Overall about difficult moments of disappointment and vulnerability. Having hope and longing, while remaining optimistic for the future. Encourages the belief that with each new morning there is a chance for things to improve.
The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future.
Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
Tell me what you saw in me
And I'll try to replicate it with a scene
Mm-mmm
If it troubles you to breathe
Wait a moment; I could change the scenery
Don't carry on carrying efforts, oh no, oh oh oh oh
Somewhere there's a room for each of us to grow
And if it pleases you to leave me, just go, oh oh oh oh
Stopping you would stifle your enchanting ghost
Mm-mmm
It's only that I meant to bring
Love and liveliness to your breast on the scene
Mm-mmm
Did you cut your hands on me?
Are my edges sharp? Am I a pest to feed?
Don't carry on carrying regrets, oh no, oh oh oh
Somewhere there's a room for us to speak alone
And if it grieves you to stay here, just go, oh oh oh oh
For I have no spell on you, it's all a ghost
Mm-mmm
I still have the things you gave me
Four anointing oils, the paper weight you made
Mm-mmm
For sure I haven't carried them
Or buried them in the name of your ghost, my friend
Don't carry on carrying efforts
Don't go! No oh oh oh
Stay with me until I sleep within your host
Or if it pleases you to leave me, just go, oh oh oh oh
Stopping you would stifle your enchanting ghost
Mm-mmm
And I'll try to replicate it with a scene
Mm-mmm
If it troubles you to breathe
Wait a moment; I could change the scenery
Don't carry on carrying efforts, oh no, oh oh oh oh
Somewhere there's a room for each of us to grow
And if it pleases you to leave me, just go, oh oh oh oh
Stopping you would stifle your enchanting ghost
Mm-mmm
It's only that I meant to bring
Love and liveliness to your breast on the scene
Mm-mmm
Did you cut your hands on me?
Are my edges sharp? Am I a pest to feed?
Don't carry on carrying regrets, oh no, oh oh oh
Somewhere there's a room for us to speak alone
And if it grieves you to stay here, just go, oh oh oh oh
For I have no spell on you, it's all a ghost
Mm-mmm
I still have the things you gave me
Four anointing oils, the paper weight you made
Mm-mmm
For sure I haven't carried them
Or buried them in the name of your ghost, my friend
Don't carry on carrying efforts
Don't go! No oh oh oh
Stay with me until I sleep within your host
Or if it pleases you to leave me, just go, oh oh oh oh
Stopping you would stifle your enchanting ghost
Mm-mmm
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Cajun Girl
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I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
Just A Little Lovin'
Dusty Springfield
Dusty Springfield
I don't think it's necessarily about sex. It's about wanting to start the day with some love and affection. Maybe a warm cuddle. I'm not alone in interpreting it that way! For example:
"'Just a Little Lovin’ is a timeless country song originally recorded by Eddy Arnold in 1954. The song, written by Eddie Miller and Jimmy Campbell, explores the delicate nuances of love and showcases Arnold’s emotive vocals. It delves into the universal theme of love and how even the smallest gesture of affection can have a profound impact on our lives." https://oldtimemusic.com/the-meaning-behind-the-song-just-a-little-lovin-by-eddy-arnold/
Punchline
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.
Plastic Bag
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Plastic Bag” is a song about searching for an escape from personal problems and hoping to find it in the lively atmosphere of a Saturday night party. Ed Sheeran tells the story of his friend and the myriad of troubles he is going through. Unable to find any solutions, this friend seeks a last resort in a party and the vanity that comes with it.
“I overthink and have trouble sleepin’ / All purpose gone and don’t have a reason / And there’s no doctor to stop this bleedin’ / So I left home and jumped in the deep end,” Ed Sheeran sings in verse one. He continues by adding that this person is feeling the weight of having disappointed his father and doesn’t have any friends to rely on in this difficult moment. In the second verse, Ed sings about the role of grief in his friend’s plight and his dwindling faith in prayer. “Saturday night is givin’ me a reason to rely on the strobe lights / The lifeline of a promise in a shot glass, and I’ll take that / If you’re givin’ out love from a plastic bag,” Ed sings on the chorus, as his friend turns to new vices in hopes of feeling better.
It appears, on first and subsequent listens that this narrator tries to rekindle what was once there. Perhaps trying to be again what he once was. However, the object of his affections wants to progress, move forward. And Sufjan's use of "scenery" like a play, seems to indicate that he is staging things. Showing her a false image of himself. Therefore if it suffocates her, he tells her he'll recast it. Change things but not reveal the truth of things.
However, the refrain seems to indicate that he's aware that she is going to leave and he in fact encourages it. Perhaps seeing in her a ghost, a remembrance of things that once were. Also, it goes into the dichotomy of him trying to build something and her wishing for momentum.
In the second verse we find him again as the carpenter, the carrier. Him wanting to bring love and liveliness. However, his edges (the rough aspects of his personality) are too sharp for her. He in himself brings is the poison to the cure he wishes to provide. A pest who wishes to be something else.
In the second refrain we have him once again dueling with his desires. At once wishing to bring her happiness, love but also realizing that he has no power over her own desires. And that's what was so enchanting, her breeziness. Once again, we have a room for them to speak alone, akin to the scene of the past he'd rebuild but they both grieve/suffocate her. It's like the saying "If it's meant to be, release it and it will come back to you".
He then goes on to talk of the keepsakes, the four anointing oils and interestingly a paper weight. First, the anointing oils goes back to Christianity, also her enchanting ghost has a vague parallel to the Holy Ghost, God's agent of grace. Perhaps he views her as his grace? Also, the paperweight is meant to keep things in place. To make sure papers stay secure. And, oils once exposed evaporate and disappear. Again with two dueling impulses. One that keeps things in place. One, a fragrance that is wonderful but vanishes.
We also have him telling her that he hasn't carried them. But his bringing them up signifies importance. He hasn't buried/discarded them in the name of love lost. I think this ties in nicely with the last refrain.
In the last refrain we have him for the first time telling her not to go. Don't leave. He wants to feel again that spirit he adores. Wants to get as close as he can by laying down to rest next to the host. This also goes to Sufjan's previous song "Vito's Ordination Song" with the lines, "Rest in my arms, sleep in my bed." That being a more spiritual song than this but an allusion or call-back to that same desire of wanderers. The desire to find home, closeness. But then we have him coming back to his senses and telling her to go if she wishes. Because, at heart, he understands that she is like the oils, the relationship anointed and lovely but ultimately vanishing.
We all bring our own subconscious out in our interpretation of songs. When I listen to this song I hear someone so obsessively in love (borderline idolization) that they see themselves as completely inadequate, paling in comparison to their love. The feeling of inadequacy is so strong they're convinced that their lover is better off without them.
...is it not about the Holy Spirit rather than a lover?
pouffle: I dunno...does the Holy Ghost make paperweights?
This song is so deeply in touch with me right now I can't explain it...
My favorite track off the new EP, it's just incredibly beautiful, really reminds me of Seven Swans era Sufjan. It seems to be a love song, with a very interesting ghost metaphor.
Actually now that I read the lyrics again it seems more like an aftermath of a relationship kind of song.
I would agree with Frontman17, seems to be a "love" song, which Sufjan doesn't tend to write about so directly. I like the feeling of the song especially the subtle sense of resentment towards the lover in the lyrics.
I've also noticed the use of breast in several of his latest songs, I wonder....
I love finding songs that fit my current situations perfectly. This song seems to represent a relationship in which one has grown tired of the other.
I missed this style of sufjan!
I like the line "Stay with me until I sleep within your host". We bring past relationships into current ones.
loveeee this. but i think it's stay with me until I sleep within your HOUSE
darkteapot: Nice analysis, I totally agree. I like what you said about the keepsakes.
I think he also expresses how they're at different stages of maturity, both mentally and spiritually. Because of this he feels rather dependent on her, but he realizes he can't hold her back any longer so he gives her the choice. This is the most painful part of relationships for both parties involved.
This entire EP just rattles my bones to my core. (As Sufjan tends to do, always.) This song -- along with The Owl & The Tanager -- speak to me in multitudes. I feel they were written to live in both my heart and my soul. His melancholy themes, honest lyrics, and soft vocal tones with a haunting falsetto have always appealed to me greatly. This is the kind of music I would make if I could make it. (I am instead left to admire music from both afar and down to the tiny details; I'm a music journalist.) Instead, I will just sing with this EP and continue to love every second of it.
While I love this entire song, from every word to its acoustic guitar and gentle piano, my favorite lyric is this one: "If it troubles you to breathe, wait a moment; I could change the scenery."