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.
Your illegal name in watercolor
On a piss stained Frisco truck
Hoping some camera'd catch your face
And the rain came down
And the fat worms show up like seared shut
Half clotted blood vein sections
Fast fossil drying up
You've got no God hand in the when of a raindrop
And the paint that you use was waterbased
The sound of light rain and burning leaves is the same
The hound in night's brain learning dreams is untamed
There'll be a time for drying up and dying on sidewalks
Years for beards in the bushes in someone's backyard
Dead dog in the shade
Like an empty old seed pod
Did you stay up all night
Sprawled out over a xerox enlargement of my placecard
Weeping backstage
With the pretty plus ones ignoring you
(Ooh) these are selfish times
(Ooh) these are selfish times
(Ooh) these are selfish times
I got shellfish dimes
And sand dollars
I'll no longer be the whit. or gaylords heavy
The glasses, beard and big wig must go
I did not play bigger bank in the backseat
Of the cheese that seemed risky
But my jeans were called huskys
I wrote this one on chipped dead elephant ivory
When they come I close the closet door
I wanted to breathe on beat
And go a fifth higher
Than my physical voice was coined for
I wanted to serve with hunger
But my gut split
And the hunger man poured into war
(Ooh) these are selfish times
(Ooh) these are selfish times
(Ooh) these are selfish times
I got shellfish dimes
And sand dollars
Did you stay up all night
Sprawled out over a xerox enlargement of my placecard
Weeping backstage with the plus one babes
(No!)
On a piss stained Frisco truck
Hoping some camera'd catch your face
And the rain came down
And the fat worms show up like seared shut
Half clotted blood vein sections
Fast fossil drying up
You've got no God hand in the when of a raindrop
And the paint that you use was waterbased
The sound of light rain and burning leaves is the same
The hound in night's brain learning dreams is untamed
There'll be a time for drying up and dying on sidewalks
Years for beards in the bushes in someone's backyard
Dead dog in the shade
Like an empty old seed pod
Did you stay up all night
Sprawled out over a xerox enlargement of my placecard
Weeping backstage
With the pretty plus ones ignoring you
(Ooh) these are selfish times
(Ooh) these are selfish times
(Ooh) these are selfish times
I got shellfish dimes
And sand dollars
I'll no longer be the whit. or gaylords heavy
The glasses, beard and big wig must go
I did not play bigger bank in the backseat
Of the cheese that seemed risky
But my jeans were called huskys
I wrote this one on chipped dead elephant ivory
When they come I close the closet door
I wanted to breathe on beat
And go a fifth higher
Than my physical voice was coined for
I wanted to serve with hunger
But my gut split
And the hunger man poured into war
(Ooh) these are selfish times
(Ooh) these are selfish times
(Ooh) these are selfish times
I got shellfish dimes
And sand dollars
Did you stay up all night
Sprawled out over a xerox enlargement of my placecard
Weeping backstage with the plus one babes
(No!)
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings
Standing On The Edge Of Summer
Thursday
Thursday
Cajun Girl
Little Feat
Little Feat
Overall about difficult moments of disappointment and vulnerability. Having hope and longing, while remaining optimistic for the future. Encourages the belief that with each new morning there is a chance for things to improve.
The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future.
Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
Silent Planet
I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
When We Were Young
Blink-182
Blink-182
This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
Plastic Bag
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Plastic Bag” is a song about searching for an escape from personal problems and hoping to find it in the lively atmosphere of a Saturday night party. Ed Sheeran tells the story of his friend and the myriad of troubles he is going through. Unable to find any solutions, this friend seeks a last resort in a party and the vanity that comes with it.
“I overthink and have trouble sleepin’ / All purpose gone and don’t have a reason / And there’s no doctor to stop this bleedin’ / So I left home and jumped in the deep end,” Ed Sheeran sings in verse one. He continues by adding that this person is feeling the weight of having disappointed his father and doesn’t have any friends to rely on in this difficult moment. In the second verse, Ed sings about the role of grief in his friend’s plight and his dwindling faith in prayer. “Saturday night is givin’ me a reason to rely on the strobe lights / The lifeline of a promise in a shot glass, and I’ll take that / If you’re givin’ out love from a plastic bag,” Ed sings on the chorus, as his friend turns to new vices in hopes of feeling better.
The line:
"I wrote this one on chipped dead elephant ivory" seems to be about writing it on an old piano. I don't know, that's just what I got.
Sanddollars = what you get one you blow coke through a dollar bill?
i think that this song is talking about fame and how u dont really have much of a chance in the lines "i got shelfish dimes and sandollars" means that not everything revolves around money and that there are more beautiful things in life. It is also kind of about destroying the planet if u read carfully.
Great song. I think it/s mostly about avarice.
It seems like this song is about trying to get recognition and fame, but continually being regected. Like the first verse seems to be about tagging the side of a truck but the rain just cleans it off.
i can relate to the coke references that were posted below, especially because coke seems to a be a theme in this ablum, albeit a minor one. .
im currently reading watership down for a class and find the lines " I'll no longer be the whit. or gaylords heavy The glasses, beard and big wig must go"
can pertain to the character big wig in that book... if anyone else has read it lemme know what u think
"When they come I close the closet door" sounds like voyeurism imagery, doesn't it?
The theories here suggesting that this song is about coke are pretty lame. I mean, just cos of the line 'did you stay up all night'? And suggesting that 'elephant ivory' is cocaine is pretty fanciful. TTOCCS suggestion that it is a piano is far more believable.
I have a question. Yoni sings in the first and the second person, that is he seems to be singing about somebody else. What do people think?
While I don't think this song is about coke, but I wouldn't be surprised if Yoni stuck in a line that alluded to it. Crushed Bones is on the same album is definitely about coke and most of Why?'s albums have recurring themes between tracks (death, sex, drugs, etc). <br /> <br /> But enough hair splitting! Why? rules and this is an awesome album!
I agree that the first verse is about washed off graffiti on the side of a truck (your illegal name in watercolor on a ... frisco truck). googling frisco trucks brings up tagged trucks from san francisco, which is known for being a graffiti capital.
i read this as someone who's so desperate for fame or attention (hoping some camera'd catch your face) that the singer finds it pathetic when he sees this person's name getting washed off the truck because of actual forces they can't control (you've got no God hand in the when of a raindrop).
then again i've never heard of waterbased graffiti paint, so who knows. chalk it up to metaphor maybe, dunno.
can't figure out what the worms are about. Are they actual worms? i want to read them as runny red paint drips from half dried, already obsolete graffiti (a 'fast fossil') but that's probably way too much of a stretch, haha. also doesn't explain why they're 'seared'.
i'm pretty sure this song is about coke/drugs and the greed that comes with that. there's a lot of references. "(half) clotted blood vein sections, (fast) fossil dried up" the coke is boosting his confidence.
"the hound in night's brain learning dreams is untamed." god i love that line. my dog sandy is a really submissive, sweet yellow lab. but when she goes to sleep she twitches and snarls, i suppose working out her aggression in her dreams. the energy and power trip from a nice line is allowing him to do this while awake.
"did you stay up all night" derf. "I wrote this one on chipped dead elephant ivory" unique description of cocaine. "I wanted to serve with hunger, but my gut split And the hunger man poured into war" coke makes you hungry, is quite mentally addictive, etc. etc.
pretty sweet jam.
Once, someone explained to me that if a dime of marijuana ($10 worth) comes packaged in cellophane and the supplier used a lighter to seal it off, this adds to the weight thus you get less product. This is referred to as a "selfish dime." I think it's a cincinnati thing, which would make sense...