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.
Jack and Edie lying across my bed
Flying high like the spirits of the dead
The living and the dead, the living and the dead
Our Lady of Sorrows and the long dark night
How many candles could I light
For the living and the dead, the living and the dead?
What's that black smoke rising Jack, is the world on fire?
What's that distant singing, is it a heavenly choir?
Of the living and the dead, the living and the dead
I think about you Jack watching the TV
And drinking booze, shame on you, shame on me
But how can we help it there was no where else to go
I sent Julie and Billy out on that long hard road
On that long hard road, on that long hard road
I'm just back from Mexico city
I came back north to Texas to rest my weary head
My true love is fresh from the battle field
Sewing up the dying and carting off the dead
My baby don't stand no fighting amongst the living or the dead
What's that black smoke rising Jack, is the world on fire?
What's that distant singing, is it a heavenly choir?
Of the living and the dead, the living and the dead
The living and the dead, the living and the dead
The living and the dead, the living and the dead
Flying high like the spirits of the dead
The living and the dead, the living and the dead
Our Lady of Sorrows and the long dark night
How many candles could I light
For the living and the dead, the living and the dead?
What's that black smoke rising Jack, is the world on fire?
What's that distant singing, is it a heavenly choir?
Of the living and the dead, the living and the dead
I think about you Jack watching the TV
And drinking booze, shame on you, shame on me
But how can we help it there was no where else to go
I sent Julie and Billy out on that long hard road
On that long hard road, on that long hard road
I'm just back from Mexico city
I came back north to Texas to rest my weary head
My true love is fresh from the battle field
Sewing up the dying and carting off the dead
My baby don't stand no fighting amongst the living or the dead
What's that black smoke rising Jack, is the world on fire?
What's that distant singing, is it a heavenly choir?
Of the living and the dead, the living and the dead
The living and the dead, the living and the dead
The living and the dead, the living and the dead
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"Jack" is the American Beat Poet Jack Kerouac (On The Rode, Dharma Bums, etc). "Edie" is his first wife, Edie Kerouac-Parker who married him to gain access to an inheritance that would allow him to post bail having been incarcerated as an accessory after the fact in the murder of Lucien Carr's murder of David Kammerer. "Billy" is William Burroughs (Naked Lunch, etc) who was also part of the "Beat" circle. "Billy" Burroughs, noted junky, is also mentioned in Holland's song "Old Fashioned Morphine". "Julie" is the daughter of Burroughs' wife Joan Vollmer, who Burroughs shot and killed in a drunken game of "William Tell" in 1951. Mexico City is tied to Kerouac in several ways, most notably in his poem "Mexico City Blues" wherein he said later he wanted to write "as a musician plays jazz". Additionally, Kerouac traveled to Mexico regularly in his frequent road trips. Death and alcoholism ("Drinking booze/shame on you/shame on me") figure heavily in the lives of the people mentioned in the song (Kerouac himself died from complications due to alcoholism).