(1) Lovers are the brain child of gifted lyricist and heartbroken hero Carolyn Berk (CUBBY), the doe-eyed, silken voiced vagabond whose intimate tales of love and loss have garnered her overwhelming critical acclaim. Torrents of emotion fill each song on Lovers' sophomore release, The Gutter and the Garden, but an unflinching, underlying kindness runs throughout. Achingly beautiful string arrangements, subtle vocal harmonies, and layered soundscapes create a perfect musical accompaniment to Berk's breath-taking imagery and nuanced narratives.
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Lovers have successfully followed their brilliant debut release Starlit Sunken Ship, over which the Boston Phoenix raved, "Carolyn Berk's songs are full of breathless melancholy and a sinking, infinite sadness. In them you hear hints of the circus-funeral magic-realist run-on folk song of Neutral Milk Hotel, the dreamy twilight grandeur of Mazzy Star, Bright Eyes' last-gasp heartstring soliloquies, and the ghosthaunted majesty of Magnetic Fields' loneliest highways. But I'll be damned if Berk isn't a more entrancing spell caster than any of them."
(2) Swedish project that released one album in 2013, Addicted To Drugs.
The Garden
Lovers Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Will you stay in my life? I wish we were tied together sometimes. entwined by a family line. I wish I was your sister sometimes like tonight.
I'd dry your eyes. you'd cough and then smile and say you'd be alright.
Will you be all right?
I'd trace the tattoo on the back of your neck, there's a picture drawn there of the place you left, where you cannot see it, but you can't forget. it's there permanently like a badge of regret. there's a row of ocean shells where there should be a garden. one for each whispered word you could tell me, one for each secret.
So on shell stars in a dirt sky, I wish you'd trade your secrets for mine. I'd plant them, and in time, flowers would bloom and burst through the room where we'd lie, they'd cover our eyes, I'd be that vine, the sun would shine in an endless springtime. but for now, the flowerpots only hold cigarette butts.
There's a headstone there above the nights we talked. there's a different name whispered in your yard, but it sounds the same as the one you want. and now I feel so overwhelmed, I had to sit out by myself on the curb beside your house, with my collar in my mouth, and the feelings that I felt, I had to lay them all out in chalk-writing on the ground, for you to step around. and the rain that ends the drought and would've let our seeds sprout will just wash my words out.
The Garden by Lovers is a poignant song about the complexities of love and the enduring marks it leaves on our lives. The song opens with the singer describing a dream in which they appear as a vine that grows out of a lover's kiss and wraps around the lover's spine. However, the dream is not just a dream; it was inspired by the singer sleeping next to their lover's broken wrist. The scene hints at an underlying emotional frailty that is also present in the relationship.
The singer yearns for the relationship to be stronger, to be tied together in a way that mirrors a family bond such as that between siblings. They want to dry their lover's tears and make everything alright. The symbolism of the tattoo on the back of the lover's neck also highlights the theme of regret and the permanence of emotional scars. The line "one for each whispered word you could tell me, one for each secret" is particularly poignant, expressing the desire for intimacy and honesty in the relationship.
The song suggests a longing for a perfect world where these desires can be realised, where they can plant their secrets like seeds and watch them bloom into beautiful flowers. However, the current state of things is far from ideal. The flowerpots only hold cigarette butts, and the headstone above marks the nights that they talked as well as a different name whispered in the yard. The sense of frustration and powerlessness is palpable, as the rain washes away the chalk-writing of the singer's feelings, leaving them to stand on the curb with their emotions and their collar in their mouth.
Line by Line Meaning
I slept next to your broken wrist and dreamt I was a vine that grew out of a lover's kiss and wrapped around your spine.
I slept next to you while you were hurt and dreamt of being so close to you that I became a part of you, wrapped around your body like a vine.
Will you stay in my life? I wish we were tied together sometimes, entwined by a family line. I wish I was your sister sometimes like tonight.
I want you to be in my life forever, feeling as close as family. And tonight, I wish we were siblings to feel even closer.
I'd dry your eyes, you'd cough and then smile and say you'd be alright. Will you be all right?
I'll be here to comfort you when you're sad or sick, hoping you'll be okay. And I worry and wonder if you will be okay.
I'd trace the tattoo on the back of your neck, there's a picture drawn there of the place you left, where you cannot see it, but you can't forget. It's there permanently like a badge of regret.
I'd touch the tattoo on your neck, knowing it's a reminder of where you used to be and can't forget. It's a permanent symbol of regret.
There's a row of ocean shells where there should be a garden, one for each whispered word you could tell me, one for each secret.
Instead of a garden, there's a row of shells, each one representing a secret you could tell me. They're waiting for you to share.
So on shell stars in a dirt sky, I wish you'd trade your secrets for mine. I'd plant them, and in time, flowers would bloom and burst through the room where we'd lie, they'd cover our eyes, I'd be that vine, the sun would shine in an endless springtime. But for now, the flowerpots only hold cigarette butts.
I imagine a sky made of shells where we could trade secrets. I'd plant them like seeds, and beautiful flowers would eventually grow, surrounding us. But in reality, there are only discarded cigarette butts in flowerpots.
There's a headstone there above the nights we talked. There's a different name whispered in your yard, but it sounds the same as the one you want.
There's a grave marker above the spot where we shared deep conversations. And there's a name in your yard that sounds like the one you desire, but it's not quite the same.
And now I feel so overwhelmed, I had to sit out by myself on the curb beside your house, with my collar in my mouth, and the feelings that I felt, I had to lay them all out in chalk-writing on the ground, for you to step around. And the rain that ends the drought and would've let our seeds sprout will just wash my words out.
I'm feeling so many emotions that I had to sit outside on the curb, writing my feelings on the ground in chalk in hopes that you'll see them. But the rain will come and wash them away, preventing any growth for our relationship.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
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