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.
Everybody knows that the dice are loaded
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed
Everybody knows the war is over
Everybody knows the good guys lost
Everybody knows the fight was fixed
The poor stay poor, the rich get rich
That's how it goes
Everybody knows
Everybody knows that the boat is leaking
Everybody knows that the captain lied
Everybody got this broken feeling
Like their father or their dog just died
Everybody talking to their pockets
Everybody wants a box of chocolates
And a long-stem rose
Everybody knows
Everybody knows that you love me baby
Everybody knows that you really do
Everybody knows that you've been faithful
Ah, give or take a night or two
Everybody knows you've been discreet
But there were so many people you just had to meet
Without your clothes
And everybody knows
Everybody knows, everybody knows
That's how it goes
Everybody knows
Everybody knows, everybody knows
That's how it goes
Everybody knows
And everybody knows that it's now or never
Everybody knows that it's me or you
And everybody knows that you live forever
Ah, when you've done a line or two
Everybody knows the deal is rotten
Old Black Joe's still pickin' cotton
For your ribbons and bows
And everybody knows
And everybody knows that the Plague is coming
Everybody knows that it's moving fast
Everybody knows that the naked man and woman
Are just a shining artifact of the past
Everybody knows the scene is dead
But there's gonna be a meter on your bed
That will disclose
What everybody knows
And everybody knows that you're in trouble
Everybody knows what you've been through
From the bloody cross on top of Calvary
To the beach of Malibu
Everybody knows it's coming apart
Take one last look at this Sacred Heart
Before it blows
And everybody knows
Everybody knows, everybody knows
That's how it goes
Everybody knows
Everybody knows, everybody knows
That's how it goes
Everybody knows
Everybody knows, everybody knows
That's how it goes
Everybody knows
Everybody knows
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed
Everybody knows the war is over
Everybody knows the good guys lost
Everybody knows the fight was fixed
The poor stay poor, the rich get rich
That's how it goes
Everybody knows
Everybody knows that the boat is leaking
Everybody knows that the captain lied
Everybody got this broken feeling
Like their father or their dog just died
Everybody talking to their pockets
Everybody wants a box of chocolates
And a long-stem rose
Everybody knows
Everybody knows that you love me baby
Everybody knows that you really do
Everybody knows that you've been faithful
Ah, give or take a night or two
Everybody knows you've been discreet
But there were so many people you just had to meet
Without your clothes
And everybody knows
Everybody knows, everybody knows
That's how it goes
Everybody knows
Everybody knows, everybody knows
That's how it goes
Everybody knows
And everybody knows that it's now or never
Everybody knows that it's me or you
And everybody knows that you live forever
Ah, when you've done a line or two
Everybody knows the deal is rotten
Old Black Joe's still pickin' cotton
For your ribbons and bows
And everybody knows
And everybody knows that the Plague is coming
Everybody knows that it's moving fast
Everybody knows that the naked man and woman
Are just a shining artifact of the past
Everybody knows the scene is dead
But there's gonna be a meter on your bed
That will disclose
What everybody knows
And everybody knows that you're in trouble
Everybody knows what you've been through
From the bloody cross on top of Calvary
To the beach of Malibu
Everybody knows it's coming apart
Take one last look at this Sacred Heart
Before it blows
And everybody knows
Everybody knows, everybody knows
That's how it goes
Everybody knows
Everybody knows, everybody knows
That's how it goes
Everybody knows
Everybody knows, everybody knows
That's how it goes
Everybody knows
Everybody knows
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This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
Mental Istid
Ebba Grön
Ebba Grön
This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
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Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988.
"'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it."
"There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
American Town
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran shares a short story of reconnecting with an old flame on “American Town.” The track is about a holiday Ed Sheeran spends with his countrywoman who resides in America. The two are back together after a long period apart, and get around to enjoying a bunch of fun activities while rekindling the flames of their romance.
This song sort of sums up the 20th century for me - for all the alleged advances made in western society, all these things (in the song) are still true. We arent really better people than we were, even though we like to think so. That either quite depressing or hilarious, depending on how you look at it. I choose to believe Cohen sees the funny side. There's a few topical references to the 80s as well - the obvious one being the verse about AIDS (the plague's coming). I think he's talking about the end of the sexual liberation of the 60's when he says "the scene is dead".
Something about the honest, cynical truth in this song really appeals to me. I think it is the fact the everybody knows the truth about the world, even though they don’t want to admit it, deep down they all know. The honest lyrics just cut through all the backstabbing, all the pretending that something isn’t going all, all the dishonesty with each other and oneself. Whether it is a relationship, a sinking ship, a disease, or even any optimism about the world at all.
This song tells you that everybody knows meanings of this song.
What I find interesting, is that "everybody knows" everything, but nobody does anything.
I'm surprised no one has posted similar thoughts already, I really didn't think there would be so many interpretations to this song!
Personally, I feel this song is about a man telling his girlfriend that he knows, (and everybody knows) that she has been cheating on him. I think all the other things he says are just to build up to this message. He is listing dreadful truths, undeniable truths, yet truths that are kept hidden or undiscussed, leading up to the fact that he has discovered his girlfriend's dreadful secret.
Everybody knows that you love me baby Everybody knows that you really do Everybody knows that you've been faithful Ah give or take a night or two Everybody knows you've been discreet But there were so many people you just had to meet Without your clothes And everybody knows
She claims to love him, but she's been unfaithful, she's been discreet, but everybody knows.
And now we come to the most powerful verse in this song, where he basically calls his girlfriend a whore, with a meter on her bed (as in a meter to put money in while she is having sex), because everybody knows she's a whore.
Everybody knows the scene is dead But there's gonna be a meter on your bed That will disclose What everybody knows
This song is incredibly powerful, no Dylan song can match this in strength. The calm, calculating coldness gives full force to the message, undiminished by petty emotions like anger or jealousy. Each "everybody knows" is meant to shame this girl, each verse about her is an arrow to the heart.
@ismellofhockey thanks for your interpretation.\r\nSeems possible to me.\r\nAnd I think verse 6 says that she\'s very ill.. that she\'s dying... after having lived a very intense life.\r\n\r\nAnd everybody knows that you\'re in trouble.\r\nEverybody knows what you\'ve been through,\r\nFrom the bloody cross on top of Calvary\r\nTo the beach of Malibu.\r\n
I first heard this song after buying the soundtrack to the movie "Pump Up the Volume". The album had a song apiece from two of my favorite bands, The Pixies and Sonic Youth. I hadn't seen the film yet.
"Everybody Knows" was covered by Concrete Blonde and I was very moved by the lyrics. The woman singing the song (Johnette Napolitano) sounded to be at the end of her rope with the world. She sang very powerful and passionate. It was the first song on the album
I later see the movie and the very first image presented is a record spinning with the needle down. There was a man singing this song and he sounded 80 years old. I was disappointed not to hear the version I had bought on CD.
But the lyrics intrigued so much that I later bought the L. Cohen CD "I'm Your Man."
I really don't listen to the Concrete Blonde version anymore and have had years of collecting, listening and re-listening to Mr. Cohen's music. Dark, cynical and absolutely essential.
Interest account! Well told!
@Zoltar Same with me with "Pump Up the Volume" . I bought the Esential Leonard Cohen collection and discovered "If It Be Your Will" and also love his "Hallelujah" I still will occasionaly listen to Concrete Blonde's version it is good, but no one beats Leonard Cohen in my eyes. Ears?
"Everybody knows the fight was fixed The poor stay poor, the rich get rich"
"Everybody wants a box of chocolates"
Cohen is a genius.
I like the Don Henley version of the song the most, its powerful. The song is the cynic's anthem. It is a haunting piece that bemoans the dreariness and sordidness of reality through the eyes of a now heart-broken idealist.
Of the versions I've heard (Cohen, Concrete Blonde, etc.), I actually like Henley's the least. Too upbeat and chipper...
I think it's simple
Everybody knows so god damn much! or so they think they do anyways...
youtube.com/watch
a great version of the song
" the naked man and woman" - they are Adam and Eva, and everything in this verse is about death coming
@rainius Can I have your number to call you
@rainius <br /> You can join me in Facebook by my nick Rut Kunaite