Lyrics for Grapevine Fires as interpreted by TDDx8

Grapevine Fires Lyrics
When the wind picked up, the fire spread
And the grapevine seemed left for dead
And the northern sky looked like the end of days
The end of days

And a wake-up call to a rented room
Sounded like an alarm of impending doom
To warn us it's only a matter of time
Before we all burn
Before we all burn
Before we all burn
Before we all burn

Bought some wine and some paper cups
Near your daughter's school when we picked her up
And drove to a cemetery on a hill, on a hill

We watched the plumes paint the sky gray
She laughed and danced through the field of graves
And there I knew it would be all right
That everything would be all right
Would be all right
Would be all right
Would be all right
Would be all right

And the news reports
On the radio said it was getting worse
As the ocean air fanned the flames
But I couldn't think
Of anywhere I would've rather been
To watch it all burn away
Burn away
Burn
Burn
Burn
Burn
Burn
Burn

And the firemen worked in double shifts
With prayers for rain on their lips
And they knew it was only a matter of time

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CoolJon25
04-21-2008

Rated +1 
incredible.

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SpiralOfOurDiv
04-24-2008

Rated 0 
Seconded.

-Brian

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Nimby
04-30-2008

Rated 0 
Some of these lyrics are very wrong, I think. At any rate, it's a very good song about kind of... escapism, I think. Or rather, not really escapism, but about being contented with things as they are.

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straitjacketfun
05-02-2008

Rated 0 
lovely, i'm still on my first time of listening to the album all the way through, but so far this song has captured my attention even above the others

i take it to be an end of the world type of song, but feeling strangely at peace with that. "But I couldn't think of anywhere I would've rather been
To watch it all burn away"

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crimsondawn
05-03-2008

Rated 0 
This song makes me think of a Pyromaniac in the midst of the 2007 California Wildfires.

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Irishbball49
05-04-2008

Rated +1 
kind of obvious but yes this is about the grapevine fires in Cali this past year. Ben was there writing most likely, really great song. This and twin sized bed tie for my favorite

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alanbwells
05-04-2008

Rated 0 
Yeep, like it has been said already, this song was written about the wildfires in Southern California this past year. The part of the song that goes
"Bought some wine and some paper cups"
reminds me of the song - "Champagne From A Paper Cup"

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luvd
05-06-2008

Rated 0 
Near your daughter's school when we picked her up

when he sings that

oh god. so so so so so GOOD.

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allstar2003
05-06-2008

Rated +2 
this song is hauntingly beautiful

definitely a song about the end of the world and the inevitability of death. its about acceptance of their fate and celebrating life with the people you love, really amazing

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darkansas
05-06-2008

Rated 0 
The imagery here is just incredible. My favorite song on Stairs, hands down. Completely perfect.

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1 Reply
ahhh_melia
05-06-2008

Rated 0 
His voice in this song is completely breath-taking. It's most defiantly one of my favorites off the new album.

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teamkantner
05-08-2008

Rated 0 
Yeah being in So Cal during the fires, this song depicts it so perfectly. I think this song is more for people that wernt able to go to work or school beacuse of the fires and despite the tradegies of others we still go on. I think this is evident with the girl in the cemetary. Cycle of life story i suppose.

But its interesting because Ben seemingly took a more story teller approach to the narrow stairs album, and most of the writing is in the 3rd person.

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srsizzy
05-11-2008

Rated 0 
"And the grapevine seemed left for dead"
is the correct line I think.

While at the moment I get very little from this song in terms of some grand message concerning life, it is my favorite on the album. It's so beautiful and different than anything I've heard. It reminds me of a mix of Ben Folds, Death Cab, and Radiohead. Really inspiring.

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Digitalbath19
05-12-2008

Rated +3 
yeah great song..the 2nd verse to me "she laughed and danced through the field of graves, there I knew it would be alright, everything would be alright" i look at that like us as adults alot of times look at death as dark and depressing, to where a kid "danced through the field of graves" who doesnt understand the meaning of death yet can run around like its a happy place, "there I knew it would be alright" like it opened his eyes that yea death is a part of life, but that doesnt have to be depressing, and that everything will be ok.

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Nickdude6
05-13-2008

Rated 0 
i agree comletely with digitalbath about the concept of being young and naive
but not as smart, but then again as you grow older you gain intelligence but lose that instinctive, spontaneity that is the essence of youth

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Digitalbath19
05-13-2008

Rated 0 
thanks nickdude;)

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liqideos
05-17-2008

Rated 0 
No greater meaning to life and death. Seeing such is looking too deep for a greater meaning which simply, isn't there.

As a resident of California, and having close friends and family that were forced to flee there homes in San Diego because of these fires in 2007, it becomes quite apparent immediately to any resident of California what this song is touching on.

It's a California thing. It won't surprise me if someone from Utah or South Dakota will never relate to what this time meant to Gibbard or any resident of San Diego in 2007.

"They knew it was only a matter of time...", comes off as a universal message in the end. Pertaining to that no matter what tragedy; i.e; break-up, disaster, death etcetera you may be faced with, time will heal all.

i.e; You will get through a disaster, get better post relationship, and move on from difficult situations.

tl;dr Fires ruined a lot of peoples summer in 2007, and Ben wrote about it.

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4 Replies
ka_rosko
05-17-2008

Rated +1 
liqiedos, that is a very esoteric take on this song. Basically, what you're implying is that this song is only for residents of southern California. No one else could understand what happened during those fires, and Gibbard wrote a song about it FOR US.

Sorry to knock you off your Californian high horse, (are there horses in CA?) but that's not the case.

On the surface, this song is clearly about the fires in San Diego, yes. But there is absolutely nothing wrong with taking a look at what things mean on a grander scale. There is meaning behind things, liqideos, there's meaning behind everything; you're wrong when you say there isn't. There was meaning behind the fire when it happened, and there is meaning behind these lyrics besides what's on the surface. Whether that meaning is righteous or truthful is up to you to decide; but there is meaning.

Gibbard's lyrics in this song are too surreal (aside from the fires, which obviously actually happened) to not be pointing at some philosophical truth or belief. To me, plain and simply, the fires represent Hell. And not just Hell, but the vacuum-cleaner Jesus freaks who hold Hell over your head as a warning ('to warn us it's only a matter of time/before we all burn'). Gibbard's response to this is very similar to his response in "I Will Follow You Into the Dark"; 'what happens on the other side is a terrifying thought, but as long as I'm going to witness it with you that's O.K. with me'.

The child dancing in the field of graves in the cemetery on a hill really drives this point, this meaning, home. She's celebrating in her mortality and she is celebrating mortality in general.

Whether you agree with Gibbard's apparent atheistic tendencies is your own decision to make (I don't, I dig Jesus), but to me it's clear in this song that Gibbard, through illustrating the horrid reality of the fires in San Diego as a metaphor, is giving us his two cents on the biggest question in life.

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2 Replies
PastAndPending
05-17-2008

Rated 0 
You guys are coming up empty here.

Start with the title:

Grapevine = informal method of communications -- mainly to spread gossip & rumors

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3 Replies
liqideos
05-18-2008

Rated 0 
San Diego is not a metaphor.

It burned last year. Simple enough. Fire does not equate to hell. Fire is real.

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universal remonster
05-18-2008

Rated +1 
First off, this is a great song.

To me, it uses the setting of the california wildfires to show a terrible time in someone's life.
The fire, the graveyard, the news reports, and the rented room are all are signs of a major disaster.
It seems like his world is going to end for him, and doesn't know what the hell he's going to do.
But then he sees the child laughing and playing in the midst of all of this.
The child doesn't worry and stress out about the future; she just enjoys the here and now.
Then he realizes "That everything would be all right".
He should enjoy life while he can, even if things will never be the same.

Suddenly, he's glad this is happening. His life WILL never be the same, it will be better.

Burn....

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babycurvescankill
05-18-2008

Rated 0 
This is by far my favorite song of the new CD.
I feel like this song is basically about coming to accept tragedy in life. Knowing that while bad things are happening all around you, things will still basically turn out fine in the end.

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ACatastrophicSmile
05-21-2008

Rated 0 
I
LOVE
this song.
It's absolutely brilliant and beautiful and... yeah.
Simply amazing.

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heavy
05-23-2008

Rated +1 
I think this song is obviously about the wildfires in Cali but I think it has a deeper meaning as well. I think this song is a criticism on our society and the direction the world is headed as a whole. To me, the fires represent the spreading disconcern about other people, as we continue to become more and more self-centered. The speaker in this song realizes this, but at the same time feels as if there is nothing he can do as an individual to reverse what is happening, as he notes "the northern sky looked like the end of days," and "... its only a matter of time/ before we all burn" - he sees the imminent demise of the world. The wine and paper cups represent the speaker's attempt to escape reality through alcoholism, and the description of the child playing in the cemetary represents the innocence, as well as general obliviousness of children to the cruel reality of the world today. The speaker is comforted by the worry free nature of the child, and for the moment feels "that everything will be alright." To me, his mention of the news reports seems pretty self explanatory, as every day we hear more and more accounts of human suffering from the media. 'The firemen working in double shifts' represent activists trying to make a difference in the world, but they too realize that things are largely out of their control with "prayers for rain on their lips." The final line represents that although they are trying to make a difference, they to realize that "it is only a matter of time" before humanity causes its own demise.
That is my take on this beautiful and well written song.

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michelle__x3
05-24-2008

Rated 0 
This is definitely my favorite off of Narrow Stairs.

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