Lyrics for A Song to Pass the Time as interpreted by PLANES

A Song to Pass the Time Lyrics
There is a middle-aged woman dragging her feet
She carries baskets of clothes to a laundromat
While the Mexican children kick rocks into the street
And they laugh in a language I don’t understand
But I love them
Why do I love them?
So the neighborhood is dimming as I smoke on the porch
And watch the people as they pass enclosed inside their cars
And on their faces, just anger or disappointment
I start wishing there was something I could offer them
A consolation, what could I offer them?
When they are sad in their suburbs, robots water the lawn
And everything they touch gets dusted spotless
So they start to believe that they haven’t touched anything at all
While the cars in the driveway only multiply
They are lost in their houses
I have heard them sing in the shower and making speeches to their sister on the telephone
Saying, "You come home
Darling, you come here
Don’t stay so far away from me"
This weather has me wanting love more tangible
Something I can hold because it’s getting cold
So let's hold up our fists to the flame in the sky
To block out the light that is reaching for our eyes
Because it would blind us
It will blind us
Now I have locked my actions in the grooves of routine
So I may never be free of this apathy
But I wait for a letter that is coming to me
She sends me pictures of the ocean in an envelope
So there still is hope
Yes, I can be healed
There is someone looking for what I concealed
In my secret drawer, in my pockets deep
You will find the reasons that I can’t sleep
And you will still want me
But will you still want me?
Well, I say come for the week
You can sleep in my bed
And then pass through my life like a dream through my head
It will be easy
I will make it easy
But all I have for the moment is a song to pass the time
A melody to keep me from worrying
Oh, some simple progression to keep my fingers busy
And some words that are sure to come back to me
And they will be laughing
My mediocrity
My mediocrity

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  • 54 Comments
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ally8star
01-05-2002

Rated 0 
this songs is too awesome

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tinkerbella
01-29-2002

Rated 0 
this song is beautiful

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AndForgetMeNots
04-13-2002

Rated 0 
Why cant I write like Conor?! He is so brilliant.

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ifxwinterxends
04-27-2002

Rated 0 
yes, conor oberst is a genius..by any chance does you name have any connection with the saves the day song "Holly Hox, Forget Me Nots", AndForgetMeNots?

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vacantjoshs
07-21-2002

Rated 0 
we all know the songs are good you don't have to tell us again

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emofolkkid
08-03-2002

Rated 0 


yep that explains it enough i would say

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ConfessionalFinch
09-24-2002

Rated 0 
Woah no need to get sand in your vagina, people can express how much they like his lyrics and how good he is if they want.

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xTinkerBell138x
09-25-2002

Rated 0 
"no need to get sand in your vagina"! thats hysterical...

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hopeless_completely
10-05-2002

Rated -1 
Omg...that is too funny!!! ahhh! yeh i notice no bright eyes fan wonderwhat the lyrics mean its just "beautifull" and "genius".

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FamilyDog
03-05-2003

Rated 0 
the lyrics mean what it means
whats to wonder about?

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snapshotofsunrise
04-16-2003

Rated 0 
the best part about this song is "this weather has me wanting love more tangible.." if you don't understand this song please just go cry

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BowlOfOranges
04-29-2003

Rated 0 
I think it is kind of funny that this is a website where people are supposed to figure out what an artist is saying (hence the title Songmeanings.net) yet all I ever read when looking up comments are how the song is beautiful and people writing the lyrics YET again just to say "that is good". I mean, I am not opposed to the whole concept, but I do know that there are bright eyes discussion boards for that stuff and I think it would be nice if people use this website for the purpose that it was meant to be used for...figuring out what a song is trying to say.

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ruchlax
05-03-2003

Rated 0 
Well, bowloforanges, have you tried to figure it out? because like a lot of other bright eyes stuff, it seems to be about people leading empty lives and just wanting to connect to smeone. Then again, like the title says...

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atarisemokid
05-05-2003

Rated 0 
I saw Bright Eyes 4/28 and the show was brilliant, this song was tear-jerking. This has become one of my favorite songs. It's about feeling empty (like ruchlax said) yet wanting to feel needed and loved.

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XUsedbutBrandNewX
06-15-2003

Rated 0 
Some things are better off not picked apart.

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dorareever
04-16-2004

Rated 0 
Once upon a time...I didn't like this song. it seemed out of place especially on fevers&mirrors...but now...I think I finally get it. He goes outward instead of inward. again...it might be a stretch but all those descriptions of people remind me of Baudelaire, the section in the Fleurs Du Mal called Tableux Parisiens, which are actually the same thing. Trying to find a bit of hope outside, not because the world is good, but because other people suffer like you. Trying to find it through compassion, as in "suffering together".
and I'm not sure...but the last lines...it means that the song is above himself and so when it's written and sung the words will laugh at him...because the SONG he's better than HIM (I know he wrote the song, but a song stands up on itself somehow, it has a life in itself-or better it's the only good thing he can do),
or that people will laugh at him generally and in that case I don't like it much. Too self-pitying. But last lines aside, a very good song, especially like I said all those sad pictures of sad normal folk.

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Dianax
11-19-2004

Rated 0 
He sounds drunk when he sings this.

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_aeronautical
11-24-2004

Rated 0 
sometimes live he sings :

"come for the week, you can sleep in my bed
&unwrap me like a birthday present. I will be
easy. I will be easy for you."

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indierockchick27
11-29-2004

Rated 0 
the general feeling of this song is so completely sad. just to want to give everything away to help everyone else because it kills to see the pain that is going. its universal...the pain that we feel. i mean think about it. every song you realy i mean REALLY feel connected to is sad. its how we connect.

i felt this way when i left for college. it just sucked so bad and i needed the warmth of the love that felt so far away.

Yes, I can be healed.
There is someone looking for what I concealed in my secret drawer, in my pockets deep, you will
find the reasons that I can’t sleep and you will still want me. but will you still want me?

this is how i feel a lot about relationships. its like once they see the artist the dwells inside, they run away. maybe just once they won't...

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screenwrite
12-29-2004

Rated 0 
I agree with indierockchick. Possibly my favorite song on Fevers and Mirrors. I love the way he drops and raises his voice at such parts and this song, among others, a beautiful feeling of well, sadness. This song makes me cry everytime I hear it.

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promisexkept
01-27-2005

Rated 0 
something about this song is really sad. I guess its just the melody,or the overall feeling on Fevers.., but I just find this song really sad.
The lyrics have a tinge of hope,he talks about how there is someone out there that really understands him,yet he's not sure if she wants him or not.
And the things he's noticing,the safety of routine coming from the neighbors and the kids that he wants to befriend because they're lives are so simple and easy, and the miserable middle aged woman he wants to comfort,somehow.
Yea, this song is def one of the best of F+M

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my_own_parasite
02-06-2005

Rated 0 
i love his voice when he sings:
"So lets hold up our fists to the flame in the sky to block out the light that is reaching for our
eyes because it would blind us"
and: "You can sleep in my bed. And then pass through my life like a dream
through my head"
He sounds to innocent and pure, but sad at the same time.

I also like at the end when it gets quiet and he sings "all i have for the moment is a song to pass the time.." because that's excatly how i feel sometimes.

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blacklist
02-23-2005

Rated 0 
fevers and mirrors is a great album this is a great song and it does indeed pass the time

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sweetdreamz7474
06-16-2005

Rated 0 
ahhh how does he do it? how does conor go into my head, take the feelings i can't explain and write them so beautifully? favorite parts of this song....
"this weather has me wanting love more tangible"
and
"a simple progression to keep my fingers busy"

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imajar
07-12-2005

Rated 0 
I really love that toy piano Conor is messing around with in the background at some points of the song. As far as the song, it seems pretty clear that it's about feeling sorry for others. Feeling useless because you aren't helping others. Even if that feeling is completely illogical.

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