Goodbye Lovers & Friends Lyrics
Don't play pop music
You know I hate pop music
Just sing amazing godless grace
You know I hate bright colours
I never liked you for the way you dressed
Anyway
So sad to leave you
When they lie and say
'This is not the end'
you can laugh as if
we're still together
you can laugh about it all
Hope you didn't write a poem
Hope you remember every fight
Or occasionally cruel
But only to the ones
I loved
Don't fake your memory
Don't give me virtues that I never had
Don't get sychophantal
We never were sentimental
I know I took more than I ever gave
But a moment from the living
That's the only thing I ask
…you can laugh as if
we're still together
but this really is the end
GOT IT. This song is about a man looking on at his own funeral
Don't play pop music/You know I hate pop music/Just sing amazing godless grace Basically saying not to play pop music at his funeral
Don't wear bright colours/You know I hate bright colours/I never liked you for the way you dressed/Anyway Telling them, basically, to wear black to his funeral
Goodbye lovers and friends/So sad to leave you/When they lie and say/'This is not the end'/you can laugh as if/we're still together/you can laugh about it all The chorus is just him saying goodbye to his loved ones
I hope you didn't bring flowers/Hope you didn't write a poem/Hope you remember every fight/I know I could be noxious/Or occasionally cruel/But only to the ones/I loved Telling them not to bring flowers or sappy poems to his funeral, almost admitting to being an awful person in life, but trying to explain that he only acted rudely to the ones he loved, the ones he's saying goodbye to, the ones at his funeral
Don't get inventory/Don't fake your memory/Don't give me virtues that I never had/Don't get sychophantal/We never were sentimental/I know I took more than I ever gave He's, again, admitting that he was a bad person, reminding the people at his funeral not to dress up the fact that he was an awful person, just saying "remember me for the man I was, not who you wanted me to be."
I don't need to be forgiven/But a moment from the living/That's the only thing I ask Obviously, he's again saying that he doesn't really care that he was that bad, he just wanted to be remembered by the living.
Goodbye lovers and friends/So sad to leave you/When they lie and say/'This is not the end'/you can laugh as if/we're still together/but this really is the end/ Again, saying goodbye for the last time, the VERY last time, he says, because this really is the end.
YES. The Pitchfork review of this album glosses over this song as a "breakup song" and that enraged me because it's clear there's so much going on here.
YES. The Pitchfork review of this album glosses over this song as a "breakup song" and that enraged me because it's clear there's so much going on here.
"Just sing Amazing godless Grace" = that song isn't as 'preachy' a hymn as others
"Just sing Amazing godless Grace" = that song isn't as 'preachy' a hymn as others
"When they lie and say this is not the end" = a priest will likely be saying that the life of the narrator isn't really over, that he's gone to a better place / Heaven, which the narrator says isn't true, and in fact, at the end, he's saying "nope, that's all there is"....
"When they lie and say this is not the end" = a priest will likely be saying that the life of the narrator isn't really over, that he's gone to a better place / Heaven, which the narrator says isn't true, and in fact, at the end, he's saying "nope, that's all there is".
I love this song, and I think it's a super great closing for Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action. It's clear this is a sort of Goodbye, and the mood of this song is completely different than Right Action, which was silly and fun and hopeful. It's a somewhat tragic end of what was a great beginning and I absolutely love it
Great song, its about parting ways, but in a permanent way, death in this case and the way we are remembered.
He is dying, and wants to be remembered for exactly who he is, not glorified and told about how he was such a wonderful person. He doesn't believe in god, hence he's "laughing at them when they say this is not the end" because he knows it is the end, its just something they are saying to him to make him feel better. Hence the line "but this really is the end"
I guess we all have a dark side, and in death its usually never mentioned, only about how wonderful we were. And this guys feels it doesn't do justice to him to not remember him completely, good and bad.
He does care for people because he says "its so sad to leave you" he's just admitting that he was pretty selfish and wasn't the nicest person to them. So remember in death like I was in life.
I'm surprised that no-one has mentioned how it could be about how his opinion of his career. As in, how he had to change how his music originally was to get popular/because his manager told him to. The first two paragraphs talk about change, then the chorus is about how his fame disallows him to meet his family/friends.