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Ever since I was young your word is the word that always won.
Worry and wake the ones you love.
A phone call I'd rather not receive.
Please use my body while I sleep.
My lungs are fresh and yours to keep,
Kept clean and they will let you breathe.
Is this the way a toy feels when its batteries run dry?
I am the watch you always wear but you forget to wind.
Nobody plans to be half a world away at times like these,
So I sat alone and waited out the night.
The best part of what has happened was the part I must have missed.
So I'm asking you to shine it on and stick around.
I'm not writing my goodbyes.
I submit no excuse.
If this is what I have to do I owe you every day I wake.
If I could I would shrink myself and sink through your skin
To your blood cells and remove whatever makes you hurt
But I am too weak to be your cure.
Is this the way a toy feels when its batteries run dry?
I am the watch you always wear but you forget to wind.
Nobody plans to be half a world away at times like these,
So I sat alone and waited out the night.
The best part of what has happened was the part I must have missed.
So I'm asking you to shine it on and stick around.
I'm not writing my goodbyes.
I'm not letting you check out.
You will beat this starting now and you will always be around.
I'm there to monitor your breathing I will watch you while you're sleeping.
I will keep you safe and sound.
Does anybody remember back when you were very young?
Did you ever think that you would be this blessed?
Worry and wake the ones you love.
A phone call I'd rather not receive.
Please use my body while I sleep.
My lungs are fresh and yours to keep,
Kept clean and they will let you breathe.
Is this the way a toy feels when its batteries run dry?
I am the watch you always wear but you forget to wind.
Nobody plans to be half a world away at times like these,
So I sat alone and waited out the night.
The best part of what has happened was the part I must have missed.
So I'm asking you to shine it on and stick around.
I'm not writing my goodbyes.
I submit no excuse.
If this is what I have to do I owe you every day I wake.
If I could I would shrink myself and sink through your skin
To your blood cells and remove whatever makes you hurt
But I am too weak to be your cure.
Is this the way a toy feels when its batteries run dry?
I am the watch you always wear but you forget to wind.
Nobody plans to be half a world away at times like these,
So I sat alone and waited out the night.
The best part of what has happened was the part I must have missed.
So I'm asking you to shine it on and stick around.
I'm not writing my goodbyes.
I'm not letting you check out.
You will beat this starting now and you will always be around.
I'm there to monitor your breathing I will watch you while you're sleeping.
I will keep you safe and sound.
Does anybody remember back when you were very young?
Did you ever think that you would be this blessed?
Lyrics submitted by BrandNew1208
Track duration: 03:23
"Guernica" as written by Jesse Lacey, Vincent Accardi
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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I saw it as a song written about a loved one who is depressed and suicidal, and this is the narrator's (using narrator because i can't think of a better word right now) reaction to this discovery. I'm not sure if this would make sense to others or not, so I will elaborate.
- Ever since I was young
- your word is the word that always won
- Worry and wake the ones you love
Kind of an indication that the depressed person was in the narrator's life for a long time (childhood friend, for example), and their thoughts and opinions were important. The last line could be either a plea from the narrator to the loved one to "wake" their other loved ones to come to them, or the narrator "waking" them himself, as to surround the depressed person with love and support.
- A phone call I'd rather not receive
- Please use my body while I sleep
- My lungs are fresh and yours to keep,
- kept clean and they will let you breathe
Clearly, a phone call that someone you love is depressed and suicidal (having possibly already attempted suicide) is not the kind of phone call one would look forward to. The following three lines may not seem to fit this story quite as well, but I can see how they worked when I first heard them. Having been in a low place before (as we all have), I can understand the feeling of wanting out of my own body, being disgusted with myself. The narrator is almost saying "here, take mine if you hate yours. I will do anything to give you that breath of fresh air you need."
- Is this the way a toy feels when its batteries run dry?
- I am the watch you always wear, but you forget to wind
Finding out that a loved one is in that sort of emotional state would (I imagine) take the wind out of your sails. I interpret the second line as the narrator saying "I am always here, close by, to help you out. You just have to remember that."
- Nobody plans to be half a world away at times like these,
- so I sat alone and waited out the night
- The best part of what has happened was the part I must have missed
- So I'm asking you to shine it up and stick around
- I'm not writing my goodbyes
As with the other interpretations, I saw the first line as the narrator lamenting being away from home/the person when the news came, making helping that much more difficult, if not impossible. The narrator ended up sitting up all night worrying by himself, being completely unable to find a silver lining in the situation. The last two lines are his plea to the loved one to "shine it up and stick around" as he does not want to lose the person ("not writing my goodbyes").
I'm going to skip a bit of the song, as this post is already getting rather lengthy, and just do a few more lines.
- I'm not letting you check out
- You will beat this starting now and you will always be around
- I'm there to monitor your breathing
- I will watch you while you're sleeping
- I will keep you safe and sound
This is the narrator telling the loved one that he (the narrator) will personally not allow them to commit suicide, or "check out." The depressed person will pull themselves out of this low point with the help of others, and "always be around." The narrator is even willing to be there at all times to "monitor your breathing," "watch you while you're sleeping," and "keep you safe and sound."
Well that's my take on it, I wanted to see if anybody else ever heard the same thing or if this was just something crazy.
I interpret this song as Brand News peice of art representing how they felt upon hearing that the lead singers grandfather had Cancer, which was like a bomb being dropped on him. Just as Picasso's Guernica was his art demonstrating how he felt about the bombs, this is BNs Guernica on how they felt about the metaphorical bomb that is cancer.
You will beat this starting now and you will always be around
I'm there to monitor your breathing
I will watch you while you're sleeping
I will keep you safe and sound"
This part of the song is what I wish someone would sing to me when I'm feeling down. It sounds like unconditional love to me, that he's singing to someone telling urging them to beat whatever has them feeling like they, whatever made them do what they did because he loves them and couldn't bare to be without them. That's just what this song means to me.
Pretty much genious if you ask me. I love it when bands tell stories with their music and they don't just throw some stupid lyrics together about some sappy experience that has no real meaning. Another good story song is It Won't Be Long by BNO
Is this the way a toy feels when its batteries run dry?
I am the watch you always wear, but you forget to wind
(They keep me around but they make no use of me. I am just here in anticipation.)
Nobody plans to be half a world away at times like these,
so I sat alone and waited out the night
The best part of what has happened was the part I must have missed
So I�m asking you to shine it up and stick around
I'm not writing my goodbyes!
I cut them slack when they are too busy to talk to me, because "nobody plans to be half a world away," and it's fine for them to be busy. So I'm waiting it out. I'm in too deep to write my goodbyes now.
so 9 years now.
and this song rings true, word for word, how that feels.
i cry every time i hear this song.
i'm not writing my good-byes.