Laura Gibson is an American folk singer and songwriter. She was raised in C… Read Full Bio ↴Laura Gibson is an American folk singer and songwriter. She was raised in Coquille, Oregon, and is now based in the Portland area.

With themes related to the pacific northwest, Gibson writes songs on a nylon-stringed guitar. In November 2004, she self-released an EP, Amends, produced and engineered by Drew Grow, on a laptop, in a house in Newberg, Oregon. Following this initial release, Laura released her debut full-length in November, 2006 titled If You Come to Greet Me on Hush Records. Engineered by Adam Selzer (Norfolk and Western, M. Ward, The Decemberists) and recorded completely on analog tape, songs on If You Come to Greet Me vary from pieces composed with bare-bones guitar and voice, to an orchestra of trumpets, piano, vibraphone, saw, violin, cello, banjo and found sounds. Songs have described as, "haunting portraits of nostalgia and intimacy, of loneliness and wide-eyed hope".

The La Grande Songfacts reports that Laura Gibson's fifth album is titled after La Grande, a small town situated in the forests of the Pacific Northwest where she parked her trailer and wrote and recorded the ten tracks that make up the record. It was released in January 2012.

Gibson's latest album Empire Builder was released April 1st, 2016 on Barsuk Records / City Slang.

Spirited
Laura Gibson Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Our bodies still as photographs
Beg the ground to swallow us
And press our lonesome silhouettes into the dirt
Light reflecting off your face
Casting colors on your cheeks
I saw you shining, saw you shining
Brighter than before
Autumn bears a bitter song

Creeping out across the yard
And weaving through the alder branches overhead
Of all that is escaping us
I have never been so certain as today
When the seasons settle in our lungs
They'll harden us, they'll cover us in crows
But cannot wash the laughter from our tongues
Time is quick to carry on
Certain as the morning tends to
Hollow us and turn our words to smoke
In all that is escaped us
And all that we could hold in place
I saw you shining

Saw you shining
Brighter than before

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to Laura Gibson's song "Spirited" are about the fleeting nature of time and the inevitability of change. The opening lines, "Our bodies still as photographs/Beg the ground to swallow us/And press our lonesome silhouettes into the dirt," suggests a desire to escape the mundanity of everyday life and find a deeper connection with the earth. The image of bodies being swallowed up by the ground is both haunting and freeing, suggesting a release from the constraints of the physical world.

As the song progresses, the singer observes the changing of the seasons and the transience of life. The line "When the seasons settle in our lungs/They'll harden us, they'll cover us in crows" is a powerful metaphor for the ways in which time shapes and transforms us. The crows in this line are likely a reference to death or mourning, which can feel like a heavy weight on our souls.

Despite the melancholic themes of the song, there is also a sense of hope and resilience. The repeated lines "I saw you shining, saw you shining/Brighter than before" suggest that even in the face of darkness and uncertainty, there are moments of brightness and beauty that can sustain us.

Line by Line Meaning

Our bodies still as photographs
We remain motionless and immobile, like frozen pictures that can't express our emotions.

Beg the ground to swallow us
We feel so vulnerable and exposed that we wish the earth would hide us underground.

And press our lonesome silhouettes into the dirt
We long for anonymity and wish to merge with the earth, feeling hopeless and alone.

Light reflecting off your face
The sunshine highlights your features and shows your inner beauty to me.

Casting colors on your cheeks
The sunlight reflects in different colors and brings out the tones and contours of your face.

I saw you shining, saw you shining
I glimpsed your brilliance, the real you, and admired you deeply.

Brighter than before
You exceeded all expectations, and your radiance is unmistakable and unforgettable.

Autumn bears a bitter song
The season of fall has a sad, melancholy rhythm, expressing feelings of loss and change.

Creeping out across the yard
The sadness and melancholy travel like a creeping sensation that spreads over the landscape.

And weaving through the alder branches overhead
The wind carries the melancholy sound through the trees, making branches sway and creating eerie music.

Of all that is escaping us
We feel like we are missing something, that time is slipping away, and memories are fading.

I have never been so certain as today
Right now, I am absolutely sure that life is fleeting and that we must make the most of our time together.

When the seasons settle in our lungs
We breathe in the air of the changing seasons, and it affects us emotionally and physically.

They'll harden us, they'll cover us in crows
The changing seasons will toughen us and make us more resilient, but it will also bring darkness and a sense of foreboding.

But cannot wash the laughter from our tongues
Despite the changing seasons and the difficulties we face, the memories of happy times remain fresh and alive, and we can still enjoy laughter and joy.

Time is quick to carry on
Time passes so quickly that we don't even notice it slipping away.

Certain as the morning tends to
I am sure that time will continue moving as planned, without regard for our feelings or needs.

Hollow us and turn our words to smoke
As time passes, we feel empty and meaningless, and even our words become ephemeral, worthless like smoke.

In all that is escaped us
Despite our frustrations and fears, we still hold onto hope, and we keep searching for meaning and happiness.

And all that we could hold in place
We try to hold onto happy memories and relationships, in the hope that they will bring us peace and contentment.

I saw you shining
You stood out, even in the midst of all the chaos and confusion, bringing light and joy to my life.

Saw you shining
Your radiance could not be ignored, and I cannot forget the image of you shining.

Brighter than before
You surpass our expectations, and your aura brightens up an otherwise dull world.

Contributed by Reagan K. Suggest a correction in the comments below.

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