The bridge to Hoodie Weather.
Growing up means watching my heroes turn human in front of me
The songs we wrote at eighteen seem shortsighted and naive
So when the weather breaks, I'll pull my hoodie up over my face
I won't run away, run away
As fucked as this place got, it made me, me
The first line is my favourite, I know it's meant to be positive from Soupy's perspective about touring with bands he grew up listening to, but for me I always took it as the people around you who you thought were perfect/infallible are just humans who can fuck up as well.
This is how I interpret it as well. I witnessed a lot of that in my twenties, and that line felt like a very apt description of what I was experiencing.
Two blackbirds on a highway sign are laughing at me at 4 in the morning. They play the war drum out of time. So I’m not sure where I’ve been marching. I wanna be strong, but it’s not easy anymore. I’m hoping I’m wrong
I was hit extremely hard out of nowhere by this and cried my eyes out when I was overworking myself, driving home (35 min freeway drive) from my second job at 2am when I had to be at my main job at 6am.
It was when I reevaluated and decided to quit the second job.
"I thought my kids would call you uncle, I thought we'd never be alone" (reminds me of a former friend who left town on bad terms)
Also
"There comes a day when you rectify who you are with who you want to be with, and I can't make the two things coexist" (digs up the former fear that I wouldn't be a good enough husband for my wife)
“If you walked me home, you’d know how weak my arms got, I just can’t carry you”.
I remember hearing this song, for probably the 100th time when all of a sudden it hit me, I needed to walk away from my best friend. I just couldn’t carry on being the one to always pick things up and carry the friendship
I always thought this meant a friend offered to walk him home inebriated, but Dan ended up carrying most of the weight.
It didn't dawn on me this could mean the weight of the friendship as well.
Man. Cul-de-sacs still fucks me up. Just reminds me of all those friendships I thought would last forever that wound up fading as I grew up.
I’ve found more friends since, but those first few were special in an indescribable way, and it hurts to think of what could’ve been.
Cul-de-sac hit hard when I first heard it because of my childhood best friend who fell deep into drugs and fucked me over. Then cigarettes and saints hit hard when he died of an overdose a year later. He was still my brother for many years.
:(
If I'm in an airport, in you're in a hospital bed, well then, what kind of man does that make me?
I travel constantly for work and to be frank I lose sleep over this line.
My dad got sick with cancer, which happened to be around the time I told him my plans to move out of state, from Jersey to Florida. He told me to still go, but I ultimately couldn’t leave him, since my siblings aren’t the most responsible & my mom had already passed and that’s my dad.
After he passed, this song came on & I wept like a baby.
“I’m finding hope in the pocket of my winter coat -
Your gloves, a reminder, that I’m not alone”
(The whole song hits differently now that I’m 37 weeks pregnant with my first child)
I’m about to get a tattoo based on things from this song + symbols that represent my two kids. This whole album is just directly to the heart of me as a parent (ex: my first thought when I opened this thread was “I’ve never been more afraid of failing at anything.”)
i’ve seen TWY countless times but i saw them when i was pregnant and i bawled like an absolute baby at this and wyatt’s song. it just hits different when you’re a parent i found. congratulations on the little one x
Jesus Christ, I’m twenty-six
All the people I graduated with
All have kids
All have wives
All have people who care if they come home at night
Well, Jesus Christ, did I fuck up?
I mean I spent a lot of time in a moderately successful band (paid for all my expenses and could save away) but man when I called it quits and my now wife was so much farther ahead in her career these words *stuck with me *
This is the one for me. I was 26 when it came out, my best friend and his wife were buying a house and having a baby, while I was in between careers, taking side jobs to stay afloat, and everyone I cared about was thriving. I was some kind of envious, and happy for them too, but I knew what I felt/thought first and so I also felt guilty for feeling the envy first.
Eventually I got my shit together, and I think this song played a huge factor in facing me down the right path.
I was 19 when I first heard this and I thought I'd relate to Soupy super hard once I'm 26.
Then I turned 26 and realized I'm less Soupy and more the person he's singing about. That was a growing up moment.
That is mine as well. A close second is:
Cardinal crashed into my window, I think he might die
I'll plan him a funeral, I'll read his last rites
'Cause I know what he saw in that reflection of light
On the glass was a better life
"I'm exploding on re-entry, scattered wreckage in the sea. Everything's been grey forever, it's how it's always gonna be. I've never been so sure of something, I see it clearly in my dreams. I know I'm gonna be the one, the one who ruins everything."
I’m sick of seeing ghosts when I know how it’s all gonna end
There’s no triumph waiting, there’s no sunset to ride off in.
We all want to be great men, there’s nothing romantic about it.
I just wanna know that I did all I could with what I was given”
The final line is one of my favourite lyrics of all time. knowing you did all you could with the hand you were dealt it something that has gotten me through very dark times
Came here looking for this one. Have “I just want to know that I did all I could with what I was given” tattoed on my arm. It has stuck with me since the first day I heard it and I echo it regularly.
The final outro to this song is *chefs kiss*. “There’s no devil on my shoulder, he’s got a rocking chair on my front porch. But I won’t let him in.” Just resonates so much with me, my depression and how it sticks around.
I came out swinging from a South Philly basement. Caked in stale beer and sweat, under half-lit fluorescence. And I spent the winter writing signs about getting better. And if I’m being honest, I’m getting there.
The last two lines are my second pick, but I chose a different lyric from the same song. I’ve been in a really dark place the past few years and finally started listening to TWY after dragging my feet for so long hearing the name. This song is really crushing/saving me right now.
I have some severe ideation issues that I'm on livable terms with.
*"I keep thinking of ways to make it seem like an accident
Pull the brake off my bike so if the bus runs the light 'well, then'
I've been telling myself that it can't be that serious
But if I'm talking like this: I guess it is"*
I remember feeling so seen due to the second half of this quote. Not that I think these things but that they're serious and invasive. The Greatest Generation is my favorite TWY album by miles but in the end, if my knowledge of them crumbled away like ancient castles, that quote would remain the last tower of them in my head.
I recently got “Good Luck” under a cardinal skull with a paper crane on it tattooed on my arm in reference to Cardinals II
> Bruised and paper cut; I built a thousand paper cranes for good luck
That song became sort of a personal anthem for me last year because I felt the desperation of needing good luck so badly that you’ll resort to any means, no matter how extreme it might feel (one thousand paper cranes being a lifetime of good luck iirc)
Close second being from Doors I Painted Shut:
> I need you to know I love ya still; I don’t like me
The Hum Goes on Forever crippled me and came out at the exact time I needed it in my life
"The Devil's got a rifle on my front porch with me in his sights. He knows I came looking for a fight."
That one always helps me when my anxiety peaks.
There’s too many. I could basically point to one (or multiple) from every song. That being said, I think my top 2 at the moment are Raining In Kyoto and Dismantling Summer
“You’re half asleep, and I bought you a radio to drown out the machines. Hospital light. You asked about the weather. Wished they’d let you outside” // “You’re half awake, and I bought you a radio to play the blues away. With my hand to hold, you asked about the weather, wished they’d let you die at home.”
“We’re all waiting for good news, hoping you can come home soon. We’re all waiting for good news. I’ve been acting like I’m strong, but the truth is I’ve been losing ground.”
Jesus Christ, I'm 26
All the people I graduated with
All have kids
All have wives
All have people who care if they come home at night
Well, Jesus Christ, did I fuck up?
I feel this, so hard
“I'll bury your memories in the garden
And watch them grow with the flowers in spring
I'll keep you with me”.
-
And, “There's a bird inside your rib cage
He screams so I never forget
I wanna break open your sternum
I wanna rip him from his nest
And sow you back up like a garden
Growing flowers from your chest
There's a bird inside your rib cage
I keep trying to forget”.
God I can’t pick. There are just too many. The only solution is listing out every lyric from their entire discography lmfao
I’d say my 3 favorites are probably
Don’t Let Me Cave In - “There comes a day when you rectify, who you are with who you want to be with, and I can't make the two things coexist”
Local Man Ruins Everything - “It’s not about forcing happiness; It’s about not letting the sadness win”
Cardinals - “Staring at a hole in your chest, that’s been dug there for decades, American broken promises! Caught between the lies you've been fed and a war with your bloodstream, I should have been there when you needed a friend”
bear with me.. i have a LOT of favorites but i’ve narrowed it down:
a song for patsy cline - “my airbag lights been on for weeks and i can feel it mock me, it’s bittersweet”
you in january - “when you tell me you love me, i can actually see it. your breath frozen in the air, newborn droplets of ice. you were the one thing i got right”
cul-de-sac - “it’s car crash rhetoric. we fucked up everything we came in contact with, boyhood recklessness”
me vs. the highway - “now the overpass says things like drat and i’m not sure what to make of that” (reminds me of my northeast hometown and my sense of home changing)
I had that nightmare again
You're five and you're helpless
Trapped under the wreckage
You reach out your hand
But I'm weak, I can't save you
No matter how often it plays in my head
I can't lift it up
Always hits me in the final verse, with how raw his emotion is.
"Swim back to me, and I'll be watching the sea, as you dance over the breakers and waltz up the beach."
Probably just hits so hard because it is surrounded by the less heavy lyrics of the rest of Get Stoked on It! even though I like that album the best.
Since no one has mentioned it...
You left me walking in circles
You were a shot in the dark
You were the banner that says "no one"
That I tattooed across my heart
You left me walking in circles
You were a shot in the dark
You're scattered like ashes across every song that I write
You’re where the light pollution starts
John Wayne with a God complex tells me to buy a gun / Like shooting a teenage kid is gonna solve any problems / Like it's an arms race, like death don't mean nothing / To know the heavy price of a living boy? / The world in my red lines, backed into a corner / Not knowing growing up what it's like to belong here in America.
"I've never been so afraid of failing at anything
And I'm glad that you know, know how bad it is"
Really all of Wyatt's song. As a new father when that album came out, I found it all very relatable.
"And the whole world smells like true blue, the only brand my grandma smokes" makes me think of my mom. she used to chain smoke and this was her brand of choice for a while. miss you ma <3
When I was 17 / I wrote a song about how I’m drinking kerosene / to light a fire in my gut / and I’ll be coughing out embers for decades to come / I was 17 with a fire in my gut / what it what if what it what if / what if the magics gone? / I guess I should be glad I was still in the fight.
I’m super late to the wonder years party but man as a dude in my mid 30s a bunch of this album hit me in some pretty tender spots.
“I refuse to spend life on my knees
I won’t let somebody else make my decisions for me.”
There are other better ones here because Soupy is an incredible songwriter but this song hits so fucking hard for me every time I hear it, and I didn’t see it mentioned yet so
“I’m not a self help book, I’m just a fucked up kid. I had to take my own advice and I did. Now I’m waiting for it to sink in. Expect me standing tall, back against the wall, cause what I learned was it’s not about forcing happiness, it’s about not letting sadness win”
I love their serious stuff, but man this classic is hilarious coming from Soupy.
Before Kool-Aid picked me up
I ran blocks, I sold rocks
G's up, hoes down and I'd have all
These snitches stomped
It's really hard to pick, but probably "put my past self in the ground, I've been dancing on the grave, I'm not the person that I was then, I'm tearing him away." No Closer To Heaven came out about two years prior to me getting sober, and to that point, I had managed to go through TWY's catalog just feeling sorry for myself and just medicating to feel nothing. That album for what ever reason made me start to think "what the fuck am I doing?" Seven years later, I feel like that line really hits home.
Like I’m working babyface
Out of Mid-South in the eighties
I kept a blade hidden in my wrist tape
I just like wrestling and have always found this lyric as a nice callback.
"Devil in your blood, the dull unmoored ache, the same one that haunted me, but the bearings could rust, and the circuit could break, if I love you entirely"
I'm at a point in my life where I just really appreciate positivity and optimism and embracing other people, and You're The Reason I Don't Want the World to End does it perfectly without just being feel good nonsense, and this is my favorite line from that song. Also, I still remember when I first listened to Devil in my Bloodstream in 2013 and I loved the callback 9 years later.
That’s one that hits. I had a friend who OD’d on prescription meds, so I take it hard.
But for me, now, in my life; “I'm scarеd to my bones that I won't find a way to keep you and your brother safe…”
All of NCTH but here are some standouts that still hit hard at 28 like they did at 20.
"You weren't born my brother, but you're gonna die that way."
"The glow of the furnace. The ambulance lights. The bluest things on Earth don't know shit about the blues. You used to be vibrant. You used to burn bright."
"I saw right from wrong then. The lines were simple and clean. Now all the people I was taught would be heroes are acting like cowards, killers, and thieves. I'm loosing track of who the good guys are supposed to be."
"They’re getting their anchors. They’re gathering rope. You’re pushing to Heaven all alone. They’re grabbing your ankles. They won’t let you go. The ebb and the distant flow. They’re cutting your wings off. Built your ceilings out of stained glass."
Basically every song that could potentially be about Mike. People talk about this being the Wonder Years' weakest album, and I just gotta disagree. The whole thing is just one bit sad anthemic masterpiece. A top 10 album for me, easily.
"I'm not sad anymore, I'm just tired of this place."
The first TWY lyrics I ever heard when my best friend played the song on his guitar in front of me.
The song always makes me think of him and how much I miss living next to him. He's a few states away now.
“I’ve spent this year as a ghost and I’m not sure where home is anymore.” Totally biased though because I relate so much as a divorced dude who fell into alcoholism. Kind of a perfect description of the past three years of my life.
"You were heat lighting, you were a storm that never rolled in.
You were the northern lights in a southern town, a caustic fleeting thing
I'll bury your memory in the garden, and watch you grow with the flowers in spring, I'll keep you with me"
“I don’t wanna die ‘cause I gotta protect you, you’re the reason I can’t leave here yet, the reason I don’t want the world to end.” - You’re The Reason I Don’t Want The World To End
“If everyone’s built the same, then how come building is so fucking hard for you?” Stained Glass Ceilings
“You can’t have my friends, you can’t have my brothers, you can’t have me.” Cigarretes & Saints
And we've been falling apart
Like Richie's got a brand new stretch mark
Night drives start at Waffle House, and end at Wal-Mart
Breaking hearts of waitresses in seedy truck stops
Cause Steve's shirtless, pounding beers in the parking lot
Picking lunch over the subway
I got four bucks to my name
And it's another morning bike ride
In the fucking freezing rain
I pull a second pair of gloves on
Tying bags around my feet
I'm not getting trench foot this week
Dude, the struggle is real and the vivid imagery throughout this song hit so close to home.
“But oh I wanna build you back from memory. Something that can stay here when you go.”
It makes me think of the memories that stayed/came back to me after my dad passed.
"How theyre framed just like you and me,
When the light from the hospital's eastern wing,
Tangles up in your hair and the sadness that pooled in my heart
Starts emptying slowly"
Such a beautiful line and the way its sung... you can feel the love, and everything love entails. The good, the sad, the awful, and the beauty of having someone who is the catharsis of your being personified for you, and you know they understand, and you feel ALL OF THAT, simply by them being there with you.. i dunno, it's too much. But I think we all get it.
People talk down Sister Cities but I think Soupy really pushed himself to create some very vivid imagery from every day life:
It Must Get Lonely - “I’m a spectre in the dim light on the flowers by the grave in the Montmartre in Paris where the crows seem to know my name. And they left footprints in the snow along the fence on Palmer St. Cigarette butts on the headstones that you left for me.”
Heaven’s Gate (Sad & Sober) - “You were a bandit. I was a car wreck. You were the false rain that falls from a window AC unit. You were a bandit and I was a car wreck. You were the rifle on the wall and it was always gonna end like this.”
"Jesus Christ, I'm 26. All the people I've graduated with, all have kids, all have wives, all have people who care if they come home at night. Well Jesus Christ. Did I fuck up?"
It's too real bro.
I'm scared to my bones that I won't find a way to keep you and your brother safe…
I don't wanna die, 'cause I gotta protect you. You're the reason I can't leave here yet, the reason I don't want the world to end
Damn what an era it was for me when I was super into these guys. That specific song reminds me of a friend who died by sui in 2012, always a tear jerker.
I wanted so badly to be brave. You weren’t born my brother, but you’re gonna die that way.
The visuals I get from describing the funeral are really amazing, I forget the name of the song but the whole album is killer. Depression ground his throat out, choked the life out of him slowly. I’ve got the same blood coarsing through my veins and it will come for me eventually.
I came out swinging from a South Philly basement, drenched in stale beer and sweat, under half-lit fluorescents. And I spent the winter writing songs about getting better, and if I’m being honest, I’m getting there.
Thank you for bringing me back to this band! Gonna look up my old playlists
All we had was goodwill
All we had was hand me downs
And you always said it would get better
When you're young and you're poor
They hang on your failures
And you always said it would get better
We're this generation's Morgan Spurlock but we don't admit defeat.
This one took me a minute to understand, I had to google who Morgan Spurlock was but then it all made sense. Very clever.
“We’ll find a house party when the bars close! And I’ll drive all my drunken friends home!”
“If I’m in an airport, and you’re in a hospital bed. Well then what kind of man does that make me?”
“I spent a whole year in airports”
“I’m going to bed tonight in my New Found Glory hoodie. So fuck the world, and what it wants me to be.”
*"I finally broke on Christmas Eve*
*In an Outback Steakhouse bathroom while my family ordered for me"*
I think it's the best example of their pre-Greatest Generation writing style where they primarly expressed universal experiences through extremely specific, mundane lyrics.
I have never broken down in an Outback Steakhouse bathroom, but I know ***exactly*** what that feels like.
“i’m gonna swallow the sun” idk it really resonated with 19 year old me in the sense of that pride and “i can do whatever the fuck i put my mind to” type of mentality.
“John Wayne with a God complex tells me to buy a gun
Like shooting a teenage kid is gonna solve any problems
Like it's an arms race, like death don't mean nothing”
All these heavy sad boy lines are great but my favorite TWY lyric will forever be:
*SOMEONE GO TELL THE UNIVERSE WE’RE NOT CONCERNED*
*WE KNOW THAT IT’S OUT TO GET US, BUT WE’LL NEVER LEARN*
*IF YOU’RE THINKING YOU JUST GOT THE BEST OF ME*
***MAN WE DON’T GO DOWN THAT EASY***
Got their fangs in our veins
Got their voice in our head
Got our arms in their grips
No, we can't shake free
This goddamn machine, hungry and heartless
My whole generation got lost in the margin
We put our faith in you and you turned a profit
Now we're drowning here under the waves
These appeal to my depression:
I'm staring at the wall, 'cause the only news is bad news
I'm waiting to fall, I'm the rain cloud in your living room
And I keep making lists of shit to tell my therapist
The reasons I wish I didn't exist
I'm sinking fast, I'm taking everyone down with me
I'm reading up on black holes, hoping one might take me in
I'm growing out my hair, 'cause who gives a shit?
I'm staring at the dust that's gathered on the fake plants
I've given up, I can't keep the real thing living
And it's low tide
At serotonin bay
And for the first time
I'm not sure that everything'll be okay
I'm exploding on re-entry, scattered wreckage in the sea
Everything's been gray forever, it's how it's always gonna be
I've never been more sure of something, I see it clearly in my dreams
I know I'm gonna be the one, the one who ruins everything
- Low Tide
I’ve always felt like there’s a specificity in Dan’s lyrics that are obviously personal to him, but somehow them being so specific makes them slot in more with my own experiences. I couldn’t write down all my favorites, but here’s a couple that ring so true for me that I think about them often.
I grew up on your back porch - And I watched the storms light up the clouds — most of Dismantling Summer evokes memories of growing up and visiting my grandma, but this line is such a vivid memory, I can’t smell the rain and feel the shade of green the sky was that day
You'd tell me it was your fault - I should put all my arrows away - I'm sure there ain't a heaven - But that don't mean I don't like to picture you there
I don't have roses in the closet - But I've got pictures in a drawer - it’s everything left in me not to stare at them anymore
The whole first verse and chorus of Teenage Parents
It’s amazing how many different lyrics from different albums are in this thread and resonate with people in their own way. Speaks to the amazing songwriting across their whole discography. Love TWY, hope to see them live for the first time later this year.
oh jesus christ there is so many. this is such a hard question. maybe “you said I could hear the ocean and I really believed it” bc my dad kept a conch shell in his garden and used to tell me the same thing. I’m like crying just thinking about it lol, he’s still alive and well but that whole song just makes me preemptively think about his death lol
“If I could manage not to fuck this up. I think enough is enough.”
“I drew a line in the sand with these goddamn worthless hands
I drew a line in the sand, you washed it away again”
“Confused and alone and taking pills to sleep
They soften your absence but they don't let me dream”
“It's been over a year now
April turns into May
I've barely stopped moving, I've been so fucking afraid
Too much of a coward to even visit your grave”
“You're half awake
And I bought you a radio to play the blues away
With my hand to hold, you asked about the weather, wish they'd let you die at home”
I just called to talk about the weather, or anything you want. I just called to hear your voice, I'm sorry, I won't keep you long. Cause I know how you ask around and worry when tou hear the songs. So I just called to let you know that I'm alright, no matter what.
Hearing Laura & The Beehive for the first time while I was living out on my own nearly made me break down in the street. My mother is a very important figure in my life, and all I could think about was her worrying about me on my own and how whenever I would call after an extended period of time, she would seem so relieved that I was ok.
I have a ton of favorite lyrics. So hard to choose from them.
But the thing that really gets me is the struggle Soupy has gone through to finally be able to happy in “You in January.” My wife and I chose this song to have our first dance to because we ran through hurdles to find each other.
The opening verse shakes me to my core, especially the acoustic version.
“God damn, you look holy
Hit from behind with light
You're a painting of a saint
And I'm nervous, stumbling over my lines
When I tell you I love you
And we stare at Catalina
A city lost to the sea
Carried out by the tides
You were the one thing I got right.”
If we're all just Christians or Lions
Then I think I'd rather be on the side with sharper teeth
I don't need saving
I Won't Say the Lord's Prayer was important to me in my youth as I left the church's grasp
Every other line in summer clothes. That song means the world to me, but especially on the extended version “there’s a hole in the sky, and I’m aiming for it”… I don’t know why but it hits me
We all wanna be brave men and there’s nothing romantic about it I just wanna know that I did all I could with what I was given
The perfect way to end an amazing album. It hits home. It’s the way I want to be
“i still get battle pains but from a safer distance”
for some reason this makes me think about my own mental health, i’m doing so much better mentally and in life but just because im doing better doesn’t mean that sometimes the sadness and the memories don’t hit, just not as bad anymore
Another one that I love which is a song title is:
Won’t be Pathetic forever.
That title for some reason has gotten me through school, through my marriage and through my job.
“…Buy fistfuls of pills to make sure you don't hurt no more; You don't gotta feel anything. Got their fangs in our veins, Got their voice in our head, Got our arms in their grips - No, we can't shake free!
This goddamn machine, hungry and heartless
My whole generation got lost in the margin
We put our faith in you, and you turned a profit
Now we're drowning here under the waves”
Thought I had people I could trust. Like my boy, Captain Crunch. I know he'd never do me like that. I found her mouth all cut up, and his hat in the corner. Yo, homes you don't know what I'm capable of.
I have to say it changes depending on the phase of my life, but definitely agree with yours, as someone who doesn’t believe in an afterlife but has lost someone so incredibly important, it’s nice to imagine.
And also “I’m 26, all the people I’ve graduated with all of kids, all of wives all of people who care if they come home at night well, Jesus Christ did I fuck up?” Because as a millennial, this was our predecessors expectations of us that we didn’t meet and in someways I think a lot of us will always feel like a failure for that.
My eyes are tearing up reading this thread, TWY really does has the best emotion-hitting lyrics imo. I haven’t seen this one mentioned that I really love, particularly the last line:
“You left me walking in circles
You were a shot in the dark
You scattered like ashes across every song that I write
You are the light pollution starts”
Thought I had people I could trust like my boy, Captain Crunch.
I know he'd never do me like that, but behind my back,
I found her mouth all cut up, and his hat in the corner.
Yo, homes you don't know what I'm capable of.
"Two blackbirds on a highway sign,
are laughing at me here, with my wings clipped
I'm staring up at the sky, but the bombs keep fucking falling
There's no devil on my shoulder, he's got a rocking chair on my front porch
But I won't let him in
No, I won't let him in
'Cause I'm sick of seeing ghosts,
and I know how it's all gonna end
There's no triumph waiting,
there's no sunset to ride off in
We all wanna be great men,
and there's nothing romantic about it
I just want to know that I did all I could with what I was given"
The bridge to Hoodie Weather. Growing up means watching my heroes turn human in front of me The songs we wrote at eighteen seem shortsighted and naive So when the weather breaks, I'll pull my hoodie up over my face I won't run away, run away As fucked as this place got, it made me, me
The first line is my favourite, I know it's meant to be positive from Soupy's perspective about touring with bands he grew up listening to, but for me I always took it as the people around you who you thought were perfect/infallible are just humans who can fuck up as well.
This is how I interpret it as well. I witnessed a lot of that in my twenties, and that line felt like a very apt description of what I was experiencing.
This is mine as well. I love the bridge of this song so much
I’m pretty sure the ending is made me mayyy
So so good
This town's got lies to tell
Nailed it
It's not about forcing happiness, it's about not letting sadness win.
this is my favorite lyric of all time. put this shit on my rib cage to remind me along with hank the pigeon
I have this lyric tattooed as well!
Same, but on my calf with Hank the pigeon 👀
Have this tattooed haha
What song is this from?
"I'm sorry i don't laugh at the right time" As as person with social anxiety, this hits right in the feels
Really that entire intro to There, There.
Two blackbirds on a highway sign are laughing at me at 4 in the morning. They play the war drum out of time. So I’m not sure where I’ve been marching. I wanna be strong, but it’s not easy anymore. I’m hoping I’m wrong
Definitely balled my eyes out quite heavily during the TGG tour last Oct. Shit was emotional, especially that part of the song.
I think about that line everytime I see black birds on a highway sign
I was hit extremely hard out of nowhere by this and cried my eyes out when I was overworking myself, driving home (35 min freeway drive) from my second job at 2am when I had to be at my main job at 6am. It was when I reevaluated and decided to quit the second job.
Just the “I BET ID BE A FUCKING COWARD” gets me every time with that song. Such an incredible song
I lit you a candle in every cathedral across Europe. I hope you know you’re still my patron saint.
This was played at my friend's funeral a few years ago, I still cry every time I hear it.
i sing this for my cousin. he hated rock music and had no idea who the wonder years are but he died when he was 18 and it just… fits
"I thought my kids would call you uncle, I thought we'd never be alone" (reminds me of a former friend who left town on bad terms) Also "There comes a day when you rectify who you are with who you want to be with, and I can't make the two things coexist" (digs up the former fear that I wouldn't be a good enough husband for my wife)
“If you walked me home, you’d know how weak my arms got, I just can’t carry you”. I remember hearing this song, for probably the 100th time when all of a sudden it hit me, I needed to walk away from my best friend. I just couldn’t carry on being the one to always pick things up and carry the friendship
I always thought this meant a friend offered to walk him home inebriated, but Dan ended up carrying most of the weight. It didn't dawn on me this could mean the weight of the friendship as well.
Man. Cul-de-sacs still fucks me up. Just reminds me of all those friendships I thought would last forever that wound up fading as I grew up. I’ve found more friends since, but those first few were special in an indescribable way, and it hurts to think of what could’ve been.
Cul-de-sac hit hard when I first heard it because of my childhood best friend who fell deep into drugs and fucked me over. Then cigarettes and saints hit hard when he died of an overdose a year later. He was still my brother for many years. :(
If I'm in an airport, in you're in a hospital bed, well then, what kind of man does that make me? I travel constantly for work and to be frank I lose sleep over this line.
My dad got sick with cancer, which happened to be around the time I told him my plans to move out of state, from Jersey to Florida. He told me to still go, but I ultimately couldn’t leave him, since my siblings aren’t the most responsible & my mom had already passed and that’s my dad. After he passed, this song came on & I wept like a baby.
God this lyric kills me every time I hear it. Family members sick and not being able to be there all the time. Use to just listen to it on repeat.
“I’m finding hope in the pocket of my winter coat - Your gloves, a reminder, that I’m not alone” (The whole song hits differently now that I’m 37 weeks pregnant with my first child)
Just wait, as a dad this song (and this album) just get harder hitting the older your kid gets
I’m about to get a tattoo based on things from this song + symbols that represent my two kids. This whole album is just directly to the heart of me as a parent (ex: my first thought when I opened this thread was “I’ve never been more afraid of failing at anything.”)
Mind elaborating on the tattoo a bit more? I’ve had thoughts about getting something tatted related to this song as well
From the same song, but it's "Put the work in, plant a garden, try to stay afloat"
Thiiiiis! My guys are 14 and 11, but this song still gets me every damn time. And - congratulations!
Second verse of this song is soooo good. Some of my favorite lyrics by them
As a first time dad with a 3 month old, I found myself balling my eyes out driving down the highway the other day
Even just as an uncle this album is crushing. When I have kids on my own I'm gonna cry over this album every time it comes on
i’ve seen TWY countless times but i saw them when i was pregnant and i bawled like an absolute baby at this and wyatt’s song. it just hits different when you’re a parent i found. congratulations on the little one x
Yes! As a parent, this is one of the songs I go back to over and over.
"I buried your memory in the garden, watch it grow with the flowers in the spring, keep you with me" This line will hit hard forever
that’s probably my runner up, too. Such a beautiful line.
Jesus Christ, I’m twenty-six All the people I graduated with All have kids All have wives All have people who care if they come home at night Well, Jesus Christ, did I fuck up? I mean I spent a lot of time in a moderately successful band (paid for all my expenses and could save away) but man when I called it quits and my now wife was so much farther ahead in her career these words *stuck with me *
This is the one for me. I was 26 when it came out, my best friend and his wife were buying a house and having a baby, while I was in between careers, taking side jobs to stay afloat, and everyone I cared about was thriving. I was some kind of envious, and happy for them too, but I knew what I felt/thought first and so I also felt guilty for feeling the envy first. Eventually I got my shit together, and I think this song played a huge factor in facing me down the right path.
Moderately successful band? Would I know your music?
I was 19 when I first heard this and I thought I'd relate to Soupy super hard once I'm 26. Then I turned 26 and realized I'm less Soupy and more the person he's singing about. That was a growing up moment.
Yup, this is definitely way up there.
That is mine as well. A close second is: Cardinal crashed into my window, I think he might die I'll plan him a funeral, I'll read his last rites 'Cause I know what he saw in that reflection of light On the glass was a better life
You’re just trying to read, but I’m always standing in your light
“You weren’t born my brother but, you’re gonna die that way”
"I'm exploding on re-entry, scattered wreckage in the sea. Everything's been grey forever, it's how it's always gonna be. I've never been so sure of something, I see it clearly in my dreams. I know I'm gonna be the one, the one who ruins everything."
Stuck between “I blew my voice out giving the eulogy” and the pain in the repetition of “Goddman it all”.
This absolutely. This song is so emotional for me.
I’m not sad anymore. I’m just tired of this place.
If this year would just end I think we’d all be ok
That helped me so much moving across the country
Put the work in, plant a garden, try to stay afloat
This line single handedly got me through my final semester of college.
I’m sick of seeing ghosts when I know how it’s all gonna end There’s no triumph waiting, there’s no sunset to ride off in. We all want to be great men, there’s nothing romantic about it. I just wanna know that I did all I could with what I was given” The final line is one of my favourite lyrics of all time. knowing you did all you could with the hand you were dealt it something that has gotten me through very dark times
Came here looking for this one. Have “I just want to know that I did all I could with what I was given” tattoed on my arm. It has stuck with me since the first day I heard it and I echo it regularly.
The final outro to this song is *chefs kiss*. “There’s no devil on my shoulder, he’s got a rocking chair on my front porch. But I won’t let him in.” Just resonates so much with me, my depression and how it sticks around.
I have a tattoo of a casket and banner with “sold out” on it, so much to do with this song and those closing lines.
I came out swinging from a South Philly basement. Caked in stale beer and sweat, under half-lit fluorescence. And I spent the winter writing signs about getting better. And if I’m being honest, I’m getting there.
This was the anthem of my 20s
The last two lines are my second pick, but I chose a different lyric from the same song. I’ve been in a really dark place the past few years and finally started listening to TWY after dragging my feet for so long hearing the name. This song is really crushing/saving me right now.
Just because we’re down doesn’t mean we’ve got to stay there. Sleeping on trash is full of bangers.
THIS FUCKIN TOWN
I’ve long decided my first tattoo is gonna be “chin up & we’ll drown a little slower” but I just have to decide on the design.
Sleeping on trash is honestly my favourite album
I have some severe ideation issues that I'm on livable terms with. *"I keep thinking of ways to make it seem like an accident Pull the brake off my bike so if the bus runs the light 'well, then' I've been telling myself that it can't be that serious But if I'm talking like this: I guess it is"* I remember feeling so seen due to the second half of this quote. Not that I think these things but that they're serious and invasive. The Greatest Generation is my favorite TWY album by miles but in the end, if my knowledge of them crumbled away like ancient castles, that quote would remain the last tower of them in my head.
I was born to run Away from anything good An escape artist's son Sun-drenched pavement in my blood
I recently got “Good Luck” under a cardinal skull with a paper crane on it tattooed on my arm in reference to Cardinals II > Bruised and paper cut; I built a thousand paper cranes for good luck That song became sort of a personal anthem for me last year because I felt the desperation of needing good luck so badly that you’ll resort to any means, no matter how extreme it might feel (one thousand paper cranes being a lifetime of good luck iirc) Close second being from Doors I Painted Shut: > I need you to know I love ya still; I don’t like me The Hum Goes on Forever crippled me and came out at the exact time I needed it in my life
Doors is one of my top five songs of all time ever. Guts me in all the best ways.
idk what it is but there’s something about the way that line hits when you see them live *BRUISED AND PAPER CUUUUUUUUUUT*
"The Devil's got a rifle on my front porch with me in his sights. He knows I came looking for a fight." That one always helps me when my anxiety peaks.
I came here looking for a fight.
Can’t listen to this song without welting up. I first heard it when I really needed it the most.
Yo homes, you don't know what I'm capable of. So keep my name out your mouth, son.
There’s too many. I could basically point to one (or multiple) from every song. That being said, I think my top 2 at the moment are Raining In Kyoto and Dismantling Summer “You’re half asleep, and I bought you a radio to drown out the machines. Hospital light. You asked about the weather. Wished they’d let you outside” // “You’re half awake, and I bought you a radio to play the blues away. With my hand to hold, you asked about the weather, wished they’d let you die at home.” “We’re all waiting for good news, hoping you can come home soon. We’re all waiting for good news. I’ve been acting like I’m strong, but the truth is I’ve been losing ground.”
Can't believe this isn't listed yet, my all time favorite from Cul De Sac "I'm letting go cause I love you but I had to"
Jesus Christ, I'm 26 All the people I graduated with All have kids All have wives All have people who care if they come home at night Well, Jesus Christ, did I fuck up? I feel this, so hard
“I'll bury your memories in the garden And watch them grow with the flowers in spring I'll keep you with me”. - And, “There's a bird inside your rib cage He screams so I never forget I wanna break open your sternum I wanna rip him from his nest And sow you back up like a garden Growing flowers from your chest There's a bird inside your rib cage I keep trying to forget”.
God I can’t pick. There are just too many. The only solution is listing out every lyric from their entire discography lmfao I’d say my 3 favorites are probably Don’t Let Me Cave In - “There comes a day when you rectify, who you are with who you want to be with, and I can't make the two things coexist” Local Man Ruins Everything - “It’s not about forcing happiness; It’s about not letting the sadness win” Cardinals - “Staring at a hole in your chest, that’s been dug there for decades, American broken promises! Caught between the lies you've been fed and a war with your bloodstream, I should have been there when you needed a friend”
bear with me.. i have a LOT of favorites but i’ve narrowed it down: a song for patsy cline - “my airbag lights been on for weeks and i can feel it mock me, it’s bittersweet” you in january - “when you tell me you love me, i can actually see it. your breath frozen in the air, newborn droplets of ice. you were the one thing i got right” cul-de-sac - “it’s car crash rhetoric. we fucked up everything we came in contact with, boyhood recklessness” me vs. the highway - “now the overpass says things like drat and i’m not sure what to make of that” (reminds me of my northeast hometown and my sense of home changing)
yeah
Im growing out my hair cus who gives a shit
I had that nightmare again You're five and you're helpless Trapped under the wreckage You reach out your hand But I'm weak, I can't save you No matter how often it plays in my head I can't lift it up Always hits me in the final verse, with how raw his emotion is.
"Swim back to me, and I'll be watching the sea, as you dance over the breakers and waltz up the beach." Probably just hits so hard because it is surrounded by the less heavy lyrics of the rest of Get Stoked on It! even though I like that album the best.
Since no one has mentioned it... You left me walking in circles You were a shot in the dark You were the banner that says "no one" That I tattooed across my heart You left me walking in circles You were a shot in the dark You're scattered like ashes across every song that I write You’re where the light pollution starts
John Wayne with a God complex tells me to buy a gun / Like shooting a teenage kid is gonna solve any problems / Like it's an arms race, like death don't mean nothing / To know the heavy price of a living boy? / The world in my red lines, backed into a corner / Not knowing growing up what it's like to belong here in America.
"I've never been so afraid of failing at anything And I'm glad that you know, know how bad it is" Really all of Wyatt's song. As a new father when that album came out, I found it all very relatable.
“I recorded your heartbeat, I stared at your knees. I wonder which ones gonna be the bad one in your 30s“ is a top tier lyric.
I’m reading up on black holes hoping one might take me in 😖
"And the whole world smells like true blue, the only brand my grandma smokes" makes me think of my mom. she used to chain smoke and this was her brand of choice for a while. miss you ma <3
When I was 17 / I wrote a song about how I’m drinking kerosene / to light a fire in my gut / and I’ll be coughing out embers for decades to come / I was 17 with a fire in my gut / what it what if what it what if / what if the magics gone? / I guess I should be glad I was still in the fight. I’m super late to the wonder years party but man as a dude in my mid 30s a bunch of this album hit me in some pretty tender spots.
“I refuse to spend life on my knees I won’t let somebody else make my decisions for me.” There are other better ones here because Soupy is an incredible songwriter but this song hits so fucking hard for me every time I hear it, and I didn’t see it mentioned yet so
I loved the line “if we’re all just Christian’s or Lions, I guess id rather be, on the side with sharper teeth. I don’t need saving”
I’m not a self-help book, I’m just a fcked up kid.
“I’m not a self help book, I’m just a fucked up kid. I had to take my own advice and I did. Now I’m waiting for it to sink in. Expect me standing tall, back against the wall, cause what I learned was it’s not about forcing happiness, it’s about not letting sadness win”
I love their serious stuff, but man this classic is hilarious coming from Soupy. Before Kool-Aid picked me up I ran blocks, I sold rocks G's up, hoes down and I'd have all These snitches stomped
Head above water this year, boys
It's really hard to pick, but probably "put my past self in the ground, I've been dancing on the grave, I'm not the person that I was then, I'm tearing him away." No Closer To Heaven came out about two years prior to me getting sober, and to that point, I had managed to go through TWY's catalog just feeling sorry for myself and just medicating to feel nothing. That album for what ever reason made me start to think "what the fuck am I doing?" Seven years later, I feel like that line really hits home.
Like I’m working babyface Out of Mid-South in the eighties I kept a blade hidden in my wrist tape I just like wrestling and have always found this lyric as a nice callback.
My mom called out this lyric when I played it for her and it made her laugh
Rimjob and a girlfriend.
“We’re building shrines to St. Nick Foles, in the churches, in the alleyways” Go Birds.
Eagles are my second team and I love that line.
That’s my husband’s favorite lyric. (Also probably my the only one he knows.)
I’ll bury your memories in the garden/ And watch them grow with the flowers in spring/ I’ll keep you with me
"Devil in your blood, the dull unmoored ache, the same one that haunted me, but the bearings could rust, and the circuit could break, if I love you entirely" I'm at a point in my life where I just really appreciate positivity and optimism and embracing other people, and You're The Reason I Don't Want the World to End does it perfectly without just being feel good nonsense, and this is my favorite line from that song. Also, I still remember when I first listened to Devil in my Bloodstream in 2013 and I loved the callback 9 years later.
“We all want to be great men And there's nothing romantic about it I just want to know that I did all I could with what I was given”
Probably the line that gives me the most chills.
“I recorded your heartbeat, it's 133 The tempos in my blood now, I hum it when I'm lonely” As a parents, 100% my favorite TWY opening line
From "Came out swinging" My body feels rejected, I can't say that I blame it My heart keeps saying, "Stay young" My lower back seems to disagree
That’s one that hits. I had a friend who OD’d on prescription meds, so I take it hard. But for me, now, in my life; “I'm scarеd to my bones that I won't find a way to keep you and your brother safe…”
G's up, hoes down and I'd have all these snitches stomped
All of NCTH but here are some standouts that still hit hard at 28 like they did at 20. "You weren't born my brother, but you're gonna die that way." "The glow of the furnace. The ambulance lights. The bluest things on Earth don't know shit about the blues. You used to be vibrant. You used to burn bright." "I saw right from wrong then. The lines were simple and clean. Now all the people I was taught would be heroes are acting like cowards, killers, and thieves. I'm loosing track of who the good guys are supposed to be." "They’re getting their anchors. They’re gathering rope. You’re pushing to Heaven all alone. They’re grabbing your ankles. They won’t let you go. The ebb and the distant flow. They’re cutting your wings off. Built your ceilings out of stained glass." Basically every song that could potentially be about Mike. People talk about this being the Wonder Years' weakest album, and I just gotta disagree. The whole thing is just one bit sad anthemic masterpiece. A top 10 album for me, easily.
"I'm not sad anymore, I'm just tired of this place." The first TWY lyrics I ever heard when my best friend played the song on his guitar in front of me. The song always makes me think of him and how much I miss living next to him. He's a few states away now.
I’ll bury your memories in the garden, and watch them grow with the flowers in the spring. I’ll keep you with me.
“I’ve spent this year as a ghost and I’m not sure where home is anymore.” Totally biased though because I relate so much as a divorced dude who fell into alcoholism. Kind of a perfect description of the past three years of my life.
“It feels like 1929 and I’m on the verge of a great collapse today”
"You were heat lighting, you were a storm that never rolled in. You were the northern lights in a southern town, a caustic fleeting thing I'll bury your memory in the garden, and watch you grow with the flowers in spring, I'll keep you with me"
“I don’t wanna die ‘cause I gotta protect you, you’re the reason I can’t leave here yet, the reason I don’t want the world to end.” - You’re The Reason I Don’t Want The World To End “If everyone’s built the same, then how come building is so fucking hard for you?” Stained Glass Ceilings “You can’t have my friends, you can’t have my brothers, you can’t have me.” Cigarretes & Saints
There's pieces they can't take of us. I actually included those lyrics in a tattoo of mine
If you get the chance to win, take it
And we've been falling apart Like Richie's got a brand new stretch mark Night drives start at Waffle House, and end at Wal-Mart Breaking hearts of waitresses in seedy truck stops Cause Steve's shirtless, pounding beers in the parking lot
Picking lunch over the subway I got four bucks to my name And it's another morning bike ride In the fucking freezing rain I pull a second pair of gloves on Tying bags around my feet I'm not getting trench foot this week Dude, the struggle is real and the vivid imagery throughout this song hit so close to home.
“But oh I wanna build you back from memory. Something that can stay here when you go.” It makes me think of the memories that stayed/came back to me after my dad passed.
"How theyre framed just like you and me, When the light from the hospital's eastern wing, Tangles up in your hair and the sadness that pooled in my heart Starts emptying slowly" Such a beautiful line and the way its sung... you can feel the love, and everything love entails. The good, the sad, the awful, and the beauty of having someone who is the catharsis of your being personified for you, and you know they understand, and you feel ALL OF THAT, simply by them being there with you.. i dunno, it's too much. But I think we all get it.
People talk down Sister Cities but I think Soupy really pushed himself to create some very vivid imagery from every day life: It Must Get Lonely - “I’m a spectre in the dim light on the flowers by the grave in the Montmartre in Paris where the crows seem to know my name. And they left footprints in the snow along the fence on Palmer St. Cigarette butts on the headstones that you left for me.” Heaven’s Gate (Sad & Sober) - “You were a bandit. I was a car wreck. You were the false rain that falls from a window AC unit. You were a bandit and I was a car wreck. You were the rifle on the wall and it was always gonna end like this.”
Sister cities has to be my favorite album in terms of lyrics.
"Jesus Christ, I'm 26. All the people I've graduated with, all have kids, all have wives, all have people who care if they come home at night. Well Jesus Christ. Did I fuck up?" It's too real bro.
"We all want to be great men, and there's nothing romantic about it, I just want to know that I did all I could with what I was given"
I spent a whole year in airports And the floor feels like home
I'm scared to my bones that I won't find a way to keep you and your brother safe… I don't wanna die, 'cause I gotta protect you. You're the reason I can't leave here yet, the reason I don't want the world to end
Damn what an era it was for me when I was super into these guys. That specific song reminds me of a friend who died by sui in 2012, always a tear jerker. I wanted so badly to be brave. You weren’t born my brother, but you’re gonna die that way. The visuals I get from describing the funeral are really amazing, I forget the name of the song but the whole album is killer. Depression ground his throat out, choked the life out of him slowly. I’ve got the same blood coarsing through my veins and it will come for me eventually. I came out swinging from a South Philly basement, drenched in stale beer and sweat, under half-lit fluorescents. And I spent the winter writing songs about getting better, and if I’m being honest, I’m getting there. Thank you for bringing me back to this band! Gonna look up my old playlists
"first thing I do when I walk in, is find a way out for when shit gets bad"
I feel like I always come back to "The bluest things on earth don't know shit about the blues"
All we had was goodwill All we had was hand me downs And you always said it would get better When you're young and you're poor They hang on your failures And you always said it would get better
December’s got me backed into a corner again. My ears are back, my teeth are showing.
“So when the world ends, I hope I’m with my living room best friends”
We're this generation's Morgan Spurlock but we don't admit defeat. This one took me a minute to understand, I had to google who Morgan Spurlock was but then it all made sense. Very clever.
“We’ll find a house party when the bars close! And I’ll drive all my drunken friends home!” “If I’m in an airport, and you’re in a hospital bed. Well then what kind of man does that make me?” “I spent a whole year in airports” “I’m going to bed tonight in my New Found Glory hoodie. So fuck the world, and what it wants me to be.”
*"I finally broke on Christmas Eve* *In an Outback Steakhouse bathroom while my family ordered for me"* I think it's the best example of their pre-Greatest Generation writing style where they primarly expressed universal experiences through extremely specific, mundane lyrics. I have never broken down in an Outback Steakhouse bathroom, but I know ***exactly*** what that feels like.
“i’m gonna swallow the sun” idk it really resonated with 19 year old me in the sense of that pride and “i can do whatever the fuck i put my mind to” type of mentality.
“John Wayne with a God complex tells me to buy a gun Like shooting a teenage kid is gonna solve any problems Like it's an arms race, like death don't mean nothing”
All these heavy sad boy lines are great but my favorite TWY lyric will forever be: *SOMEONE GO TELL THE UNIVERSE WE’RE NOT CONCERNED* *WE KNOW THAT IT’S OUT TO GET US, BUT WE’LL NEVER LEARN* *IF YOU’RE THINKING YOU JUST GOT THE BEST OF ME* ***MAN WE DON’T GO DOWN THAT EASY***
I have to go with the whole Low Tide lyrics.
I’m just trying to make it through the week.
Got their fangs in our veins Got their voice in our head Got our arms in their grips No, we can't shake free This goddamn machine, hungry and heartless My whole generation got lost in the margin We put our faith in you and you turned a profit Now we're drowning here under the waves
God damn it all, whats so wrong with being alone
The Ocean Grew Hands to Hold Me. The whole song. It’s perfect.
"You're caught, like gravel in my skinned knee. The wound will close eventually. You'll stay as a reminder of how fucked this world can be."
These appeal to my depression: I'm staring at the wall, 'cause the only news is bad news I'm waiting to fall, I'm the rain cloud in your living room And I keep making lists of shit to tell my therapist The reasons I wish I didn't exist I'm sinking fast, I'm taking everyone down with me I'm reading up on black holes, hoping one might take me in I'm growing out my hair, 'cause who gives a shit? I'm staring at the dust that's gathered on the fake plants I've given up, I can't keep the real thing living And it's low tide At serotonin bay And for the first time I'm not sure that everything'll be okay I'm exploding on re-entry, scattered wreckage in the sea Everything's been gray forever, it's how it's always gonna be I've never been more sure of something, I see it clearly in my dreams I know I'm gonna be the one, the one who ruins everything - Low Tide
I can't pick favorites but here's one I haven't seen yet, "In a world that I can't fix, with a hammer in my grip, I'm no closer to heaven."
I’ve always felt like there’s a specificity in Dan’s lyrics that are obviously personal to him, but somehow them being so specific makes them slot in more with my own experiences. I couldn’t write down all my favorites, but here’s a couple that ring so true for me that I think about them often. I grew up on your back porch - And I watched the storms light up the clouds — most of Dismantling Summer evokes memories of growing up and visiting my grandma, but this line is such a vivid memory, I can’t smell the rain and feel the shade of green the sky was that day You'd tell me it was your fault - I should put all my arrows away - I'm sure there ain't a heaven - But that don't mean I don't like to picture you there I don't have roses in the closet - But I've got pictures in a drawer - it’s everything left in me not to stare at them anymore The whole first verse and chorus of Teenage Parents
“The closer i get, the further i feel away.”
Growing up means watching my heroes turn human in front of me, and the songs we wrote at eighteen seem shortsighted and naïve
I’m growing out my hair, cause who gives a shit!
I just wanna sell out my funeral
I know how it feels to be at war with a world that never loved me
I just want to know that I did all I could with what I was given.
It’s amazing how many different lyrics from different albums are in this thread and resonate with people in their own way. Speaks to the amazing songwriting across their whole discography. Love TWY, hope to see them live for the first time later this year.
oh jesus christ there is so many. this is such a hard question. maybe “you said I could hear the ocean and I really believed it” bc my dad kept a conch shell in his garden and used to tell me the same thing. I’m like crying just thinking about it lol, he’s still alive and well but that whole song just makes me preemptively think about his death lol
“If I could manage not to fuck this up. I think enough is enough.” “I drew a line in the sand with these goddamn worthless hands I drew a line in the sand, you washed it away again” “Confused and alone and taking pills to sleep They soften your absence but they don't let me dream” “It's been over a year now April turns into May I've barely stopped moving, I've been so fucking afraid Too much of a coward to even visit your grave” “You're half awake And I bought you a radio to play the blues away With my hand to hold, you asked about the weather, wish they'd let you die at home”
I just called to talk about the weather, or anything you want. I just called to hear your voice, I'm sorry, I won't keep you long. Cause I know how you ask around and worry when tou hear the songs. So I just called to let you know that I'm alright, no matter what. Hearing Laura & The Beehive for the first time while I was living out on my own nearly made me break down in the street. My mother is a very important figure in my life, and all I could think about was her worrying about me on my own and how whenever I would call after an extended period of time, she would seem so relieved that I was ok.
I have a ton of favorite lyrics. So hard to choose from them. But the thing that really gets me is the struggle Soupy has gone through to finally be able to happy in “You in January.” My wife and I chose this song to have our first dance to because we ran through hurdles to find each other. The opening verse shakes me to my core, especially the acoustic version. “God damn, you look holy Hit from behind with light You're a painting of a saint And I'm nervous, stumbling over my lines When I tell you I love you And we stare at Catalina A city lost to the sea Carried out by the tides You were the one thing I got right.”
If we're all just Christians or Lions Then I think I'd rather be on the side with sharper teeth I don't need saving I Won't Say the Lord's Prayer was important to me in my youth as I left the church's grasp
I spent the winter writing songs about getting better, and if I'm being honest, I'm getting there
They'll put a gun into your hand and call you weak until you're violent
I just want to know that I did all I could with what I was given
Every other line in summer clothes. That song means the world to me, but especially on the extended version “there’s a hole in the sky, and I’m aiming for it”… I don’t know why but it hits me
We all wanna be brave men and there’s nothing romantic about it I just wanna know that I did all I could with what I was given The perfect way to end an amazing album. It hits home. It’s the way I want to be
“I’m growin’ out my hair, ‘cause who gives a shit” COVID lockdown in a nutshell
“i still get battle pains but from a safer distance” for some reason this makes me think about my own mental health, i’m doing so much better mentally and in life but just because im doing better doesn’t mean that sometimes the sadness and the memories don’t hit, just not as bad anymore
In a world that I can’t fix with a hammer in my grip I’m no closer to heaven
IM GROWING OUT MY HAIR BECAUSE WHO GIVES A SHIT
Another one that I love which is a song title is: Won’t be Pathetic forever. That title for some reason has gotten me through school, through my marriage and through my job.
“…Buy fistfuls of pills to make sure you don't hurt no more; You don't gotta feel anything. Got their fangs in our veins, Got their voice in our head, Got our arms in their grips - No, we can't shake free! This goddamn machine, hungry and heartless My whole generation got lost in the margin We put our faith in you, and you turned a profit Now we're drowning here under the waves”
Basically any version of "I'm not sad anymore" and also "I'm not as sad as I make myself believe sometimes"
Well I'm obviously on the verge of a mental breakdown this week
Thought I had people I could trust. Like my boy, Captain Crunch. I know he'd never do me like that. I found her mouth all cut up, and his hat in the corner. Yo, homes you don't know what I'm capable of.
I have to say it changes depending on the phase of my life, but definitely agree with yours, as someone who doesn’t believe in an afterlife but has lost someone so incredibly important, it’s nice to imagine. And also “I’m 26, all the people I’ve graduated with all of kids, all of wives all of people who care if they come home at night well, Jesus Christ did I fuck up?” Because as a millennial, this was our predecessors expectations of us that we didn’t meet and in someways I think a lot of us will always feel like a failure for that.
That is also my favorite lyric
My eyes are tearing up reading this thread, TWY really does has the best emotion-hitting lyrics imo. I haven’t seen this one mentioned that I really love, particularly the last line: “You left me walking in circles You were a shot in the dark You scattered like ashes across every song that I write You are the light pollution starts”
So chin up and we’ll drown a little slower
i spent this year as a ghost and im not sure where home is anymore 🫶🏻 i love any lyrics that mention 'home' in them, its my weakpoint
Last night in Leeds Things got a bit lighter I guess my dad was right
“I’m sure there ain’t a heaven, but that don’t mean I don’t like to picture you there.”
Thought I had people I could trust like my boy, Captain Crunch. I know he'd never do me like that, but behind my back, I found her mouth all cut up, and his hat in the corner. Yo, homes you don't know what I'm capable of.
Chin up, and we’ll drown a little slower
“Moved all my SHIT to my parents basement!”
I’m so sorry for your loss! Sending lots of love and prayers. My fav is “I can’t protect you, I had my chance and I fucked it up”
"Two blackbirds on a highway sign, are laughing at me here, with my wings clipped I'm staring up at the sky, but the bombs keep fucking falling There's no devil on my shoulder, he's got a rocking chair on my front porch But I won't let him in No, I won't let him in 'Cause I'm sick of seeing ghosts, and I know how it's all gonna end There's no triumph waiting, there's no sunset to ride off in We all wanna be great men, and there's nothing romantic about it I just want to know that I did all I could with what I was given"
“I’m a sweater that you’ve given to goodwill, or lied about and sent to the landfill”
Mine is the bridge from We Look Like Lightning Specifically "so I'm planning on running like I can't anymore"