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.
My tragedy's different
My life's deep, listen,
Gotta bail, I'm limpin
Walked outta hell's kitchen
Why bother cherishin'
My past is everything, wrong, and my arrogance
Walk down the stairs pissin'
Cop us cause they're bitchin'
Life isn't fair, singin'
Blues and my rap drippin'
Ooze out the blood sinkin
Deep down to earth thinking
Leave out a nerp chicken
I should run, forfeit, and everything I know listen!
I was the misdirected
I was the least expected
Hop on and get rejected
Walk on and feel neglected
I feel like I'm the message
Unheard but I'm the message
I'm the last prolific remaining offer from the gutter
Shot was my girlfriend
When we was younger
Her I was scarred yo
Bullets I survived though
Death it's came easy
Truth the games needs me
Never let them see me down, smile while I'm bleeding
[Chorus:]
Smile when your struggling
Smile when your in jail
Smile when your dead broke
Smile and the rents due
Smile you ain't got friends now
Smile and no one knows you
Never let them see you down smile while you bleeding
Smile when he leaves you
Smile cause girl he needs you
Smile plenty single mothers cry the tears you do
Smile despite the war
Smile despite the pain yo
Never let them see you down smile while you bleeding
To my man Kareem in prison
I can't speak your name
It hurt me that you never listened
It can't be the same
I had to grow my intuition
Had me deep in pain
Cause I knew my options were either broke or the prison chains
I can't do it
I can't see it, look
Dammit, I can't blow it
I got a judge telling me my life's key
They will throw it
No sir
I plan to have a chauffeur
It seems to me this chopping crack is really going no where
Therefore
I'm resurrected
They call me
The poor injection
I infect you with the real
The dustyfeetphilosahectagos
I spit, so sick
I skid out
I'm fallin'
I'm shit outta luck and I'm trapped but I'll get out
Can you help me
I'm going crazy
My mom plays trix and I beat on the floor like bush wick
My fists bloody and blistered
A pair like I'm ballistic
I just stare at the red and smile while I'm bleeding
[Chorus]
There are a few things you gotta take into account
I'm not an entertainer I've never been a clown
I was born where the mothers give birth while they frown
I would walk with the kids that would bra sound ah
Never really thought I'd make it to fourteen
And anybody wanted to fight I was most keen
Plus I had a little temper it was often foreseen
Yo say something bout my momma id shoot ya dead out clean
But ya gotta keep in mind that I grew up Mogadishu (tell em)
The only law was gun law
And we don't walk with a pistol
You get laughed at for being so insensitive to the environment
Cause how will you be heard when those big boys are firin'
War is no place for a child
Especially if hes rollin' with an ak and a smile
He had witnesses on mother bloody in a towel
But please, please, please, please
But never let em see you down smile while you bleedin'
[Chorus: x2]
My life's deep, listen,
Gotta bail, I'm limpin
Walked outta hell's kitchen
Why bother cherishin'
My past is everything, wrong, and my arrogance
Walk down the stairs pissin'
Cop us cause they're bitchin'
Life isn't fair, singin'
Blues and my rap drippin'
Ooze out the blood sinkin
Deep down to earth thinking
Leave out a nerp chicken
I should run, forfeit, and everything I know listen!
I was the misdirected
I was the least expected
Hop on and get rejected
Walk on and feel neglected
I feel like I'm the message
Unheard but I'm the message
I'm the last prolific remaining offer from the gutter
Shot was my girlfriend
When we was younger
Her I was scarred yo
Bullets I survived though
Death it's came easy
Truth the games needs me
Never let them see me down, smile while I'm bleeding
[Chorus:]
Smile when your struggling
Smile when your in jail
Smile when your dead broke
Smile and the rents due
Smile you ain't got friends now
Smile and no one knows you
Never let them see you down smile while you bleeding
Smile when he leaves you
Smile cause girl he needs you
Smile plenty single mothers cry the tears you do
Smile despite the war
Smile despite the pain yo
Never let them see you down smile while you bleeding
To my man Kareem in prison
I can't speak your name
It hurt me that you never listened
It can't be the same
I had to grow my intuition
Had me deep in pain
Cause I knew my options were either broke or the prison chains
I can't do it
I can't see it, look
Dammit, I can't blow it
I got a judge telling me my life's key
They will throw it
No sir
I plan to have a chauffeur
It seems to me this chopping crack is really going no where
Therefore
I'm resurrected
They call me
The poor injection
I infect you with the real
The dustyfeetphilosahectagos
I spit, so sick
I skid out
I'm fallin'
I'm shit outta luck and I'm trapped but I'll get out
Can you help me
I'm going crazy
My mom plays trix and I beat on the floor like bush wick
My fists bloody and blistered
A pair like I'm ballistic
I just stare at the red and smile while I'm bleeding
[Chorus]
There are a few things you gotta take into account
I'm not an entertainer I've never been a clown
I was born where the mothers give birth while they frown
I would walk with the kids that would bra sound ah
Never really thought I'd make it to fourteen
And anybody wanted to fight I was most keen
Plus I had a little temper it was often foreseen
Yo say something bout my momma id shoot ya dead out clean
But ya gotta keep in mind that I grew up Mogadishu (tell em)
The only law was gun law
And we don't walk with a pistol
You get laughed at for being so insensitive to the environment
Cause how will you be heard when those big boys are firin'
War is no place for a child
Especially if hes rollin' with an ak and a smile
He had witnesses on mother bloody in a towel
But please, please, please, please
But never let em see you down smile while you bleedin'
[Chorus: x2]
Lyrics submitted by rockisgroovy
Smile Lyrics as written by Keinan Warsame Art Powell
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Lord Huron
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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"
Mental Istid
Ebba Grön
Ebba Grön
This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
Holiday
Bee Gees
Bee Gees
@[Diderik:33655] "Your a holiday!" Was a popular term used in the 50s/60s to compliment someone on their all around. For example, not only are they beautiful, but they are fun and kind too ... just an all around "holiday".
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.
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo
This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
I really love this song and suggest to anyone who hasn't heard of K'naan or this song to have a listen. I just want to play it for the whole world right now because it is so touching.
The song basically means despite the pain you are going through, be happy and live your life to the fullest because you will make it through the hard times if you keep your head held high.