Following the dissolution of Red House Painters after the tumultuous release of their last album Old Ramon, Kozelek released a handful of solo recordings before forming Sun Kil Moon in 2002. Their debut album, Ghosts of the Great Highway, was written entirely by Kozelek, and released by Jetset Records in 2003. It is an album centered around the theme of memory, connecting Kozelek's haunting memories with the true-life stories of deceased boxers, such as featherweight champion Salvador Sanchez and flyweight Pancho Villa. Kozelek's music with Sun Kil Moon spans genres such as the simple acoustic country-folk of "Glenn Tipton" to the heavy, Crazy Horse-esque rock of "Salvador Sanchez" and the light-hearted "Lily And Parrots," onto the fourteen minute psychedelic tour de force, "Duk Koo Kim" (another homage to a deceased boxer) and the beautiful and haunting "Gentle Moon" and "Carry Me Ohio." Kozelek's voice is now more flexible and less downcast than in his work with Red House Painters, resulting in a resonant and often beautiful album.
The band's follow-up Tiny Cities was released on November 1st 2005 on Kozelek's own Caldo Verde label. The album covers eleven songs by the indie/alternative group Modest Mouse and, in its sparse production and spare instrumentation, is more or less a solo work by Kozelek.
Kozelek is known for covering songs from bands not normally associated to his genre of slow, introspective music. They are more than traditional covers, as they are extensively re-worked and re-interpreted to the point that they are often not recognizable to the originals, and take on a different meaning despite the lyrics remaining intact word-for-word. Kozelek's 2000 solo debut Rock 'n' Roll Singer featured covers of songs by AC/DC and John Denver.
His solo 2001 follow-up, What's Next to the Moon was an entire album of AC/DC songs done in his typically languid, hypnotically melancholy acoustic style. Even further back, Songs For A Blue Guitar, the 1996 Red House Painters album, featured covers of Yes's Long Distance Runaround, Paul McCartney & Wings's Silly Love Songs and The Cars' "All Mixed Up". Tiny Cities is very much in this tradition, taking the often frenetic, noisy songs of Modest Mouse and transforming them into haunting, acoustic guitar-dominated midtempo ballads filled with a deep-seated, haunting melancholy.
Floating
Sun Kil Moon Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
One more night
Come on
'Cause I don't wanna be without
Without you
In the air tonight
So cold and strange
When I have changed
She is floating out too soon
So soon
In our room
Inside
With these ones
I want to hide
She is floating out too fast
Too fast
Come to me
My love
One more night
Come on
'Cause I just wanna talk with you
Again
Come to me
My love
One more night
Come on
'Cause I just wanna hold you close
Again
The lyrics to Sun Kil Moon's "Floating" are set against a backdrop of grief, loss, and longing. The song seems to be about the death of a loved one, as evidenced by the references to floating and the phrase "winter of loss." The singer sings to his departed love, begging her to come back to him for one more night so that he can talk to her and hold her close again. He misses her desperately and can't bear to be without her.
The use of the word "floating" in the song is particularly poignant. It suggests a sense of weightlessness, as if the singer's love is no longer bound by the constraints of the physical world. Similarly, the lines "She is floating out too soon / So soon" and "She is floating out too fast / Too fast" suggest a sense of inevitability and urgency. The singer is powerless to stop his love from slipping away from him.
The tone of the song is melancholy, but also beautiful and reassuring. The singer is clearly in pain, but there is a sense that he is finding comfort and healing through his love's memory. The repeated refrain of "Come to me my love / One more night / Come on / 'Cause I just wanna talk with you again / Come to me my love / One more night / Come on / 'Cause I just wanna hold you close again" is both heartbreaking and uplifting, as if the singer is reaching out to his loved one across the divide between life and death.
Line by Line Meaning
Come to me my love
The singer is addressing their beloved and pleading for them to return
One more night
They only desire to be with their love for one more night
Come on
An urging request for their loved one to heed their call
'Cause I don't wanna be without
The singer fears being alone without their beloved
Without you
A poignant reminder of the importance of the singer's love in their life
In the air tonight
A reference to the atmosphere of coldness and strange feeling that marks the singer's loneliness
So cold and strange
The cold and unfamiliarity of the place outside their relationship, without the singer's love present
Winter of loss
A bleak season of loss which the singer has weathered and come out changed
When I have changed
The harsh winter has molded the singer into someone different
She is floating out too soon
The singer's love is slipping away from them too quickly
So soon
A lament on how abrupt the loss feels
In our room
A reference to a specific shared space with their love
Inside
A safe and intimate space known to only the singer and their love
With these ones
The singer is surrounded by others, but none can replace their love's presence
I want to hide
The singer wishes to retreat from the world, feeling only safety with their love
She is floating out too fast
The singer's love is leaving them even quicker than expected
Too fast
A wistful cry of frustration over the sudden loss
Cause I just wanna talk with you
The singer only desires the simplest comfort of conversation with their love
Again
They long to return to the state of the relationship before the loss
Cause I just wanna hold you close
The singer only desires the warmth of their beloved's embrace
Lyrics © ROUGH TRADE PUBLISHING, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Written by: Mark Edward Kozelek
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind