Lyrics for Carry Me Ohio as interpreted by mab

Carry Me Ohio Lyrics
sorry that
i could never love you back
i could never care enough
in these last days

her tears fell on her pages
found me out
on her words
i don't know what to do or say

wading through
warm canals and pools clear blue
Tuscarawas flow into
the great lake

riding back
where the highway met dead end tracks
the ground is now cement and glass
so far away

heal her soul
and carry her my angel
ohio

green green youth
what about the sweetness we knew
what about what's good what's true
from those days

can't count to
all the lovers i've burned through
so why do i still burn for you
i can't say

sorry that
i could never love you back
i could never care enough
in these last days

heal her soul
carry her my angel
ohio

children blessed
gather round the home she will rest
so poor and cold in their midwest
moon and sun

flashes bringing on
my open eyes to lightning storms
the touch of mist
felt soft felt warm on my face

graving dreams
a million miles ago you seem
the star that i just don't see
anymore

words long gone
lost on journeys we walked on
lost her voice is heard along the way

sorry for
never going by your door
never feeling love like that anymore

heal her soul
carry her my angel
ohio

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  • 38 Comments
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sean7711
04-27-2004

Rated 0 
great song. i wish there were more lyrics by this band, but mark is so unintelligble on some of the songs! any one with lyrics to duk koo kim?

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glentipton
12-16-2004

Rated 0 
amazing.

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beatseeker
01-09-2005

Rated 0 
I like the fact that this band has some actual lyrics, some nice, meaningful, lyrics.

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musical_snob
06-06-2005

Rated 0 
This song is so unbelievably awesome. I love the lyrics (unintelligible as they often are), and his voice is amazing. Well said, glentipton.

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elodie
12-06-2005

Rated 0 
this is the best song ever written about ohio. as far as the lyrics go, i honestly don't think that they are even important to the song. just the fact that the singer is crooning such a beautiful melody over such a beautiful song makes it... well it makes me want to cry sort of.

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canada7
12-31-2005

Rated 0 
Amazing song. It actually shows up in the movie 'Shopgirl' with Steve Martin and Claire Danes. Great tune.

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slinkstersars
02-28-2006

Rated 0 
beautiful song. i would forgive him

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thisboyistocotronic
05-08-2006

Rated 0 
this song i basically the most depressing/uplifting song there ever was.

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TigerlilyGirl
06-27-2006

Rated 0 
lingering in
what about the sweetness we knew
what about what's good what's true
from those day...

this song absolutely crushes me...
someone recorded it for me a while ago...
I did forgive him...

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ita_xoxo
07-23-2006

Rated 0 
Beautiful song , love his voice . This is my favorite song by Sun kil moon . Mark kozelek is a great singer and write amazing lyrics.

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btmilligan
09-25-2006

Rated 0 
whoever descibed this song as crushing is right on. i can barely listen to it although i believe this song is not so much about ohio as it is about a loved one that probably died. also M.K played the bass player for stillwater in "almost famous"

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OdinUSMC
01-31-2007

Rated -2 
You’re all Morons. How about you add something meaningful to the discussion other than "awesome" you sound like 12 year old girls. The site is called "songmeanings" not "songsithinkaregreat". For instance, I think Mark is talking about a troubled love, leaving and dealing with not only his loss but her trouble. Anything input would be better than "great"...mouth breathers

P.S. No one cares what your favorite song is

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2 Replies
nealus
03-14-2007

Rated 0 
I heard this song for the first time in someone's car. It's just one of those instances where one particular song will forever remind you of a person, place and time.

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spponer
03-14-2007

Rated -1 
ellinorianne@hotmail.com

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TheShoreline
04-10-2007

Rated 0 
What a beautiful song.

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TheShoreline
04-10-2007

Rated 0 
The melody perfectly match the lyrics.
The song I would think is about a girl who is very much in love with the singer of the song, but he doesn't care nearly anymore. Although he still has feelings for her it's too hard/painful (maybe) to keep on going with the relationship.
Sad song.

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djefasju
04-18-2007

Rated 0 
The most haunting and beautiful song on the album. I love the obscurity - I think it may be about an adolescent lover or even, wait for it, his mother?

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camber
04-27-2007

Rated 0 
I think the girl in the song commited suicide. He keeps using words that conjur up images of death-"dead end tracks," "gather round the home she will rest," "graving dreams," etc. He asks for her soul to be healed, and for her to be carried by his angel. He also refers to "these last days." Things like this make me think she has died, like btmilligan said. The verse:

her tears fell on her pages
found me out
on her words
i don't know what to do or say

really makes me think it was suicide. "Her tears fell on her pages/found me out/on her words" sounds like he is describing a suicide note to me, and "I don't know what to do or say" seems a fitting reaction to him reading the note. Also, he is so full of regret the whole song, and keeps saying sorry that he didn't love her or care enough, like he feels that is the reason she died.

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1 Reply
TheShoreline
05-09-2007

Rated 0 
Ah, that makes sense, the girl might of commited sucide because the guy didn't love her back.

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TheShoreline
05-09-2007

Rated 0 
Man, I honestly can't get enough of this song and Camber your describtion was nearly perfect.

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grahamdalton
05-28-2007

Rated 0 
I'm not sure this song is about death literally, as it is about the death of a relationship -- and his home. Neither the place he once knew personally or geographically is still there.
If his girlfriend really were dying, would he apologize for not loving her back, for not caring enough in "these last days?" It seems more like a reference to a relationship that is dead that he just can't revive, because the love has gone. And the town he once knew, that seemed so heaven-like, obviously has withered. Obviously, the town is still there. It's simply not what it once was -- just like that old flame.
Still, it it heartache personified. It would be hard to find a more haunting song.

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evenfunnier
05-30-2007

Rated 0 
well, finally understand what hes saying in this song!! i am listening to the live version and even though i couldn't understand everrything he was saying, i thought it was about him remembering a past relationship and time where he was caught out for cheating!!! does no one else think this?? now he may have found out she has died or is dying and this is the guilt coming out!?? maybe this just an English way of looking at it!?

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clueless25
07-02-2007

Rated 0 
i think i'm reading this song differently---if i could take a stab:
quick glance at almost every song on the album deals with death, and specifically the added tragedy of death in youth of life. and in opening song on album he mentions something to effect of 'burying his first when he was 19" and that he found letters in her jean pockets that hit him hard (sorry for lack of precise quotes, but the info is easily avail on this website).

my read then is that the person saying "sorry" isnt him..its her. she is dead, whether suicide or tragic accident i think is unclear and somewhat irrelevant, altho the note becomes somewhat a posthumus suicide note that instead of him finding, "found (him) out" --i think a double meaning on physically finding the note but also the depth and pain of note bearing his true emotion as well--is this the note he refers to in first song??
suicide note, o what was intended as a break-up letter prior to unintended passing, it cuts him both mentally spinning thru past times together trying to find what went wrong, but also realizing that his lover died a tortured soul - "heal her soul, carry her my angel"

the juxtaposition of children and death imagery, as well as "green green youth" sound like dylan thomas references to the tragedy of existence, which is the simultaneous realization that life is death--in which the "moon and sun" act as pallbearers bringing us closer each day to eventual death.

personally i don't get the ohio references...i went to notre dame :)

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amilo561
08-30-2007

Rated 0 
Oh it is about suicide.
I never got that, but listening to this I always felt a pang of loss and sadness. I think songs take on a life of their own sometimes, and convey emotions that come through whether or not you may actually fully understand the lyrics. Looking at it, though, it's obvious guilt over the suicide of a former lover. I think he did love her but for whatever reason it was never enough, because if he didn't care and it was just guilt taking he wouldn't say to heal her soul, etc. Lost innocence is also referenced which makes me think that the song is about him trying to love a somewhat broken person, and the love he had to give was never enough.

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twester
10-11-2007

Rated 0 
This song is not about suicide. It's about nostalgia with regret.

The reference to "these last days" is about the knowledge of growing older. It's not so literal as to suggest imminent death.

The song is about a hopeful vision of what happened to the lost lover while at the same time expressing the uncertainty of the wonderer's present.

The song makes me cry and remember someone I was not mature enough to love - yet, have grown to love because of what he means in the larger context of my life - 25 years later.

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