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.
Open up a window
All the air, all the air is falling out
Eyes vacuum up light
Sound gets trapped by the mouth
What to do with the remainder
When the dents, the dents get hammered out
Then we'll travel through time
The world's an inventor
With its work crawling, running, squirming 'round
Trees drop colorful fruits
Directly into our mouths
The world's an inventor
We're the dirtiest thing it's thought about
And we really don't mind
We'll probably never get there
Bring your sightseers, schoolteachers down
It's a watercolor weekend
All the trees are turning colors now
We'll probably never get there
Bring your candy taster time wasters around
And we'll fuck with their minds
The world composes
With his shirttails wrinkled, hanging out
Bang us together
See what sort of sounds we make right now
The world plays music
Playing skin on teeth inside of the mouth
What sort of sounds?
What lovely sounds come about?
We greased all the roads
We're floating in the light
We're gonna break these borders
We're gonna move in time
We greased all the roads
We're floating in the light
We're gonna break these borders
We're gonna travel time
We're gonna throw a party
All the ghosts of trees are coming out
Don't move in any direction
Wait until the light's inside of the cloud
You're gonna wanna see this
Don't bring your camera around
Watch sun and sawdust align
We greased all the roads
We're floating in the light
We're gonna break these borders
We're gonna pulse in time
We greased all the roads
We're floating in the light
We're gonna break these borders
We're gonna travel time
Hold up a window
All the air, all the air is falling out
Eyes vacuum up light
Sound gets trapped by the mouth
Our predecessor left this box
And something's clawing around
I think it really wants out
All the air, all the air is falling out
Eyes vacuum up light
Sound gets trapped by the mouth
What to do with the remainder
When the dents, the dents get hammered out
Then we'll travel through time
The world's an inventor
With its work crawling, running, squirming 'round
Trees drop colorful fruits
Directly into our mouths
The world's an inventor
We're the dirtiest thing it's thought about
And we really don't mind
We'll probably never get there
Bring your sightseers, schoolteachers down
It's a watercolor weekend
All the trees are turning colors now
We'll probably never get there
Bring your candy taster time wasters around
And we'll fuck with their minds
The world composes
With his shirttails wrinkled, hanging out
Bang us together
See what sort of sounds we make right now
The world plays music
Playing skin on teeth inside of the mouth
What sort of sounds?
What lovely sounds come about?
We greased all the roads
We're floating in the light
We're gonna break these borders
We're gonna move in time
We greased all the roads
We're floating in the light
We're gonna break these borders
We're gonna travel time
We're gonna throw a party
All the ghosts of trees are coming out
Don't move in any direction
Wait until the light's inside of the cloud
You're gonna wanna see this
Don't bring your camera around
Watch sun and sawdust align
We greased all the roads
We're floating in the light
We're gonna break these borders
We're gonna pulse in time
We greased all the roads
We're floating in the light
We're gonna break these borders
We're gonna travel time
Hold up a window
All the air, all the air is falling out
Eyes vacuum up light
Sound gets trapped by the mouth
Our predecessor left this box
And something's clawing around
I think it really wants out
Lyrics submitted by timelyvoices, edited by rkpetersen, AmanO, SephNite
The Ground Walks, With Time In A Box Lyrics as written by Jeremiah Green Isaac Brock
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings
Standing On The Edge Of Summer
Thursday
Thursday
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
"Fast car" is kind of a continuation of Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run." It has all the clawing your way to a better life, but in this case the protagonist never makes it with her love; in fact she is dragged back down by him.
There is still an amazing amount of hope and will in the lyrics; and the lyrics themselve rank and easy five. If only music was stronger it would be one of those great radio songs that you hear once a week 20 years after it was released. The imagery is almost tear-jerking ("City lights lay out before us", "Speeds so fast felt like I was drunk"), and the idea of starting from nothing and just driving and working and denigrating yourself for a chance at being just above poverty, then losing in the end is just painful and inspiring at the same time.
Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
Silent Planet
I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988.
"'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it."
"There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
Plastic Bag
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“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.
This song tells the darker side of the story of America. Deforestation, Indian Removal, Needless destruction because of landlust. If you look back in time this is all true, as America was formed, people started to care less and less about the planet that gave them life and more about themselves and their wants, due to frequent distractions. It depicts what has happened on human's 'travel through time'. Eventually, if this keeps happening, Earth will come to no good, and we will consequently be reversed in time.