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Parade Lyrics
Right when the blizzard ends, they throw a fucking huge parade-
A great excuse for celebration of the mess they've made.
But then when the streets get flooded, we know what proximity’s worth,
‘cause we're already here, in the same place when our phones don't work.
So then we lie down in our field and just do nothing at all,
and I’m getting ready for when everything is wonderful
for just a couple pairs of broken bones with broken feathers in blood,
in a meadow, uncut and understood.
We can be an island apart from a ceaseless war on our heart,
Harbored in a fortress insurmountable,
Taller than affliction, safe wherever we are.
Erasing horror and disgust,
Rewinding the sorrow and the rust.
Before our suffering’s suffering, hadn’t we suffered enough?
On the morning that we're both 19 and newly on our own,
and all we know is “each other” and invisible homes,
we find two empty seats in the back of a car in an empty parking lot,
where all our bridges are abandoned and the cops have forgot.
And I can feel the difference when the day begins,
like all I know is, "This year will be the year we win."
We smoke the paper from the banner from our past parades
and start again, before the memory of the mess we've made.
A great excuse for celebration of the mess they've made.
But then when the streets get flooded, we know what proximity’s worth,
‘cause we're already here, in the same place when our phones don't work.
and I’m getting ready for when everything is wonderful
for just a couple pairs of broken bones with broken feathers in blood,
in a meadow, uncut and understood.
Harbored in a fortress insurmountable,
Taller than affliction, safe wherever we are.
Erasing horror and disgust,
Rewinding the sorrow and the rust.
Before our suffering’s suffering, hadn’t we suffered enough?
and all we know is “each other” and invisible homes,
we find two empty seats in the back of a car in an empty parking lot,
where all our bridges are abandoned and the cops have forgot.
like all I know is, "This year will be the year we win."
We smoke the paper from the banner from our past parades
and start again, before the memory of the mess we've made.
Add your song meanings, interpretations, facts, memories & more to the community.
Considering that "Familiars" is a reflection upon youth and one's past mistakes or triumphs, I feel like the song is a tribute to blind optimism and pride that we can have as teenagers. Parades seem to embody that display of good vibes and cheeriness. At the same time, the narrator accepts his failures from his youth and learns from them. It's not really a pessimistic song, but rather encapsulates the need to make a show (a parade) and move on with high spirits. Similar to "Putting the Dog to Sleep" but with a cheerier melody and more broad in topic.
Great song. Takes me back to high school but instills the feeling of "no regrets". Heartfelt and uplifting.
I don't think this is what it's /actually/ about, but to me it's an endearing and sarcastic look at optimistic Brooklyn hipsters. They're pretty white kids who've never had to really worry about anything serious before. They were ill prepared for the recent blizzard that hit New York, but also kinda saw it has a valuable life experience. They're out of touch with the real problems of the world. They think they've suffered already but now life is starting to get a little too real and they're interpreting their small-time hardships as much worse than they are from an outsiders perspective. Eventually they can't pay rent because their frivolity didn't leave time for a job and mom and dad are done footing the bill, so they're homeless, living in a car, but they don't really mind because they see it as being really cool and bohemian. They're really making the best of it and are now earning a bit of that much needed perspective on the world. From a distance they look very pretentious and privileged and whiny, but they don't really care, besides, they've got this close support network of all their hip friends to lean on and they're optimistic about the people they're gonna become. These kids are gonna do alright.