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.
Where the doors are humming all day long
Where the stairs are leading dusk to dawn
Where the windows are breathing in the light
Where the rooms are a collection of our lives
This is a place where I don't feel alone
This is a place that I call my home
There is a house built out of stone
Wooden floors, walls and window sills
Tables and chairs worn by all of the dust
This is a place where I don't feel alone
This is a place where I feel at home
And I built a home
For you
For me
Until it disappeared
From me
From you
And now, it's time to leave and turn to dust
Out in the garden where we planted the seeds
There is a tree as old as me
Branches were sewn by the color of green
Ground had arose and passed it's knees
By the cracks of the skin I climbed to the top
I climbed the tree to see the world
When the gusts came around to blow me down
I held on as tightly as you held onto me
I held on as tightly as you held onto me
And I built a home
For you
For me
Until it disappeared
From me
From you
And now, it's time to leave and turn to dust
Where the stairs are leading dusk to dawn
Where the windows are breathing in the light
Where the rooms are a collection of our lives
This is a place where I don't feel alone
This is a place that I call my home
There is a house built out of stone
Wooden floors, walls and window sills
Tables and chairs worn by all of the dust
This is a place where I don't feel alone
This is a place where I feel at home
And I built a home
For you
For me
Until it disappeared
From me
From you
And now, it's time to leave and turn to dust
Out in the garden where we planted the seeds
There is a tree as old as me
Branches were sewn by the color of green
Ground had arose and passed it's knees
By the cracks of the skin I climbed to the top
I climbed the tree to see the world
When the gusts came around to blow me down
I held on as tightly as you held onto me
I held on as tightly as you held onto me
And I built a home
For you
For me
Until it disappeared
From me
From you
And now, it's time to leave and turn to dust
Lyrics submitted by Jonzard, edited by llamachama
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Great version of a great song,
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your words are infinitely powerful. i am moved. you need to keep speaking
For this exact reason is why I love this site. Ordinary people from all over the world coming together to share their different thoughts, none of them being in the slightest way incorrect, and each perspective being incredibly profound in it's own way. This is my idea of inspiration!
This is a beautiful song, no doubt, but the second verse in particular is one of the most beautiful uses of imagery I've heard in a long time.
The tree is quite obviously representative of the writer and, quite frankly, makes me want to plant a tree for my kids if/when I have them.
The line "branches were sewn by the color green" indicates the tree/writer has grown into a healthy mature being.
That said, the "cracks of the skin" with which the tree was climbed indicate that the growth experienced has not been without some difficulties/scars. The fact that the tree was climbed by these cracks is very poignant in the sense that we typically learn/grow from our mistakes and, provided we actually learn/grow, this is what allows us to "rise" and see the world.
The last part of this verse almost brought me to tears when I first heard it simply because of the simplicity of the comparison... hanging on for dear life atop a tree blowing in the wind is very much like hanging on for dear life amidst a dying love. I think we've all been there and I'm not sure I need to say much more.
Ultimately I think this song stands for the notion that, no matter how solid or stable or satisfying something is (whether it be a house, your beliefs or a relationship), nothing is permanent and no matter how tightly we hold onto things/people, sometimes they disappear anyway. Although it is sad in a certain respect, I think it really speaks more to enjoying the moments we have when we have them without any expectations of permanence. In other words, we can either focus on the tragedy of the fleeting nature of these things; the difficulty of choice between a past life and a new one; or we can focus on the beauty of the moments in which we live and have lived and will continue to live with the knowledge that they too will pass.
stupid and naive interpretation
@dibo Beautiful interpretation. Don't listen to old "BBOGHEAD".<br /> <br /> If you must hold on to anything, let it be the fruits of those seemingly permanent harvests.
@dibo You have pinpoint insight and write lyrically. You have to be a writer by trade! Thanks for the deconstruction and interpretation ;)
@dibo
@dibo
@dibo your interpretation of this song is incredibly Insightful. I was especially moved by your last paragraph. It brought me to tears. So you think, though, that perhaps either the author or her lover is dying?
@dibo don’t know if you will see this considering you commented this in 2007 and it’s now 2021 but you are spot on with this couldn’t agree more hope your doing well 14 years later this comment actually hit me deep and reminded me what I already knew you gotta just live for the moments everything is temporary and you gotta make the most of it while trying not to focus on the BS
@dibo Thank you, I really enjoyed reading this. I like the interpretation, I appreciate that you shared it.
@dibo i love this interpretation. This song is one if not is my favourite song of all time, and reading what you said i couldn't agree more i hope your doing well 15 years later man much love.
@dibo i love this interpretation. This song is one if not is my favourite song of all time, and reading what you said i couldn't agree more i hope your doing well 15 years later man much love.
this song to me represents the impermanence of all things....bittersweet and hauntingly beautiful
yes i agree very strongly with that! beautifully said!
to me this song is a description of life. Once you get old enough you realize that you don't belong, that nowhere in this beautiful world do you feel at home. But then you find love and make a home because love is where we belong. But the world allows us to grow old, whither and die, from dust to dust; our home disappears and in time so does our love.
wow!! but lame that it was on grey's anatomy
This song stirs something in me. It’s more than the lyrics; which are beautiful. But the way the artist sings this ballad. His tone is so intimate. The song is sung as though no one is listening, just the artist and his thoughts. I like that.
In the end though, I think the song is about something simple. To me it makes me think of my Dad — all the good times and all the lost time. His imagery viscerally conjures this ascendance and eventual decline. The artist isn’t overly lamenting the situation. He’s still fond of what he had and understanding of what is to come. Things come and go, but we live, we love, and we always remember.
He built a life with this woman. They constructed their home, nurtured a garden with a tall tree, but then she died. She "turned to dust". She "held on tightly", but she passed away, and now his home is just a home that is empty and his garden is just a garden with tall grassy weeds, and he climbs to the top of that tree that together they saw develop into greatness and looks out at the world, a world without the woman he loves. ... That's just my interpretation. It's a great song for a contemporary dance, though - just saying (:
Oh, I meant to say I think he kills himself in the end - to be with her, cause there is no point in living in a world without her... okay, sorry - that's the end haha
Thats what i got aswell its not a happy song its a morbid song.
the foundation of life, love, sorrow, not knowing, being a powerless human being, the fragility of once existence and the obscurity of all the above.
this is what I think of when hearing this song.
When I listen to this song I picture a man thinking back to a person he loved and lost; a man, who has put time and effort into creating something functional, something for him and his loved one to share. However, their relationship becomes rough and hurtful to a point where it is dysfunctional. Devastated and furious, he learns to accepts what has come to them.
I think that this song is about someone who sacrificed a lot for someone they love; who, for some reason, broke their heart. I don't think that this person necessarily passed away or left them, but perhaps that they "dimmed up", became unreachable to the person, without any ability to share a life with the person. I imagine an Alzheimer patient becoming more and more distant as the time goes by, or someone who went through something traumatic (possibly together with the person) that destroyed them. I imagine the person watch it happen, without being able to do a thing to stop the process and I imagine him (in the chorus) to find it unfair. "I built a home for you and for me, just to have it taken away by this, and now I have to give up and realise it is all gone"
At the beginning of the song he is describing this house, and it seems like its not that perfect. I think that the "house" represent their love. Their love and relationship is not perfect but, their bond is as strong as stone, and their love and relationship makes him feel happy and "at home". Next, he says, "Cause I built a home for you and for me". I feel like at this part he is trying to say that he has built the walls of love for him and for her. Then he says, "until it disappeared from you, from me". What he is trying to say here is that something unfortunate has happened and they will no longer be together anymore which leads to "And now, it's time to leave and turn to dust" which in my opinion means that it is time to leave the past and let his love for her turn to dust. It then says that out in the garden they planted a seed, i think by seed, they mean the seed of life, love and family. Then in the song it says that he climbs the tree to see the world, and to me that means that he is climbing out of his sadness and depression and looking out into his future, but then the "gusts came around to blow him down", which I think means that the memories of his beloved are coming back to him and trying to knock him down off the tree and back down to his sadness and depression, but instead he held on tight and held onto his future like she and him held onto their love. Then again, he says that he built a home a home for him and for her, until it disappeared from them, and then its says and now, it's time to leave and turn to dust, this all means what I said at the top.....in my opinion it means that he built his love, then something happened with their relationship, and now he leaves and waits for their love to turn to dust.
You might be right but the house might be a aspiration as itself or just a step closer to love. In life you have to reach certain things to reach love which most people don't accomplish...