Relief Lyrics
I saw your good old friend
He walked right past
I’ll never ask
I’ll never ask again
I saw your good old friend
He walked right past
I’ll never ask
I’ll never ask again
We can work it all out
Don't you miss your chance
The pain will all grow out
I heard the things you said
They shuffled in
Ask me to sin, ask me to sin in red
And I also heard the things you said
They shuffled in
Auf wiedersehen, auf wiedersehen
Good night
We can work it all out
Don't you miss your chance
The pain will all grow out
I went to see it around you
We can laugh in hell together
The devil will find you too
Eyes all closed
This is what I said
We'll never ever end
Eyes all closed
This is what Ii said
We'll never ever end
I saw your good old friend
He walked right past
I’ll never ask, I’ll never ask again
All kinds of things wrong with this. I'm sure Chris Garneau doesn't write his songs in chat speak. (your not ur) Heres the less-annoying lyric for this song:
I saw the sea come in I saw your good old friend He walked right passed I'll never ask, I'll never ask again.
I saw the sea come in I saw your good old friend He walked right passed I'll never ask, I'll never ask again.
I love the way you dance We can work it all out Don't you miss your chance The pain will all grow out
I heard your good old word I heard the things you said They shuffled in Ask me to sin, Ask me to sin in red.
I hear your good old word and I also heard the things you said They shuffled in Auf wiedersehen, Auf wiedersehen, Goodnight.
I love the way you dance We can work it all out Don't you miss your chance The pain will all grow out
I didn't go to see the city I went to see it around you We can laugh in hell together The devil will find you too
Nose to nose Eyes on the clouds This is what I said We never ever end
Nose to nose Eyes on the clouds This is what I said We never ever end
I saw the sea come in I saw your good old friend He walked right passed I'll never ask, I'll never ask again.
If I made any mistakes make sure you point them out. This song is really good though, the lyrics pretty much explain the song.
i can see this song meaning both of those things. drug addiction, and being about a girl. either way, it is such a beautiful song. chris garneau has such a beautiful voice. i love that about certain artists. they can sing about such sad or morbid things and make them beautiful. (sufjan stevens also sings beautifully.) love love love.
I believe what ever its about it deals with heartbreak, good and bad old memories, admiration and longing.
"Ask me to sin, Ask me to sin in red." that line really comes to as if he would do anything to stay with them.
"I didn't go to see the city I went to see it around you We can laugh in hell together The devil will find you too" That verse kinda show me that that he must have really longed and admired the person. Also I'm see it as the "good old friends" is probably the partners evil side, "He walked right passed."
So to me it seems about Chris loving, admiring, and full-heartedly caring about his partner and longing for the old partner's self back. Saying "We can work it all out" but knowing it won't work. ("I'll never ask,I'll never ask again.")
...................... But thats just my oppinion:D
I just found Chris Garneau and....... I LOVE HIM! And Lynniecakes I totally see how you can compare him to Sufjan! They're both BEAUTIFUL, deep artists. I can really see it as all sides of the story (drug and a relationship). Its has a lot of deep meaning to it, but you have to see that it could be really about non of those!:D And a thing I love about Chris Garneau and Sufjan Steven without seeing the lyrics you can already feel what their singing about.
I hear a couple of differences. I hear "We can work it all out" in the chorus, and i hear the second two verses end differently, the first as "ask me to sin, ask me to sin in red" and the second as "auf wiedersehen, auf wiedersehen, goodnight", tho I noticed in the video the "ask me to sin" line is repeated the second time through. Oh, and I am in love with this song and have listened to it 24 times today.
As a narrative, I imagine a couple going to visit a city where one of them lived before they met. They pass an old friend of the non-narrative partner, and he doesn't acknowledge them. The narrator asks his partner why. His partner becomes upset, and the narrator relents, and attempts to comfort his distraught lover. As more people bustle by, the upset partner becomes more aggressive and angry and says some things he probably shouldn't. The narrator is steadfast in his commitment to making things work and points out that the two of them could even find happiness in hell, and that his reason for coming to the city in the first place is to spend time with his lover, not to see the sights. He reassures his lover that the two of them will "never never end", and promises to never ask again what happened between his lover and his lover's friend.
But the song is better as a set of feelings without a narrative structure.
Meh.
This song is absolutely beautiful.
As far as meaning, not that sure.
"I saw the sea come in. I saw your good old friend. He walked right past. I'll never ask, I'll never ask again."
To me...the sea coming in is like time passing. Seeing the good old friend...maybe it's supposed to be nostalgic. Maybe it's an ex or someone his partner has/had a connection with? He'll never ask - maybe his partner is getting tired of him bugging her about it. He's suspicious and she wants him to drop it? I think the old friend symbolizing nostalgia makes more sense. But maybe it's more like "He walked right past" supposed to be telling of the apathy of others.
"I love the way you dance. We can work well out. Don't you miss your chance. The pain will all grow out." Thinking you can work the problems out. Giving advice to someone younger? Or maybe to himself as a younger man, things he wish he could go back and tell himself to help him get through it. Don't miss chances, telling someone the pain of a breakup will eventually go away.
"I heard your good old word. I heard the things you said. They shuffled in. I will be the same, I'll be the same in red."
This whole verse is just...I think it's not meant as individual lines, but as a whole it makes more sense. They all shuffled in - reminds me of this feeling of...fading into the background. You've got these things going on, but all these people shuffle in and cloud everything, taking the focus off of the couple and onto just them as people, just another two people in another large crowd.
"I didn't go to see the city. I went to see it around you. We can laugh in hell together. The devil will find you too."
He didn't care about the city, it was about her. He knows he's going to hell, but he knows she can't escape it either? Dunno.
"Nose to nose. Eyes on the clouds. This is what I said. We never never end."
Nose to nose reminds me of love, or that closeness, eyes on the clouds-always dreaming. More idealism-he thought before, maybe this is musings from when he was young and had a different view and belief in love. And maybe he thought he and this girl would be together forever.
i dont know exactly what this means, all i know is it has a calm, melancholy feeling... and that is why i love it. the epitome of pensive
" i didnt go to see the city i, i went to see it around you"
"For some reason I think this song is about a drug problem, or a problem in general she had. Like, her "good old friend" is her addiction to drugs, and by seeing the sea come in, it was like her relapse."
- Uh, Chris Garneau is kind of a guy xD.
- Just no. You can have your opinion but this song just really doesn't seem like its about drugs.
Clearly you misunderstood, I didn't word it very well. I meant he was writing this song about a person, I chose a girl, I don't know why. I guess it would be more fitting to choose a male. And I don't see why it can't be about drugs. Or even just a problem in general. You're right, I do have my opinions, and I see no reason why you have to disregard mine just because you find a different meaning in the song.
I hear it as relationship troubles mostly, probably ending. They see it coming but don't want it to end. They still love the person and the things about them. The sea coming in is them seeing the times changing and the relationship ending. The good old friend is perhaps someone taking the person away from them; a new boyfriend. But it's over, they'll never ask again.
My take on those two tricky lines is:
"...a sweeter sin, a sweeter sin in red." possibly referring to the "good ol friend" as the "sweeter sin" wearing something red.
or
"...as sweet as sin, as sweet as sin in red." referring to your "words" as sweet as sin.
As for the eyes on the clouds...I don't hear it that way. To me he is clearly saying, ..."nose to nose, eyes all closed" Listen to the background singer.
He is talking about a deep passionate kiss, nose to nose, with eyes closed. This is where he gets the forgiveness he is seeking in the form of a kiss. After the kiss, he quietly apologizes again.