August 9th, 2008 Posted in The Meaning of Music | 1 Comment »
…like a ghost into the fog where no one notices the contrast of white on white, and in between the moon and you angels get a better view of the crumbling difference between wrong and right. Well I walk in the air, between the rain, through myself and back again. Where? I don’t know. Maria says she’s dying, through the door I hear her crying. Why? I don’t know.
‘Round here, we always stand up straight. ‘Round here something radiates.
Maria came from Nashville with a suitcase in her hand, said she’d like to meet a boy who looks like Elvis and she walks along the edge of where the ocean meets the land just like she’s walking on a wire in the circus. She parks her car outside of my house and takes her clothes off. Says she’s close to understanding Jesus and she knows she’s more than just a little misunderstood. She has trouble acting normal when she’s nervous.
‘Round here we’re carving out our names. ‘Round here we all look the same. ‘Round here we talk just like lions, but we sacrifice like lambs. ‘Round here she’s slipping through my hands. Run. Sleeping children better run like the wind out of the lightning dream. Momma’s little baby better get herself in out of the lightning.
She says, “It’s only in my head.” She says, “shh… I know it’s only in my head.” But the girl in the car in the parking lot says, “Man you should try to take a shot, can’t you see my walls are crumbling?” and she looks up at the building, says she’s thinkin’ of jumping. She says she’s tired of life, she must be tired of something ’round here. She’s always on my mind. ‘Round here, hey man, got lots of time. ‘Round here we’re never sent to bed early, and nobody makes us wait. ‘Round here we stay up very, very, very, very late. I can’t see nothing, nothing around here. You catch me if I’m falling, you catch me if I’m falling. Will you catch me, ’cause I’m falling down on you? I said “I’m under the gun, ’round here. I’m innocent, I’m under the gun, ’round here.” and I can’t see nothing, nothing ’round here.
That would be the lyrics to my favorite song in the history of the world, ever. It was there before Chris, it was there independent of Matt. It’s mine, and it always will be. It may not always be my absolute favorite song ever, but it will always be one of my favorites, and I don’t seem to ever tire of it. Then again, I take a lot from it. The song is basically about a person that can’t hold on to friends and just cycles through them, like the women in the song. By the end he doesn’t even know the person’s name, she’s “The girl in the car in the parking lot”. He’s literally so detached that he doesn’t pick up any of her physical features. She’s just someone to keep him company. She’s suicidal, he’s not. He’s too far gone to be suicidal. He needs someone, and he doesn’t care who it is. He’s willing to just pour everything out on some completely random soul that he doesn’t even know. (No, I’m not saying I’m suicidal or depressed or anything like that, I’m saying I can relate to the cycling through friends thing).
It’s an amazing song, and that’s why I love the Counting Crows. Oh, and basically the “Round here” phrases are those sayings that your mother always told you, the way that things should be, and the things that he can’t be. By the end they’ve degraded into being meaningless.