In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
If you were a bird and you lived very high
You'd lean on the wind when the breeze came by
You'd say to the wind as it took you away
That's where I wanted to go today
And I do know that I need to have you around
And I do, I do know that I need to have you around
Love like a mountain springtime
Flashing through the rivers of my mind
It's what I feel for you
You and me go walking south
And we see all the world around us
The colors blind my eyes and my mind to all but you
And I do know that I need to have you around
And I do, I do know that I need to have you around
Around
I have a house where I can go
When there's too many people around me
I can sit and watch all the people
Down below goin' by me
Halfway down the stairs is a stair
Where I sit and think about you and me
I sit and think about you and me
But I wonder will the sun still see all the people goin' by
Will the moon still hang in the sky when I die
When I die, when I'm high, when I die, when I die?
If you were a cloud and you sailed up there
You'd sail on water as blue as air
You'd see me here in the fields and say
Doesn't the sky look green today?
But I wonder will the sun still see all the people goin' by
Will the moon still hang in the sky when I die
When I die, when I die
When I'm high, when I die, die, die, die, die?
You'd lean on the wind when the breeze came by
You'd say to the wind as it took you away
That's where I wanted to go today
And I do know that I need to have you around
And I do, I do know that I need to have you around
Love like a mountain springtime
Flashing through the rivers of my mind
It's what I feel for you
You and me go walking south
And we see all the world around us
The colors blind my eyes and my mind to all but you
And I do know that I need to have you around
And I do, I do know that I need to have you around
Around
I have a house where I can go
When there's too many people around me
I can sit and watch all the people
Down below goin' by me
Halfway down the stairs is a stair
Where I sit and think about you and me
I sit and think about you and me
But I wonder will the sun still see all the people goin' by
Will the moon still hang in the sky when I die
When I die, when I'm high, when I die, when I die?
If you were a cloud and you sailed up there
You'd sail on water as blue as air
You'd see me here in the fields and say
Doesn't the sky look green today?
But I wonder will the sun still see all the people goin' by
Will the moon still hang in the sky when I die
When I die, when I die
When I'm high, when I die, die, die, die, die?
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The poem actually contains pieces of a number of A.A. Milne poems. The most prominent one is "Spring Morning"
If you were a cloud, and sailed up there, You'd sail on water as blue as air, And you'd see me here in the fields and say: "Doesn't the sky look green today?"..... If you were a bird, and lived on high, You'd lean on the wind when the wind came by, You'd say to the wind when it took you away: "That's where I wanted to go today!"
But there are also quotes from "Halfway Down"
Halfway down the stairs is a stair where i sit. there isn't any other stair quite like it. i'm not at the bottom, i'm not at the top; so this is the stair where I always stop.
And also from the poem "Solitude"
I have a house where I go When there's too many people, I have a house where I go Where no one can be; I have a house where I go, Where nobody ever says "No"; Where no one says anything- so There is no one but me.
I might have missed a couple more... but I don't recall any Milne poems about armadillo's. The combination of of the magic of childhood meshed with the magic of psychedelics.........
ive no idea what this song means, but graces vocals in it are amazing, as always :)
From a poem written by A.A.Miln who wrote Winnie the Pooh that Kantner was fond of. Kantner applies it to the psychedelic times of the sixties with its colorful childlike prose. The lyric as well as the music was meant to take the listener on a journey or "trip" in the mind as it was called.
apparently the 'Pooneil' refers to Winnie the POOh, which Kantner (to whom the lyrics are credited) was a fan of, and the 'neil' part would be from "Fred Neil", a folk singer-songwriter of the 60s.