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.
Don't you see we have something here?
Which I will call not philosophy,
except in the most ancient sense
of basic curiosity.
Never remember
Your birthday,
or anything you like.
Sorry, so helpless,
so help you,
anyway you'd like.
Take your medicine.
Take your medicine.
Take your medicine.
Take your medicine.
Take your medicine.
Take your medicine.
Take your medicine.
The following of them does not depend on believing in anything, in obeying anything, or on doing any specific rituals
(although rituals are included for certain purposes because it is a purely experimental approach to life).
Never remember,
Your birthday,
or anything you like.
Sorry, so helpless,
So help you,
anyway you'd like.
Take your medicine.
Take your medicine.
Take your medicine.
Take your medicine.
Take your medicine.
Take your medicine.
Take your medicine.
This is something like a person who has defective eyesight and is seeing
spots and all sorts of illusions, and goes to an ophthalmologist to correct his vision.
Buddhism is, therefore, a corrective of psychic vision.
It is to be dis-enthralled by the game of Maya.
It is not, incidentally, to regard the Maya as something evil,
but to regard it as a good thing of which one can have too much, and therefore one gets
psychic and spiritual indigestion-from which we all suffer.
When I was a small boy I used to haunt that section of London
around the British Museum, and one day I came across a shop
that had a notice over the window which said: "Philosophical Instruments."
Now even as a boy I knew something about philosophy
but I could not imagine what philosophical instruments might be.
So I went up to the window and there displayed
Were chronometers, slide rules, scales,
and all kinds of what we would now call scientific instruments.
Because science used to be called natural philosophy.
Because, as Aristotle says,
the beginning of philosophy is wonder.
Philosophy is man's expression of curiosity about everything,
his attempt to make sense of the world,
primarily through his intellect;
That is to say his faculty for thinking.
Which I will call not philosophy,
except in the most ancient sense
of basic curiosity.
Never remember
Your birthday,
or anything you like.
Sorry, so helpless,
so help you,
anyway you'd like.
Take your medicine.
Take your medicine.
Take your medicine.
Take your medicine.
Take your medicine.
Take your medicine.
Take your medicine.
The following of them does not depend on believing in anything, in obeying anything, or on doing any specific rituals
(although rituals are included for certain purposes because it is a purely experimental approach to life).
Never remember,
Your birthday,
or anything you like.
Sorry, so helpless,
So help you,
anyway you'd like.
Take your medicine.
Take your medicine.
Take your medicine.
Take your medicine.
Take your medicine.
Take your medicine.
Take your medicine.
This is something like a person who has defective eyesight and is seeing
spots and all sorts of illusions, and goes to an ophthalmologist to correct his vision.
Buddhism is, therefore, a corrective of psychic vision.
It is to be dis-enthralled by the game of Maya.
It is not, incidentally, to regard the Maya as something evil,
but to regard it as a good thing of which one can have too much, and therefore one gets
psychic and spiritual indigestion-from which we all suffer.
When I was a small boy I used to haunt that section of London
around the British Museum, and one day I came across a shop
that had a notice over the window which said: "Philosophical Instruments."
Now even as a boy I knew something about philosophy
but I could not imagine what philosophical instruments might be.
So I went up to the window and there displayed
Were chronometers, slide rules, scales,
and all kinds of what we would now call scientific instruments.
Because science used to be called natural philosophy.
Because, as Aristotle says,
the beginning of philosophy is wonder.
Philosophy is man's expression of curiosity about everything,
his attempt to make sense of the world,
primarily through his intellect;
That is to say his faculty for thinking.
Lyrics submitted by xxkamethedayxx, edited by rompy, XakiNyota
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It's actually "never remember your birthday" take another listen now and im sure you'll agree with me.