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.
Lying on our backs,
This is your parents' bed,
A good place to be laid
'Cause it's so neatly made.
Staring at the ceiling,
Vein to vein the lines look the same
As the ones that you're seeing,
And then you start speaking:
Tracing your father's footsteps
In your mother's shoes,
Going up and over and across your Latin roots.
Point points back to its origin,
Across the world cogs are clogged with the sand,
Here the air breathes freely
And our tongues work loosely,
Border approaches border,
You're using your hands and smearing your are's.
I'm looking over my shoulder,
Strained resistance to scour the door for you
Father's footsteps or your mother's shoes,
Coming up and over,
Cut across your Latin roots.
It's time to meet you makers
This is your parents' bed,
A good place to be laid
'Cause it's so neatly made.
Staring at the ceiling,
Vein to vein the lines look the same
As the ones that you're seeing,
And then you start speaking:
Tracing your father's footsteps
In your mother's shoes,
Going up and over and across your Latin roots.
Point points back to its origin,
Across the world cogs are clogged with the sand,
Here the air breathes freely
And our tongues work loosely,
Border approaches border,
You're using your hands and smearing your are's.
I'm looking over my shoulder,
Strained resistance to scour the door for you
Father's footsteps or your mother's shoes,
Coming up and over,
Cut across your Latin roots.
It's time to meet you makers
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This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
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"Lying on our backs, This is your parents' bed, A good place to be laid 'Cause it's so neatly made."
I take this literally to mean he just had sex with his girlfriend in her parents' bed.
"Staring at the ceiling, Vein to vein the lines look the same As the ones that you're seeing, And then you start speaking:"
I am still taking this literally. They are resting after their recent physical exertion, on the bed, and holding their arms up side-by-side and comparing the structure of the visible veins of her arm with his. She starts speaking--this is pillow talk.
"Tracing your father's footsteps In your mother's shoes, Going up and over and across your Latin roots. Point points back to its origin,
Across the world cogs are clogged with the sand, Here the air breathes freely And our tongues work loosely,"
More pillow talk. She's talking about her family's history. They're realizing that she may have been conceived in this same bed. In the outro, "It's time to meet your maker," follows this line of thought to its logical conclusion--by having sex, especially for the first time, one "meets her maker" in the sense that this is how she was made (conceived). Doing this in her parents' bed makes this realization more salient.
I can only guess that since anyone whose family speaks a Romance language (Spanish, Italian, French) or English has at linguistic roots in Latin and this goes along with the overall theme of the song--origins.
This is what I made of this song when I first heard it in the mid/late nineties and I would be immensely gratified from some validation of this long-held belief of mine. Okay. . . immensely is an overstatement. But, still, I'm interested in your comments.
I guess this might be talking about America and the great country it is. Mothers make the shoes. Smearing your R's I think is hiding that you're not native if you're in the US illegally. am I wrong again? then write something!
I think this song illustrates Guy's best talent: filtering a song about emotions through a song about politics. He does it in "Do You Like Me?" as well as "Margin Walker." Portions of the song suggest it's about losing one's virginity, but then that motif is contrasted with a discussion of roots and origin. Thus, I think the metaphor suggests losing one's innocence in realizing that roots set people apart from one another.
@hinthint <br /> Agreed. I wholeheartedly endorse this interpretation.
Is it just me or does "its time to meet your makers" sound like "its time to meet Jamaicans"?
ha, yes, I always heard that too.
ha, yes, I always heard that too.
Could it be as simple as the prospect of having to meet a lover's parents? I'm not sure, I just always thought that's what the last line means. When a relationship gets to that point that each partner has to start sharing a bit of themselves...
Don't worry atamata, I've noticed. I also used to think the line in "Reclamation" is "they're in my body!" till I had bought the CD way back when.
I think it's about having sex in some mexican chick's parent's bed. he contemplates the socio-political ramifications of his actions, as well as the very real and (probably) physical reaction her parents would dish out were they to catch him having sex in their bed.
Latin Roots is a song about Guy Picciotto coming to terms with his Italian ancestry.