Montreal is
Where I began to feel inside
The gray sadness of winter.
When you told me that this isn't it,
And I drove away.

Walking to the statue in the park,
Through snow drifts up over our knees,
And every street sign written in French.
We sat by the statue.
You looked in my eyes,
Then said, "I'm so sorry."

Later, laying on your bed,
Wondering what's going wrong.
Every time I'd ask you'd start crying,
And whisper, "I don't know why,
I only know what I feel,
What a voice says to me"

I may be here now
But I've never left Montreal


Lyrics submitted by gleebs

Montreal Lyrics as written by Kevin Barnes

Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.

Lyrics powered by LyricFind

Montreal song meanings
Add Your Thoughts

4 Comments

sort form View by:
  • 0
    General Comment

    oh. i don't think he's ever sounded this heartbroken, and it just gets you down so much. You just wanna hold him and tell him everything will be ok.

    pumkinhedon February 03, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I completely agree. This song is so sad, without being whiny. It's amazing, and it breaks my heart every time.

    lepidoptera3on April 06, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I wish I could love Kevin Barnes. Well, in person.

    ElyseKernon September 08, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    this is possibly the most beautiful song Kevin Barnes has written. It's so sad, and it really moves me. I really like it.

    I'm pretty sure it's about his failed relationship with his girlfriend from Montreal, which of course led to the name of the band.

    abgcunited11on March 05, 2008   Link

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

Album art
Fortnight
Taylor Swift
The song 'Fortnight' by Taylor Swift and Post Malone tells a story about strong feelings, complicated relationships, and secret wishes. It talks about love, betrayal, and wanting someone who doesn't feel the same. The word 'fortnight' shows short-lived happiness and guilty pleasures, leading to sadness. It shows how messy relationships can be and the results of hiding emotions. “I was supposed to be sent away / But they forgot to come and get me,” she kickstarts the song in the first verse with lines suggesting an admission to a hospital for people with mental illnesses. She goes in the verse admitting her lover is the reason why she is like this. In the chorus, she sings about their time in love and reflects on how he has now settled with someone else. “I took the miracle move-on drug, the effects were temporary / And I love you, it’s ruining my life,” on the second verse she details her struggles to forget about him and the negative effects of her failure. “Thought of callin’ ya, but you won’t pick up / ‘Nother fortnight lost in America,” Post Malone sings in the outro.
Album art
Cajun Girl
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”
Album art
When We Were Young
Blink-182
This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
Album art
No Surprises
Radiohead
Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
Album art
Blue
Ed Sheeran
“Blue” is a song about a love that is persisting in the discomfort of the person experiencing the emotion. Ed Sheeran reflects on love lost, and although he wishes his former partner find happiness, he cannot but admit his feelings are still very much there. He expresses the realization that he might never find another on this stringed instrumental by Aaron Dessner.