Lyrics for Hands Open as interpreted by paulyboy82

Hands Open Lyrics
It's hard to argue when you won't stop making sense
But my tongue still misbehaves, and keeps digging my own grave.

With my hands open and my eyes open
I just keep hoping that your heart opens
Why would I sabotage the best thing that i have,
Well it makes it easier, exactly what i want.

With my hands open and my eyes open
I just keep hoping that your heart opens.

It's not as easy as willing it all to be right
Gotta be more than hope that it's right.
I wanna hear you laugh like you really mean it
Collapse into me tired with joy.

It's not as easy as willing it all to be right
Gotta be more than hope that it's right.
I wanna hear you laugh like you really mean it
Collapse into me tired with joy.

Put Sufjan Stevens on, and we'll play your favorite song,
Chicago bursts to life in your sweet smile remembers you
My hands open and my eyes open, I just keep hoping that your heart opens.

It's not as easy as willing it all to be right
Gotta be more than hope that it's right
I wanna hear you laugh like you really mean it
Collapse into me tired with joy.

(Repeat x 4)

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musicforlife!
04-26-2006

Rated 0 
Sufjan Stevens? What a crazy allusion!

I love it!

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Krwlng_n_mie_skn
05-01-2006

Rated 0 
I'm pretty much amazed by this whole song... it nears perfection for me, it’s got great lyrics, emotional vocals that perfectly match the mood of the song, catchy guitar. As far as a meaning, it’s not masked at all, yet that doesn't take away from how well the lyrics tell the story. I'm going to look at the lyrics out of order, because they make more sense to me that way...

I'm imagining a first kiss type moment- the narrator alone with his love (possibly someone who that "shouldn't be"), and this is how he wants the next moments to go... "my hands open, and my eyes open, I just keep hoping your heart opens" = leaning in for the kiss. "Gotta be more than hope that its right” = the effort it took to make the move. "Collapse into me tired with joy" = she goes with the moment and he succeeds.

"It’s hard to argue when. You won't stop making sense
My tongue still misbehaves digging my own grave"
-- A great intro and when you hear this you know you're in for great descriptive lyrics the whole way through
-- Reinforces the love that "shouldn't be" ... She is arguing with him (possibly already with a boyfriend), he knows she is right but his love still resists it

"Why would I sabotage the best thing that I have
Well it makes it easier, exactly what I want"
-- He is worried that this will ruin a good friendship, since he shouldn't be able to be with her, even though his mind knows it is wrong, his heart knows it is right... the thought of not being open with his feelings is worse than losing her as a friend.

"Put Sufjan Stevens on, and we'll play your favorite song
Chicago bursts to life in your sweet smile remembers you"
-- The way he describes her reaction to the song and the moment blows me away...

I've never seen a song perfectly sum up that moment as well as this with its tempo, lyrics, and vocal delivery. Had the vocals been done differently, the words could seem like cheesy pop or worse if he had overdone them the song would be written off as an "emo" song... but instead Snow Patrol delivers near perfection for me and what I look for in my music.

Great Lyrics, Catchy Music, Great Vocals = A Great Single

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Skamanda
05-05-2006

Rated 0 
This song is absolutely orgasmic. It's perfect in every sense.

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bloc_party15
05-06-2006

Rated 0 
Yea - its very good

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clojoe
05-10-2006

Rated 0 
Krwlng_n_mie_skn you should comment on every song, you make so much sense!
i agree - what a FANTASTIC song!!!!

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Colin B.
05-10-2006

Rated 0 
I like that Sufjan Stevens line.

Good stuff.

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tree123456
05-12-2006

Rated 0 
"Chicago bursts to life in your sweet smile remembers you"

I think that this is an absolutely rubbish line. I just can't get my head around the grammar - i.e. it is phrased really badly. It just doesn't make sense. I've read someplaces where they say "Chicago bursts to life AND your sweet smile remembers you" but it still doesn't make sense.

I really like the song, but that line irritates me so much that I start smacking my face off the wall. What the hell was Lightbody thinking? It sound's like he translated something using Babelfish from Russian. Who's is "remembering you"? Your "sweet smile"? Him?

If the rest of the lyrics were completely crazy, I could probably forgive him because I wouldn't understand any of it but just one line....

My brain hurts.

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Krwlng_n_mie_skn
05-12-2006

Rated +1 
Chicago is the name of the Sufjan Stevens song he was talking about...

For the sake of the description of the moment, I believe he intentionally sacrificed grammer. If my theory above is right, then he is using a 3:17 song to describe a 30-60 sec moment of passion. So things are out of order, and somewhat rushed. It reminds me of an internal conversation. When you think to yourself, I doubt you use proper grammar, and at least for me everything is kind of a continuous thought, rather than sentence-paragraph or line-verse form. So he is singing exactly as the thoughts of the moment pop into his head.

"Put Sufjan Stevens on, and we'll play your favorite song,
Chicago bursts to life in your sweet smile remembers you
My hands open and my eyes open, I just keep hoping that your heart opens."
-- After "life in your sweet smile" everything (including the chorus) is kind of a jumble of thoughts. When I hear that line I actually hear it as "Chicago bursts to life in your sweet smile/ remembers you, my hands open, my eyes open/ i just keep hoping, your heart opens" It makes a bit more sense this way, yet it still is not 100% clear. I really believe based on what I talked about earlier this was intentional to add to the effect.

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Visualpro
05-19-2006

Rated 0 
The line "Chicago bursts to life and your sweet smile remembers you", and i believe it is "and" not "in", can make sense if you think of it in the following way. He is personifying her smile, in the sense that it has been so long since she smiled that her smile has forgotten her own face. Does that make sense to anyone?

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sgock
05-23-2006

Rated 0 
visualpro - that makes perfect sense. how i thought of it too.

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nuumb
05-23-2006

Rated 0 
nobody commented on how he pronounced Sufjan wrong? this bugs me so much! he does not have the right to name drop sufjan stevens and pronounce it wrong! GRR

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stupid_name
05-28-2006

Rated 0 
I don't think he's 'name-dropping' more than he is singing about his reaction to an amazing song... I only heard this song incidentally as background noise, but that lyric caught my attention... and Chicago is one of Sufjan's greatest, imho. I don't blame anyone for wanting to write a song about listening to that song, it can be a very moving experience.

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callit
05-30-2006

Rated 0 
I agree with visualpro on the whole "your sweet smile remembers you" line. You put it better than I could have. Thinking about it that way, it seems to fit with the rest of the song too - "I wanna hear you laugh like you really mean it" and so on.

Impressive song. Thumbs up.

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evil_llama08
06-07-2006

Rated 0 
This is one awesome song!

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nuumb
06-10-2006

Rated -1 
actually, no
he does not have the right to mention sufjan in any of his songs. that is final.
i have lost so much respect for snow patrol with this song.

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Spence189
06-21-2006

Rated 0 
no right? "chicago" is an amazing song; so unique. i was SO suprised to hear this line. it made me HAPPY to hear this line. i LOVE snow patrol. And i LOVE sufjan stevens. A connection between the two just makes me sit back and go "wow."

it's kind of like U2 and Coldplay. two of my favorite bands... and to think- Chris Martin was HEAVILY influenced by Bono growing up. Bands rub off on one another, and their similar music rubs off on the fans. It's just cool when fans realize the connection between two bands they like a lot.

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fmielish
06-25-2006

Rated 0 
i love it when artists mention each other, or allude to one another. like jimmy eat world mentioned in Konstantine and Konstantine mentioned in Poetically Pathetic

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lawn gnomeo
06-25-2006

Rated 0 
i know i've heard this song somewhere else besides the album, maybe t.v. or a movie

does anybody know if this was played on something else?

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elemdee
06-29-2006

Rated 0 
Love the opening of this song! Gets you pumping straight away. Good to hear SnowPatrol rocking out too.

I think this song is about how he wants this relationship to work out - he's totally open to it, but it's not always enough to want it to work.

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elemdee
06-29-2006

Rated 0 
Love the opening of this song! Gets you pumping straight away. Good to hear SnowPatrol rocking out too.

I think this song is about how he wants this relationship to work out - he's totally open to it, but it's not always enough to want it to work.

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lin_nea
06-29-2006

Rated 0 
i think he wants it to happen but doesn't know if it will or not.

It's hard to argue when you won't stop making sense
But my tongue still misbehaves, and keeps digging my own grave.

(she's winning the arguement of why they shouldn't be together, but he wants it so bad he can't stop trying.)

With my hands open and my eyes open
I just keep hoping that your heart opens
Why would I sabotage the best thing that i have,
Well it makes it easier, exactly what i want.

(she's scared it won't work out, he's trying to reassure her & coax her "why would i sabatoge the best thing that i have?")

With my hands open and my eyes open
I just keep hoping that your heart opens.

(he's really putting himself out there & has no idea how it will end up.)

It's not as easy as willing it all to be right
Gotta be more than hope that it's right.
I wanna hear you laugh like you really mean it
Collapse into me tired with joy.

(he wants her to really want it as much as he does, and to believe in it as much as he does. he wants to make her happy- "i wanna hear you laugh like you really mean it, collapse into me tired with joy."


Put Sufjan Stevens on, and we'll play your favorite song,
Chicago bursts to life in your sweet smile remembers you
My hands open and my eyes open, I just keep hoping that your heart opens.

(he's still trying really hard to win her over.)

that's just how i interpreted it anyway...

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xdvr
07-06-2006

Rated 0 
It's definitely "and your sweet" not "in your sweet".
Visual Pro is right, and thus it's right. If the lyrics are transcribed incorrectly then they don't make any sense, but when they are then it makes perfect sense.

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aisha_08
07-11-2006

Rated 0 
wow im so surprised that this song, or snow patrol in general, has so few comments! idk, i kinda like that. i mean, its nice to know they dont have a bunch of stupid fans who cant really appreciate their music =)

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aisha_08
07-11-2006

Rated 0 
oh my fave part is the verse where he mentions sufjan stevens.

bad

ass

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Krwlng_n_mie_skn
07-11-2006

Rated 0 
How does the writer have "no right" to mention Sufjan. Just because it will make more people like him, and thus he'll lose indie cred, and you won't be able to drop his name to try to impress people. "Chicago" is an amazing song, and Sufjan is a great writer. It is highly possible that "Chicago" had such an impact on him, or the situation that Snow Patrol felt like they had to include it. In a situation like the song describes the music playing has a huge impact on the actions of the characters in the story. Hearing a peticular song at the right moment can inspire someone to act in ways the normally might not. I think in this story, as I described in my first post, this is the moment the object of his affection hears the song and it leads her to going along with him, where she had been fighting the feelings before. These lines are the central turning point in the story and in the song, where the woman can go either way, since the ending is so ambiguous. So in the story at this moment is the climax of the plot. How specific he is with the song name and artist makes the song so much more personal than if he had written, "Put some music on, we'll play your favorite song/ It bursts to life in your sweet smile..." They are still well written lyrics, but lacks the sense of a first person narrative the rest of the song contains. When I am listening I feel like am actually seeing the story progress, and without these personal touches, it seems very fabricated.

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