This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
If we can call them friends then we can call them on their telephones
And they won't pretend that they're too busy or that they're not alone
And if we can call them friends then we can call
Holler at them down these hallowed halls
Just don't let the human factor fail to be a factor
At all
Don't, don't you worry, about the atmosphere
Or any sudden pressure change
Cause I know
That it's starting to get warm in here
And things are starting to get strange
And did you, did you see how all of our friends were there
And they're drinking roses from the can?
And how, how I wish I, I had talked to them,
And I wish they fit into the plan
And we were tired of being mild
We were so tired of being mild
And we were tired
I know we're going to meet some day
In the crumbled financial institutions of this land
There will be tables and chairs
There'll be pony rides and dancing bears
There'll even be a band
Cause listen, after the fall there will be no more countries
No currencies at all, we're gonna live on our wits
We're gonna throw away survival kits,
Trade butterfly-knives for adderal
And that's not all
Ooh-ooh, there will be snacks there will
There will be snacks, there will be snacks.
And we were tired of being mild,
We were so tired of being mild,
And we were (we were so) tired
So don't you,
Don't you worry
About the atmosphere.
And they won't pretend that they're too busy or that they're not alone
And if we can call them friends then we can call
Holler at them down these hallowed halls
Just don't let the human factor fail to be a factor
At all
Don't, don't you worry, about the atmosphere
Or any sudden pressure change
Cause I know
That it's starting to get warm in here
And things are starting to get strange
And did you, did you see how all of our friends were there
And they're drinking roses from the can?
And how, how I wish I, I had talked to them,
And I wish they fit into the plan
And we were tired of being mild
We were so tired of being mild
And we were tired
I know we're going to meet some day
In the crumbled financial institutions of this land
There will be tables and chairs
There'll be pony rides and dancing bears
There'll even be a band
Cause listen, after the fall there will be no more countries
No currencies at all, we're gonna live on our wits
We're gonna throw away survival kits,
Trade butterfly-knives for adderal
And that's not all
Ooh-ooh, there will be snacks there will
There will be snacks, there will be snacks.
And we were tired of being mild,
We were so tired of being mild,
And we were (we were so) tired
So don't you,
Don't you worry
About the atmosphere.
Lyrics submitted by kemekongka
Tables and Chairs Lyrics as written by Andrew Wegman Bird
Lyrics © Wixen Music Publishing
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
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i'm in love with him...seen him perform 4 times now. When he plays this song he tells you that it's a story of how lovely things will be after the apocalypse! There will be tables and chairs...snacks...and all your real friends will be there... And I think "Armchair Apocalypse" is gonna be the title track on his next album!!!
In the live concert that is linked from andrewbird.net - before this song he says...
"This song is about the Apocalypse, and how great it's gonna be, when we can start over"
I love that outlook
i was driving to housesit at my grandparents house which is at least ten miles from where i live. the current price of gas is high, so this trip that i find myself taking frequently is costing a lot. i'd been having a rotten week, people were acting subtlely annoyed with me, and the moment that andrew bird began talking about his excitement about SNACKS i laughed. i felt better. thanks andrew.
insomnia + boredom + paint shop pro = :) i41.photobucket.com/albums/e296/shelieh/snacks.jpg
trade butterfly-knives for adderal we were tired of being mild
i think this song is about it being the last day of earth (in some form or another) and the narrator has to choose the one person he wants to spend the rest of his remaining time with, and in doing so he has other realizations about just what "friends" are.
"if we can call them friends then we can call them on their telephones/and they won't pretend that they're too busy or that they're not alone"
This part is really delightfully simple and sweet.
pheonix: thanks for the spot, now that i listen to it, it's definitively mild and not mired. and adderal does fit in.
do i run rare? (
right, guess i'll just pick up where i left off, seeing how songmeanings hates me ever so much:
do i run rare? (loving the newsom reference) i love that part as well, in fact, the first "verse" is what made me obsess over this song for so long.
"just don't let the human factor fail to be a factor" is just amazingly pretty
as for my take on the song, it is of course horribly subjective and quite possibly one hundred percent wrong, but i see it as some sort of post-economic-apocolypse party song. once all the rules and regulations go to hell we all just kiss, hug and turn into one euphoric world state.
*on red telephones **there'll even be a band
i think the album sort of builds up to this song and that this is about heaven of some sort.
"...
...
...
I know we're gonna meet someday-"
That part is awesome.