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I recall once on the church steps,
When I moved to kiss your chest,
How we paid such close attention
To each sweet and stuttered breath,
I should’ve stopped to paint our picture,
Captured honest pure affection,
Just to document the difference between attraction and connection.
I can see all of my friends and
I break into empty buildings,
When the coast was clear,
With backpacks full of beer,
We’d throw our bottles from the rooftops
At this city—it looked endless.
Guess I still don’t see the difference between real purpose and that urgent adolescence.
And I remember in a basement sharing sweat
With all these stranger boys and girls,
“We’ll change the world!” We sang,
“We’ll change the world!” But,
Nothing seems to change and
They say none of them will listen,
But I still see much more power in that basement than in heartless politicians.
And if we get beaten by this winter,
If we get strangled by regret, just
Let our love of life and tension
Gasp in sweet and stuttered breaths, and
Have them lay us in a basement,
Smash some bottles on the ground, and
Say we couldn't tell the difference between the feeling and the sound,
Remember not our faulty pieces,
Remember not our rusted parts,
It’s not the petty imperfections that define us but
The way we hold our hearts,
And the way we hold our heads,
I hope they write your names beside mine on my gravestone when I’m dead.
And when we are dead let our voices carry on
To find a better song.
To find a better song and sing along.
When I moved to kiss your chest,
How we paid such close attention
To each sweet and stuttered breath,
I should’ve stopped to paint our picture,
Captured honest pure affection,
Just to document the difference between attraction and connection.
I can see all of my friends and
I break into empty buildings,
When the coast was clear,
With backpacks full of beer,
We’d throw our bottles from the rooftops
At this city—it looked endless.
Guess I still don’t see the difference between real purpose and that urgent adolescence.
And I remember in a basement sharing sweat
With all these stranger boys and girls,
“We’ll change the world!” We sang,
“We’ll change the world!” But,
Nothing seems to change and
They say none of them will listen,
But I still see much more power in that basement than in heartless politicians.
And if we get beaten by this winter,
If we get strangled by regret, just
Let our love of life and tension
Gasp in sweet and stuttered breaths, and
Have them lay us in a basement,
Smash some bottles on the ground, and
Say we couldn't tell the difference between the feeling and the sound,
Remember not our faulty pieces,
Remember not our rusted parts,
It’s not the petty imperfections that define us but
The way we hold our hearts,
And the way we hold our heads,
I hope they write your names beside mine on my gravestone when I’m dead.
And when we are dead let our voices carry on
To find a better song.
To find a better song and sing along.
Lyrics submitted by remembermaine, edited by toadling17
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"& say we couldn’t tell the difference between the feeling and the sound."
when you're at a show, especially a basement show or a tiny venue, the music is everywhere, you can't escape it. I love this line because I know exactly what it's like to be surrounded by music like that & be so enveloped by the music you love that there comes a point where everything just blends together and you just become part of the music. & the line about "stranger boys & girls" comes in here too because there are people packed in on top of you that you don't even know, but it's ok because you're all there to enjoy the music, to feel the music. It's a very powerful thing, a very beautiful thing.
I feel bad for people who don't get the opportunity to experience music like that, it's really an amazing experience.
It's "heartless politicians".