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.
However you feel,
Whatever it takes,
Whenever it's real,
Whatever awaits,
Whatever you need,
However so slight,
Whenever it's real,
Whenever it's right.
I've been thinking long and hard
About the things you said to me,
Like a bitter stranger,
And now I see the long,
The short, the middle and what's inbetween,
I could spit on a stranger,
(Pour/pull me out)
You're a bitter stranger.
(Pour me out)
Whatever you feel,
Whatever it takes,
Whenever it's real,
Whatever awaits me,
Whatever you need,
However so slight,
Whenever it leads,
Whenever it's right.
Honey I'm a prize and you're a catch
And we're a perfect match,
Like two bitter strangers,
And now I see the long,
The short of it and I can make it last,
I could spit on a stranger,
(Pour me out)
You're a bitter stranger,
(Pour me out)
I could spit on a stranger,
(Pour me out)
You're a bitter stranger.
(Pour me out)
I see the sunshine in your eyes,
I'll try the things you'll never try,
I'll be the one that leaves
You high...high...high
Whatever it takes,
Whenever it's real,
Whatever awaits,
Whatever you need,
However so slight,
Whenever it's real,
Whenever it's right.
I've been thinking long and hard
About the things you said to me,
Like a bitter stranger,
And now I see the long,
The short, the middle and what's inbetween,
I could spit on a stranger,
(Pour/pull me out)
You're a bitter stranger.
(Pour me out)
Whatever you feel,
Whatever it takes,
Whenever it's real,
Whatever awaits me,
Whatever you need,
However so slight,
Whenever it leads,
Whenever it's right.
Honey I'm a prize and you're a catch
And we're a perfect match,
Like two bitter strangers,
And now I see the long,
The short of it and I can make it last,
I could spit on a stranger,
(Pour me out)
You're a bitter stranger,
(Pour me out)
I could spit on a stranger,
(Pour me out)
You're a bitter stranger.
(Pour me out)
I see the sunshine in your eyes,
I'll try the things you'll never try,
I'll be the one that leaves
You high...high...high
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There is still an amazing amount of hope and will in the lyrics; and the lyrics themselve rank and easy five. If only music was stronger it would be one of those great radio songs that you hear once a week 20 years after it was released. The imagery is almost tear-jerking ("City lights lay out before us", "Speeds so fast felt like I was drunk"), and the idea of starting from nothing and just driving and working and denigrating yourself for a chance at being just above poverty, then losing in the end is just painful and inspiring at the same time.
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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"
Holiday
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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.
Magical
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Ed Sheeran
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What if your crush put this on a mixed tape for you? WOuld you fall in love with him or the band? I fell in love with the band and we'll see how it goes with the crush. I really like this song, two strangers, two different people but both beautiful...
To me this is about having the first thought about beginning a relationship - whether it is a friendship or romantic relationship - with someone. There are people we are around everyday but don't take the moment to acknowledge our perceptions of each other. This song is about that moment.
Everyone we will meet in our lives was a stranger to us at some point. We pass strangers on the street and disregard them, we drive by strangers in traffic, we often observe others lives' or criticize them from a distance. When he says "I could spit on a stranger/you're a bitter stranger" he's referencing that perspective - most strangers we will pass by in life and never think twice about. But then there's the conflicting emotion - "pour me out." Every now and then someone will make their way into our lives unexpectedly and we pour out our emotions to them. We let them in. We allow them to know us. This song is about the beautiful possibility of taking a moment in your life to consider if a stranger has become someone worthwhile to you.
hey now, some people, like myself, never grow up, and hand out mix tapes to crushes well into their 30s. so please, just leave us be.
Um, You definitely got it backwards. Nickel Creek covered Pavement.
I have a different interpretation...
I think the song is about a breakup...he looks back on the breakup and what the other person said and did, and realizes that they are now just strangers again. And bitter strangers. They no longer know eachother.
Strangers don't care for eachother....so he feels like he could just 'spit on a stranger' and it wouldn't even matter to him.
So two people that were once close are now nothing to eachother. There is alot of sarcasm in the glee with which he sings that chorus.
am i the only one who sees this song as anything but hopeful?
i always got the feeling spitting on a stranger was akin to making out with someone for the first time.
I've always thought of this as a love song. He kinda knows the girl, hence the stranger part. He doesn't get the girl but is sure that they're a perfect match. They're both bitter and that's what makes them perfect for each other. I never thought of being bitter as any kind of bad relationship indicator. Weirdly enough.
Pretty song, but you can really feel the narcissist in Malkmus come out in this lyric. It's simple: he thinks he's right for a girl, because they're both assholes :-P He really digs that bitterness of humanity, and that is what he desires in another person. Those are relationships that are hard as hell to maintain, but he feels very confident that he can pull it off (after all, he has the confidence to spin on someone he doesn't even know).
I guess Elusine and Bernlin2000 are on to something here.
"It has a nice ring when you laugh at the low life opinions" anyone?