Older brother, restless soul, lie down
Lie for a while with your ear against the earth
And you'll hear your sister sleep talking
Say "Your hair is long but not long enough to reach
Home to me
But your beard
Someday might be"

And she'll wake up in a cold sweat on the floor
Next to a family portrait drawn when you were four
And beside a jar of two cent coins that are no good no more
She'll lay it aside

Older father, weary soul, you'll drive
Back to the home you made on the mountainside
With that ugly, terrible thing
Those papers for divorce
And a lonely ring
A lonely ring
Sit on your porch
And pluck your strings

And you'll find somebody you can blame
And you'll follow the creek that runs out into the sea
And you'll find the peace of the Lord.

Grandfather, weary soul, you'll fly
Over your life once more before you die
Since our grandma passed away
You've waited for forever and a day
Just to die
And someday soon
You will die

It was the only woman you ever loved
That got burnt by the sun too often when she was young
And the cancer spread and it ran into her body and her blood
And there's nothing you can do about it now


Lyrics submitted by Dr Acula, edited by edeninwonderland

Blood song meanings
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  • +2
    My Interpretation

    To me, this song is about death and mortality and suicide - aptly titled "blood".

    1) life is taken away from the young sister unfairly by some illness, possibly also cancer. the brother soul is tortured as they were so close. his hair is long enough to reach her (memories of her haunt him and he wishes enough to be able to see her again or wished it was him that died) but his beard is not ready (he isn't ready to join her in death, he has much living to still do). The jar of 2 cent coins represents childhood memories of them collecting together, i'm Australian and i have an old jar of them myself. They are indeed out of circulation, probably have no collector worth yet, but much sentimental worth - but memories of her are no good anymore cos she is dead and they only haunt him. The cold sweat could be referring to what would happen when she was ill and/or could be him wishing that this was not true, that she would just wakeup and it wouldve just been a bad dream.

    2) suicide, where death is a choice - the man who's marriage fails kills himself after realising he is the only one to blame for his failed marriage, and the woman who he has rebounded onto now or even played a part in infidelity is an ugly terrible thing (inside).

    "and you'll find somebody you can blame and you'll follow the creek that runs out into the sea and you'll find the peace of the Lord."

    the sea (heaven, afterlife, void, ether) is where we all flow from and peace is found for restless souls when we die.

    3) Where the grandfathers life is about to end (but not by suicide or illness) but drags out - he wants to join his wife who died of cancer years ago - he soon will and awaits this day

    This is a very sad and one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard. I am Australian, my dad is going through divorce right now, i got a cancer tumor recently removed and when i was little my grandfather died - that is common, but there was never any grandmother on his side, which makes me believe she passed earlier like in this song. I love this indie type of music, with harmony and i want/hope to make some myself. Thanks, this was my first post, sorry for making it a long one.

    mrskyeon October 20, 2010   Link

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