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.
I've got my back against the wall
I can still hear the blue sky call
The chains that hold me back inside
All the prisons of my mind
Yeah
Free
Come set me free
Down on my knees
I still believe you can save me from me
Come set me free
I still believe
That inside this shell there's a prison cell
I try to live the light of day
Why do I do what I hate?
When I try to reach above
I only hurt the ones I love
Yeah
Free
Come set me free
Down on my knees
I still believe you can save me from me
Come set me free
I still believe
That inside this shell there's a prison cell
There's a hole in the neighborhood
Where the shadows fall
There's a hole in my heart
But my hope is not in me at all
I had a dream that my chains were broken, broken
Broken open
Free
Come set me free
Down on my knees
I still believe you could save me from me
Come set me free
I still believe that inside this shell there's a prison cell
Inside this shell there's a prison cell
Inside this shell there's a prison cell
I can still hear the blue sky call
The chains that hold me back inside
All the prisons of my mind
Yeah
Free
Come set me free
Down on my knees
I still believe you can save me from me
Come set me free
I still believe
That inside this shell there's a prison cell
I try to live the light of day
Why do I do what I hate?
When I try to reach above
I only hurt the ones I love
Yeah
Free
Come set me free
Down on my knees
I still believe you can save me from me
Come set me free
I still believe
That inside this shell there's a prison cell
There's a hole in the neighborhood
Where the shadows fall
There's a hole in my heart
But my hope is not in me at all
I had a dream that my chains were broken, broken
Broken open
Free
Come set me free
Down on my knees
I still believe you could save me from me
Come set me free
I still believe that inside this shell there's a prison cell
Inside this shell there's a prison cell
Inside this shell there's a prison cell
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When I first heard this song I thought (now this was a interpretation I had and I thought was the real meaning of the song and now I know what the meaning is). But I thought that this meant someone was trapped within hell and that he was calling out to God praying on his knees that one day one of his angels will come and save him and that hell was a infinite prison of no escape and torture. This came from 2 verses of the song. 1 was: when I try to reach above (heaven) I only heard of the ones I love (could be referencing his loved ones that passed on to heaven and he's left alone in hell to rot) 2: there's a hole in the neighborhood where the shadows fall (could be the demons in earth dragging the sinful souls of those who are deceased into the hole (gateway to hell or entrance to it all) and the shadows(demons) are falling into with the souls of those who belong in hell. There's a hole in my but my hope ain't in me at all (is now suggesting that there's no way out of hell and that god cannot get him out). I had a dream that my chains where broken broken broken open (him dreaming that the chains the devil has him in will finally be broken by God and him finally going there to free him and take him to paradise). This assumption is really incorrect but this is what I thought it meant when I first heard it