Manchester Orchestra has released several extended plays and six studio albums: I'm Like A Virgin Losing A Child (2006), Mean Everything to Nothing (2009), Simple Math (2011), Cope (2014) (as well as its accompanying acoustic version, Hope), A Black Mile To The Surface (2017), and The Million Masks of God (2021). They are signed to independent record label Favorite Gentlemen Recordings, which is distributed through Sony Music Entertainment, and Loma Vista Recordings.
Manchester Orchestra originated in the suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia. They are named after the English city Manchester, a place rich in musical history (The Smiths, The Stone Roses, Joy Division, Oasis, New Order, Happy Mondays). Feeling increasingly alienated at his "small-town-Georgia, Christian high school", Hull became so frustrated that he spent his senior year studying at home. Early in their career, the band recorded an album entitled Nobody Sings Anymore. However, it was never released due to the shift in the band's musical direction and personal changes undergone following its recording. The band stated that "the band that made the record was different to the band now." Some of the tracks written for the album were released instead on the EP You Brainstorm, I Brainstorm, but Brilliance Needs a Good Editor.
Following You Brainstorm, I Brainstorm, but Brilliance Needs a Good Editor, Manchester Orchestra recorded and released their debut album I'm Like a Virgin Losing a Child. This album gained the attention of the music industry, and eventually led to their signing with Canvasback. The album was released nationwide July 27, 2007. Guitarist Robert McDowell did not appear on this album. The song Wolves At Night was featured in the video game NHL 08.
In October of 2008 the band recorded their second EP, Let My Pride Be What's Left Behind, with producer Dan Hannon and engineer Brad Fisher. It was released October 7, 2008.
In early September 2008, the band announced on their Myspace blog that they had begun recording their second album entitled Mean Everything to Nothing with producer Joe Chicarrelli (The Shins, My Morning Jacket). On February 4, 2009, the band posted a link to a free download of the single I've Got Friends and performed an acoustic version at The Fly’s In The Courtyard Sessions. The album was released April 21, 2009.
On January 26, 2010, the band released a digital split EP with Kevin Devine entitled I Could Be The Only One. Following the release of the Manchester Orchestra/Kevin Devine split EP, it was announced that Kevin Devine would record a full-length album along with the members of Manchester Orchestra later that year, with half the album written by Devine and half by Andy Hull. On April 10, 2010, it was announced the new project's name was Bad Books, and that the album would be released under that moniker, and not "Manchester Orchestra + Kevin Devine" as previously speculated. The self-titled full-length Bad Books album was digitally released on October 19, 2010, and on CD on November 9, 2010.
On March 2010, in an interview with the Dallas Observer, Hull mentioned that the band had begun work on a follow up to 2009's Mean Everything to Nothing tentatively entitled Let Go of Your Sorrowful Groaning. He also said that the band have around 34 songs they are demoing and that in writing this album he was imagining a "spiritual miscarriage". Later that year in an interview with Rip It Up magazine, the band announced that they were in the middle of recording their third full-length album. Although without a title, they explained that the album was completely different to anything they had released in the past. The album was being recorded with Dan Hannon and balanced between Blackbird Studios (Nashville, TN) and their own Favorite Gentlemen Studios (Atlanta, GA).
On October 23, 2010, during an appearance at Radio 104.5 in Philadelphia, following a Bad Books show in support of their recently released self-titled debut album, Manchester Orchestra debuted an acoustic version of the title track of their new album, Simple Math. Originally scheduled for release in March 2011, the band announced in January of 2011 that their third full-length studio album, Simple Math, would be released on May 10, 2011, as well as announcing the album's tracklist and revealing that the album was set to be a concept album.
For more info, check out their official site: http://www.themanchesterorchestra.com/ca/home
The Mistake
Manchester Orchestra Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Tell me there's another option for me
Standing like I should've known
I knew you'd accidentally look right inside of me
There's nothing anybody could say
There was nothing anybody could do
You made up your absent mind and now the rest of us are here to amuse you
Everybody I know makes the same mistakes
Packaged up in different boxes, masking shame
Laying on the carpet spilled
You told me you were fairly sure that you'd marry him
Embryonic accidents, a native knife, you gotta finally bury it
There's nothing anybody could say
There was nothing anybody could do
Everybody's got their day
So number wisely if you know what's best for you, man
Everybody I know makes the same mistakes
Packaged up in different boxes, masking shame
Everybody I know makes the same mistakes
Packaged up in different boxes, masking shame
I don't want to walk away from you
I don't want to walk away from you
I don't want to walk away from you
I don't want to walk away, but you let me
And now the wheels are falling off of the car
Beside the hundred meter grave in the yard
Everybody here feels sorry for us
The lyrics of Manchester Orchestra's song The Mistake are richly metaphorical and touch on themes of loneliness, regret, and the fear of wasting one's life. The opening lines express a profound desire to avoid dying alone and a plea for an alternate option. The singer feels like they're standing in a place where they should have known the outcome, but they didn't see it coming. They knew the heartbreaker would look right inside of them but they still couldn't help but be affected.
The following lines speak to the frustration and powerlessness felt by the singer and everyone around them after a major mistake has been made. There's nothing anyone could have done, nobody could have said anything differently to prevent what had happened. The singer suggests that the perpetrator has checked out mentally and emotionally, leaving the rest of the group feeling like mere entertainment for them.
The chorus emphasizes the universality of mistakes, shaming them for being unable to avoid their own errors. They suggest that everyone is guilty of making mistakes, however, they all just package them up differently and try to hide them. The final verse describes a moment of vulnerability where the perpetrator confides in the singer about their own impending nuptials that doubles as a suicide note. The singer sees this as an opportunity to reconcile and move forward, but the perpetrator instead chooses to push them away and let the wheels fall off the car, abandoning them to the pity of others.
Line by Line Meaning
I don't want to die alone
I fear the thought of being alone and helpless at the end of my life
Tell me there's another option for me
Please assure me that there is an alternative to dying alone
Standing like I should've known
I'm feeling exposed and vulnerable, as if I should have anticipated this outcome
I knew you'd accidentally look right inside of me
You saw through my facade without even meaning to
There's nothing anybody could say
There are no words of comfort that can change what has already happened
There was nothing anybody could do
No one could have prevented the outcome, even if they tried
You made up your absent mind and now the rest of us are here to amuse you
You had already decided on this path, and now we are left to entertain you in your final moments
Everybody I know makes the same mistakes
Everyone around me is flawed and falls into the same destructive patterns
Packaged up in different boxes, masking shame
Despite the differences in our situations, we all try to hide our guilt and regret
Laying on the carpet spilled
You were lying on the floor, as if you had collapsed or been knocked down
You told me you were fairly sure that you'd marry him
You confided in me that you had plans to marry someone else
Embryonic accidents, a native knife, you gotta finally bury it
These past mistakes and regrets are like painful wounds that need to be dealt with and healed
Everybody's got their day
Everyone will have their moment of reckoning or judgment
So number wisely if you know what's best for you, man
Make the most of your time and make wise decisions, because your actions have consequences
I don't want to walk away from you
I don't want to abandon you in your time of need
but you let me
But you have forced me to leave or distance myself from you
And now the wheels are falling off of the car
Everything is falling apart and there's no turning back
Beside the hundred meter grave in the yard
There is a deep and ominous grave nearby
Everybody here feels sorry for us
Everyone else is pitying us and the situation we find ourselves in
Lyrics © Hipgnosis Songs Group
Written by: Andrew John Hull
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind