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.
Indo-china, Capa jumps Jeep, two feet creep up the road
To photo, to record, meat lumps and war
They advance as does his chance, oh, oh
Very yellow white flash
A violent wrench grips mass, rips light, tears limbs like rags
Burst so high finally Capa lands
Mine is a watery pit
Painless with immense distance
From medic from colleague, friend, enemy, foe, him five yards from his leg
From you Taro
Oh, oh, oh
Do not spray into eyes
I have sprayed you into my eyes
Three ten
Pm Capa pends death, quivers, last rattles, last chokes
All colors and cares glaze to grey
Shriveled and stricken to dots
The left hand grasps what the body grasps not oh, oh
Le photographie est mort
Three point one four one five, alive no longer my amour
Faded for home May of '54
Doors open like arms, my love
Painless with a great closeness
To Capa, to Capa Capa dark after nothing, re-united with his leg
And with you Taro, oh, oh, oh
Taro, oh, oh, oh
Do not spray into eyes
I have sprayed you into my eyes
Hey Taro
To photo, to record, meat lumps and war
They advance as does his chance, oh, oh
Very yellow white flash
A violent wrench grips mass, rips light, tears limbs like rags
Burst so high finally Capa lands
Mine is a watery pit
Painless with immense distance
From medic from colleague, friend, enemy, foe, him five yards from his leg
From you Taro
Oh, oh, oh
Do not spray into eyes
I have sprayed you into my eyes
Three ten
Pm Capa pends death, quivers, last rattles, last chokes
All colors and cares glaze to grey
Shriveled and stricken to dots
The left hand grasps what the body grasps not oh, oh
Le photographie est mort
Three point one four one five, alive no longer my amour
Faded for home May of '54
Doors open like arms, my love
Painless with a great closeness
To Capa, to Capa Capa dark after nothing, re-united with his leg
And with you Taro, oh, oh, oh
Taro, oh, oh, oh
Do not spray into eyes
I have sprayed you into my eyes
Hey Taro
Lyrics submitted by shemovesshe
Taro Lyrics as written by Gwilym David Dylan Sainsbury Augustus Figaro Niso Unger-hamilton
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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"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"
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I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
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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.
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“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 just wanted to add something to this, and I hope it adds even more to this song for someone out there as it has for me. It's strange, because I sat around thinking for a long time what the meaning of the line, "Do not spray into eyes - I have sprayed you into my eyes." could mean and it finally dawned on me.
There are warnings on spray cans that literally say, "Do not spray into eyes". If you take into account what Taro and Capa did as a living, taking photos of war, and how dangerous that is to do, then add in the fact that Taro died while doing that job years before Capa did, you will get the meaning. Basically, to me at least, Taro's death is the warning to Capa of how dangerous their job can be, "Do not spray into eyes". But, Capa ignores this and even knowing full well, he still continues to do that job until it kills him as well, "I have sprayed you into my eyes".
Now, if you blend in the beautiful and soft way its sung, you get a feeling of peace when you hear that line. That to me is because its meant as if Capa has done so understanding that he might die as Taro did, but that's fine because he will be with her all that much sooner.
In an abstract way... this is what love between two people is all about. We are all warnings, we all have things we have done in our lives that have terrible consequences. But, the people that love us don't care, and they would even go so far as to do those same things with you because they love you so much.
"Do not spray into eyes - I have sprayed you into my eyes."
For me, it really is the most beautiful lyric I have ever heard... it brought tears to my eyes and I couldn't stop crying when I realized what it meant. It is so simple it's almost childish... but it is SO powerful, that the emotion of its meaning cuts deep in a beautiful way.
It made me think of my wife and my daughter immediately.
:)
@Daoist And also, the context of them being photographers... Do not spray into eyes... They look literally through a lens at some of the most horrific and dangerous scenes mankind has produced and they do it bravely, and often out of love for each other. You really nailed this on the head, truly a beautiful song.
@Daoist I love your interpretation - BEAUTIFUL! just as the line itself....it is also one of the most beautiful song lines I have heard recently :)
@Daoist i made an account only to say thank you, kep on the feels.<br />
@Daoist Your analysis made me cry. Wow. I love that you say we are all, in our own way, dangerous, bringing terrible consequences; as if, we all walk around with a warning on our faces, "do not spray into eyes." Capa doesn't care, and love doesn't care--"I have sprayed you into my eyes." <br /> <br /> Beautiful analysis.
@Daoist I had to create an account to say thank you for your interpretation, I'm not a soppy guy at all but it really hit hard. tear in my eyes sort of thing. Thank you for really changing my day buddy.
@Daoist @Daoist I saw alt-j about a week ago at Bonnaroo and tears just continously streamed down my face during this song and continued way after the song ceased. I briefly researched the song when I first discovered it and knew it was about war, but I never really thoroughly researched it until tonight. I did not realize how much depth this song holds. alt-j’s music has always hit me in my intellectual feels compared to most artists. This is how music should be!<br /> <br /> Thank you so much for this analysis. I will forever listen to this song with such a deeper meaning.<br /> <br /> (Btw if you haven’t seen them in concert do so because it will forever change you as a person)