Does he kiss your eyelids in the morning when you start to raise your head?
And does he sing to you incessantly from the space between your bed and wall?
Does he walk around all day at school with his feet inside your shoes?
Looking down every few steps to pretend he walks with you.
Does he know that place below your neck that is your favorite to be touched
And does he cry through broken sentences like I love you far too much?
Does he lay awake listening to your breath?
Worried that you smoke too many cigarettes.
Is he coughing now on a bathroom floor?
For every speck of tile there are a thousand more
That you won't ever see but most hold inside yourself eternally.

I drug your ghost across the country and we plotted out my death.
In every city, memories would whisper: "Here is where you rest."
I was determined in Chicago but I dug my teeth into my knees
And I settled for a telephone and sang into your machine.

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine
You are my sunshine, my only sunshine

I kissed a girl with a broken jaw that her father gave to her.
She had eyes bright enough to burn me. They reminded me of yours.
In a story told she was a little girl in a red-rouge,
Sun-bruised field and there were rows of ripe tomatoes where a secret was concealed.
And it rose like thunder, clapped under our hands.
And it stretched for centuries to a diary entry's end where I wrote,

You make me happy whoa! When the skies are gray
You make me happy whoa! The skies are gray and gray and gray.

Well the clock's heart it hangs inside its open chest with its hands
Stretched towards the calendar hanging itself but I will not weep for those dying days.
For all the ones who have left there are a few that stayed.
And they found me here and pulled me from the grass where I was laid.



Lyrics submitted by PLANES

Track duration: 03:55

"The Calendar Hung Itself..." as written by Oberst

Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

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The Calendar Hung Itself . . . song meanings
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  • 0
    My Interpretation:Personally I think when he tells the bit about the girl, he's talking about the same girl he's talking about through the whole song. Obviously her father beat her, and possibly molested her too? ("Rows of ripe tomatoes where a secret was concealed"?) And he's just reminding her of when it all happened, and he was there for her. "It rose like thunder, clapped under our hands / And it stretched for centuries to the diary entry's end", he's saying from that moment, his relationship with her went on, and put him where he is now. At its - and his - end.
    Flag SpontaneousAsplosionon December 28, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I always thought he was saying "Well, I drag your ghost across the country"
    Flag CloudControlon December 09, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:This song gives the goosebumps. To hear and read. It explains they way I'm feeling and says the things I'm thinking.
    Flag Helloastronaughton December 02, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:i <3 the last five lines. makes me think of the chorus to hurt by nin.
    Flag squirrelliekaton September 20, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:i can relate to this song, right now. x[ bright eyes lyrics can make you so sick, no?
    Flag squirrelliekaton August 21, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:This is the sing that got me into bright eyes and it was the first song i heard.
    I cant hear this over and cover and i cant get tired of it. And for the rest of the bright eyes songs.They all can relate too me in a way i could never relate to music.Thank you conor.
    Flag BnaHvkx11on August 02, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:*song
    Flag maemion January 22, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I haven't listened to Bright Eyes in a while, but this ong and his voice makes me want to cry today
    Flag maemion January 22, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:"Does he lay awake listening to your breath
    Worried you smoke too many cigarettes?
    Is he coughing now on a bathroom floor?
    For every speck of tile there's a thousand more
    You won’t ever see, but must hold inside yourself
    Eternally"

    nuff said
    <3
    Flag foreveryoursxon January 16, 2009   Link
  • 0
    Song Meaning:I think that the song is about a girl he loved who left him for someone else, and he's just completely obsessed with her now. And since he can’t have her back he’s going to kill himself so maybe then she’d remember him and what not, but he can’t bring himself to do it so he settles for leaving a song on her message machine. And when he says “Well, I drug your ghost across the country” I think he meant that he traveled with her memory to places they had gone together, and “In every city, memories would whisper ‘Here is where you rest...’” he’s saying that he cant live without her, or that he will never forget her, or he will forever live in the past. And about the girl who’s abused, he might be saying that he was trying to move on, but she was still on his mind, and that he couldn’t escape her memory… I don’t know just my opinion. Ultimately I think it’s a song of love that lead to obsession, it’s creepy, and the music is undeniably creepy. This is a great song, one of my Bright Eyes favorites, and I love the music.
    Flag Drinking Mercuryon December 23, 2008   Link

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