After first earning notice thanks to a series of acclaimed European festival appearances during the summer of 1999, the twosome signed to American label Kindercore to issue their lovely eponymous debut the following spring. Quiet Is the New Loud was issued in early 2001 on Astralwerks. The album used many of the same tracks from the Kindercore release but re-ordered them and replaced a few with newer songs. The remix album Versus followed later in the year and featured remixes by artists as diverse as Ladytron, avid Whitaker and Four Tet. After a three year layoff during which Øye recorded a solo album, 2003's Unrest, and gained some reknown as an electronica DJ while Bøe worked on finishing up his psychology degree, the pair teamed up again for the recording and release of 2004's Riot on an Empty Street.
After a 5 year layoff, the band released Declaration Of Dependence on October 20, 2009 on Astralwerks in the US and Virgin Records in the UK.
Erlend Øye has released some solo material and is also a member of The Whitest Boy Alive.
Eirik Glambek Bøe is also a member of a second band, Kommode. The Whitest Boy Alive and Kommode toured together this year for a short period.
Manhattan Skyline
Kings of Convenience Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I'm trying to keep my newspaper dry
I hear myself say
My boat's leaving now
So we shake hands and cry
Now I must wave goodbye
Wave goodbye, wave goodbye
Wave goodbye, wave goodbye
You know I don't want to cry again
I'll never see your face again
I don't want to cry again
We leave to their goodbyes
I've come to depend on the look in their eyes
My blood's sweet for pain
The wind and the rain brings back words of a song
And they sing wave goodbye
Wave goodbye, wave goodbye
Wave goodbye, wave goodbye
You know I don't want to cry again
I'll never see your face again
I don't want to cry again
So I read to myself
A chance of a lifetime to see new horizons
On the front page a black and white picture of
Manhattan Skyline
The lyrics to Kings of Convenience's song Manhattan Skyline tell a story of a bittersweet goodbye. The singer and a friend sit and watch the rain, trying to keep their newspapers dry. The singer suddenly realizes that their boat is leaving, and the two shake hands and cry. As they part ways, the singer expresses their reluctance to cry again and never seeing their friend's face again. The singer then observes others saying their goodbyes and finds comfort in the pain of parting, recalling a song that others sing about waving goodbye. The final lines of the song contrast the sadness of parting with the excitement of new horizons, as the singer reads about the Manhattan Skyline.
The song captures the feelings of both sadness and hope that can come with saying goodbye. The image of watching umbrellas fly and trying to keep a newspaper dry give a sense of the weather and a quiet scene, which contrasts with the raw emotion and crying that follows. The singer's observation of others saying their goodbyes adds a layer of universality to the song, as many people have experienced the pain of leaving someone behind. Ultimately, the song suggests that even though goodbyes can be hard, they also offer opportunities for growth and new experiences.
Line by Line Meaning
We sit and watch umbrellas fly
We sit and watch the rain fall and watch people walk around, struggling to keep their umbrellas from being blown away
I'm trying to keep my newspaper dry
I'm trying to keep my newspaper from getting wet, but it's difficult with the rain and wind
I hear myself say
I hear myself say that my boat is leaving soon
My boat's leaving now
I need to leave now or I'll miss my boat
So we shake hands and cry
We say goodbye and shed tears as we part ways
Now I must wave goodbye
I have to wave goodbye to the person leaving
Wave goodbye, wave goodbye
I'm waving goodbye to the person leaving
You know I don't want to cry again
I don't want to cry again because it hurts too much
I'll never see your face again
I'll never get to see you again
We leave to their goodbyes
We depart while saying goodbye to each other
I've come to depend on the look in their eyes
I've grown accustomed to the look in their eyes and will miss it
My blood's sweet for pain
I have a masochistic tendency to enjoy pain
The wind and the rain brings back words of a song
The wind and the rain remind me of a song that I associate with this parting
And they sing wave goodbye
The people around me sing 'wave goodbye' as a farewell message
So I read to myself
I read to myself about a chance to see new places
A chance of a lifetime to see new horizons
This trip is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see new things
On the front page a black and white picture of
There's a black and white picture of
Manhattan Skyline
The picture is of Manhattan's skyline
I don't want to cry again
I'm still trying not to cry again because it's so painful
Contributed by Kaelyn E. Suggest a correction in the comments below.