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If I could open my arms
And span the length of the isle of Manhattan
I'd bring it to where you are
Making a lake of the East River and Hudson
If I could open my mouth
Wide enough for a marching band to march out
They would make your name sing
And bend through allies and bounce off all the buildings
I wish we could open our eyes
To see in all directions at the same
Oh what a beautiful view
If you were never aware of what was around you
And it is true what you said
That I live like a hermit in my own head
But when the sun shines again
I'll pull the curtains and blinds to let the light in
Sorrow drips into your heart through a pin hole
Just like a faucet that leaks and there is comfort in the sound
But while you debate half empty and half full
It slowly rises, your love is gonna drown
Your love is gonna drown
And span the length of the isle of Manhattan
I'd bring it to where you are
Making a lake of the East River and Hudson
If I could open my mouth
Wide enough for a marching band to march out
They would make your name sing
And bend through allies and bounce off all the buildings
I wish we could open our eyes
To see in all directions at the same
Oh what a beautiful view
If you were never aware of what was around you
And it is true what you said
That I live like a hermit in my own head
But when the sun shines again
I'll pull the curtains and blinds to let the light in
Sorrow drips into your heart through a pin hole
Just like a faucet that leaks and there is comfort in the sound
But while you debate half empty and half full
It slowly rises, your love is gonna drown
Your love is gonna drown
Lyrics submitted by Si_duffers
Track duration: 04:13
"Marching Bands of Manhattan" as written by Benjamin Gibbard
Lyrics © EMI Music Publishing
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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When he says 'If I Could Open My Arms and Span The Length Of The Isle Of Manhattan, I'd Bring It To Where You Are' - refers to if he could take that space and take it to the lost one so they could share it together/be in the same place just one more time.
'If I Could Open My Mouth wide Enough For A Marching Band To March Out, They Would Make Your Name Sing' - If he could be with the peson who has died, he might have lack of words so he is saying that if he could open his mouth wide enough for a band to march out, they would sing the lost ones name for him.
'I Wish We Could Open Our Eyes to See In All Directions At The Same Time' - Emphasis on being together and in the same place. They can see all directions at the same time.
'Oh, What A Beautiful View if You Were Never Aware Of What Was Around You' - If the person who died couldnt recall dying so that they could spend this time as if they had so much of it and not worry about when she has to leave again. They could pretend that nothing went wrong in the first place.
'And It Is True What You Say, That i live like a hermit in my own head' - One can tend to bottle their emotions up instead of talk about them. This can cause them to live very much within their own head and not leave that stage for quite some time.
'But when the sun shines again,I'll pull the curtains and blinds to let the light in' - When he starts to talk about his emotions and things start to get better he will let himself get better, he wont keep holding things in - he will let the light in.
'Sorrow drips into your heart through a pinhole, Just like a faucet that leaks and there is a comfort in the sound' - (Faucet:any device for controlling the flow of liquid from a pipe). Their time together is ending now as the sorrow starts to drip in and the onewho died is now recalling that she died and things are starting to fall apart. They have been speaking up till now so the words have comforted them for this moment where the one who died must leave again.
'But while you debate half-empty or half-full, its slowly rises, your love is going to drown' - While the one who died debates whether good things can come out of it or not,the faucet has leaked so much and the person as well as the illusion they are in starts to drown and soon things are back to the way they were - the loved one being dead and the person who created this temporary world that they both were in, is now alone.
I have been listening to this song for many years and only now have I really listened to the lyrics. Such a beautiful song. Death Cab for Cutie is extraordinarily talented.
If I could open my arms
And span the length of the isle of Manhattan
I'd bring it to where you are
Making a lake of the East River and Hudson
(I think this is more of a personal reference that means something to the band and who it was written for but possibly it's saying they love this person enough to move mountains for them.)
And if I could open my mouth
Wide enough for a marching band to march out
They would make your name sing
And bend through alleys and bounce off all the buildings
(This is saying that they love this person so much that they want to shout it out to the world how amazing they think they are. A name is a powerful thing and always has been and he wants to glorify theirs to the world.)
I wish we could open our eyes
To see in all directions at the same time
Oh, what a beautiful view
If you were never aware of what was around you
(To me this is saying we need to open ourselves to all different points of view and not wear blinders. The second part makes me think of "ignorance is bliss." They're saying the world is a beautiful place until you take a closer look.)
And it is true what you say
That I live like a hermit in my own head
But when the sun shines again
I'll pull the curtains and blinds to let the light in
(I think this is talking about how he hides inside himself and he realizes that he does but when the world, his world, has sun shining on it/something good and happy happening in it he'll come back out of himself. Who doesn't want to hide from the bad in life?)
Sorrow drips into your heart through a pinhole
Just like a faucet that leaks and there is comfort in the sound
But while you debate half empty or half full
It slowly rises, your love is going to drown
(I think this is saying it's inevitable for sorrow to slowly slip into all of our lives from time to time and sometimes we get lost in it and let it become a comfortable constant in our life. But if we dwell on it it will slowly consume the happiness we have.)
my favourite lyric in the song personally is "that i live like a hermit in my own head". It just relates to me perfectly and this, brothers on a hotel bed and what sarah said are probably my favourite songs on this earth.
Death Cab for Cutie’s song “Marching Bands of Manhattan” has many meanings that could be taken out of it. The writer of this song, Benjamin Gibbard, did a good job of conveying the main subject of love throughout his lyrics. Consisting in the first two stanzas, the speaker talks about love in a pleasant way, saying in general terms how they would do anything for the other person. Gibbard did well in making the song universal in the fact that the speaker could be either a boy or a girl at any age. The intended audience also could be directed towards anyone at any age, and depending on who was reading or listening to it, there are many interpretations that can be made. His purpose in writing these lyrics is to get the idea across that if you really love some one you should take action and not let that love fade away. In the first stanza, he says how the speaker would do anything to show the other person how much they love them and that if they could, they would have the other’s name sung so loud it would echo off all of the alleys, reverberating off all of the walls of the buildings (SongMeanings). In the third and fourth stanzas, he states, “sorrow drips…like a faucet that leaks…it slowly rises, your love is gonna drown.” All of these phrases combine together into when he says, “Your love is gonna drown” because that infers if the love is not recognized or something is not done about it, it is slowly going to be drowned out. Gibbard’s description of this shows how he tried to make is purpose known.
Looking at the first three lines of the song, it can be taken that the speaker is wishing to open their arms extremely wide and technically bring Manhattan to the other person, but in this case Manhattan is probably just used as a comparison for how much the speaker wants to give them something. In the fourth line, the East and Hudson Rivers are combined into a lake which means that the speaker would change the geography of the world for them (SongMeanings). In lines five through eight, as previously stated, the speaker is generally saying that they want the other’s name to be sung so loudly it would go through all of the alleys and hit off all of the buildings. Looking closer, line five speaks of opening their mouth which indicates words being spoken. Line six can be compared to line two in that “span the length of the isle of Manhattan” and “Wide enough for a marching band to march out” are hyperboles being used to try and make the point that the speaker loves the other person a lot. Also, the qualities of a marching band contribute to the meaning. They are usually viewed as loud with projecting sound and seen as orderly. This is reflected in lines seven and eight of the same stanza when it says, “They would make your name sing/ And bend through alleys and bounce off all the building.” These two lines are saying that the marching band would play their music (but the music is really the other person’s name) so loudly that it would echo through all of the streets and orderly so it is like a euphony of sounds. Finally, the echoing could be looked at like a repeat in music terms symbolizing that the name was said many times, but also getting quieter like echoing tends to do, and the decrescendo may represent the speaker losing hope in the one he loves.
In the second stanza, the first and second lines could be seen as waking up from a dream; coming back to reality and observing everything all around you at once. Lines three and four are almost a contrast to the first two, as if the speaker did not really want to wake up. Gibbard is making a comment on how life could be great if you were never conscious about what was going on around you; how it would be an amazing sight. In line five, the speaker shows interaction with the other person and it probably occurred in a personal conversation between the two of them since the next line says “That I live like a hermit in my own head.” For the other person to be able to say something like that the two people would have to be close. What that line may possibly mean is that like hermit crabs, the speaker has been living in their head which could be a place of comfort to them. The last two lines of this stanza show a hint of optimism that there will be light again (a contrast from the dark inside their head) and they will come out of the dark place to let the good things (light) through.
The third and fourth stanzas run together for a combined meaning. The first line of the third stanza could be saying that doubt is slowly coming into play, although it may take a long time considering how small pinholes are. The part that says “drips” is looked at again when the next line talks about a faucet leaking. It also says there is “comfort in the sound” which could mean they both have gotten used to the sorrow and now actually find it comforting (SongMeanings). The next line is clear in showing the cliché of pessimism saying a glass is half empty and optimism saying a glass is half full, and these tie back to the previous stanza when it talked about letting the sun shine through. If one takes the first part of line three and all of line four in the third stanza it is stating that while the speaker is trying to figure out whether to look at things positively or negatively, the sorrow continues to grow, and eventually the other person is going to be drowned by it and it will be too late to go back and change anything. Gibbard made these last two stanzas repeated four times each which could mean they are the most powerful and carry the most meaning out of anything else in the song.
Going back and looking at the overall song, there are a few small things that can be seen. For one, the first stanza is all about the speaker, the second starts off that way but in the fourth line begins to recognize the other person, and finally in the third stanza it is all about the other (SongMeanings). This could infer that the speaker finally looks at what the other person has to say and think and begins to actually care about them. Another thing is that in the first two stanzas, it says, “…open my arms…open my mouth…open my eyes.” If one is looking solely at the part that says open, then it could mean the speaker is willing to accept different things, but it also could be seen as the five senses. Open arms stands for touch, open mouth stands for taste, and open eyes for sight, but the senses of hearing and smell are left out. This was able to be tied back to the second line in stanza two where it says, “To see in all directions at the same time.” One animal can do that; a chameleon. Doing further research, it was found that chameleons have a very weak sense of both hearing and smell, so all of that can be tied together. Finally, there is only one part of the lyric that actually rhyme and that is lines three through six. This could mean that Gibbard wanted to put more focus on those lines to try and get a different purpose or meaning across
"just like a faucet that leaks and there is comfort in the sound" (They're afraid to take new chances, they're taking comfort in that sadness.)
"and while you debate half empty or half full" (This person is wasting all of their time wondering if they could work it out.)
"it slowly rises, your love is gonna drown" (They're taking too long, holding back and missing out on what they could have with this person that is having these feelings for them. The chance at love will eventually drown.)
When he says if he could open his mouth wide enough for a marcing band to march out he would. he would say or do anything to save the love, but if it isn't meant to be, its not meant to be, and time will reveal that. When the water overflows, will they make it or drown? Thatis how i see it. :)
Sorrow drips into your heart through a pinhole
Just like a faucet that leaks and there is comfort in the sound
But while you debate half empty or half full
It slowly rises, your love is going to drown
Brilliant songwriting from a brilliant band.