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.
Nothing could be bring me closer
Nothing could be bring me near
Where is the road I follow
To leave, leave?
It's under, under, under my feet
The sea spread out there before me
Where do I go when the land touches sea?
There is my trust in what I believe
That's what keeps me
That's what keeps me
That's what keeps me down
To leave, believe it
Leave it all behind
Shifting the dream
Nothing could bring me further
From my old friend time
Shifting the dream
It's charging the scene
I know where I marked the signs
I suffer the dreams of a world gone mad
I like it like that and I know it
I know it well, ugly and sweet
That temper madness with an even extreme
That's what keeps me
That's what keeps me
That's what keeps me down
I say that I'm a bantam lightweight
I say that I'm a phantom airplane
That never left the ground
Lift my hands, my eyes are still
I'll walk into the sea
Lift myself a different place
Just leave it
I've longed for this to take me
I've longed for my release
I've waited for the callin'
To leave
That's what keeps me
That's what keeps me
That's what keeps me down
To leave, believe it
Leave it all behind
That's what keeps me
That's what keeps me
That's what keeps me down
To leave, believe it
Leave it all behind
Leave, leavin'
Leave, leave, leave
Leave, leave, leavin'
Leave, leave, leave
Nothing could be bring me near
Where is the road I follow
To leave, leave?
It's under, under, under my feet
The sea spread out there before me
Where do I go when the land touches sea?
There is my trust in what I believe
That's what keeps me
That's what keeps me
That's what keeps me down
To leave, believe it
Leave it all behind
Shifting the dream
Nothing could bring me further
From my old friend time
Shifting the dream
It's charging the scene
I know where I marked the signs
I suffer the dreams of a world gone mad
I like it like that and I know it
I know it well, ugly and sweet
That temper madness with an even extreme
That's what keeps me
That's what keeps me
That's what keeps me down
I say that I'm a bantam lightweight
I say that I'm a phantom airplane
That never left the ground
Lift my hands, my eyes are still
I'll walk into the sea
Lift myself a different place
Just leave it
I've longed for this to take me
I've longed for my release
I've waited for the callin'
To leave
That's what keeps me
That's what keeps me
That's what keeps me down
To leave, believe it
Leave it all behind
That's what keeps me
That's what keeps me
That's what keeps me down
To leave, believe it
Leave it all behind
Leave, leavin'
Leave, leave, leave
Leave, leave, leavin'
Leave, leave, leave
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The Night We Met
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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"
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.
No Surprises
Radiohead
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.
Amazing
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran tells a story of unsuccessfully trying to feel “Amazing.” This track is about the being weighed down by emotional stress despite valiant attempts to find some positivity in the situation. This track was written by Ed Sheeran from the perspective of his friend. From the track, we see this person fall deeper into the negative thoughts and slide further down the path of mental torment with every lyric.
"The idea is to remain in a state of constant departure while always arriving." -- Waking Life
Transcience.
At the song's heart, we find a protagonist that is desperate to go, losing themselves in anger, "sorrow" and "pain". Shortly after, REM would cease being a quartet and become a trio when drummer Bill Berry left the band in1997 saying "ready to sit back and reflect & maybe not be a pop star anymore".
I'm not a fan of these guys, really, but this is probably in my top 10 songs of all time. yeah, i'm one of those assholes who does the top 10 lists. i hate it too. anyway, it's a great song and i strongly suggest it notice how much i misspelled the last couple of words? shit.
i love this song too, the 'a life less ordinary'-version doesn't matter with the misspelling ;) think it's clear what the right words are...
i love this, it makes me want to cry
well, i must say i'm not very into rem, but this song really surprised me, i used to think they were a boring country group. now, i will download and listen to their music. the album this song is in is also very good
I have always been a large R.E.M. fan but would only listen to their old albums. I was a snotty close-minded fan, that thought R.E.M. was finished after Green. I woke from a nap to this song and instantly realized the quality of it. New Adventures has become perhaps my favorite R.E.M. album and I now appriciate all R.E.M. has done. Their music has matured with the band.
Song is about death, the death of an era of life after the troubles REM went through inbetween Automatci and New Adventures. History is painful and hard to leave behind.....
Yeah Malegna - whenever I hear this song all I see is Robert and Celene from A Life Less Ordinary running through the forest. FAB SONG!!