January Hymn

"April all an ocean away?"

And pretty sure it's "Sing oh, january..."

I believe it is "When I could see your breath lead / where you were going to."

The tracklisting for the new album "The King is Dead" came out (yay!) and I this song is actually called January Hymn.

"April all an ocean away"

"Sing oh, January, oh"

"And all my teens in tow Stuffed in strata of clothes" (strata as in layers)

"Wandering the gray memorial park"

The perfect song to listen to on a snowy winter day

To me, this song seems to parallel two similar situations at a different time. The first is in the presence tense, and the narrator is an adult shoveling snow. He is parting with someone, and I get the impression it is his wife. He doesn’t know what to say as she leaves.

This makes him remember walking through the park with, I guess, a different girl in his teens. He didn’t know what to say then either and it seems things didn’t work out.

I wonder if he’s wishing he would have figured out what to say back then to avoid the situation he is in now.

Either way, it’s a really beautiful song.

I think the "snow" and "winter" are metaphors about being lonely, and wanting to be with someone, but knowing it's too late.

The line "where you are going to" and the accompanying melody seem really familiar. Is this a tribute to another song? I'm pretty sure it is but I can't put my finger on it and it's driving me nuts

I love this song but can't make sense of the lines "When I could see her breath lead/Where she were going to," could someone please explain to me what they mean? (literally, at least)

On a winter's Sunday I go To clear away the snow And green the ground below

April all an ocean away Is this a better way to spend the day? Keeping the winter at bay

What were the words I meant to say Before you left When I could see your breath lead Where you were going to

Maybe I should just let it be And maybe it will all come back to me Sing Oh, January, Oh

How I lived a childhood in the snow And all my teens in tow Stuffed and strata of clothes

Hail the winter days after dark Wondering the gray memorial park A Fleeting beating of hearts

What were the words I meant to say Before She left When I could see her breath lead Where she were going to

Maybe I should just let it be And maybe it will all come back to me Seeing, oh, Janu-- Oh, January, Oh

(there were enough parts that needed correction, I just thought it'd be easier to go line by line. Sorry for the flood of things. This song makes me cry every time I listen to it - which is often - due to my sister, whom I was very close to, being killed in a car crash, in January, at the age of 19. Love forever to my amazing sister Sun Yi, wherever she was to make sure this song got to me.)