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.
When I was young, lying in the grass
I felt so safe in a warming bath
Of sunlight
Of sunlight.
Vast open sky
Could do no harm
Like an embrace
From mother's arms
In sunlight
In sunlight.
In sunlight
In sunlight.
With every year that came to pass
More clouds appear until the sky went black
And there was
No sunlight,
No sunlight.
And there was
No sunlight,
No sunlight anymore.
You disappeared at the same speed
The idealistic things I believed
The optimist died inside of me
No sunlight,
No sunlight.
No sunlight,
No sunlight.
You disappeared with the same speed
The idealistic thing I believed
The optimist died inside of me
No sunlight,
No sunlight.
No sunlight,
No sunlight.
No sunlight,
No sunlight,
No sunlight,
No sunlight anymore.
I felt so safe in a warming bath
Of sunlight
Of sunlight.
Vast open sky
Could do no harm
Like an embrace
From mother's arms
In sunlight
In sunlight.
In sunlight
In sunlight.
With every year that came to pass
More clouds appear until the sky went black
And there was
No sunlight,
No sunlight.
And there was
No sunlight,
No sunlight anymore.
You disappeared at the same speed
The idealistic things I believed
The optimist died inside of me
No sunlight,
No sunlight.
No sunlight,
No sunlight.
You disappeared with the same speed
The idealistic thing I believed
The optimist died inside of me
No sunlight,
No sunlight.
No sunlight,
No sunlight.
No sunlight,
No sunlight,
No sunlight,
No sunlight anymore.
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very dark song though, but I completely understand the feeling he's trying to express. Lyrics are more direct in the Narrow Stairs LP - I love a kind of picture language more, like they did it on their former discography. But new LP is good anyway.
I agree with alanbwells. Its either how he grows up and sees the bad in the world but i think it can also be more about Just having a bad experience and how it changes your perception of what happens to you. But the tone is very decieving, in the same way that Thrash unreal is by Against Me. Very upbeat tone but dark lyrics. Loves it.
according to ben gibbard: "As I'm sure other people feel as we get older, our windows of possibilities start slowly closing. In that song, [it's] represented by the clouds coming in and there's no more sunlight. As a child you look up, and you could lay on your back [and look] at the sky and anything was possible, and the older you get the less that is true."
It's a pretty deceiving song at first listen. The melody makes it seem like a happy, upbeat song. Then you really listen to it and it's a whole new experience. That's what's so great about Death Cab, the imagery in the songs. Reading these lyrics, I have a perfectly painted picture of every single stanza and I know exactly what this sort of feeling feels like. Incredible, I love it.
Pretty strait forward lyrics, but ya deceiving tone
Like everyone else has been saying, the tempo, tone, and just overall how to the song comes across as upbeat deceives the listener.
"When I was young lying in the grass, I felt so safe in a warming bath Of sunlight, of sunlight.
Vast open sky could do no harm. Like an embrace from mother's arms. In sunlight, in sunlight. In sunlight, in sunlight."
The first two stanzas describes how he was young and innocent and everything is going perfectly. Like a child is, hence the words in a mother's arms, think back when you were crying and all it took to make you feel better was a hug from your mom.
"With every year that came to pass. More clouds appeared till the sky went black. And there was no sunlight, no sunlight. And there was no sunlight, no sunlight. Anymore...
It disappeared at the same speed as the idealistic things I believed. The optimist died inside of me."
In the third and fourth stanzas think of it as the person being described is growing up and he is realizing and finally seeing all the bad in the world.
No Innocence= No sunlight
It's such an interesting that as children we have less intelligence--but yet we have more optimism/hope/courage/. As we grow older we gain intelligence but lose some of those enduring qualities we had as children. It makes me think, which would i rather have?
@Nickdude6: The second.
to nickdude6: i'd rather the first.
ok this is weird. i downloaded the song, and its a whole different lyric. do you guys know how that can be?