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.
Driven through by her own sword
Summer died last night, alone
Even the ghosts
Huddled up for warmth
Autumn has come to my hometown
Friendly voices, dead and gone
Singing, Star of the country down
(Even the ghosts help raise the barn
Here, now, in my hometown)
When, out of the massing that bodes and bides
in the cold west
Flew a waxwing, who froze
And died against my breast
And all the while, rain
Like a weed in the tide
Swans and lists
Down on the gossiping lawns
Saying tsk tsk tsk
I may have changed
It's hard to gauge
Time won't account for how I've aged
Would I could tie your lying tongue
Who says that leaving keeps you young
And I have got no control
Over my heart, over my mind
Over the hills
the rainclouds roll
I'll winter here, wait for a sign
To cast myself out over the water
Riven like a wishbone
You'd hardly guess
I was my own mother's daughter
I ain't naturally given to roam
And I lay low, when I return
And I move like a gurney
Whose wheels are squeaking
Alone, here in my home
And I laugh when you speak of my pleasure-seeking
Among the tall pines
Along the ley-lines
Here, where the loon keens
There, where the moon leans
There where I know my violent love lays
Down in a row of silent, dove-gray days
Here, in a row of silent, dove-gray days
Wherever I go, I am snowbound
By thoughts of him
Whom I would sun
I loved them all
One by one
Cannot gain ground
Cannot outrun
But time marches along
You can't always stick around
But, when the final count is done
I will be in my hometown
I will be in my hometown
Summer died last night, alone
Even the ghosts
Huddled up for warmth
Autumn has come to my hometown
Friendly voices, dead and gone
Singing, Star of the country down
(Even the ghosts help raise the barn
Here, now, in my hometown)
When, out of the massing that bodes and bides
in the cold west
Flew a waxwing, who froze
And died against my breast
And all the while, rain
Like a weed in the tide
Swans and lists
Down on the gossiping lawns
Saying tsk tsk tsk
I may have changed
It's hard to gauge
Time won't account for how I've aged
Would I could tie your lying tongue
Who says that leaving keeps you young
And I have got no control
Over my heart, over my mind
Over the hills
the rainclouds roll
I'll winter here, wait for a sign
To cast myself out over the water
Riven like a wishbone
You'd hardly guess
I was my own mother's daughter
I ain't naturally given to roam
And I lay low, when I return
And I move like a gurney
Whose wheels are squeaking
Alone, here in my home
And I laugh when you speak of my pleasure-seeking
Among the tall pines
Along the ley-lines
Here, where the loon keens
There, where the moon leans
There where I know my violent love lays
Down in a row of silent, dove-gray days
Here, in a row of silent, dove-gray days
Wherever I go, I am snowbound
By thoughts of him
Whom I would sun
I loved them all
One by one
Cannot gain ground
Cannot outrun
But time marches along
You can't always stick around
But, when the final count is done
I will be in my hometown
I will be in my hometown
Lyrics submitted by kitteh, edited by chrisbo1c7, forsqueak
Autumn Lyrics as written by Joanna Newsom
Lyrics © ROUGH TRADE PUBLISHING
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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"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"
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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"
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This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
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In general, it highlights the danger of hidden agendas, manipulation, and distraction, serving as a critique of those who exploit chaos and confusion to control and gain power, depicting a cautionary tale against falling into their traps. It encourages us to question the narratives presented to us and remain vigilant against manipulation in various parts of society.
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“Blue” is a song about a love that is persisting in the discomfort of the person experiencing the emotion. Ed Sheeran reflects on love lost, and although he wishes his former partner find happiness, he cannot but admit his feelings are still very much there. He expresses the realization that he might never find another on this stringed instrumental by Aaron Dessner.
this song could just as easily be narrated by joanna herself. it's incredibly beautiful, although I think that, as one of the more understated songs on the album, it will tend to go unnoticed on the first few listens. once the song sets in and you really begin to appreciate it, however, it is incredibly haunting and lovely.
i'm going to stick with the interpretation of the album as one whole story, and assume that it's the same narrator telling this one, and not joanna. her description of her hometown shows that she perceives it as both a dismal ghost-town and strangely beautiful at once. she reminisces about her relationship: “would I could tie your lying tongue...”
this is also one of two songs in the album in which the narrator stresses how unlike her mother she is. perhaps this is why being home makes her uncomfortable. as seen in “ribbon bows”, her mother does not approve of her and her life choices.