "milk crate kings," no things. As you can imagine milk crate kings are on their soap box preaching. What he means by the "life gives you lemons then thus god bad" is a play on the old saying about lemons and life. The milk crate king is saying life could have given you lemons, and that is tough, but he is speaking to the singer and is telling him that he was given sweet, artificial pink lemonade. His advice is to add some bitter to his sweet life. Then the singer goes on. He is sick of the same old shit. It will be a better year
This song is about facing your problems, I have been obsessed and will take a shot of breaking this song down: Talking about working on the farm, he is saying that he is avoiding his problems, ducking debts doing no harm etc. The chorus is about taking drugs (take a lot of shit) just my opinion. Pushing boulders is just saying that he is doing the same grind all the time. The east coast kids are always moving. They are off the walls and he, like them, does not know what to do with his life. But in this verse he is just reminiscing about his time in the city. Then he is back in the city, hearing "milk crate kings," no things. As you can imagine milk crate kings are on their soap box preaching. What he means by the "life gives you lemons then thus god bad" is a play on the old saying about lemons and life. The milk crate king is saying life could have given you lemons, and that is tough, but he is speaking to the singer and is telling him that he was given sweet, artificial pink lemonade. His advice is to add some bitter to his sweet life. Then the singer goes on. He is sick of the same old shit. It will be a better year