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 tired
Soul searching
I followed the sounds to a cathedral
Imagine my surprise to find that they were produced by Brian Eno
Past the gates
Quite stark
The roses trimmed and the windows dark
I see the walls through a limestone crack
Not red not blue not yellow but black
And all the spaces left for you
If the sky was synthesized you'd probably know
He taught me many things
The wisdom of o bleak stratagems
The prophet of a sapphire soul
Presented through creative freedoms
And everything I say is true
Cuz if I was telling lies it'd probably show
I can tell that he's kind of smiling
But what does he know?
We're always one step behind him, he's Brian Eno
Brian Eno
When I was stuck he'd make me memorize elaborate curses
Tinctures and formulas to ditch the choir and flip the verses
My whole foundation came unglued
When I tried to humanize by ambient light
Dipping swords in metaphors yeah but what does he know?
We're always one step behind him, he's Brian Eno
Brian Eno!
He promised pretty worlds and all the silence
I could dream of Brian peter George St John Le
Baptiste De La Salle Eno
Well all alone by the oldest stone where the shade
Trees grow the creature by the water feature with a
Ghostly glow making sure that time's preserved
Well we reap what we sow
We're always one step behind him, he's Brian Eno
Soul searching
I followed the sounds to a cathedral
Imagine my surprise to find that they were produced by Brian Eno
Past the gates
Quite stark
The roses trimmed and the windows dark
I see the walls through a limestone crack
Not red not blue not yellow but black
And all the spaces left for you
If the sky was synthesized you'd probably know
He taught me many things
The wisdom of o bleak stratagems
The prophet of a sapphire soul
Presented through creative freedoms
And everything I say is true
Cuz if I was telling lies it'd probably show
I can tell that he's kind of smiling
But what does he know?
We're always one step behind him, he's Brian Eno
Brian Eno
When I was stuck he'd make me memorize elaborate curses
Tinctures and formulas to ditch the choir and flip the verses
My whole foundation came unglued
When I tried to humanize by ambient light
Dipping swords in metaphors yeah but what does he know?
We're always one step behind him, he's Brian Eno
Brian Eno!
He promised pretty worlds and all the silence
I could dream of Brian peter George St John Le
Baptiste De La Salle Eno
Well all alone by the oldest stone where the shade
Trees grow the creature by the water feature with a
Ghostly glow making sure that time's preserved
Well we reap what we sow
We're always one step behind him, he's Brian Eno
Lyrics submitted by afternoontara, edited by Parsnip42
Brian Eno Lyrics as written by Benjamin Nicholas Hunter Goldwasser Andrew Wells Vanwyngarden
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings
Standing On The Edge Of Summer
Thursday
Thursday
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo
This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
Magical
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
How would you describe the feeling of being in love? For Ed Sheeran, the word is “Magical.” in HIS three-minute album opener, he makes an attempt to capture the beauty and delicacy of true love with words. He describes the magic of it all over a bright Pop song produced by Aaron Dessner.
Amazing
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran tells a story of unsuccessfully trying to feel “Amazing.” This track is about the being weighed down by emotional stress despite valiant attempts to find some positivity in the situation. This track was written by Ed Sheeran from the perspective of his friend. From the track, we see this person fall deeper into the negative thoughts and slide further down the path of mental torment with every lyric.
Plastic Bag
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Plastic Bag” is a song about searching for an escape from personal problems and hoping to find it in the lively atmosphere of a Saturday night party. Ed Sheeran tells the story of his friend and the myriad of troubles he is going through. Unable to find any solutions, this friend seeks a last resort in a party and the vanity that comes with it.
“I overthink and have trouble sleepin’ / All purpose gone and don’t have a reason / And there’s no doctor to stop this bleedin’ / So I left home and jumped in the deep end,” Ed Sheeran sings in verse one. He continues by adding that this person is feeling the weight of having disappointed his father and doesn’t have any friends to rely on in this difficult moment. In the second verse, Ed sings about the role of grief in his friend’s plight and his dwindling faith in prayer. “Saturday night is givin’ me a reason to rely on the strobe lights / The lifeline of a promise in a shot glass, and I’ll take that / If you’re givin’ out love from a plastic bag,” Ed sings on the chorus, as his friend turns to new vices in hopes of feeling better.
I think this song might be about Brian Eno.
Let it be known that I FUCKING LOVE THIS SONG.
I would like to second this opinion.
Third
What this song means to me is that I have found a new band that I can listen to with my teenage and 20-something friends and not be biting my tongue the whole time, worried that an honest appraisal or, God forbid, a petulant facial expression might slip out between my strained foot tapping and insincere smiling.
I do so very much love the youth of today, and with all the crap they have to put up with in the hellscape of a world we people over 40 have created or allowed to be created while we stood by and did nothing, I don't want to begrudge them a moment of joy with what passes for talent in the music industry these days.
MGMT, on the other hand, makes the unbridled mockery that I would perpetrate against so many of today's pop-punk and whine-rock bands so very very justifiable.
With this song alone, MGMT has shown what can be done when a group of insightful, lucid, yet mildly mentally unstable young people come together to make a joyful noise unto the world.
Brian Eno was a legend even when I was a kid, and his legend will grow, amplify and reverberate even more as time goes on. His resonance in the annals of musical history will echo through the chambers of time.
I agree with every positive comment I have read so far about this song, especially those of "modernRock" that this is a quite literal song (perhaps a pun, since it could mean both that it expresses musical literacy as well as lyrics that mean exactly what they say on the surface) and, perhaps ironically, "Yeahbrandon" who quite innocently admits that he doesn't know who Brian Eno is. Aside from what we know on a historical level, what do we REALLY KNOW about this genius? The question Brandon asks is more profound than he might know. His question will undoubtedly continue to be asked for many decades, if not centuries, to come. MGMT does a great service to today's youth by raising the question with this tribute to this great man.
Also, I think I have a huge man crush on Andrew VanWyngarden. He's half my age, but I want him to feed me milk from a bottle and sing me to sleep in his arms. OMFG, did I just say that?!?
you got a "+" from me, until i read that last part. creepiest thing i've read all year...
you got some problems dude i mostly agree with you and thats fu--ing hilarious 'i want him to feed me milk and sing me to sleep?' i dont blame you sh-t if i was your age and liked mgmt id like him to fu--ing take me to the moon while singing sh-t
Trololo this made my day, yes, all of it.
This, to me, is the funnest song on Congratulations. I see a bunch of madmen having fun, bothering people, poking out from behind this thing or that with wild hair, and guys that have lost their marbles just having gleeful fun and no one else knows what they're laughing at, but their good mood is still infectious.
p.s. I think it was NME that had their recent MGMT cover story sub-titled, "Their Madcap Return!" - and 'madcap' totally made me think of this one song. =) If they make a video for this song - and they indicated that's the plan - it'd be perfect to have them both in the outfits they wore on that NME cover. Maybe with funny hats.
One step behind Brian Eno. <3
QUOTE (Andrew): "It's kind of a vampire-punk-rock song about finding Brian Eno in like a cathedral in Transylvania. He's like a dark wizard." I read too that at the end of the song he ran away from the cathedral into the forest.
It kinda makes sense if you read the lyrics after him saying that lol. Awesome song, awesome lyrics
There's a few things wrong with this I think, but the main one I can say with certainty is that it would actually be "the wisdom of oblique stratagems" - look up "Oblique Strategies" on wikipedia and it'll make more sense - they are basically a series of cards with instructions meant to help you along if you get writers block while trying to compose a song.
right, but i think this was taken directly from the lyric book by the people who won the fan capture so the stratagems could just be a little word play on their part
nahhhhh, definitely not about Brian Eno.
Who the he'll is Brian Eno?! I don't get this song at all.
Listen to 'The Big Ship' from "Another Green World" (1975) and I think you'll start to understand why modern bands are naming songs after him.
A great and recent piece of Brian Eno work is the album Everything that Happens Will Happen - co-written with David Byrne (Talking Heads). A great album although a bit more laid back than this MGMT album. Then again - Brian and David are old enough to have spawned MGMT. Go to everythingthathappens.com/ for a legal free download. MGMT on SNL last night was incredible - which is why I was checking out some of the lyrics here tonight. So far - what I did hear of this album... fantastic.
Founding member of Roxy Music<br /> Producer and Co-writer of Bowie's Low, Heroes and Lodger <br /> Producer of U2's Joshua Tree, Achtung Baby etc. <br /> Producer of Talking Heads Fear of Music, Remain in Light<br /> His own records include, Here Come the Warm Jets, My life in the Bush of Ghosts (with David Bryne), Before and After Science, Apollo<br /> Inventor of Ambient Music including The Windows 95 microsoft sound<br /> Artist, Thinker....Genius...and quite funny as well. <br /> Someone you really need to listen to.
An Ending (Ascent).
It also acts as a great follow up to epic nature of 'Siberian Breaks'. It has an inherently happy quality to it.
*to the epic nature of...
i think maybe they were inspired by Brian Eno's way of composing ambient music well not just ambient he did other types like glam rock etc