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.
Time, time time, see what's become of me
While I looked around for my possibilities
I was so hard to please
Don't look around
The leaves are brown
And the sky is a hazy shade of winter
Hear the Salvation Army band
Down by the riverside's, there's bound to be a better ride
Than what you've got planned
Carry your cup in your hand
And look around
Leaves are brown, now
And the sky is a hazy shade of winter
Hang on to your hopes, my friend
That's an easy thing to say
But if your hopes should pass away
Simply pretend that you can build them again
Look around
The grass is high
The fields are ripe
It's the springtime of my life
Seasons change with the scenery
Weaving time in a tapestry
Won't you stop and remember me
At any convenient time?
Funny how my memory skips while looking over manuscripts
Of unpublished rhyme
Drinking my vodka and lime
I look around
Leaves are brown, now
And the sky is a hazy shade of winter
Look around
Leaves are brown
There's a patch of snow on the ground
Look around
Leaves are brown
There's a patch of snow on the ground
Look around
Leaves are brown
There's a patch of snow on the ground
While I looked around for my possibilities
I was so hard to please
Don't look around
The leaves are brown
And the sky is a hazy shade of winter
Hear the Salvation Army band
Down by the riverside's, there's bound to be a better ride
Than what you've got planned
Carry your cup in your hand
And look around
Leaves are brown, now
And the sky is a hazy shade of winter
Hang on to your hopes, my friend
That's an easy thing to say
But if your hopes should pass away
Simply pretend that you can build them again
Look around
The grass is high
The fields are ripe
It's the springtime of my life
Seasons change with the scenery
Weaving time in a tapestry
Won't you stop and remember me
At any convenient time?
Funny how my memory skips while looking over manuscripts
Of unpublished rhyme
Drinking my vodka and lime
I look around
Leaves are brown, now
And the sky is a hazy shade of winter
Look around
Leaves are brown
There's a patch of snow on the ground
Look around
Leaves are brown
There's a patch of snow on the ground
Look around
Leaves are brown
There's a patch of snow on the ground
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Lord Huron
Lord Huron
This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"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"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
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"
Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
This is about bronies. They communicate by stomping.
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,
Page
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
There aren’t many things that’ll hurt more than giving love a chance against your better judgement only to have your heart crushed yet again. Ed Sheeran tells such a story on “Page.” On this track, he is devastated to have lost his lover and even more saddened by the feeling that he may never move on from this.
My analysis is that this song deals with wasted time during "the springtime of my life". Perhaps, the point of view is of someone who is older (in the winter of their life) and is looking with some regrett on choices they made when they were younger.
@thatchinagirl, indeed. "Time time time, see what's become of me. While I look around for my possibilities."
"The sky is a hazy shade of winter" indicates that he is nearing the end and regrets "carrying a cup in his hand" his whole life.
It is easy to tell people to hang onto dashed hopes and dreams, but in the end, when things don't work out, you kind of just have to fake it. "Simply pretend that you can build them again."
Memories are all we have and m we can always rewrite the narrative in weaving tapestries of time, but in the end one can only hope to be remembered by others after they are gone. That is how we transcend mortality.
The narrator is a deeply cynical man growing to find some sense of meaning in his later life.
First Verse: My life is ending now, and looking back, I realize that I missed out on things I should have done because I was seeking perfect, fool-proof, failure free, guaranteed opportunities.
Verse 2: Think carefully about the goals you choose to strive for. When you hold your cup out to collect from the world, are your goals only self-serving? Because you would have a more meaningful ride through life if the things you did served to benefit humanity.
Verse 3: And in striving to serve humanity and better the world in some way, don't Give Up! If things go wrong or seem hopeless, start over even if you just have to pretend that you believe you can succeed in your goals. Start anew and recapture your sense of possibility.
4th verse: Please learn from my experience that your time will go by and you won't even notice as it's going until it's gone. So think about the things that I've said and please let this advice be the lasting mark I've made on humanity, because I am old and my time and ability to contribute to life in other meaningful ways is over.
spot on with the meaning.
thatchinagirl's got it right. I wanted to add I particularly like the part where Simon (who no doubt wrote it) writes a B-section which suddenly jumps to another person's inner monologue; a successful artist, who is leisurely leafing through his surfeit material, presumably having published other material; an embarassment of riches. The sense of these people inhabiting separate universes--and the ponderment as to why they do--is a profoundly sad lyrical expression. Simon is posing a spritual puzzle to the listener, challenging us to come to terms with the issue of paucity.
I just want to say that I don't think it's a jump to another person's "inner monologue" rather looking back at his life when he was young, which kind of works with the next lines "Seasons change with the scenery,Weaving time in a tapestry".
When I hear "carry your cup in your hand" I think of a man in the position of a bewildered tourist watching the scenery fly by while he cluthces onto the mundane, unable to participate fully in the reveries because of his masochistic tendency to self-edit (as suggested in verse 1). The homeless man as narrator angle never occurred to me because the lyrics are completely coherent without it.
Also, it makes no sense to suggest that someone would have to be elderly dying in order to reflect on the decisions he has made in life. If this were so, how could Simon have had this insight 40+ years ago, and still be touring today?
Well, Simon wrote another song on the same album (Old Friends) where he says "how terribly strange to be seventy".
The Bangles covered it. I must say I prefer their version aswell :s ! I'm an 80s gal though - but generally the originals are far superior. I can credit the writers on their fantastic lyrics though :]
Simon lyrics are pure poetry, and logging on to this site reminds me of every beautiful song he has written. razajac, I haven't heard the B-Side, but now I really want to. It sounds very Simon-esque! Have to say that as a young fan, I can't claim to understand the emotions in a lot of his songs, and this is no exception. However, I think thatchinagirl is right about her theory.
Meh, I found the Bangles version on Youtube. Too harsh.
But the Simon and Garfunkel version is awesome, don't get me wrong...
Don't you wish they'd add an "edit comment" button?
i luh this song.