Passing Afternoon... Analyze it...

Passing Afternoon

There are times that walk from you like some passing afternoon
Summer warmed the open window of her honeymoon
And she chose a yard to burn but the ground remembers her
Wooden spoons, her children stir her Bougainvillea blooms

There are things that drift away like our endless, numbered days
Autumn blew the quilt right off the perfect bed she made
And she's chosen to believe in the hymns her mother sings
Sunday pulls it's children from their piles of fallen leaves

There are sailing ships that pass all our bodies in the grass
Springtime calls her children 'till she let's them go at last
And she's chosen where to be, though she's lost her wedding ring
Somewhere near her misplaced jar of Bougainvillea seeds

There are things we can't recall, blind as night that finds us all
Winter tucks her children in, her fragile china dolls
But my hands remember hers, rolling 'round the shaded ferns
Naked arms, her secrets still like songs I'd never learned

There are names across the sea, only now I do believe
Sometimes, with the windows closed, she'll sit and think of me
But she'll mend his tattered clothes and they'll kiss as if they know
A baby sleeps in all our bones, so scared to be alone

Performed by: Iron and Wine

Written by: Samuel Beam

From the album; Our Endless Numbered Days.
(2004)
See Discography:
http://www.ironandwine.com/discography/

This song was featured at the end of Fox's HOUSE Season 4 finale.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• music
• iron
• and
• wine
• sam
• beam

[neldazelda87]

i agree...i had a hard time tryin 2 analyze, but aftr read sum uv tha comments, i kinda understood....:) this song makes me bawl so much....thanx so much 4 postin this.

[blusafyre71]

Ur welcome...

[Cesar21jmb]

Song rules. House episode rules.

[EstEtrange]

Life is beautiful and fragile, and things can slip away before we realise how much we really need them.

[ccaswell91]

This song is beautiful :) I heard this first on the episode of 'House' that it was featured on, it was perfect for the episode!

[dannymcc777]

The last two verses are the parts the hold the most meaning to me. It is about a man who loves a woman that belongs to another man. "And she'll mend his tattered clothes and they'll kiss as if they know" This song can be taken so many ways and I think that is what makes it so great.

[salparadise63]

Thanks for the obvious.

[Polkendotts]

I think this song is about the ephemeral nature of life. There is a very melancholy quality to it, but the images and symbolism of the song are heartbreakingly beautiful. In short, I think Samuel Bean is trying to say that although the ultimate death of everything is, no doubt saddening, it is this knowledge of the fleeting nature of life that makes it beautiful and meaningful.

I love it more than words can describe, its like a warm, familiar blanket I can bring out anywhere.

[ineverfakejumps]

The song is about mortality, both in the sense of eventual death and in the mortality of time during our lives. Our 'endless, numbered days' and all our 'bodies in the grass' suggest that we will die, while the theme of forgetting that runs through the whole song is about the fragility of time - that it is not eternally preserved in our memories. In fact, the song parallels progression into old age and its forgetfulness - 'the ground remembers her', 'lost... misplaced', 'we can't recall' etc.

[culhandluk]

No analysis needed, just enjoy ! multiple meanings depending upon who is listening and where the listener is at in his or her life.

[MelleB90]

Time really is merciless...

[southernmabelle]

This song is summed up in the line, "And she's chosen where to be, though she's lost her wedding ring." "Bouganvilla" symbolizes the passion, first that her children disturb, then that she can't even find the "seeds" for. The Window symbolizes the hope for her life ahead. First she is warmed by her hopes, then the window closes and she no longer feels hope.

[southernmabelle]

She stays in the marriage because of her old fashioned commitment to her vows, symbolized in "the hymns her mother sings." The "sailing ships" are the opportunities she sees slipping by. Then she is thinking of a past lover as she tries to pull back together the remnants of her life, "But she'll mend his tattered clothes..." She stays with what is familiar because she is afraid of having nothing. "A baby sleeps in all our bones, so scared to be alone."