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.
Hey, my little baby
Pointing at the sky's amazing
In the lake now
All of this sensation
And no space on earth to place it
Where it's safe now
You've got a big day coming
A big day coming now
Gather, crowd, around me
In the gutter where you found me
Help me stand now
My body, it is aching
And my poor old heart is breaking
And I'm so freaked out
We've got a big chance coming
A big chance coming now
All the little Sadies
And the literary ladies
Wish me well now
A slab upon a plane that
Through the air is silver swaying
Into sun now
I hightail my cool haircut
Through the turnstiles of the airport
On the run now
Flip a couple hundred pages
I was turning thirty-eight
I was a horrible sight
You've got a bad day coming
A sad day coming 'round
I'll wear a white suit and black sunglasses
To the last mass now
Okay
Then give me one last kiss
In your pink silk dress, I guess
Said, "I have lost all will to"
With my face pressed against your breast
And I have pilfered the king's pills
From the palace medicine chest
I cried a quart of crocodile tears
Onto Allison Anne's pink champagne glass
I was escorted from the premises
For being a mess
And it's just like when John Howe told me
How the Force MDs died
Lou Gehrig's disease laid T.C.D. low
Mercury had a heart attack back in '95
And where DJ Doctor Rock went
Nobody knows
I see my grandfather, T. Holmes
"Bud" Moore laid up in his hospital clothes
But I think about Judee Sill dying in some trailer park
Out of cocaine and codeine all alone
It was a big waste
Brother, such a big waste
Yeah, I know
They had some great songs
Must have been a great time
So long ago
But I didn't open up my mouth
Just to piss and moan
No way
All the air is glitter
And I went and hit the
Skating rink alone now
I'll watch the kids all skim across the ice
They look so nice
It was so cold out
And then I coughed into my cupped hands
Across the rink so I could hear the band
Two guitars, a drummer
A chick singer with a Kurzweil
On a keyboard stand
And I said, "Play that cover"
I said, "Play that cover song again"
Pointing at the sky's amazing
In the lake now
All of this sensation
And no space on earth to place it
Where it's safe now
You've got a big day coming
A big day coming now
Gather, crowd, around me
In the gutter where you found me
Help me stand now
My body, it is aching
And my poor old heart is breaking
And I'm so freaked out
We've got a big chance coming
A big chance coming now
All the little Sadies
And the literary ladies
Wish me well now
A slab upon a plane that
Through the air is silver swaying
Into sun now
I hightail my cool haircut
Through the turnstiles of the airport
On the run now
Flip a couple hundred pages
I was turning thirty-eight
I was a horrible sight
You've got a bad day coming
A sad day coming 'round
I'll wear a white suit and black sunglasses
To the last mass now
Okay
Then give me one last kiss
In your pink silk dress, I guess
Said, "I have lost all will to"
With my face pressed against your breast
And I have pilfered the king's pills
From the palace medicine chest
I cried a quart of crocodile tears
Onto Allison Anne's pink champagne glass
I was escorted from the premises
For being a mess
And it's just like when John Howe told me
How the Force MDs died
Lou Gehrig's disease laid T.C.D. low
Mercury had a heart attack back in '95
And where DJ Doctor Rock went
Nobody knows
I see my grandfather, T. Holmes
"Bud" Moore laid up in his hospital clothes
But I think about Judee Sill dying in some trailer park
Out of cocaine and codeine all alone
It was a big waste
Brother, such a big waste
Yeah, I know
They had some great songs
Must have been a great time
So long ago
But I didn't open up my mouth
Just to piss and moan
No way
All the air is glitter
And I went and hit the
Skating rink alone now
I'll watch the kids all skim across the ice
They look so nice
It was so cold out
And then I coughed into my cupped hands
Across the rink so I could hear the band
Two guitars, a drummer
A chick singer with a Kurzweil
On a keyboard stand
And I said, "Play that cover"
I said, "Play that cover song again"
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The title is funny. "Formerly cool" people often compare turning 40 to dying (see James Murphy, Pete Townshend lyrics) but they're almost always tongue in cheek, obviously there is a lot more time left to have fun and reflect.