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.
We wandered off like children, in the woods
We let the searchers come and never find us
We tried to make a life among the trees
While your dreams collected planes and cars and cities
You slipped away from me while I was sleeping
To climb the tallest oak and see the lights
Your dissatisfaction gave you questions
Do you remember what the city sounded like?
Do you remember what the city sounded like?
So, stay up with me don't fall asleep
We only have this moment once in our lives
The next time we'll meet under city lights
But we're here tonight so, lets make it all it was meant to be
So, I held you but the cold was from inside
I knew I couldn't keep you if I tried
But I watched as the distance spread as the shadows grew
And the longings came like wolves to devour you
So, stay up with me don't fall asleep
'Cause we only have this moment once in our lives
The next time we'll meet under city lights
So, lets make it all it was meant to be
We let the searchers come and never find us
We tried to make a life among the trees
While your dreams collected planes and cars and cities
You slipped away from me while I was sleeping
To climb the tallest oak and see the lights
Your dissatisfaction gave you questions
Do you remember what the city sounded like?
Do you remember what the city sounded like?
So, stay up with me don't fall asleep
We only have this moment once in our lives
The next time we'll meet under city lights
But we're here tonight so, lets make it all it was meant to be
So, I held you but the cold was from inside
I knew I couldn't keep you if I tried
But I watched as the distance spread as the shadows grew
And the longings came like wolves to devour you
So, stay up with me don't fall asleep
'Cause we only have this moment once in our lives
The next time we'll meet under city lights
So, lets make it all it was meant to be
Lyrics submitted by Eversois
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In the music video, the "main character" is in a wedding dress in a bath. A wedding dress in a wedding means being "dressed in white" at the end, and becoming "without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless." (Ephesians 5:27). Notice that we are dressed in white by God to become without stain, but a bath is our man-made way of being without stain. I may be way off base, but it seems to be about idolatry. It says "We wandered off like children, in the woods" away from God. The woods seem to symbolize a life alone away from God that we have chosen. But even before the end of the verse our "dreams collected planes and cars and cities". This civilization seems to symbolize a life with God. Even as we are in the mist of the thrill of the lostness of the forest, we are still longing for the city lights. Finally, when we meet God under city lights, we try to make every moment last, because we know that we are just going to wander off into the forest again.
Wow, I appreciate the above reader's thoughts on this song's meaning! I've been very deep into this song this week, comparing it some to passages in the Song of Songs, (a study of which is a life-time pursuit of mine) So here's my 2 cents worth, or maybe more to someone who may be feeling like they lost their way (like I have been, in this season), and long to "get back home."
My understanding is this song is being sung in the woods, which to me represents an adventurous and romantic life of intimacy with God, not unlike the pure and childlike life of the Garden in Eden. But this woman is being tempted away from intimacy with a man who deeply loves her, for a “city” life.
Now what this city represents, is personal. It could mean anything that we put on a pedestal, leading to an internal pull and distraction away from staying in that more vulnerable place of faith, and intimacy, with God and others.
But there’s another layer to the song, which is overwhelming to me. The man is obviously wooing her to stay with him, at least one night, but in his great love for her, he says he will meet up with her again - in the city!
Such amazing love this Man has. We can’t escape it, wherever we go.
How else would we get home?
The lyrics and the music video together make me think this song is about a girl who is being wooed into marriage/seclusion by a man who loves her, but she feels like she is drowning, focused instead of the "city" - which could be past lovers, freedom, or just larger community. It may be a Hosea-like marriage, where the husband is going after her, and she is focused on her past life or possibilities outside of the marriage, instead of being content in her situation.
Listening to this song today, and maybe it’s because I work in healthcare, but I hear a lament to someone who has drug addiction issues and keeps wanting to go back to them. When imlisten to it with that perspective, the song is very sad and meaningful.