She turned her back on the church and put all her faith in me
At the back of the chapel where I taught her to screw and to blaspheme
We turned our backs to the church, with our trousers around our knees
While screaming the scriptures she said I was her favourite heresy

In a note I read:
"If you should go blind and deaf
I'll cleanse and I'll bathe you and I'll cook for you daily.
I will take a dry ballpoint pen and trace on yr chest
All of the same conversations that we have now in bed."
I don't mean to be selfish; but I think I'd sooner just be dead

Behind the tennis court alongside the river, not a single live flower to see
This is the one girl who woke up from all that, and now falls asleep next to me
But I swear now, every time that I kiss her, she feels her god breathe on her shoulder
It pains me, but I'm sure she's still yrs

She said she wanted a sea burial, not grass and hypodermics to her hips
I pruned the ivy from yr grandmother's tomb
More tender and careful than the superstitious ripped you from yr mothers womb

In a note I wrote:
"I think too much about the end, but being around it made me feel like I'm coping.
Now when I view the cemetery I don't see headstones,
I see rows of engraved milk teeth, hungry, waiting for me"
And though I am fearful, I think I just crave the relief

Behind the tennis court, alongside the river, paper flower's still a beautiful thing
This is the one girl who woke up from all that, and now falls asleep next to me
But I swear now, every time that I kiss her, she feels her god breathe on her shoulder
It pains me, but I'm sure she's still yrs



Lyrics submitted by shrodes

Track duration: 04:10


Who Fell Asleep In song meanings
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13 Comments

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  • 0
    General Comment:"I think too much about the end, but being around it made me feel like I'm coping.
    Now when I view the cemetery I don't see headstones,
    I see rows of engraved milk teeth, hungry, waiting for me"

    Bit of context: as well as being in LC! Gareth also works as a gardener in a graveyard, hence why he is around 'the end' and the cemetery a lot.
    Flag Clomon April 28, 2013   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:'In a note I read:
    "If you should go blind and deaf
    I'll cleanse and I'll bathe you and I'll cook for you daily.
    I will take a dry ballpoint pen and trace on yr chest
    All of the same conversations that we have now in bed."
    I don't mean to be selfish; but I think I'd sooner just be dead '

    I this bit is about obsession, but taken less literally I think it means that she wants the relationship to keep on even through he's not interested anymore. '...blind and deaf' - he doesn't even look or speak to her.
    I think the song could refer to him suffering some sort of existential crisis and deliberately seducing a girl to try and get over it but she (perhaps because she is religious) won't leave him despite his best attempts at sabotaging the relationship.
    Flag sonnyjdon October 17, 2010   Link
  • 0
    My Interpretation:See, although I really like the idea of the nun, I kind of get the feeling that it's the girl's parents. Maybe this girl is still young and really loves and is loved by her parents.
    So when she's 'turned her back on the church' it's like, she's turning her back on everything they taught her about boys because she's really into our narrator, so much so that she would do all these things for him.
    But the narrator knows that she's still very much a daddy's/mummy's girl so he's waiting for her to turn her back on him and realise that her parents were right.

    Alternatively, I think it could be about the narrator not being ths girl's usual type. The "god" maybe being some other, potentially more attractive man, that the narrator feels inferior to. So the narrator is simply saying 'although she's with me, I know deep down that you'll always be the one she wanted'.
    He feels that she 'woke up from all that' "that" being the type of lifestyle she led beforehand, whatever that may be. And she's writing about all the things she'd do for him, to reassure him that she loves him (though I can't decide if this is sincere or not.)

    I'm under the impression that the sea burial could be in referrence to TSIAGPTTOTF, maybe this girl "woke up" from it all because it made her feel lousy and suicidal, and found solace in our narrator since he also thinks about dying a lot too, and understands what she's going through.

    So many different interpretations, and all of them could be wrong...but I'd hate it if it was straightforward. (:
    Flag hellosweetieon October 16, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:
    ' In a note I read:
    "If you should go blind and deaf
    I'll cleanse and I'll bathe you and I'll cook for you daily.
    I will take a dry ballpoint pen and trace on yr chest
    All of the same conversations that we have now in bed."
    I don't mean to be selfish; but I think I'd sooner just be dead '

    man, over-obsessive really are the worst.
    Flag holycrapoctopuson June 24, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I hear it as "rows of engraved middle teeth" rather than "milk teeth", being that tombstones resemble incisors.
    Flag marvinbananaon June 20, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:"I think too much about the end, but being around it made me feel like I'm coping.
    Now when I view the cemetery I don't see headstones,
    I see rows of engraved milk teeth, hungry, waiting for me"
    And though I am fearful, I think I just crave the relief

    Oh man, how good is that part?
    Flag AllChokedUpon February 18, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:This is definitely my favourite song on the record.
    Flag stevenO98on February 11, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I think it's about being in a relationship with someone who is very religious, whilst possessing no faith yourself and feeling like God is your biggest romantic rival, so you prompt and tempt your lover in to sin to prove reality is better than ideology; I know, I've been there
    Flag hey,gorgeous.on February 03, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I think the meaning is pretty obvious (as Gareth's songs are very personal (i.e. about him)). Though, at a show he mentioned one of the producers thought this song was about seducing a nun. Gareth thought this was much better than the original meaning and as such... I feel like that meaning should be spread.
    Flag locke16on January 20, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Tiny correction, but I think there should be an "at" at the beginning of the second line.
    Flag tjwellson December 30, 2009   Link

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