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.
Tonight they're closing up the world
N'sweeping smoke from cigarettes
And what is that
Funky multi-national anthem rocking from a thousand
King Kong cassette decks
And then a shyboy from Missouri
Boots blown off in a sixties war
Riding aluminium crutches
Now he knows the welfare kindness
Agent Orange color-blindness
As we works from door to door
The violence in the carpets
The arrow of his wife (in a car jam)
Drives the slum-bum dweller
To grind his hunting knife (in a car jam)
In homesteads of cigar box
The radios hive like bees
The body in the icebox
Has no date for freeze (in a car jam)
(In a car jam)
Selling is what selling sells
But only saints on the seven avenues
Can sell the seven hells
Fanning the drug afflicted leperizing sword
Once inisde, the executive
He never leaves his home
Now, gorillas drag their victims
Hyenas try to sue (in a car jam)
Snakes find grass in concrete
There is no city zoo (in a car jam)
By ventilation units
Where towers meet the streets (in a car jam)
The ragged stand in bags soaking heat up through their feet (in the car jam
This was the only kindness, and it was accidental too
(In a car jam)
(In a car jam)
Now shaking single-engined planes trafficking stereos from Cuba
Buzzed the holy zealot mass and drowned out Missa Luba
And drowned out Missa Luba
And drowned out Missa Luba
And drowned out Missa Luba
I thought I saw Lauren Bacall, I thought I saw Lauren Bacall (in a car jam)
Hey fellas, hey fellas
Lauren Bacall (in a car jam)
In a car jam
Yeah, I don't believe it
In a car jam
Ah, yeah, positively-absolutely
(In a car jam)
(In a car jam)
(In a car jam)
(In a car jam)
(In a car jam)
(In a car jam)
N'sweeping smoke from cigarettes
And what is that
Funky multi-national anthem rocking from a thousand
King Kong cassette decks
And then a shyboy from Missouri
Boots blown off in a sixties war
Riding aluminium crutches
Now he knows the welfare kindness
Agent Orange color-blindness
As we works from door to door
The violence in the carpets
The arrow of his wife (in a car jam)
Drives the slum-bum dweller
To grind his hunting knife (in a car jam)
In homesteads of cigar box
The radios hive like bees
The body in the icebox
Has no date for freeze (in a car jam)
(In a car jam)
Selling is what selling sells
But only saints on the seven avenues
Can sell the seven hells
Fanning the drug afflicted leperizing sword
Once inisde, the executive
He never leaves his home
Now, gorillas drag their victims
Hyenas try to sue (in a car jam)
Snakes find grass in concrete
There is no city zoo (in a car jam)
By ventilation units
Where towers meet the streets (in a car jam)
The ragged stand in bags soaking heat up through their feet (in the car jam
This was the only kindness, and it was accidental too
(In a car jam)
(In a car jam)
Now shaking single-engined planes trafficking stereos from Cuba
Buzzed the holy zealot mass and drowned out Missa Luba
And drowned out Missa Luba
And drowned out Missa Luba
And drowned out Missa Luba
I thought I saw Lauren Bacall, I thought I saw Lauren Bacall (in a car jam)
Hey fellas, hey fellas
Lauren Bacall (in a car jam)
In a car jam
Yeah, I don't believe it
In a car jam
Ah, yeah, positively-absolutely
(In a car jam)
(In a car jam)
(In a car jam)
(In a car jam)
(In a car jam)
(In a car jam)
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