Band of Horses – The Funeral

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I'm coming up only to hold you under
I'm coming up only to show you wrong
And to know you is hard we wonder
To know you all wrong we were

Really too late to call
So we wait for morning to wake you
That's all we got
to know me as hardly golden
Is to know me all wrong, they were

At every occasion I'll be ready for the funeral
Every occasion, once more, it's called the funeral
Every occasion, know I'm ready for the funeral
At every occasion, oh, one billion day funeral

I'm coming up only to show you down
For I'm coming up only to show you wrong

To the outside the dead leaves, they're on the lawn
Before they died, had trees to hang their hope

And every occasion
I'll be ready for the funeral
And every occasion once more
It's called the funeral
And every occasion
Oh, I'm ready for the funeral
Every occasion
Of one billion day funeral

I'm coming up only to pull you under
I'm coming up only to show you wrong
To know you is hard we wonder
To know you all wrong we were
Oh oh oh
Oh
Its really to late to call so we wait for
Morning to wake you is all we got
And to know me as hardly golden
As to know me all wrong they were
At every occasion I'll be ready for the funeral
At every occasion once more called the funeral
At every occasion I'll be ready for for the funeral
at every occasion oh one brilliant day funeral
I'm coming up only to show you down for
I'm coming up only to show you wrong
To the outside the dead leaves they're on the law
For they don't have trees to hang their own
Oh oh oh
At every occasion I'll be ready for the funeral
At every occasion once more called the funeral
At every occasion I'll be ready for the funeral
At every occasion oh one brilliant day funeral

Send "The Funeral" Ringtone to Cell


Lyrics submitted by kylethelion, edited by escp99

Track duration: 05:21

"The Funeral" as written by Kasseem Dean, Qaadir H. Atkinson, Shandel Green

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

Lyrics powered by LyricFind


The Funeral song meanings
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  • +2
    Song Meaning:Ok, i know that songs mean different things to everyone, and sometimes it's easy to think that a song is specifically about something you personally understand or have been through.

    In this case, however, I am almost sure I understand this song.

    My girlfriend of 6 years became addicted to heroin a good few years back. She was intelligent, beautiful, and had the best sense of humor, but her self-hatred brought about on her by her father was absolutely crushing to her soul. I knew after about a year of knowing her, that she would in fact somehow die from something she did to herself. At first I thought suicide, but as she slipped into heroin addiction I realized what really was going to happen.

    I talked to her mother about this time and time again, as we tried to find a solution but nothing worked. We always said that we were just "waiting for the funeral" as we cried and tried to cope with the situation. We knew it was coming, and it was something we had already accepted in a weird way before it even happened. The more and more I see this happen to others, the more I see there story is the same, and these lyrics are just so dead on. Before I ever heard this song, these events transpired and when I heard the song for the first time it almost put me to tears and I could have sworn it was written for me (yeah right I know, but I do think it was for people in my situation) Heroin kills many people who are full of self-hatred and recklessly abuse the dangerous drug because they do not care about themselves or their life.

    "Really too late to call
    So we wait for the morning to wake you
    That's all we got"

    The door is locked. Is she dead? Or has she just OD'd somewhat and is so passed out she is not awake or cannot hear the phone or door. These are the worst mornings, nail biting as you assume the worst. Always ready and thinking of that goddamn funeral that is so imminent.

    "I'm coming up only to show you down for
    I'm coming up only to show you wrong"

    She is making a mistake, I've tried using the drug myself to get on her level and try to explain, or at least understand more so I can help... I've tried everything.

    And in the end, the funeral still comes as you knew it would. And it's a billion day funeral because the sorrow is still so strong as you realize how naive and upset everyone around you is. You thought you were ready for this day, but as it turns out, you re-live all the sorrow a million times each time you see someone cry and want an explanation for how this all happened. Longest day of my life, and the one I had anticipated the most.

    Throughout it all, at every occasion, we were ready for the funeral. But it didn't make it any better. Very sad song.

    I could be totally wrong. But my experiences made this song mean a lot to me, and it almost seemed too coincidental, but then again who knows?
    Flagged austinprodon April 27, 2013   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:To me this is about a person who lost someone dear to them it could be a friend or a loved one but anyway that person is still missing that person and can't stop thinking about them so he or she is still replaying there last words they said to each other before he or she friend or loved one died not sure if that makes since but this is how i see it!
    Flag AcrossTheDarkenSkyon March 07, 2013   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:Very different from a lot of other peoples interpretation. Although the song can deal with losing someone. It also has to deal with a personal funeral.

    Its as though every day he is constantly dying on the inside and there is nothing he can do about (also be dealing with the personal dying as he loses someone). To him life has given him nothing but upset and his daily dying is just natural that he is always "ready for the funeral." The "dead leaves on the lawn" represent parts of him that will never rejuvenate and never be brought to life again. He is talking to himself the entire time, trying to escape the cycle of dying which he knows he can not escape. He knows himself "all wrong" and he feels that every morning something new will change.

    This is just part of an interpretation, based on personal feelings and experience.
    Flagged AP13on February 25, 2013   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:My friend is being deployed to Iraq in a month. We just had dinner a couple nights ago for the last time until he goes and somehow we started talking about if he dies and I immediately started crying and this song came on randomly in his car right then... I felt like it was a sign. I was crying for the next 5 minutes until we got to my house and I then told him how much I really cared about him and truly liked him more than a friend... I feel like we have always had this connection to be together forever, but he has a new girlfriend... I promised him I would always be waiting for him. I just pray that he will be okay<3
    Flagged Austin1717on February 09, 2013   Link
  • +2
    My Interpretation:I also recently lost someone very dear to me to suicide, and interpreted the song through that lens.
    The first two verses simply illustrate how wrong the victim was to take their own life and that there are many people that care for and love them
    I think the chorus is describing the process of grieving that one must go through after any loss.
    "At every occasion I'll be ready for the funeral
    Every occasion, once more, it's called the funeral
    Every occasion, know I'm ready for the funeral
    At every occasion, oh, one billion day funeral"
    I look at this "funeral" as the depression and heartache that follows loss, every single day seems like a struggle, and your mind keeps replaying the fateful events of the death and the funeral. The "one billion day funeral" is just describing that grief is a long journey, and the pain will go on for what seems like forever.

    Overall, I think this is an absolutely beautiful song that can be interpreted in practically any situation, which is part of what makes it so great.
    Flag KatEyeson December 28, 2012   Link
    • 1 Reply
  • 0
    My Opinion:For my opinion in interpreting this song, for I recently lost a good friend of mine to suicide the lyrics really speak out to me.

    I'm coming up only to hold you under
    (I'm here for you at your funeral)
    I'm coming up only to show you wrong
    (If only you were here you can see all the people who showed up to your funeral because they had loved you. I wish you would have seen.)
    And to know you is hard we wonder
    (I was very fortunate to have you as a friend, but knowing you after today is hard for me, and I wish I never had.)
    To know you, all wrong we were
    (We don't come to your funeral to bury you, we come to honor how much we loved you, and death by your own hand is now how we see you, but for the positive in you.)

    Thanks
    RIP Christian Cohn 11-25-12
    Flag BOHCMTRon December 17, 2012   Link
  • -1
    My Interpretation:This is my interpretation, considering i was just at a funeral. I thought if it just like a funeral and the events around it, for someone you werent great friends or on the best of terms with, but still knew well.

    I'm coming up only to hold you under
    (im coming to your funeral to bury you)
    I'm coming up only to show you wrong
    (Something like, more people loved you than you thought)
    And to know you is hard we wonder
    To know you all wrong we were
    (We didnt know you as well as we thought)

    Really too late to call, so we wait for;
    (You died late at night, we cant call the relatives now)
    morning to wake you
    That's all we got
    (You died suddenly, we didnt enough have time to say goodbye; or just a wake/funeral is not enough to say goodbye properly)
    to know me as hardly golden
    Is to know me all wrong, they were
    (Possibly, they were not on the best of terms before the death)

    At every occasion I'll be ready for the funeral
    Every occasion, once more, it's called the funeral
    Every occasion, know I'm ready for the funeral
    At every occasion, oh, one billion day funeral
    (Pretty much, every family event will be depressing, like a funeral, now that you're gone)
    Flag coldplay94on October 22, 2012   Link
  • +1
    My Interpretation:To me this is pretty simple. It's about preparing for the worst outcome.
    Flagged oliviahhon October 01, 2012   Link
  • 0
    My Interpretation:OR (another thought on second stanza)

    Really too late to call
    So we wait for morning to wake you
    That's all we got
    ("To wake you" or, in other words, to have your wake we "wait" in vigil until "morning" [describing a wake which is traditionally an all all-nighter until the funeral in the morning]. It's "Really too late" for anything else [I'm not coming here "to call", meaning visiting and talking with you as before]... "That's all" the time "we got" left to spend with you, implying this human life is marked by time).
    Flag Barbie108on August 20, 2012   Link
    • 1 Reply
  • +5
    My Interpretation:I agree this song can be interpreted according to individuality. Being a believer in God and the soul, it appeals to me in a spiritual way:

    I'm coming up only to hold you under
    (I'm coming to your funeral to bury you)

    I'm coming up only to show you wrong
    (I'm coming up only due to social formality, the real you is not there, just the body)

    And to know you is hard we wonder
    (To really know you as a spirit rather than the body I could always see is difficult for most mortals)

    To know you all wrong we were
    (We who knew you, incorrectly viewed you as a human, but your true identity is spiritual, beyond the dead body left behind for burial)

    Really too late to call
    So we wait for morning to wake you
    That's all we got
    (You died late in the evening, so its too late for others to gather. We wait for morning to begin your wake)

    to know me as hardly golden
    Is to know me all wrong, they were
    (People think the same mundane way about me, they don't see that beneath the surface is the soul, my true self)

    At every occasion I'll be ready for the funeral
    Every occasion, once more, it's called the funeral
    Every occasion, know I'm ready for the funeral
    At every occasion, oh, one billion day funeral
    (But I'm ever ready for that day, when my day comes to die. I know I will go on living on that special day of liberation. It could be any day, any occasion, at any moment... but I'm prepared in a spiritual sense)

    To the outside the dead leaves, they're on the lawn
    Before they died, had trees to hang their hope
    (To the outsider that witnesses death, they only see the dead body, not knowing the faith the individual had, the hope they clung to throughout life, given by God whom they leaned on)

    And every occasion
    I'll be ready for the funeral
    And every occasion once more
    It's called the funeral
    And every occasion
    (I'm ready)
    Flagged Barbie108on August 19, 2012   Link
    • 2 Replies

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