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 had a true love from Hannibal
Where the Mississippi turns flat and wide
We'd lay out on the sandbars
And fall asleep to the barges and the fireflies
And I killed my true love from Hannibal
She was nineteen and I was twenty-two
Summer was ending and she was leaving soon
To study writing on the east coast
And I worked in my father's shop
Fixing air conditioners and heating pumps
Going to college never made much sense to me
I wanted to keep my true love close to me
The summers are hot in Hannibal
The summers there are unbearable
So we'd steal down to the water's edge
And cool off in the river's ebb
One night we decided what we would do
Swim to the middle ‘til our strength gave out
Where the current was strong and deep
Together we'd be pulled down to sleep
So we swam ‘til our bodies were weak
I watched my true love get washed out to sea
I felt a terrible grip from beneath
The river took her but it didn't take me
In St. Louis there's a prison cell
It'll be twelve more years ‘til I get out
When I do her father says he'll shoot me down
If I don't do it myself
Most days I just try and sleep
I dream of Hannibal when it was in between
It's not quite day and it's not yet night
We fall asleep to the barges and the fireflies
Where the Mississippi turns flat and wide
We'd lay out on the sandbars
And fall asleep to the barges and the fireflies
And I killed my true love from Hannibal
She was nineteen and I was twenty-two
Summer was ending and she was leaving soon
To study writing on the east coast
And I worked in my father's shop
Fixing air conditioners and heating pumps
Going to college never made much sense to me
I wanted to keep my true love close to me
The summers are hot in Hannibal
The summers there are unbearable
So we'd steal down to the water's edge
And cool off in the river's ebb
One night we decided what we would do
Swim to the middle ‘til our strength gave out
Where the current was strong and deep
Together we'd be pulled down to sleep
So we swam ‘til our bodies were weak
I watched my true love get washed out to sea
I felt a terrible grip from beneath
The river took her but it didn't take me
In St. Louis there's a prison cell
It'll be twelve more years ‘til I get out
When I do her father says he'll shoot me down
If I don't do it myself
Most days I just try and sleep
I dream of Hannibal when it was in between
It's not quite day and it's not yet night
We fall asleep to the barges and the fireflies
Lyrics submitted by planetearth
Hannibal, MO Lyrics as written by Alex Trevor James
Lyrics © BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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