The song is about a friend of mine that died while we were in high school. He was my partner in French class and we had a few things in common. Aside from being terrible at French and loving the same girl two seats ahead of us, we both hated living in a small suburban neighborhood where everyone dressed the same, looked the same and liked the same types of food. Both of us would talk for hours about where we were going to go when we got out of school and went off on our own. Unfortunately, he was hit by a train that runs behind the bleachers on the football field. When I finally finished school and moved away from that town, all I could think of was the fact that he would never have the chance to leave. Now, years later, I think of how many of my friends have been swallowed up by places that they’ll never leave and it keeps me determined to follow my heart. I hope if any of you ever get the chance to leave a place that you can’t stand, you play this song as you drive away. That would do my heart some good. thanks and love, Geoff
03. Sugar In The Sacrament
This song is about losing all your faith you once had in your God. Something happened to your friend or a loved one, and now was the time when you wish you really still had faith in Him.
This song was originally titled “Demo 3″ before the release. This song’s meaning will be up shortly.
05. We Will Overcome
I think this song is pretty self-explanatory…just talking about hardships that we go through day by day and, eventually, “we will overcome” them. Also, it is a “love song” to our country.
Notice how this song is called “The Light” and it’s in the middle of the album. By “The Light Divided” get it? I guess that means the album is the City.
Also, it is their welcoming song to keyboardist Andrew Everding.
07. Running From The Rain
Ok, this is going to be a long one. But having just heard this song, and listening to it over and over, I have really fell in love with it. And though some may not see my position, I always love reading what other people believe a song might be about, and I hope others enjoy it all the same. Here goes…
There was a sound Split all the heavens apart In on the northern view Out on the southern spark
3rd person, describing the scene unfolding. The sound refers to the death of a person, or persons in this case, on the world below. The heavens opened up at that moment to take them in. The next two lines describe the location as Geoff Rickly sees fit.
Oh I’ll be with you running from the rain When it reaches the end of the line See myself reflected on the broken glass As the gates come crashing down There is blood on the tracks tonight And rust inside our veins We will make it in time before the storm Running behind me
1st person, Geoff Rickly speaking as God. The rain/storm refers to either Hell, or our fear of Death, which in some respects could equate to the same thing. He is speaking to the people who are going to die. He is reassuring that He will be there, running with them, until they can go no further. He is telling them God there with them, they can see God in the crashing of the vehicles with their bodies. He personifies himself within them as well, saying there is rust inside “our” veins. He then goes to say the storm is running behind him, which makes me believe it is Hell we are referring to, that God is always in front of Hell, and He will take these people before they go to Hell.
There were some younger kids who followed the tracks that day It was a passing afternoon that came and took them away So we forgot our names lying in the tall grass under the billboard dreams
Once again, back to 3rd person. Unfolding the scene again, since this story is disjointed in its delivery. I suppose the cause of their deaths is a collision with a train and a car. The final line is once again describing the scene as Rickly sees it, though there is a presence of his God narrative, and having us understand God was with him at that point, where we become nameless and formless in the transient world, as evidenced by the “billboard dreams” which I take to be false dominions of Hope in our world. Basically, the last line means the standards by which we exist in the world is by names, which we lose in Death, though as this song dictates, it is ephemeral.
It’s running on. It’s running out. It’s running on. It’s running out Away, away, away. Running from the rain. Away, away, away. Running from the rain.
Unobjective 3rd or 1st person, take it as it is. The demons of Death are following, but they are losing steam to the pace of God in taking the souls of those doomed on the tracks. The second repeat goes to describe the kids, trying to escape Death as we know it, seeing it as an end, a metaphorical grammatical period, with nothing beyond.
I need to get them out It’s the right time to crash, is it not? You were all counting down, running on Running from the rain On the rearview mirror can you take it away? You got that car you brought on me Keep running knowing that you were coming back Running from the rain
Finally, back to Rickly’s 1st person God narrative. He is saying He has to take the kids, Death has caught them, and the unfortunate, by worldly standards, event of a crash involving Death must occur in order for God to save the kids. Then, in an instant, the narrative is now spoken to the recently dead kids, explaining their circumstances. Counting down the days to live, yet running on, trying to escape their own deaths. He explains that they look back, trying to figure out ways they could have prevented it, but God is telling them Fate brought them there, they actually had reached that place, where train met car, with God waiting. And lastly, he tells them they were running from Death only to, inevitably, meet Death.
If my thoughts hold well, this song could be about our understanding of Death as we know it. An ending, one to be avoiding at all costs. But this is an attempt to show that our Death was carefully designed by God, to reach us at a time when the entire dimension of Hell has caught up to a person, and that God must take the person then, in order to keep them under the peaceful rule of Good, rather than Evil.
Telegraph Avenue is a place in San Francisco. My wife was living [there] for a while. It’s about a few things. It’s a song about how difficult love can seem even when it’s really good. And it’s also about how difficult it is to write about love without making it into like a music box. So the first verse is sort of the image of a music box because once you write about a woman, then suddenly you tend to make her into a dancing ballerina in the middle of the music box and you force them into the song. It’s like a form of entrapment. The second verse is about by singing about your own love, you become like a caged bird because in a way, the singing of the song itself lets everyone know what’s going on in your life so it’s like your trapping someone else and you’re trapping yourself. In the end, I wanted to repeat images of spinning because I feel like there’s so much that keeps changing when you’re in a relationship so I really liked the idea of a merry-go-round that you can’t get off. You know you should let go, but you’re afraid of what would happen if you did.
09. The Lovesong Writer
This song to me symbolizes what Geoff feels about his writing. He writes really personally material for people in particular and he feels awkward playing it in front of so many people, because it’s flooded with emotion. I also think it’s talking about his job, what he’s paid for and how he uncovers both extremes from it. I like how he shows that something can be described as horrible and great at the same time.
Meaning coming soon.
11. Autumn Leaves Revisited
This song amazingly expresses how the war affects so many more people than just the soldier…it also comes across like Geoff is against War, just by the fact he inserts moral strife. The guy closes his eyes like it’s nothing at all… because it is something… people shouldn’t be killing people.
