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.
You're standing on the only chair
And you're singing to the screens and the moving stairs
All on your own in the arrivals
You heard it in the watchman's cry
And you saw it in the bleeding evening sky
You got a Swiss army in your pocket
'Cos here comes the blackout!
Now the hooded snake controls your mind
It stole your eye on the seventh of July
We've got to learn to love our neighbor
Before our neighbors start scaring the love out of us
Before they frighten the love out of us
In the story of the matchstick girl
She was freezing on the streets of Petersburg
She lit a match and found a warmer world
But here comes the blackout!
Now the hooded snake controls your mind
It stole your eye on the seventh of July
We've got to learn to love our neighbor
Before our neighbors start scaring the love out
The hooded snake controls your mind
It stole your eye
Now we've got to learn to love our neighbor
Before our neighbors start scaring the love out of us
Out of us
And you're singing to the screens and the moving stairs
All on your own in the arrivals
You heard it in the watchman's cry
And you saw it in the bleeding evening sky
You got a Swiss army in your pocket
'Cos here comes the blackout!
Now the hooded snake controls your mind
It stole your eye on the seventh of July
We've got to learn to love our neighbor
Before our neighbors start scaring the love out of us
Before they frighten the love out of us
In the story of the matchstick girl
She was freezing on the streets of Petersburg
She lit a match and found a warmer world
But here comes the blackout!
Now the hooded snake controls your mind
It stole your eye on the seventh of July
We've got to learn to love our neighbor
Before our neighbors start scaring the love out
The hooded snake controls your mind
It stole your eye
Now we've got to learn to love our neighbor
Before our neighbors start scaring the love out of us
Out of us
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The third verse is a reference to the story of the little match girl by Hans Christian Andersen: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Little_Match_Girl. She doesn't kill herself but freezes to death. I don't really get the connection to the terrorist themes of the rest of the song though!
I always assumed that it was Petersburg, referring to St Petersburg in Russia, but the original story doesn't seem to have had any particular setting as far as I can tell.
I think that this song is about terrorism and stornoway are urging the listener not to give in to fear and become suspicious about everybody.
"You're standing on the only chair And you're singing to the screens and the moving stairs All on your own in the arrivals" I think that this verse is about a terrorist attack on an airport, he (the singer) is talking to the terrorist and sort of narrating the events as they unfold. For example the lines about standing on a chair and singing could be a metaphor for a terrorist shouting about his intent, the 'chair' is the means by which he's making himself heard in this case the 'chair' might be an explosive of some sort.
"You heard it in the watchman's cry And you saw it in the bleeding evening sky You got a Swiss army in your pocket Cause here comes the blackout" I think in this verse the singer is talking to another terrorist e.g. "heard it in the watchmans cry" means that the terrorist gets the signal to act after a security guard shouts. "here comes the blackout" might refer to the death of the terrorist during the attack.
"Now the hooded snake controls your mind It stole your eye on the 7th of July We've got to learn to love our neighbour Before our neighbour starts scaring the love out of us" Here I think that "hooded snake" is a metaphor for the fear people are feeling in the wake of terrorism. The "hooded snake" stole people's eyes (hope, trust etc) on the 7th of July (2005), the day of the London bombings. In the last lines the singer is urging people not to let fear take over and to trust people before the fear takes over.
"In the story of the matchstick girl She was freezing on the streets of Peter's (bird?) She lit a match and found a warmer world But here comes the blackout" I don't really understand the first two lines of this verse but the last two are quite self-explanatory, a girl lights a match and kills herself.
Could be true, there have been a couple terrorist events that are tied to july 7th in England.
@blunte I might be a bit late but I think this is a great analysis of the song. But the Little Matchstick Girl is a story by Hans Christian Andersen essentially about a girl who has to sell matches in the cold lest she returns home to an abusive father for not selling enough. She uses the matches for warmth and sees comforting images in the flames, however she eventually runs out and freezes to death. The story is essentially about compassion (or lack thereof) from the passers by who ignored here. I think it links to the overall theme of the song that is as a society “the hooded snake controls your mind” and we are not looking out for our “neighbours” and often demonising them.
its she's freezing on the streets of PETERSBURGH not bird...
Thanks, changed.
To me personally.. I think the song represents death.
"The story of a matchstick girl" - a reference to the tale of the matchstick girl who lit a bunch of matchsticks as it was cold, she had nothing else so she imagined beautiful things in the warmth of the fire before she passed away.
"Here comes the blackout" - Blackout.. blacking out of consciousness.. world turning dark?
"Now the hooded snake controls your mind" - Possibly reference to hoodie wearers... - the speaker has been attacked and is giving a warning of 'hoodie' people that seem kind at first but are actually aggressive snakes? (stornoway is also based in the UK which is common for those types).
"You got a swiss army in your pocket" - swiss army knife? maybe for protection.. or the speaker is speaking to the "hooded snake" and describing it's weapon?
Maybe the speaker is speaking to someone trying to defend themselves or someone who has defended themselves and is not going to survive.
The beginning could be explaining the idea of death.. "arrivals" being arriving at deaths door.. as it's only you who knows when you are there. "all on your own in the arrivals".
And the "screen" could suggest like a hospital screen or morgue screen?
Not sure about the eye part?. :). Anyway that's what i got from it.
Maybe the eye is suggest that we should think about our actions and our conscientious conscience?
XD.
I reckon 'It stole your eye on the seventh of July" is saying that evil has made a move to tempt us to retaliate (so a reference to the proverb 'an eye for an eye'). But then the song urges us not to retaliate by saying "we've got to learn to love our neighbours"
Also, i reckon the "hooded snake" isn't just a hooded youth, but evil and temptation hiding behind some veil (e.g. terrorist organisations). I'm hoping its not just some chav, if it is then im seeing this song as much deeper than it actually is... still a catchy tune though.