When your only friends are hotel rooms
Hands are distant lullabies
If I could turn around I would tonight
These roads never seemed so long
Since your paper heart stopped beating leaving me suddenly alone
Will daybreak ever come?
Who's gonna call on Sunday morning?
Who's gonna drive you home?
I just want one more chance
To put my arms in fragile hands
I thought you said forever
Over and over
A sleepless night becomes bitter oblivion
These thoughts run through my head
Over and over
Complaints of violins become my only friends
August evenings
Bring solemn warnings
To remember to kiss the ones you love goodnight
You never know what temporal days may bring
[ From: http://www.elyrics.net/read/a/anberlin-lyrics/paperthin-hymn-lyrics.html ]
Laugh, love, live free and sing
When life is in discord
Praise ye the lord
Who's gonna call on Sunday morning?
Who's gonna drive you home?
I just want one more chance
To put my arms in fragile hands
I thought you said forever
Over and over
The sleepless night becomes bitter oblivion
These thoughts run through my head
Over and over
Complaints of violins become my only friends
I thought you said forever
over and over
The sleepless night becomes bitter oblivion
These thoughts run through my head
over and over
Complaints of violins become my only friends
I thought you said forever
over and over
These thoughts run through my head
Many times when you listen to a song before you see its music video you sort-of create a music video in your head from what you personally derived from the lyrics. When I listened to this song for the first time, the image I saw in my head was extremely similar to this video, which really surprised me. The girl in this video has some type of terminal illness, and she clearly means the world to this guy. He loves her to the point of acting irrationally, as love can often make us do. I believe the verses of the song are the girl speaking, which is evident from the line “since your paper heart stopped beating leaving me suddenly alone” because at the end of the video we actually see they guy’s heart is the one that stops beating; this made me automatically think of “Romeo and Juliet” as far as killing yourself because you can’t handle the loss of the one you love goes. She seems to be at peace with at the idea of dying, or at least more-so than the guy, which you can tell from her saying “remember to kiss the ones you love goodbye” and “when life is in discord praise ye the Lord”. She clearly has a grasp on her purpose in life, but her boyfriend is not ready to let her go. I also believe the choruses are the guy speaking in desperation where he says “I thought you said forever over and over” referring to his anguish at finding out that he has so little time with her left. There is more going on here than I have room to explain, but I really love this song for so many reasons: the message, the rifts, the vocals, the band’s unique style; to me, this song is more of a poem put to words than anything I’ve heard before.
Payton, this song does indeed create a concrete image in one's head. I myself thought of a couple and someone dying. However, I can't help but think the title of the song has a double meaning?...Paperthin Hymn. A hymn of sorts is a song correct? But the one thing most would associate it with is like church hymns. Okay now in the song he says "Who's gonna call on Sunday morning?" Is this a literal question as in she had been influencing him to attend church and because he loves her so much he would go? And coming back to the hymn thing: is this him talking to God and showing his anger but through a hymn form and by saying its paperthin showing how much he doubts it. I dont't know it's late and i feel like I'm rambling. Point being it's a really good song. Thank you for sharing :)
ReplyDeleteYes, I was waiting for you to write about this song since I heard about this assignment (which has turned out to be quite interesting and fun). This song is great, I've known about it for years. It was actually on the first christian cd I ever purchased. Anyway, Payton, way to go on dissecting this song. I never looked at it that way. Thank you for helping me understand.
ReplyDelete-Connor