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Wisteria Lyrics
This is where we fall, sleepers scattered in the soil
A finger deep, dragged through the ground
A blessed thought in harrowed halls.
We could think of nothing else but what our patch of earth contained,
Reminded by our dirt-stained clothes of planted possibility
In tender ground, as bare as birth, a shoot emerged from beneath the earth.
Mary, Mary, tell me how your garden grows.
Tell me what it takes to come alive, to see what you have sown
Because I've grown into the ground and there are branches in my bones
I am overgrown.
I am overgrown.
Between two branches, a rope and tire we cast between two worlds,
Each one higher than the last.
I chose the air, chose higher still and left an Eden, found,
But in abandon, lost my grip, and shattered, chose the ground
In unkept chaos, as bare as birth, a garden, grey, of tangled earth.
Mary, Mary, tell me how your garden grows.
Tell me what it takes to come alive, to see what you have sown
Because I've grown into the ground and there are branches in my bones
I am overgrown.
I've been lying here too long,
The branches pushing me apart where weakness showed,
But then September swept the overcast aside,
Dusted off the winter's curse, and she cut me through like knives.
She whistled proudly her season's song and showed me that I was alive all along.
Mary, Mary, tell me how your garden grows.
Tell me what it takes to come alive, to see what you have sown
Because I've grown into the ground and there are branches in my bones
I am overgrown.
I am overgrown.
A finger deep, dragged through the ground
A blessed thought in harrowed halls.
Reminded by our dirt-stained clothes of planted possibility
In tender ground, as bare as birth, a shoot emerged from beneath the earth.
Tell me what it takes to come alive, to see what you have sown
Because I've grown into the ground and there are branches in my bones
I am overgrown.
I am overgrown.
Each one higher than the last.
I chose the air, chose higher still and left an Eden, found,
But in abandon, lost my grip, and shattered, chose the ground
In unkept chaos, as bare as birth, a garden, grey, of tangled earth.
Tell me what it takes to come alive, to see what you have sown
Because I've grown into the ground and there are branches in my bones
I am overgrown.
The branches pushing me apart where weakness showed,
But then September swept the overcast aside,
Dusted off the winter's curse, and she cut me through like knives.
She whistled proudly her season's song and showed me that I was alive all along.
Tell me what it takes to come alive, to see what you have sown
Because I've grown into the ground and there are branches in my bones
I am overgrown.
I am overgrown.
Song Info
Submitted by
ixptv On Jul 21, 2013
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I think (I made this interpretation up) that this song is about overstepping ones bounds, or trying to "fly too high". It begins "on the ground" (lyrics: scattered in the soil, finger deep, dragged through the ground") the narrator (for lack of a btter term) only thinks of moving onwards and upwards, in society or something, using growing as a plant for a metaphor (lyrics: We could think of nothing else but what our patch of earth contained... In tender ground, as bare as birth, a shoot emerged from beneath the earth.) The narrator then is talking about being on a tire swing (lyrics: Between two branches, a rope and tire we cast between two worlds) which might mean he has grown a tree, and he swings or moves ever higher (lyrics: I chose the air, chose higher still and left an Eden, found) Eden, found, might mean he had reached a "good place" but instead of staying where he was, he swung higher, and ends up falling (lyrics: But in abandon, lost my grip, and shattered, chose the ground) the narrator reached too high and fell as for the chorus, it repeats a question to "Mary"- how does your garden grow as in, how is she grounded, having found the balance and not reaching too high, nor remaining on the ground the narrator wants to learn her secret for the optimal balance (lyrics: tell me what it takes to come alive) The whole song uses a garden growing as a metaphor. Wisteria is a type of vine that can grow up poles, which fits nicely with the idea of a growing garden. The line "Mary, Mary tell me how your garden grows" is part of an old nursery rhyme of disputed meaning, the significance of which is unclear to me.
@StormBird I really like this interpretation actually. i have heard this song so many times, but never considered what it could be about... Cheers.
@StormBird I really like this interpretation actually. i have heard this song so many times, but never considered what it could be about... Cheers.
@StormBird I honestly really like this interpretation, and it wasn't that far off of my own. Were he, the narrator, is the ancestor of Mary, and is watching her cultivate with the progress he had made prior to her. As in the phrases, "Because I've grown into the ground and there are branches in my bones" and "I've been lying here too long, the branches pushing me apart where weakness showed". But all in all our interpretations are relatively the same for the fact that the narrator strived to go higher, but where he failed, Mary continued on in his...
@StormBird I honestly really like this interpretation, and it wasn't that far off of my own. Were he, the narrator, is the ancestor of Mary, and is watching her cultivate with the progress he had made prior to her. As in the phrases, "Because I've grown into the ground and there are branches in my bones" and "I've been lying here too long, the branches pushing me apart where weakness showed". But all in all our interpretations are relatively the same for the fact that the narrator strived to go higher, but where he failed, Mary continued on in his place.
If this isn't about a breakup, and how he has let himself go and how she has moved on to a better life and how he has been excluded from it, then I have just been let down immensely. This song has hit the nail on the head as to how I've been feeling.
and it just so happens the girl's name is Mary too.
and it just so happens the girl's name is Mary too.