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.
It was in the march of the winter I turned seventeen
That I bought those pills
I thought I would need
And I wrote a letter to my family
Said it's not your fault
And you've been good to me
Just lately I've been feeling
Like I don't belong
Like the ground's not mine to walk upon
And I've heard that music
Echo through the house
Where my grandmother drank
By herself
And I sat watching a flower
As it was withering
I was embarrassed by its honesty
So I'd prefer to be remembered as a smiling face
Not this fucking wreck
That's taken its place
So please forgive what I have done
No you can't stay mad at the setting sun
'Cause we all get tired, I mean eventually
There is nothing left to do but sleep
But spring came bearing sunlight
Those persuasive rays
So I gave myself a few more days
My salvation it came, quite suddenly
When Justin spoke very plainly
He said "Of course it's your decision,
But just so you know,
If you decide to leave,
Soon I will follow"
I wrote this for a baby
Who has yet to be born
My brother's first child
I hope that womb's not too warm
'Cause it's cold out here
And it'll be quite a shock
To breathe this air
To discover loss
So I'd like to make some changes
Before you arive
So when your new eyes meet mine
They won't see no lies
Just love.
Just love.
I will be pure
No, no, I know i will be pure
Like snow, like gold
Like snow, like gold
Like snow, like snow
Like gold, like gold, like gold
That I bought those pills
I thought I would need
And I wrote a letter to my family
Said it's not your fault
And you've been good to me
Just lately I've been feeling
Like I don't belong
Like the ground's not mine to walk upon
And I've heard that music
Echo through the house
Where my grandmother drank
By herself
And I sat watching a flower
As it was withering
I was embarrassed by its honesty
So I'd prefer to be remembered as a smiling face
Not this fucking wreck
That's taken its place
So please forgive what I have done
No you can't stay mad at the setting sun
'Cause we all get tired, I mean eventually
There is nothing left to do but sleep
But spring came bearing sunlight
Those persuasive rays
So I gave myself a few more days
My salvation it came, quite suddenly
When Justin spoke very plainly
He said "Of course it's your decision,
But just so you know,
If you decide to leave,
Soon I will follow"
I wrote this for a baby
Who has yet to be born
My brother's first child
I hope that womb's not too warm
'Cause it's cold out here
And it'll be quite a shock
To breathe this air
To discover loss
So I'd like to make some changes
Before you arive
So when your new eyes meet mine
They won't see no lies
Just love.
Just love.
I will be pure
No, no, I know i will be pure
Like snow, like gold
Like snow, like gold
Like snow, like snow
Like gold, like gold, like gold
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I'm almost positive it's about suicide. He "bought the things he thought he would need." Pills? A gun, perhaps? He wrote a letter to his family. A suicide note, most likely. So why was he going to kill himself? Perhaps because he was disillusioned. Maybe he had been really happy as a child, but he thought he was losing all of his potential as he got older. He was no longer a "smiling face," he was becoming a "fucking wreck." He tried to hide his depression for as long as possible because he didn't want people to feel sorry for him, but he didn't think that he could hold it inside any longer. That's why he's embarassed by the withering flower. The flower's natural reaction to a bad situation is to wither. He's been in lots of bad situations, but he doesn't want people to realize that he's withering.
Anyway, it's March, it's winter, he's decided he's going to kill himself. But then spring comes and suddenly it's sunnier again. The "persuasive rays" (fantastic line, btw) convince him that not everything in life is unhappy, there are some things to live for. The thing that finally makes up his mind, though, is when his brother Justin basically tells him "If you kill yourself, I'll be so devastated that I'll die, too." He realizes that, yes, things have been going bad, but people still love him and there are still things to live for.
The last verse is a dedication to his brother's unborn child (haha, this is where I start to cry). It's a parallel to his own life. The womb (childhood) is warm and deceiving, but sometimes, when you get older, the world can be cold and cruel. But he wants to show his nephew that not everything is horrible, not everything is a lie. Sometimes there's just love. He promises this to his nephew, and to himself.
Absolutely beautiful song. Easily the best song about suicide ever. Allow me to restate that Conor is pure genius.
I think this is the best interpretation I've heard yet, I totally agree with you!
i like what you said about the whithering flower line, very well put
This is the first song that has ever made me physically cry. This song is absolutely beautiful. Conor is pure genius.
i love how he writes about real things, and even if they aren't real, he makes them seem as if they were (i.e. using his brother's name "justin" in plain text in this song). makes you wonder if this actually happened, or if it is just another masterfully written song lyric by the brilliance that is mr. oberst.
connor sounds like hes about to cry for a second there.. this songs pretty radical though. i think i like it, i know i like it, i like it alot because because it pisses you off
this song draws out so much emotion in me. i teared the first time i heard it. conor is a god of words.
when i hear this song i think of a young man about to kill himself in the springtime when people are normally supposed to feel happy. he writes a letter to his family explaining why. the grandmother line makes it sound as if they have a history of depression in their family. he tells his family that he wants them to remember him at his best, not how bad he had gotten when he was just about to kill himself. he explains that he got tired and that it was going to happen anyway ( ie the setting sun comment). suddenly he started feeling better so he decided that he would stay and his brother finds out and he tells him that if he kills himself he will too. the last few parts are really sad.
He's a lyrical genius. This song is beautiful.
Apparently this track slipped by a lot of people else it’d have more comments than any other Bright Eyes song !!!
beautiful!
Though everyone else seems to be tip-toeing around the meaning to be seen here, I see perfectly what conor is trying to get across. <br /> <br /> Each part of the song tells a story of his life-inside of his head-upon his attempt at suicide. All his thoughts upto his downfall, and what prevents him from the loss of his own life.<br /> <br /> "It was in the march of the winter <br /> I turned seventeen<br /> That I bought those pills<br /> I thought I would need"<br /> <br /> Upon turning seventeen, conor seemed to suffer a tough state in his life...in which some specific pills were bought that he thought were "needed". Easy enough.<br /> <br /> <br /> "And I wrote a letter <br /> To my family<br /> Said it's not your fault<br /> And you've been good to me<br /> Just lately I've been feeling <br /> Like I don't belong<br /> Like the ground's not mine <br /> To walk upon"<br /> <br /> As clear as it can be, a suicide letter was written, confessing to his family that he felt their love, and he appreciated everything they did for him. But, the idea of "the ground not mine to walk apon" is presented. This central idea can be seen throughout the song.<br /> <br /> <br /> "And I've heard that music<br /> Echo through the house<br /> Where my grandmother drank<br /> By herself"<br /> <br /> What I interperted from this section, was not the music being so literal, but that the music was instead a mutual feeling that conor felt between his grandmother and him. That the "music" was the depressed state of mind that could be found from family member to family member. The drinking of the elderly woman could show the paralell feeling between conor and his grandmother.<br /> <br /> <br /> "And I sat watching a flower<br /> As it was withering<br /> I was embarrassed by <br /> It's honesty"<br /> <br /> Building onto the mood that the song states, conor might've found deep, psychological meaning in a flower, and its NATURAL way of dying. That, with the thought of suicide in his thoughts, watching a flower wither and die away on its own, made him embarrased that he could not do the same. <br /> <br /> <br /> "So I'd prefer to be remembered <br /> As a smiling face<br /> Not this fucking wreck <br /> That's taken it's place"<br /> <br /> Perhaps still writing the letter to be found by his parents, he gives his last wishes, upon what he would like to be remembered as: A Smiling Face.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> "So please forgive what I have done<br /> No, you can't stay mad at the setting sun<br /> We all get tired, I mean, eventually <br /> There is nothing left to do but sleep"<br /> <br /> <br /> Such a beautiful, and moving way to state what cant be prevented. That sometimes, regrets and mistakes cant be prevented. That, like "the setting sun" somethings you cant avoid.<br /> <br /> "But spring came bearing sunlight<br /> Those persuasive rays<br /> So I gave myself <br /> A few more days"<br /> <br /> Spring, a very symbolic season of new birth and growth, shows very substantial to this change of pace that conor presents. Amazing, of course.<br /> "My salvation, it came<br /> Quite suddenly<br /> When Justin spoke <br /> Very plainly<br /> He said, "Of course it's your decision<br /> But just so you know<br /> If you decide to leave <br /> Soon I will follow"<br /> <br /> As some might know of the close relationship that Conor had with his brother Justin, his brother's words were found moving, and very inspiring, as if to be "salvation"<br /> It is obvious to see that the "leaving, going" and "following" could be understood as justin's desire to follow his brother in death, if conor had chosen to do so.<br /> <br /> <br /> "I wrote this for a baby<br /> Who has yet to be born<br /> My brother's first child<br /> I hope that womb's not too warm<br /> Because it's cold out here<br /> And it will be quite a shock <br /> To breathe this air <br /> To discover loss"<br /> <br /> With Justin bearing his first child, conor states that "its cold out here" implying that the world is a cold place, full of loss and shocking instances. <br /> <br /> <br /> "So I'd like to make some changes <br /> Before you arrive<br /> So when your new eyes meet mine<br /> They won't see no lies<br /> <br /> Just love <br /> Just love<br /> I will be pure<br /> No, no, I know I will be pure<br /> Like snow<br /> Like gold<br /> Like snow<br /> Like gold"<br /> <br /> <br /> Through Conor's time of depression and doubt, he has been given new hope to change his world, not only for himself, but for his brother's first child. The birth of this baby brings a new light to his life. The new child can be seen as its own salvation for conor, for his sights were newed.<br /> <br /> The wish that Conor states is that the new baby "wont see no lies, just love"<br /> That, the baby shouldnt see the pain that conor holds, and that he should just see the love in the world. That, his world will be pure.<br /> <br /> With conor saying, "No, no i will be pure" is almost a self-realization of his own want and need to be pure for the world he lives in.<br /> <br /> That he will be pure.<br /> Like Gold.<br /> Like Snow.<br /> <br /> He will be as pure as something as real as gold, and as something as fresh as snow, free of impurities and flaws.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Clearly a beautiful song of the development of ones mind in such a terrible time in their life. Clearly, Amazing.
this is one of my favorite bright eyes songs. the last verse is especially meaningful to me. it reminds me of my nephew and the fact that he is being brought into a really messed up world. i really want to show him that it's not all garbage and that it can be beautiful.