Lyrics for Awakening as interpreted by eltroyo11

Awakening Lyrics
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Facedown with the L.A. curbside
Ending in the ones and zeros
Downtown was the perfect place to hide
The first star that I saw last night was a headlight
Of a man-made sky but
Man-made never made our dreams collide, collide

Here we are now with falling sky and the rain
We're awakening
Here we are now with the desperate youth and the pain
We're awakening
Maybe it's called ambition
You've been talking in your sleep about a dream
We're awakening

Last week saw me living for nothing but deadlines
With my deadbeat sky but
This town doesn't look the same tonight
These dreams started singing to me out of nowhere
And in all my life
I don't know that I've ever felt so alive, alive

Here we are now with falling sky and the rain
We're awakening
Here we are now with the desperate youth and pain
We're awakening
Maybe it's called ambition
But you've been talking in your sleep about a dream
We're awakening

I want to wake up kicking and screaming
I want to wake up kicking and screaming
I want to know that my heart's still beating
It's beating, I'm bleeding
I want to wake up kicking and screaming (I want to wake up)
I want to live like I know what I'm leaving (I want to wake up)
I want to know that my heart's still beating (I want to wake up)
It's beating, it's beating
It's beating, I'm bleeding

Here we are now with falling sky and the rain
We're awakening
Here we are now with the desperate youth and pain
We're awakening
Maybe it's called ambition
But you've been talk, talking in your sleep about a dream
We're awakening a dream
We're awakening, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

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eltroyo11
06-02-2006

Rated 0 
Based on about 5 live recording of this song, I believe these are all right. The bridge is slightly different on some of the recordings, but these lyrics are from this recording: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Tm8MJ7Drwk
For a couple of reasons: 1. It's the best quality version I've heard, and 2. I was at that show. I think I'm just off screen to right for most of the video. I can see my friend who was standing next to me though.

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Spitterman
06-06-2006

Rated 0 
I heard that they (Switchfoot) are still perfecting the lyrics, so it is (or at least was) changing fron show to show.

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ThisSettingSun
07-15-2006

Rated 0 
And this song will be on the next album. : D

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eltroyo11
11-09-2006

Rated 0 
I know the lyrics are on SF's site, but I'm only putting up the latest version we've actually heard. I just prefer to do it that way cause a lot of times what they put on their has small differences from the actual song.

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eltroyo11
12-20-2006

Rated 0 
My favorite SF song. Ever. I've seen them play it twice, and it was amazing both times

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burreyeant
12-26-2006

Rated 0 
honestly, this is one of the best sounding song on their new album; but i havent grasped the full message of this song yet. but possibly it means something like we are breaking out of our own little life and realizing that there is more, that there is hope, that there is love and that there is God. im continuingly listening to this song to figure it out but as for now that is wut i get from these lyrics.

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eltroyo11
12-26-2006

Rated 0 
I've always thought that it was about being so focused on something (breaking out of the world, as you said) that you have so much ambition, you're talking in your sleep about it.

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burreyeant
12-27-2006

Rated 0 
that could possibly be an aspect of the message yeah. as well as how ppl are in a community of desperation and pain as said in the song. also falling skies as maybe in as stated in oh gravity how we cant keep seem to keep it together meaning a falling society. again this is wut i think of it. but wut you said is true tho. we're awakening, as in we're probably finally seeing truth. :]

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WishingForYou
12-28-2006

Rated -1 
Ok. So. I'm in love with this song. Besides "Circles", this is my favorite. :] Here's what I get from the song:

"Here we are now with falling sky and the rain
We're awakening
Here we are now with the desperate youth and the pain
We're awakening
Maybe it's called ambition
You've been talking in your sleep about a dream
We're awakening"
- We used to be dead. We used to have no ambition whatsoever. Now, we're starting to awaken [hence the title]. When he sings "You've been talking in your sleep about a dream", it's probably a metaphor. The person was "sleeping" [sleeping could also stand for being "dead"] and now they're "talking" in their sleep about a dream they have and want to fulfill. We are beginning to realize and help the people in pain, specifically the youth.

"I want to wake up kicking and screaming
I want to know that my heart's still beating
It's beating, I'm bleeding."
- When a baby is born, you can tell it's live when it cries and kicks, right? Well. He's saying that he doesn't want to be like the other people who are seemingly "dead". He wants to wake up alive.

That's what I got :] I could be totally off and I probably am. But...questions? Comments? Thoughts?

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WishingForYou
12-28-2006

Rated 0 
Ah. Crap. I forget to say this:

Did anyone notice that, when he sings the chorus, he sounds sort of relieved and joyful? Just asking.

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jae1227
12-28-2006

Rated 0 
The dream must be a Nightmare if he wants to wake up kicking and screaming.

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jae1227
12-28-2006

Rated 0 
The dream must be a Nightmare if he wants to wake up kicking and screaming.

And yeah,This is one of the best songs on the album

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burreyeant
12-30-2006

Rated +1 
actually, i believe when jon writes "i wanna wake up kicking and screaming" i believe he means that he wants to be born again into a new life as said in the Bible. being in reborn into the kingdom of God. however this is what i think of the song. i may totally be wrong but we all have our ways of interpreting songs. so yeah. being born again. he wants to know that his heart will keep beating instead of dieing in this sinful world. i love this song

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drummerjoe2610
01-01-2007

Rated +1 
well i read an interview where jon says its about finding the innocence of a child amidst the chaos of the world

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PuNkMoNkEy113
01-01-2007

Rated 0 
I love this song. They played it for us at the concert I went to in June, and I honestly don't really remember it from then. I like to think of it as a sequel to We Are One Tonight, because it gives me the same feeling when I listen to it even though the songs aren't quite about the same thing. They feel related.

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PuNkMoNkEy113
01-01-2007

Rated 0 
I love this song. They played it for us at the concert I went to in June, and I honestly don't really remember it from then. I like to think of it as a sequel to We Are One Tonight, because it gives me the same feeling when I listen to it even though the songs aren't quite about the same thing. They feel related.

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swft24
01-02-2007

Rated 0 
That's exactly how I thought of this and We Are One Tonight. This is one of the best songs on the album.

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inkychipmunk
01-05-2007

Rated 0 
I get kind of a sense of desperation and desire from this song. Like the singer is fully aware of the shallow and meaningless nature of our world, and he wants more than anything to get away, to break out. He knows that God grants real life and joy, and he has gotten tastes of it before but is not quite there. More than anything, he wants to claw his way out of the frozen sleep of our world and into the wild, ruddy life he can feel just a hair breadth away. Hence the happy, excited tone of these lines:

I want to wake up kicking and screaming
I want to wake up kicking and screaming
I want to know that my heart's still beating
It's beating, I'm bleeding
I want to wake up kicking and screaming
(I want to wake up)
I want to live like I know the meaning
(I want to wake up)
I want to know that my heart's still beating
(I want to wake up)
It's beating, it's beating
It's beating, I'm bleeding

A beating heart is associated with life and also with adrenaline and excitement. He's coming to life, and his heart is beating again. Bleeding and blood are also associated with this. You don't bleed when you're dead. Furthermore, when you are bleeding you usually have been doing something active and thrilling, maybe something a little bit dangerous. Something that you do not usually do, sort of the antithesis to a dull and pointless existence. While bleeding also can have negative connotations, it seems like it is supposed to represent coming alive. "Kicking and screaming" probably shows both his desperation to break out and the frenzied, concentrated life just out of his reach. It might also be saying that you don't just wake up without fighting for it. Just like you don't attain eternal life without an effort.

My take on it, at least. I love this song--in addition to the wonderful tune, it depicts Christianity and eternal life as the exhilarating, lively blessings they truly are, instead of the dull and pastel sort of things people all too often think of them as.

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shirvs
01-05-2007

Rated 0 
I think this and 'We Are One Tonight' do relate to each other. They both kind of tell of a desperate world during the verses and then, like WishingForYou said, there's a sense of relief in the chorus with the realisation there's still hope; in either new life as in this song or in unity as in 'We Are One Tonight'.

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eltroyo11
01-07-2007

Rated 0 
Interesting that that is true, cause are my 2 fave SF songs.

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boyslikegirls123
01-07-2007

Rated 0 
this song is absolutely amazing. one of the best, maybe the best switchfoot song ever. i havent taken much to the new album really, but this song by itself is godly

and thats just what its about i think
finding god
wanting to be reborn into god

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born2xl
01-12-2007

Rated -1 
i don't understand people who keep bringing god into this (and don't tell me the guys are christians, i know that). this song, to me, is about coming alive, breaking free from the numbness that this fallen world can bring up on you, and starting to feel again. doing away with the scars and feeling innocent and alive like a child again. i think you guys are overanalyzing "i wanna wake up kicking and screaming" - it just means he wants to wake up alive and kicking. you know like the saying "its alive and kicking". and yeah, this does sound like WAOT except the chorus isn't cheesy and the music is far better (even though the bridge is a wee bit formulaic).

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burreyeant
01-18-2007

Rated 0 
again, you cant say that our interpretations and beliefs are wrong. its just going deeper into meaning and trying to learn about the song. and yeah im pretty sure u know they are Christians but maybe if you're a christian yourself you should kind of like try to understand that there is more meaning, even in a small phrase like "i wanna wake up kicking and screaming" you can connect this song to many different aspects of christianity which i wont go in cause it'll take a long time. check out rob bell's new video called "breathe" its a great video. check that out at Nooma.com

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thatwasimplied
01-19-2007

Rated 0 
i think this song is about someone who is a christian, and believes in god, and was strong in the faith, but without realizing it has fallen away. the lines about "Last week saw me living for nothing but deadlines" talks about how he let everything else in his life take center stage, and shoved god to the back of his mind, as in "You've been talking in your sleep about a dream". that's when he 'awakens' or realizes that this isn't the life god wants for him. so he wants to to wake up kicking and screaming", get back to worshiping god to the fullest instead of just at the bare minimum. also, i think when he awakens, he can finally see the world god made, and how he is a part of it. "Here we are now with falling sky and the rain" meaning, i think, that he is part of it all, part of god's plan, and he needs to kick it into gear.

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born2xl
01-21-2007

Rated 0 
"you can connect this song to many different aspects of christianity"

like i said on another thread, you can connect anything to many different aspects of christianity - it might make the song a better experience for you, but that doesn't warrant going around and saying "this is what the song means".

"again, you cant say that our interpretations and beliefs are wrong. its just going deeper into meaning and trying to learn about the song."
there's a thin line between going deeper into meaning and learning about the song. you go deeper and deeper and after a point you're no longer learning about the song but just learning, period. so it can sometimes be offtopic.

if switchfoot wanted everyone to have one single interpretation of their songs, they would be more to the point - but they create the songs in a way that can mean different things to different people depending on where they're at. when you ask jon what a song means, he doesn't say "this is what it means...bla bla bla" but he asks the fan "what does it mean to YOU?" anyway, end of rant.

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