The Graveyard Near The House (Bombastic Version)

I think "And I'll defy everyone who loves you still", should say "And I'll defy everyone and love you still". It makes sense because he is saying he will defy everything he was told about love, how it wont last, and all the fears that come along with it. He will love her for the rest of his life even after she dies.

Its better to love and I will love you till I die

This is one of my favorite songs by them.

It's hard to describe the meaning I get out of this. There's just so much about death, relationships, and life all combined into one but here's my take.

He's singing to a lover who worries about their future together. She asks about death; claiming that if they're going to stop loving each other when they die, then what they have now (love) isn't real. "And if life and love would fade predictably, we made ourselves a kind of predictable lie"

This makes him think about death. He basically rations that death is overrated, or silly. He implies that whatever it holds which frightens her, already exists in her current life "We looked so silly there all decomposed half turned to dust in tattered clothes Though we properly look just as silly now"

In the chorus he's saying goodbye to the innocence of feeling invincible or that love is unstoppable. They know that's not true. And he reassures her that he can't predict what while happen in their relationship but she also can't predict what he'll do (my guess, he's telling her to stop assuming he will leave)

Then he reflects on life and love. Like her, he wonders if love is really possible. "And it left me to wonder if people ever know each other...."

The next verse confuses me most. I think he's saying that there needs to be something keeping them alive (love?). Then he seems to imply that the more we know about death and life the less divine it is, and the only conclusion we can draw is that everyone will die. "A moment passed, we hear how it sounds Then it seems a little less profound like where all going the same way down..."

So he concludes that all they can do is to continue as they are: he writes songs and they spend time together. But when he's in bed with her he notices that she's always worried about what will happen when she dies. "You wake in tears sometimes; I can see the thoughts flash across your eyes Darlin' will you be kind, and be a good man, and stay behind if I get old"

He reassures her that regardless of what people say, he will continue to love her even after she dies. And of course he ends by somehow uncliche-ing the ultimate cliche: "It's better to love whether you win, lose or die"

That's just my opinion. Very Wuthering Heights.

One of my favorite songs by them, along with 'Sometime Around Midnight' and 'All I Ever Wanted'

CORRECTION:

The other day when we were walking by The graveyard near the house, you asked me If I thought we would ever die And if life and love both fade so predictably We've made ourselves a kind of predictable lie

And so I pictured us like corpses lying side-by-side in pieces In some dark and lonely plot under a bough We looked so silly there all decomposed, half turned to dust, in tattered clothes Though we properly look just as silly now

Bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye to all this dog-eared innocence I can't pretend that I can tell you what is going to happen next, or how to be But you have no idea about me, do you?

And it left me to wonder if people ever know each other Or just stumble around like strangers in the dark Cause sometimes you seem so strange to me, I must seem strange to you We're like two actors playing our parts

Did you memorize your lines? Cause I did Here's the part where I get so mad, I tell you why I can't forget the past You get so quiet now and you seem somehow Like a lost and lonely child, and you just hope that the moment won't last

Bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye to all this dog-eared innocence I can't pretend that I can tell you what is going to happen next, or how to be But you have no idea about me, You have no idea about me, do you?

So there's always a way around There's something tying our feet to the ground A moment passed, we hear how it sounds And it seems a little less profound, like we're all going the same way down Yeah we're all going the same way down I'm just trying to write it all down

Cause I write songs and you write letters We are tied like two in-tethers, and We talk and read and laugh and sleep at night in bed together, then You awake in tears sometimes; I can see the thoughts flash across your eyes They say, "Darling, will you be kind? Will you be a good man and stay behind if I get old?"

And then the letters all pass through my head with the words that I was told About the fading flesh of life and love -- the failures of the bold I can list each crippling fear like I'm reading from a will

And I will defy every one and love you still I will carry you with me up every hill And if you die before I die, I'll carve your name out of the sky I'll fall asleep with your memory and dream of where you lie It may be better to move on than to let life just carry on And I may be wrong

Still I'll try

Cause it's better to love whether you win or lose or die It's better to love whether you win or lose or die It's better to love and I will love you till I die