Iron & Wine – Faded from the Winter

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Daddy's ghost behind you
Sleeping dog beside you
You're a poem of mystery
You're the prayer inside me

Spoken words like moonlight
You're the voice that i like

Needlework and seedlings
In the way you're walking
To me from the timbers
Faded from the winter

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Lyrics submitted by slickboot

Track duration: 03:18


Faded from the Winter song meanings
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14 Comments

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  • 0
    General Comment:A very accessible and yet incredibly lovely song. The speaker in the song is just depicting his beloved as being associated with images of gentleness. It strikes me as very subtle and original that he compares his beloved to something "faded from the winter" because this comparison normally would be unflattering, but in the context of this song's depiction of the speaker's gentle beloved, the phrase is quite a compliment indeed. Sam Beam/Iron and Wine is a song writer who uses language in such a profoundly original way that many of his lyrics contain the sort of strikingly original comparisons found most abundantly in the poetry of Donne and the other Metaphysical Poets. Kudos, Sam Beam. You are a unique and gifted poet of the first order.
    '
    Flag aumchordon October 30, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I agree with most of what has been said above about the atmosphere of a small cottage and fireplace. But, I think the main theme of this song, which I haven't really found expressed here yet, is one of continued comfort. The timbers faded from the winter, to me, are a wood pile that has slowly diminished over a long, harsh winter and provided warmth and comfort. The mother figure, who knits and grows plants and does other motherly tasks, also brings the wood in as the father figure is now a ghost and cannot do so. The interpretation that I feel when I hear this is one written from the perspective of a very young child.
    Flag hilljbon July 12, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:i think it's about a wedding....leaving ur father behind to start ur new life. exchanging vows with the whispers. faded from the winter...trading in the cold for someething warm.

    though the music suggests otherwise. still, this song makes me sad
    Flag proefoundon February 11, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:This song speaks different to every person who hears it and thats why I love it. It is my favourite song by sam beam by far. I think the simple lyrics are so strong and powerful.

    When I hear this song I think of a small stone cottage, maybe on the english countryside or something, and a woman sleeping in bed in the early afternoon and the man who loves her is watching her sleep peacefully. Maybe she has gone through alot, or they have together, but his love for her is so strong and he just watches her as the rain pounds on the window, the fire crackles in the other room and the dog sleeps on the rug. He stokes her hair and they are completely content. Though they are both "faded" from the trials of the winter, they will come out of it, and its a song of renewal and hope.

    thats just what I picture but i enjoyed reading what other people pictured as well.

    Flag foxlilly5on January 31, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I definitely agree with the whole cottage thing as of a feeling standpoint. With the warm fire crackling and the harsh cold fighting outside. Hear me out. Daddy's ghost behind you is where the mother figure thing comes into play. His mother and him are at the "cottage" together but their dad is dead. The music conveys a sense of change but a calm passive change and shows how different things are without the father. Without the father the boy just observes his mother. His love for his mother has grown 'you're the voice that I like' and he is just observing her passively and watching her emerge from the woods or the pines 'needlework and seedlings in the way you're walking' and she's walking to him from the timbers faded from the winter. To me this is hard to see what Beam is trying to convey. I think it's a man trying to describe an indescribable feeling and that someone else writing about it like this won't describe it...But you know what he's feeling when you hear the song.

    tell me what you think...let me know if this is in the ballpark.
    Flag meanttolive123on July 09, 2008   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:I think this song sounds like it's for a mother-figure. At least that's what it makes me think of. It brings me nostalgia for my parents, specifically my mother, and my home.
    Beautiful-- the kind of song that really makes you stop moving forward and sort of suspend in the present to feel strong emotions.
    Flag ileavubrethleson October 25, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:i like this song alot,it was one of the first iron & wine songs i heard.i made a slideshow with this song this past summer,its not that good,but you can see it here if you want to..

    youtube.com/…
    Flag Tableforglasseson January 11, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:amazing guitar solo in this song
    Flag mikeeegeeeon February 14, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:My favourite song by Iron and Wine. Reminds me of sitting in a small cottage in New Hampshire with the log fire roaring and the snow and cold fighting to get inside. It's so minimalistic and simple but has such a depth and weight to it. Incredible
    Flag mozza_fanon September 07, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:this song is amazing. so wonderful.
    Flag breezybay11on August 31, 2005   Link

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