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Left and Leaving Lyrics
My city's still breathing (but barely it's true)
Through buildings gone missing like teeth
The sidewalks are watching me think about you
Sparkled with broken glass
I'm back with scars to show
Back with the streets I know
Will never take me anywhere but here
The stain in the carpet, this drink in my hand
The strangers whose faces I know
We meet here for our dress-rehearsal
To say, "I wanted it this way"
Wait for the year to drown
Spring forward, fall back down
I'm trying not to wonder where you are
All this time lingers, undefined
Someone choose who's left and who's leaving
Memory will rust and erode into lists
Of all that you gave me:
A blanket, some matches, this pain in my chest
The best parts of lonely, duct-tape, and soldered wires
New words for old desires
And every birthday card I threw away
I wait in 4/4 time
Count yellow highway lines that you're relying on
To lead you home
Through buildings gone missing like teeth
The sidewalks are watching me think about you
Sparkled with broken glass
I'm back with scars to show
Back with the streets I know
Will never take me anywhere but here
The stain in the carpet, this drink in my hand
The strangers whose faces I know
We meet here for our dress-rehearsal
To say, "I wanted it this way"
Wait for the year to drown
Spring forward, fall back down
I'm trying not to wonder where you are
All this time lingers, undefined
Someone choose who's left and who's leaving
Memory will rust and erode into lists
Of all that you gave me:
A blanket, some matches, this pain in my chest
The best parts of lonely, duct-tape, and soldered wires
New words for old desires
And every birthday card I threw away
I wait in 4/4 time
Count yellow highway lines that you're relying on
To lead you home
Song Info
Submitted by
sockmonkey On Nov 27, 2001
More The Weakerthans
Aside
Virtute the Cat Explains Her Departure
Plea from a Cat Named Virtute
One Great City!
Pamphleteer
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I think a lot of people are over analyzing this song because they're missing the context of what growing up Winnipeg is like. The idea of coming back home, defeated, not having made it in 'better' cities is common. A lot of people end up moving to larger cities, and keeping track of who's left and who's leaving is something we talk about here.
Some other things, the weather is just something that's ever present, 'wait for the year to drown', flooding, snow, etc - spring forward, fall back down - daylight savings is a Big Deal here, lots of debate but really it's just that inevitability of falling back down into a cold winter.
Anyway just some thoughts
that one line, the sidewalks are watching me think about you just kills me every time i hear it. this song really is beautiful. it seems like the world gets it's pause button pressed whenever i play this album.
this song is so personal to me. i live in winnipeg, where john k. and the rest of them are from, and the line "the strangers whose faces i know" reminds me of going to see them play when they were just "the band with the old bass player from propagandhi". it reminds me of the whole hardcore scene in winnipeg. i barely know anyone in the scene, and i know that no one knows me, but if i was to see one of them on the streets, we'd recognize each other.
and the lines about the city fit perfectly. john is always talking about how great winnipeg is to the people who've lived there all their life, but how its slowly dying. this song deals with that too. the weakerthans are the only band whos music fits the scenery when i'm driving around the city.
I couldn't tell you exactly about it, but this is the saddest song I've ever heard in my life. And the last line "I wait in 4/4 time, count yellow highway lines that you're relying on to lead you home" is chilling.
John K. Sampson said "This is a love song," right before they started playing it.
When he says "spring forward, fall back down" it has always made me think he's referring to the time changes in the year. In spring you turn your clocks forward, in fall - back one hour. I don't know why I've never seen it as anything else. And I'm probably the only one.
I didn't see the specific 9/11 comment, but I read someone referring to it.
Anyway, it CAN'T be about 9/11, because the CD was released in 2000, not 2001.
@TheChimbleySweep It's a song about Winnipeg, MB where John is from.
@TheChimbleySweep It's a song about Winnipeg, MB where John is from.
this song is so beautiful. i cry almost everytime i hear it.
"im trying not to wonder where you are"
...best line of the song. it makes me think of my friend who died this year and the overwhelming feeling of wondering what happens to a person after they leave the earth.
One anecdote: when I first heard this song, my right speaker was shot. So it was as if he was singing the first verse acapella. It still blew me away, even without the music behind him. Seriously, try taking out your right earbud and listen to just the left side.
As for his voice: I will admit that I didn't like it at first either. But it's his lyrics that hit you, and then his voice becomes amazing, because for the most part, it is not your typical voice. It makes him seem more real and therefore the songs hit even closer to home because he is at your level. Not to say he is not good, but I just hate how "produced" most other vocalists sound these days. Maybe I shouldn't be writing about this on this thread...there is probably an entire one devoted to discussing voice.
One of the greatest songs ever produced. Ever. I've cried EVERYTIME I have heard it... no exaggeration.