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.
I was walking with my neck out
In some ways I wish I was
I was walking with my neck out
Some ways that I wish that I was
Out on the bevel sound
It sounds like everything else
You'll know it when you hear it
Cause you know the way my voice felt
Ignore my tone and everything
I sing, I sing for me
Ignore the phone on your bed
It rings it rings it rings
Shirt collar wringing me out
My collar bone got all red
Already severing prose I wrote so I sing instead
I hold you put your neck out
Tell me the ways you wish you were
Keep your confident sound
Your hook, my eye, my spur
So when I went to hang out
I hung behind your eyes
My eyes still flicker with doubt
Quickly oh I cant decide
I'm tapped out
Dont it always seem to go that
You could hold it right in your hands
Collapsing and still not know
In your hands
Collapse and still not know
Say what it is
Say how it is with everybody I know
I got no temper for that
I send you this cadmium red one, every (layer I shed?)
And I shed one layer for this
Say what it is
It's so impossible
But if I just say what it is
It tends to sublimate away
When I was looking
To drop my life away
More every year
I shine light on edges I try to unfeel
But we got to do better than that
Some sorting out so I'll be sitting on the outskirts
If you want to talk about it
Things in there were just getting so loud
Say what it is
It's so impossible
But if I just say what it is
It tends to sublimate away
When I was looking
To drop my life away
In some ways I wish I was
I was walking with my neck out
Some ways that I wish that I was
Out on the bevel sound
It sounds like everything else
You'll know it when you hear it
Cause you know the way my voice felt
Ignore my tone and everything
I sing, I sing for me
Ignore the phone on your bed
It rings it rings it rings
Shirt collar wringing me out
My collar bone got all red
Already severing prose I wrote so I sing instead
I hold you put your neck out
Tell me the ways you wish you were
Keep your confident sound
Your hook, my eye, my spur
So when I went to hang out
I hung behind your eyes
My eyes still flicker with doubt
Quickly oh I cant decide
I'm tapped out
Dont it always seem to go that
You could hold it right in your hands
Collapsing and still not know
In your hands
Collapse and still not know
Say what it is
Say how it is with everybody I know
I got no temper for that
I send you this cadmium red one, every (layer I shed?)
And I shed one layer for this
Say what it is
It's so impossible
But if I just say what it is
It tends to sublimate away
When I was looking
To drop my life away
More every year
I shine light on edges I try to unfeel
But we got to do better than that
Some sorting out so I'll be sitting on the outskirts
If you want to talk about it
Things in there were just getting so loud
Say what it is
It's so impossible
But if I just say what it is
It tends to sublimate away
When I was looking
To drop my life away
Lyrics submitted by getthoselyricsright
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Evan from reddit AMA in March 2016.
"Cadmium is about the pressure that builds when you don't say what you're thinking about, and how it always feels so much better to just talk about what’s on your mind. Also I wanted to explore different representational strategies, i.e. different ways to ‘say it’…. there are no answers, just questions."
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