I'm Sorry that
I could never love you back
I could never care enough
In these last days
Her tears
Fell on her pages found me well
On her words I don't know what
To do or say
Wading through
Warm canals and pools clear blue
Where Tuscarawas flow into
The Great Lakes
Riding back
To where the highway met
Dead end tracks
The ground is now cement and glass
And far away
Heal her soul, carry her, my angel, Ohio
Green green youth
What about the sweetness we knew
What about what's good what's true
From those days
Can't count to
All the lovers I've burned through
So why do I still burn for you
I can't say
Sorry that
I could never love you back
I could never care enough in these last days
Heal her soul, carry her, my angel, Ohio
Children bless
And gather round the bed she rests
So poor and cold in their Midwest
Moon and sun
Flashes bringing on
My open eyes to lightning storm
The touch of mist felt soft, felt warm
On my face
Graving dreams
A million miles ago you seem
A star that I just don't see
Anymore
Words long gone
Lost on journeys we walked on
Lost are voices heard along the way
Sorry for
Never going by your door
Never feeling love like that
Anymore
Heal her soul, carry her, my angel, Ohio
I could never love you back
I could never care enough
In these last days
Her tears
Fell on her pages found me well
On her words I don't know what
To do or say
Wading through
Warm canals and pools clear blue
Where Tuscarawas flow into
The Great Lakes
Riding back
To where the highway met
Dead end tracks
The ground is now cement and glass
And far away
Heal her soul, carry her, my angel, Ohio
Green green youth
What about the sweetness we knew
What about what's good what's true
From those days
Can't count to
All the lovers I've burned through
So why do I still burn for you
I can't say
Sorry that
I could never love you back
I could never care enough in these last days
Heal her soul, carry her, my angel, Ohio
Children bless
And gather round the bed she rests
So poor and cold in their Midwest
Moon and sun
Flashes bringing on
My open eyes to lightning storm
The touch of mist felt soft, felt warm
On my face
Graving dreams
A million miles ago you seem
A star that I just don't see
Anymore
Words long gone
Lost on journeys we walked on
Lost are voices heard along the way
Sorry for
Never going by your door
Never feeling love like that
Anymore
Heal her soul, carry her, my angel, Ohio
Lyrics submitted by mab, edited by timbertime, PMWilson, phcfo
Carry Me Ohio Lyrics as written by Mark Edward Kozelek
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
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Sorry that
I could never love you back.
I could never care enough
in these last days.
Her tears fell
on her pages found me well.
On her words I don't know what
to do or say.
Wading through
warm canals and pools: clear blue.
The Tuscarawas flows into
the Great Lakes.
Right in back,
where the highway met dead tracks,
the ground is now cement and glass,
so far away.
Heal her soul.
Carry her, my angel,
Ohio.
Green, green youth,
what about the sweetness we knew?
What about what's good, what's true,
from those days?
Can't count to
all the lovers I've burned through.
So why do I still burn for you?
I can't say.
Sorry that
I could never love you back.
I could never care enough
in these last days.
Heal her soul.
Carry her, my angel,
Ohio.
Children bless,
gather round the bed, she rest.
So pull and go to her Midwestern
moon and sun.
Flashes bringing on,
my open eyes to lighting storm.
The touch of mist fell soft, felt warm
on my face.
Graven dreams,
a million miles ago, you seem.
A star that I just don't see
anymore.
Words long gone,
lost on journey's we walked on.
Lost her voices heard along
the way.
Sorry for,
never going by your door.
Never feeling love like that
anymore.
Heal her soul.
Carry her, my angel,
Ohio.
I am pretty sure these are the correct lyrics. You can listen to the live version on his "7 Songs Belfast" live CD for a very clear rendition of these lyrics. He changes a couple of words in the live performance which I changed back to reflect the LP recording.
I'm also feeling like this is a NOT love song about a girl, but instead about a hometown that he didn't appreciate enough when he had the chance, and can't love the same way now that he's older and that childhood place is gone.
First of all, the town is not how he remembered ("Right in back, where the highway met dead tracks, the ground is now cement and glass, so far away."). Second, there is a clear "distance makes the heart grow fonder" undertone to the lyrics. But distance not just geographically, but across time. This is evidenced here: "Graven dreams. A million miles ago, you seem. A star that I just don't see anymore."
There is also the sense that he wants someone, somehow, some way, to fix her. Make her how she used to be ("Heal her soul. Carry her, my angel, Ohio."). But the tragedy is that it is probably too late. He's remorseful that he didn't visit home more often, I believe ("Sorry for, never going by your door. Never feeling love like that anymore.")
Along this line of thinking, other lines take on a new meaning when placed into this context ("Can't count to, all the lovers I've burned through. So why do I still burn for you? I can't say."). It actually feels like he is talking about all the places he has lived and been to. Maybe he wonders why, given all of the places he has experienced (ugly and beautiful), he should long for this barren hometown that time forgot? He doesn't seem to have the answer.
If you follow his catalogue and his lyrics, Mark loves to sing about geographical places: "Neon signs and Silver Lakes"; "Going past Golden Gate, elementary every day"; "I don't need a house on Lake Michigan"; "Saltwater taffy, the Jersey Shore", "A rare and blistering sun shines down on Grace Cathedral Park". I could go on and on.
The nostalgia for his hometown memories is palpable at times in this song ("Green, green youth. What about the sweetness we knew? What about what's good, what's true, from those days?"). Innocence lost is probably another valid sub-theme here.
What is very "Kozelek" about this interpretation, and why I think I am correct in my assumption, is that this wouldn't be the first time he has made a love song about an unexpected thing. Remember when he tricked us into thinking a song was about a girl he loved but it was really about his cat ("Wop a Din Din"), where a line like "She's got big green eyes, and a long Egyptian face. She moves across the floor, at her own pace," is flipped upside down after you realize this isn't a typical love song whatsoever.
That is my interpretation though, and could be off base. Just here to share my feelings. Hope they helped.
I will share one last fun fact. The Tuscarawas doesn't actually flow into any of the Great Lakes. At least not directly. It flows into the Ohio River.
...ryan
her tears fell on her pages
found me out
on her words
i don't know what to do or say
really makes me think it was suicide. "Her tears fell on her pages/found me out/on her words" sounds like he is describing a suicide note to me, and "I don't know what to do or say" seems a fitting reaction to him reading the note. Also, he is so full of regret the whole song, and keeps saying sorry that he didn't love her or care enough, like he feels that is the reason she died.
sorry for
never going by your door
never feeling love like that anymore
So after the woman he was with died, he started a relationship with someone else but he never really loved her and she was left wanting more. It makes me think of Noah's relationship with Martha Shaw (the widow) in the Notebook. Like, they're together but he's not in love with her.
If his girlfriend really were dying, would he apologize for not loving her back, for not caring enough in "these last days?" It seems more like a reference to a relationship that is dead that he just can't revive, because the love has gone. And the town he once knew, that seemed so heaven-like, obviously has withered. Obviously, the town is still there. It's simply not what it once was -- just like that old flame.
Still, it it heartache personified. It would be hard to find a more haunting song.