Squeaky swings and tall grass
The longest shadows ever cast
The waters warm and children swim
We frolicked about in our summer skin

I don't recall a single care
Just greenery and humid air
Then Labor Day came and went
And we shed what was left of our summer skin

On the night you left I came over
And we peeled the freckles from our shoulders
Our brand new coats so flushed and pink
And I knew your heart I couldn't win
Cause the seasons change was a conduit
And we'd left our love in our summer skin


Lyrics submitted by sethbrown

Summer Skin Lyrics as written by Christopher Ryan Walla Benjamin D. Gibbard

Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.

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Summer Skin song meanings
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  • +7
    General Comment

    Well, on the surface this song is about a summer romance coming to an end. But I think it is about alot more than that.

    I think it is about how many of the good things in your life, like being able to be totally carefree when you are young, come to an end eventually. And how it doesn't neccessarily take some major event to bring about a major change in your life, where one phase ends and another begins....sometimes it is as simple and natural as the summer coming to an end.....

    This song is beautifully arranged and produced. I think the most brilliant thing about it is how, at least for me, the lyrics create such vivid imagery about such plain, ordinary things like "squeaking swings and tall grass". That one line immediately draws me into the context of the song and makes me FEEL like I used to feel at the end of summer when I was a kid...when you can tell that the days are getting a little shorter and the sun is just a little bit lower in the sky. Those are just subtle environmental cues, but you notice them subconciuosly, and you know that the summer is going to be over soon, and that your life is going to change and you'll be moving on to other things.

    I'll admit it, this song makes me cry sometimes...

    JG in SBon September 01, 2005   Link

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