Halls is South London musician Samuel Howard. The music is performed as a l… Read Full Bio ↴Halls is South London musician Samuel Howard. The music is performed as a live band featuring Patrick Ghirardello, Ian Jenkins and Joseph Munday.

Formed in London, UK in early 2010, Halls worked on material that would appear on the debut EP 'Halls EP', released in January 2011, which was described as having 'ambient soundscapes buttressed by skitter-step beats.'

'Ark' - his brooding debut album - draws from a palette of crystalline melodies, intense production and panoramic instrumentation to create a deeply personal, constructivist work of art. Evocative in sound and yet isolationist in sentiment, the album is an intense, dramatic and emotive study of loss and modern anxiety set to a strained electronic soundtrack.

In his new work 'Love To Give', Howard has replaced apprehension and doubt with a muted hope, and just as the sentiment has shifted, as too the compositions and arrangements have moved into the real world. Ark’s electronic templates have ceded to - as Howard says - “embrace the sound of human beings”, and the instrumental palate has widened: brass, tuned percussion, woodwinds, and organs now flesh out the tracks, with digital percussion only used for texture rather than structure. Much was recorded in a theatre in London’s Woolwich, with Howard’s vocals recorded naturally in the large main hall, and passing traffic and street noise can be heard faintly throughout the album.

http://hallsmusic.net

Funeral
Halls Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

A man with forty acres plowed and planted
Can't send no fourteen year old boy to no school
The only thing I learned in the years I worked on my daddy's farm, was
"Son, you better get them crops in when it turns cool"

In the magazines, I saw the naked women
I heard about the drinkin' and the bars
If my daddy could've caught me, he'd a-killed me

He said, "You might run, boy, but you ain't gonna get far"

I hit town or you might say that it hit me
Next mornin' there were things, I knew more about
The woman who had taken me in said, "Country boy, you're all right"
The same way, I turned her on, she turned me out

The first law I broke, right away they got me
I helped them build the country roads for awhile
They fed me, two times a day and knocked me down about four
For thirty days I didn't even crack a smile

I met a nice girl and she said I was her baby
She let me go and would never tell me why
I learned what it means, to be somebody's baby
They let you lie in your bed by yourself and cry

The miles were good but the mileage is turnin' my hair gray
I've met some people that knew me and call me friend
Ain't no sense in wantin' my life to live over
I'd find different ways to make those mistakes again

So let me say this, I never tried to hurt anybody
Though I guess there's a few, that I still couldn't look in the eye

If I've got one wish, I hope it rains at my funeral
For once, I'd like to be the only one dry

Overall Meaning

The song 'Funeral' by Halls is a narrative of a man's life experience from his childhood on a farm to his adulthood in the city. He starts by recounting the realities of farm life, stating that a fourteen-year-old cannot go to school because they are needed on the farm. The man then goes on to confess that he had dreams beyond the farm life, as he opens up about seeing naked women in magazines and hearing about bars and drinking. His father, however, strictly forbade him from such a lifestyle, stating that he would never get far even if he tried to run.

The man admits that he eventually left his farm life behind and moved to the city where he immersed himself in the lifestyle he had so longed for. He eventually gets arrested for breaking the law, and his punishment is hard labor. He then meets a woman who takes him in and shows him a different kind of love, but she eventually disappears without an explanation. The man, after covering so many miles that it has turned his hair gray, concludes that he wouldn't change a thing in his life, no matter how many mistakes he made.

The song's last sentence may seem odd: "If I've got one wish, I hope it rains at my funeral for once I'd like to be the only one dry." This sentence is sarcastic, as it means that the man believes that no one will miss him when he is gone, and no one will come to his funeral even if it rains. Therefore, he would be the only one dry at his funeral. The man accepts his life experience and his eventual death without regrets, hoping that it rains at his funeral as it is something to wish for since everything in his life went against his expectations.

Line by Line Meaning

A man with forty acres plowed and planted
A farmer owning forty acres of land, which he worked on by plowing and planting.

Can't send no fourteen year old boy to no school
The farmer is not able to afford sending his fourteen-year-old son to school.

The only thing I learned in the years I worked on my daddy's farm, was "Son, you better get them crops in when it turns cool"
The only piece of advice the singer received from his father while working on the farm was to harvest the crops when the weather cools.

In the magazines, I saw the naked women I heard about the drinkin' and the bars If my daddy could've caught me, he'd a-killed me He said, "You might run, boy, but you ain't gonna get far"
The singer, who grew up in a conservative environment, became aware of the outside world through magazines with nude women and stories about drinking and bars. However, his father had warned him that trying to runaway from the farm would result in dangerous consequences.

I hit town or you might say that it hit me Next mornin' there were things, I knew more about The woman who had taken me in said, "Country boy, you're all right" The same way, I turned her on, she turned me out
The singer describes his arrival in the town as overwhelming and unfamiliar, but he quickly learned about the new world. He tells the story of how he met a woman who, feeling pity for him, took care of him. While he charmed her, she introduced him to pleasures he had never experienced, but ultimately left him.

The first law I broke, right away they got me I helped them build the country roads for awhile They fed me, two times a day and knocked me down about four For thirty days I didn't even crack a smile
After committing his first crime, he was caught and punished by working on building the country roads, getting only two meals a day, and being beaten up regularly for thirty days.

I met a nice girl and she said I was her baby She let me go and would never tell me why I learned what it means, to be somebody's baby They let you lie in your bed by yourself and cry
He falls in love with a woman who calls him 'baby' but then leaves him without an explanation. From this experience, he realizes the pain of being someone's lover, and how one is often left feeling alone and abandoned.

The miles were good but the mileage is turnin' my hair gray I've met some people that knew me and call me friend Ain't no sense in wantin' my life to live over I'd find different ways to make those mistakes again
The singer reflects on his life, how it has aged him, and how he has made new friends along the way. Although he has made mistakes, he does not regret them, and believes that even if he could live his life over, he would find new ways to make the same errors.

So let me say this, I never tried to hurt anybody Though I guess there's a few, that I still couldn't look in the eye If I've got one wish, I hope it rains at my funeral For once, I'd like to be the only one dry
In the final lines of the song, the singer reveals that he has never intentionally hurt anyone, but there are still a few people he feels ashamed to face. For his funeral, he hopes that it rains so that he can be the only one who is dry, which can be interpreted as a reflection of his lifetime of feeling lonely and abandoned.

Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: TOM T. HALL

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

To comment on or correct specific content, highlight it

TRACKS