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.
So so long ago and so far away
When time was just a line that you fed me when you wanted to stay
We'd talk as soft as chalk till morning came, pale as a pearl
No time, no, no time, now I have got all the time in the world
Say, honey, did you belong to me?
Tell me honey, was your heart at rest
When, darlin', all the mourning doves were howling us
The song of love's, oh godawful lawlessness?
Lawlessness
Say, honey, did you belong to me
Tell me honey, did I pass your test?
I lay as still as death until the dawn
Whereupon I wrested from y'r godawful lawlessness
Lawlessness
I roam around the tidy grounds
Of my dappled sanatorium
Coatless I sit amongst the motes adrift
And I dote upon my pinesap gum
And the light through the pines in brassy tines
Lays over me, dim as rum
And thick as molasses, and so time passes
And so, my heart, tomorrow comes
I feel you leaning out back with the crickets
Loyal heart marking the soon-ness, darkness tonight
Still, the mourning doves will summon us their song
Of love's neverdoneing lawlessness
Lawlessness
While over and over, rear up, stand down, lay round
Trying to sound out or guess the reasons
I sleep like a soldier, without rest
But there is no treason where there is only lawlessness
Lawlessness
In the last week of the last year I was aware
I took a blind shot across the creek at the black bear
When he roused me in the night and left me cowering with my light calling out
Who is there?
Who's there?
Who is there?
I watched you sleep repeating my prayer
You give love a little shove and it becomes terror
And now I am calling in a sadness beyond anger and beyond fear
Who is there?
Who's there?
Who is there?
I glare and nod like the character God
Bearing down upon the houses and lawns
I knew a little bit, but darling, you were it,
And darling, now it is long gone
Sweetheart in your clean bright start
Back there behind a hill and a dell
In a state line or two I'll be thinking of you
Yes, I'll be thinking and be wishing you well
We land, I stand, but I wait for the sound of the bell
I have to catch a cab and my bags are at the carousel
And then, Lord, just then, time alone will only tell
You mourning dove
When time was just a line that you fed me when you wanted to stay
We'd talk as soft as chalk till morning came, pale as a pearl
No time, no, no time, now I have got all the time in the world
Say, honey, did you belong to me?
Tell me honey, was your heart at rest
When, darlin', all the mourning doves were howling us
The song of love's, oh godawful lawlessness?
Lawlessness
Say, honey, did you belong to me
Tell me honey, did I pass your test?
I lay as still as death until the dawn
Whereupon I wrested from y'r godawful lawlessness
Lawlessness
I roam around the tidy grounds
Of my dappled sanatorium
Coatless I sit amongst the motes adrift
And I dote upon my pinesap gum
And the light through the pines in brassy tines
Lays over me, dim as rum
And thick as molasses, and so time passes
And so, my heart, tomorrow comes
I feel you leaning out back with the crickets
Loyal heart marking the soon-ness, darkness tonight
Still, the mourning doves will summon us their song
Of love's neverdoneing lawlessness
Lawlessness
While over and over, rear up, stand down, lay round
Trying to sound out or guess the reasons
I sleep like a soldier, without rest
But there is no treason where there is only lawlessness
Lawlessness
In the last week of the last year I was aware
I took a blind shot across the creek at the black bear
When he roused me in the night and left me cowering with my light calling out
Who is there?
Who's there?
Who is there?
I watched you sleep repeating my prayer
You give love a little shove and it becomes terror
And now I am calling in a sadness beyond anger and beyond fear
Who is there?
Who's there?
Who is there?
I glare and nod like the character God
Bearing down upon the houses and lawns
I knew a little bit, but darling, you were it,
And darling, now it is long gone
Sweetheart in your clean bright start
Back there behind a hill and a dell
In a state line or two I'll be thinking of you
Yes, I'll be thinking and be wishing you well
We land, I stand, but I wait for the sound of the bell
I have to catch a cab and my bags are at the carousel
And then, Lord, just then, time alone will only tell
You mourning dove
Lyrics submitted by animalcollector
Soft as Chalk Lyrics as written by Joanna Newsom
Lyrics © ROUGH TRADE PUBLISHING
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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according to my song-by-song interpretation of the album as a whole narrative, this track picks up right where "occident" left off.
our narrator has known the relationship was ending for some time, and this song is an after-the-fact reflection of the relationship's slow unravel. she reflects on when the relationship was young and things were good. she then asks her lover whether his heart was ever really in it, whether he ever really belonged to her in the first place.
a repeated theme in this song is the "lawlessness" of love. when she knows it is over, she sleeps, "like a solider, without rest-- but there is no treason where there is only lawlessness." this means that she can't blame him, she can't blame anyone. with a lawless thing like love, in which there are no set rules, it's really impossible to place blame. the "terror" that she speaks of is, i think, the fear that she experiences while waiting for something to happen. will it end, as she knows it will? when? waiting can be terrifying. the thought of losing love after it has been pushed too far can be terrifying. however, she probably blames herself more than anything, as sonikyouth has said. she says that when she leaves, she will bear her former lover no ill will: that she will, in fact, be thinking of him and wishing him well.
then comes the last verse: "we land, i stand, but i wait for the sound of the bell. i have to catch a cab, and my bags are at the carousel. and then-- lord, just then-- time alone will only tell." she leaves to go back to her hometown, but has not yet taken her things from her lover's home or officially ended things between them.