The melody sounds kind of similar to “Run,” which was on their follow-up album "Contra", which was named in part after Sebastian Flyte’s comment to the protagonist of Brideshead Revisited, Charles Ryder, that they are contra mundum, against the world.
Arrows
Vampire Weekend Lyrics
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Your leather suitcase burst at the seams
Stay all day up in your rooms now
That's not a problem you've ever seen
Fall on your knees, wasting your arrows
You'd found you've walked along these halls
You'd gone out hunting, I was asleep
Spend my day out at the fountain
That's not a problem you had foreseen
Fall on your knees, wasting your arrows
You'd found you've walked along these halls
Fall on your knees, wasting your arrows
You'd found you've walked along these halls
Oh, it's no use at all
But that life in the church could still remain
The song "Arrows" by Vampire Weekend has a melancholic tone as it talks about two people who are missing each other. The opening stanza describes the singer noticing their lover at the station, where they notice that the lover's leather suitcase is bursting at the seams. Then the lyrics progress with the declaration that this particular problem regarding overstuffed suitcases is something their lover has never encountered. The singer also mentions that the lover spends all day in their room, an idea that is portrayed as unproblematic from their perspective.
The chorus goes "Fall on your knees, wasting your arrows, You'd found you've walked along these halls." The lyrics indicate that both the singer and his partner are wasting their lives, and their efforts are not taking them anywhere. The singer, then in the second stanza, talks about waking up alone in his bedroom, with the other person out hunting. Though the singer spends their day out at the fountain, they assert that this is not something their partner considers to be a big problem. The chorus repeats the same lines to reinforce a sense of despair, demonstrating that neither person's actions are creating the desired result.
In conclusion, Vampire Weekend's "Arrows" tells a story of two people wasting their lives and missing each other. Through melancholic tones and repeated choruses, the song highlights how their lives are not yet fully developed, and they continue to spin their wheels.
Line by Line Meaning
I saw you down at the station
I saw you at the train station
Your leather suitcase burst at the seams
Your leather suitcase was too full and about to break open
Stay all day up in your rooms now
You spend all day in your room now
That's not a problem you've ever seen
You haven't experienced that problem
Fall on your knees, wasting your arrows
You've given up and wasted your efforts
You'd found you've walked along these halls
You realize you've been here before
I awoke up in a bedroom
I woke up in a bedroom
You'd gone out hunting, I was asleep
You went out while I was sleeping
Spend my day out at the fountain
I spent my day at the fountain
That's not a problem you had foreseen
You didn't expect that problem
Oh, it's no use at all
It's completely useless
But that life in the church could still remain
But the possibility of a religious life still exists
Lyrics © MUSIC SALES CORPORATION
Written by: Chris Baio, Chris Tomson, Ezra Koenig, Geoffrey Alan Bourgon, Rostam Batmanglij
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind