US' debut album, A Picture of the Three of Us at the Gate to the Garden of Eden, was recorded by Elliott and producer David Strackany (known as Paleo)[8] in Elgin, IL, Iowa City, IA, and Washington, D.C.. The album features musical cameos by a large supporting cast[9]—notably, Saadat Awan, Dan D'Avella, Dave Hahn, and early TUS collaborator Mark Charles, now of Vandaveer.[10] Picture was mixed and mastered by Chad Clark of Beauty Pill and T.J. Lipple of Aloha at Inner Ear Studios[11] in Arlington, VA, and released on March 4, 2008. Track 'First Sight' had its UK debut on BBC Radio 6 on July 14, 2008,[12] and the album as a whole enjoyed favorable reviews from The Austin Chronicle, Alternative Press, The Village Voice, and others.[13]
Crimes, the group's second album, was recorded in Lexington, KY at Shangri-La Studios, 6 weeks after the release of Picture. It was produced and mixed by Duane Lundy, with co-production by Rob Gordon and These United States (by then composed of Elliott and full-time band members Charles, Cosenza, Craig, and Hnatow), and released on September 23, 2008.[14] Paste Magazine,[15] Pitchfork Media,[16] National Public Radio,[17] and others praised the album despite (and in many cases because of) its sonic departure from the group's debut. These United States recorded live sessions and interviews for All Things Considered,[18] Daytrotter,[19] and WOXY.com,[20] as Crimes reached No. 30 on the College Music Journal Top 200 radio chart in late 2008.
In February 2009, TUS recorded its third album, Everything Touches Everything, at Inner Ear Studios, with T.J. Lipple this time taking on the role of producer. Released September 1 of that year, the album proved TUS' most energetic and upbeat to date. SPIN Magazine sang its praises ('captures the overwhelming jolt of simply being alive...swings between a sleazy leer and a dreamy purr...deftly blurring the line between carnal and cosmic'),[21] as Jon Pareles of The New York Times weighed in on the band's live show ('superb...equally at home with quiet, morose tales and galloping punky-tonk adventures...a rambunctious alt-country band with story-songs that are both tangled and aphoristic').[22] Influential DJ and music writer Bruce Warren, of public radio station WXPN, called These United States 'one of indie-rock's -- no, make that American rock's -- best kept secrets.'[23]
For its fourth full-length album, TUS worked at Sound Mine Recording in rural eastern Pennsylvania.[24] The resulting 10 tracks, produced by Dan Wise and TUS' Justin Craig, and featuring vocals by Dawn Landes, were released on July 20, 2010, as What Lasts.[25] The accompanying album tour included supporting dates with Fruit Bats, Deer Tick, Langhorne Slim, and Bonnie Prince Billy, and continuing acclaim from The New York Times,[26] Pop Matters,[27] and The Washington Post.[28] Among its 180 live performances of the year were stops at Seattle's KEXP;[29] Daytrotter's Barn On the 4th[30] with The Walkmen, Dawes, and Justin Townes Earle; La Blogotheque's Take-Away Show;[31] and NPR's World Cafe[32] and Mountain Stage.[33]
2011 saw These United States scale back its frenetic touring pace to just 100 shows and festivals, as the band spent more time writing and recording in studios in Kentucky, New York, North Carolina, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and Ontario. In 2012, the group will release its 5th full-length album—the eponymously titled "These United States"—featuring contributions from Deer Tick, Phosphorescent, Langhorne Slim, Frontier Ruckus, The Mynabirds, Cotton Jones, Revival, Ben Sollee, Backwords, and Jukebox the Ghost, and co-produced at Shangri-La Studios by Duane Lundy, Justin Craig, and Jesse Elliott.
I Want You To Keep Everything
These United States Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Let your loneliness sing. I want you. I want you to keep everything.
Shaken. You've left me shaken. Our love, we said was the mountain.
Our love, the river, we said was a mountain. I want you to keep everything.
The path's the destination - that moment at the fork. Don't look back, or too hard at the point you're moving towards. That can only vanish as the path propels you on. Blink for just that moment and the point is gone.
I want you to keep everything.
The lyrics of These United States's song I Want You to Keep Everything are quite cryptic, with a deep meaning lying underneath the surface. The song title holds a clue to the overall theme of the lyrics, as it talks about wanting someone to keep everything. The song seems to be about a breakup, and the aftermath of it. The first stanza says how the love between the two is over, it is compared to a river, and the singer asks the other person to let their loneliness sing while they want them to keep everything. This could mean that the singer wants the other person to keep all the memories of their love, even though it's over.
The second stanza says that the singer is shaken after the breakup. They refer to their love as a mountain, but then say that they called the river their love. The meaning behind this could be that they thought their love was unbreakable like a mountain, but it turned out to be as fluid as a river. The chorus again says that the singer wants the other person to keep everything and move on. The lyrics about the path being the destination mean that the journey is as important as the destination. The singer doesn't want the other person to look back at the past, but to blink and move on towards their new destination, while the point of the past disappears.
Line by Line Meaning
Over. Baby, we're over that river. Our love was a river.
The relationship has ended and it feels like we have crossed a river. Our love was once like a river, but it has dried up.
Let your loneliness sing. I want you. I want you to keep everything.
Embrace your sadness and let it out. I want you to keep all the memories, good and bad.
Shaken. You've left me shaken. Our love, we said was the mountain.
Your departure has left me feeling very unstable. We always talked about our love being as solid and unmovable as a mountain.
Our love, the river, we said was a mountain. I want you to keep everything.
Our love was like a river that flowed strong and steady, but we also thought it was as unmovable as a mountain. Despite the breakup, I want you to keep all the memories and things associated with our past relationship.
The path's the destination - that moment at the fork. Don't look back, or too hard at the point you're moving towards. That can only vanish as the path propels you on. Blink for just that moment and the point is gone.
Life is about the journey, not the destination. When you come to a crossroads, don't dwell on the past or worry too much about the future. Focus on the present moment, because it will disappear quickly.
Over. Baby, we're over. Don't you send me my red shirt; sew that onto your thin wings. I want you to keep everything.
Our relationship is over and there's no going back. Please don't return my red shirt, instead sew it onto your wings as a reminder of our past. I want you to keep everything, all the tangible and intangible things that remind you of us.
Contributed by Eliana T. Suggest a correction in the comments below.