Gregory Alan Isakov - The Trapeze Swinger
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- Опубликовано: 11 сен 2024
- The Trapeze Swinger by Gregory Alan Isakov
Lyrics being metaphorical, here I'm adding the description of the song I read somewhere online...
The narrator is the trapeze swinger. The circus is life. The narrator has died recently, and he's caught somewhere between heaven and hell, in a waiting room for eternity so to speak. He is reflecting on the relationship that defined much of his life. And that's why he's a trapeze swinger. Trapeze swingers take part in an act that cannot be done alone. They need someone else in order to be the performers they are. And the partner he depended on is the girl to whom he is singing. But she can't hear him, because she's still alive down on earth. In fact, I like to think she's sitting in the back row of his funeral service. She's being viewed from heaven's waiting room as her admirer waits patiently for his name to be called. He wishes so badly she could hear him. To him, the circus of life now appears to be nothing more than a baby's dream.
He died young. He hadn’t seen the girl since the summer after high school, but he had never stopped loving her. After all, they grew up together. They used to play together as kids! Then, in high school, they fell in love and started dating. Everything was great until the balancing act got complicated, and she left town for college. She ended the relationship that summer, leaving him and their hometown behind. When she heard the news of his death (a suicide?), she bought a plane ticket and flew home for the first time in a while. She wanted to attend his funeral.
The angels don’t understand what it's like to leave the world. Because they live in a place where there is no death, where seasons don't change. They've come to see humans passing through this place as another number to be processed, another sinner to be judged. Their handshakes are hurried. They don’t appreciate what it's like for a boy to leave behind everything that mattered to him. To look back at life and see someone lit up by the city (of God), its light accentuating all of her beauty, and yet not be able to speak to her despite her apparent availability.
"Don’t look down," someone has spray-painted on the gates of heaven. It’s a warning not to look down at those on earth due to the heart break that will ensue. But he disregards the warning and continues peering down at her from “the window of the tallest tower.” He calls to her but he is much too high to be heard. A specific memory comes to mind: a Halloween during high school, their faces painted white. They were ghosts that year. They drank; they pranked their neighbors; they embarrassed themselves, so drunk they forgot one another. Yet now that he really is a ghost, he pleads with her: never forget the time we forgot about each other.
She broke up with him because he was unhappy with himself. He wasn't willing to trust a new trapeze swinging his direction. He wouldn’t let go of his hometown and reach out for the next thing, like she did. (Ironic because, as kids, they used to imagine adventures together.) Their future turned out differently than he envisioned; the "frightened trapeze swinger" instead clung to what he knew. He relates to animals that chase after distractions, after things they can't catch: the rain, trains, the colored birds above them. They run in circles. It's futile, but who the hell can see forever?
Finding himself in a place where seasons never leave, he takes solace in the graffiti that promises the two of them will meet again. Maybe he can't reach her now, but he knows that she will one day find herself in this very waiting room. And so he too will spray paint on the pearly gates. He will draw a boy and girl (him and her), God (trust) and Lucifer (fear), a monkey (who he used to be) and a man (who he's come to be), an angel (her) kissing on a sinner (him).
Please remember me, happily
By the rosebush laughing
With bruises on my chin, the time when
We counted every black car passing
Your house beneath the hill and up until
Someone caught us in the kitchen
With maps, a mountain range, a piggy bank
A vision too removed to mention
But please remember me, fondly
I heard from someone you're still pretty
And then they went on to say that the Pearly Gates
Had some eloquent graffiti
Like 'We'll meet again' and 'Fuck the man'
And 'Tell my mother not to worry'
And angels with their great handshakes
But always done in such a hurry
And please remember me, at Halloween
Making fools of all the neighbors
Our faces painted white, by midnight
We'd forgotten one another
And when the morning came I was ashamed
Only now it seems so silly
That season left the world and then returned
And now you're lit up by the city
So please remember me, mistakenly
In the window of the tallest tower
Call, then pass us by but much too high
To see the empty road at happy hour
Gleam and resonate just like the gates
Around the Holy Kingdom
With words like, 'Lost and found' and 'Don't look down'
And 'Someone save temptation'
And please remember me as in the dream
We had as rug burned babies
Among the fallen trees and fast asleep
Beside the lions and the ladies
That called you what you like and even might
Give a gift for your behavior
A fleeting chance to see a trapeze
Swinger high as any savior
But please remember me, my misery
And how it lost me all I wanted
Those dogs that love the rain and chasing trains
The colored birds above there running
In circles round the well and where it spells
On the wall behind St. Peter
So bright on cinder gray in spray paint
'Who the hell can see forever?'
And please remember me, seldomly
In the car behind the carnival
My hand between your knees, you turn from me
And said the trapeze act was wonderful
But never meant to last, the clowns that passed
Saw me just come up with anger
When it filled with circus dogs, the parking lot
Had an element of danger
So please remember me, finally
And all my uphill clawing
My dear, but if I make the Pearly Gates
I'll do my best to make a drawing
Of God and Lucifer, a boy and girl
An angel kissin' on a sinner
A monkey and a man, a marching band
All around the frightened trapeze swinger
Oooo
Oooo 9
99
999
9
Since a lot of people don't seem to catch the song's references, the imagery and metaphor of the trapeze swinger comes from Wim Wender's Der Himmel über Berlin, also known by its English title, Wings of Desire. The movie folllows an angel who, unseen, looks over humanity and falls in love with a circus performer in Berlin. Before the circus departs for the year, he chooses to fall and take a mortal form so he can experience love, tragedy, and heartbreak. The film was also the inspiration for the movie City of Angels, starring Nicolas Cage.
I didn't know that. Thank you for this information!
Lost my daughter a few months ago. This song helps to soften the sharp, jagged shards of broken glass that was once my heart. 💔
Sending you love and healing for your loss Barbara 🙏✨❤️
I know exactly what you are feeling. I feel the same.
I’m so sorry for your loss
Of your daughter. I pray for you to have comfort and peace in your heart and soul. There is no name for the parents who loss children along this path in life. Please know I’m thinking of you 💗
Couldn’t imagine
I’m so sorry, I know that means nothing (trust me), but every ounce of love in my heart is all yours for as long as you need it. Losing children is a different type of hurt (I won’t compare myself to you but I’ve had 2 miscarriages 2nd term, I really know it’s not the same) and if there is anything in the world that can help, it’s music, and people. So I will always be here!
When things get too awful--and let's face it, that's a lot of the time--this is my eight minute vacation from the world. This song plugs so readily into universal human experience. It's transcendent.
Your words were perfectly assorted. You are absolutely correct. 🤍
An eight minute vacation from this world indeed🙏🏻
It is a small sanctuary for me, I listen to it often
Mike memelaar you took the words right out of my mouth 👄 👍
An 8 minutes of escape to whatever destination in your mind. Jump right in, you might laugh, you might cry, but you'll surely feel better.
Whatever Gregory touches it turns gold... Unbelievable
Exactly. He just did a cover No Surprises, and it's fantastic.
Song was already gold before touched, but okay.
Every time I listen to this guy he makes me cry. His music is so damned beautiful. I think he is up there with John Prine, Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen as one of the greatest singer/storyteller/poets ever...
His cover of Leonard Cohen's "One of us cannot be wrong" is so beautiful and melancholic, Leonard would definitely be proud of it
I love Gregory so much, but this song is written by Sam Beam. His stage name is Iron & Wine. He's so talented.
Check out Sam Beam, who wrote this song, singing it live at Austin City Limits. A much more dynamic and tender rendition, in my opinion.
I agree whole heartedly. But most people don't care about the profound power of beauty and poetry anymore.
@@damianmancuso6894 oh wow!! Thank you! I did not know that! My good friend loves Sam Beam.
I'll never understand how people can see this song as him just singing about "one person"..
This song is about an entire life.
I think it would be a sad life if it all was summed up as only one person..
We all had friends, crushes, mentors, etc who helped shape our lives..
This is so beautiful - “That season left the world and then returned, and now you’re lit up by the city”
I’m a painter and often listen to a single song on repeat throughout the whole time I paint it, then name it that song. I have a beautiful painting named “The Trapeze Swinger” ❤
Show us
can I see it? such a neat idea and this is one of my favorite songs!
I wish I could see your painting Elizabeth
Please Elizabeth
it tells me a different story every time I hear this song. I hope my existence may touch the lives of everyone that I have loved in this lifetime.
May you feel the love and peace you deserve. You are obviously a kind soul. People like you don't get enough love, so consider these words as my gift to you.
A wise man said:
This is literally the most beautiful thing I've ever heard. Thank you so much.
Yes! It makes me weep. And the lyrics! How can you write like that?
Actually I just read that Sam Beam (aka Iron and Wine) wrote this.
@Lindsay Cisco I like the original too, (of course since it's brilliantly written, Sam Beam is great) but I honestly like this version much better because I think Gregory's voice fits the song and his guitar strumming gives it much more emotion. It's just so beautiful knowing he's talking about a girl he shared memories with but seriously fucked up their relationship and he knows it, asking her to remember him 8 differnet times in 8 different verses all with metaphorical references to their relationship and all the amazing times they had together. It's just so nostalgic, and knowing what this song really means just makes me appreciate life, the good times, and just how beautiful everything is too. If anyone else is reading this, and you don't like this song, that's completely fine. Everyone has different tastes. But I hope that you can realize like I've come to in the last few years that honestly everything is just simply beautiful and to be grateful for all the friends, family, encouraging people, and everything and everyone you have in life, because it's all worth something. Appreciate what you have now, because you might lose it someday. Thank you for reading this, and I wish you all the best of luck in life.
-Noah
I agree.
@@lindsays2007 The lyrics......wow....straight into my soul.
I lost my youngest son to suicide November 2020
This song resonates some of his life when he was a youngster and early adolescence he fell in love early on and was denied all the Love he felt for his Love by her parents . His first born son was riled from his life . He continued on to become amazing g ER nurse . He found a new life in CA continuing his Nursing and fell in Love again. and had a beautiful daughter and a promise of life good bad in sickness or health, and that was once again denied to him. He absolutely loved his children. So this song resonates so much of his life for me . I will never get over loosing him to taking his life . The unending questions I feel him everyday with all I have . He rests I. Gods hands now never forgotten. ❤
You are loved still. And his life will always hold value. I am sorry for your loss and ours.
I'm so sorry for your loss and for the pain that you've been through . He is loved by you and that's all that matters . May he rest in peace
I'm so sorry . My heart is with your heart🖤
Hey mama. I am so sorry to hear about that. May he rest in peace.
I'm sorry. ❤️
This song just came on randomly and I instantly though, “Shit, I am not ready for these emotions today.” Most brutal song I will ever love…to dread. It’s like that nasty medicine you had to take as a kid, “so you will feel better”.
Required listening for anyone thinking about dating again. I passed. Now I know what love was always supposed to be. So much better.
-Some old union plumber in the Mid-West USA.
HANG IN THERE, IT DOES GET BETTER.
Bro 😭😭😭😭. It's hard
I have heard this amazing version of this song countless times... yet it still rips me to pieces every time no matter what mood I am in. It's beautiful, it's haunting, it's melancholy, it's hopeful, it's solemn, it's angry, it's gentle ... it's simply incredible. Thank your Mr. Isakov.
Play this at my funeral.
Please
This is the song that made me realize I don't want to live in a world without the love of my life, to get off my Trapeze and ask her to marry me. The thought of living in a state of "what if" is horrifying, And looking back for eternity on what could have been is so beautifully heartbreaking. Thank you Iron and Wine and Gregory Alan Isakov. I owe you one.
That's beautiful. God's Blessings for whatever the future holds for you both 🙏
Well??
@@freezinginhere stay tuned till march :)
@@gwogobo2937 WELL???
Surprise! I get to marry the love of my life on April 9th, 2024. Thank you all for the support. If anyone's seeing Gregory this fall in Kansas City I will see you there!
Did anyone else completely love it when he did this AND Iron and Wine?? ❤️❤️❤️
sitting in an office in northern india, on a monday afternoon, doing some drudgery work, and this song just makes me think of driving across the country, roll down the windows, breathe in the salty air, let the wind kiss my cheeks, ray ban and bit of sun tan, a delicate press of foot on the gas, drive drive and drive, oh please remember me happily.
This is a beautiful picture. This is a beautiful song. And based upon a quick viewing your channel, you seem to have a beautiful passion for sharing music you love. Thank you for this!
I think this is may be the most beautiful song ever written. 💔❤🩹
Lost my mom January 2023 … I cry EVERY time he says “tell my mother not to worry”
This just got me through another day. Thank you.
they are all worth living mate. you just gotta focus on the good
The amazing thing about this song is that it's one that touches the listener in different ways, but noone knows this song is about a guy that committed suicide and all the "please remember me" verses are him in purgatory writing about people he's loved and knew in his life.. this song hits hard and always will, never will I listen to this song and not cry 🕊😭 its such a masterpiece
Absolutely chilling to hear this song while reading your description. Thank you!
Holy shit, thanks for saying that. I started the song over and read. Its unbelievable. Whoever wrote that deserves an award. It was like a 10,000 page book writen in a few paragraphs...
this fucked me up ngl
absolute banger
Yep. Rarely has a description made a beautiful song that much moreso.
When the goddess of music colides with god of poetry.
My precious son will see heaven and I will bargain my soul for his to make sure of it..
Sometimes my mind overtakes my thoughts and suddenly ending it all seems to be a valid option. Then I remember my girl and my family. They need me so I keep on going.
You okay?
We all need you, everyone that feels the same.
Hang in there with me big bro. We're gonna ride this wave till we hit the shore, and find our piece of Paradise. Sure wouldnt be the same without you.
If you don’t like this song, you may be like me, loving GAI for his amazing melodic songs and this one seems out of place among them. But when you listen carefully to the poem and let the melody give the rhythm to the reading you will be blessed to hear what was meant when it was conceived, a poem of powerful nostalgia and perhaps a warning to the few young wise ladies and men who learn from the mistakes of others. And to those of us who are older and can relate to the experience he shares with us in this poem it may shatter us and when we finish weeping for what was lost may we determine to not waste one more day on the trapeze before our circus ends.
It's not written by Greg, it's a great cover though
written by sam beam of iron and wine i love his lyrics
Amen
@@beas5135 yes , this is why I didn’t like it at first, and why I wrote the message
Well written. Sometimes this life feels like its full of wonder, other times an
endless string of misunderstandings...Truthfully, it's both. I'm now 70 yrs in this
body, and after 3 years of trying to figure out how I stayed forty plus years in a
one way relationship,It ended at last with her succumbing to cancer in confusion and fear. She wasn't my "one".. not even close. My bitterness is somewhat cooled
by the simple fact that it was the life I chose. And there really isn't anyone to
blame....Apologies for the venting. Songs like this get one thinking.
Regardless if you believe in God or not, the fact remains that Love is the Supreme Ethic in life. Everything we do resolves around what we love. This Is God's gift to everyone of us, how do we accept this gift and gift back in which God gave us. Simple Love God with all your heart and soul and Love your neighbors as you would Love yourself. This world would be a much better place. Streets turns into blocks, blocks turn into cities and cities turn in to Provinces/States which turn into Nations which turns into Global peace. God's Word.
Is this the best song ever? Certainly the saddest most emotional and yes.
Sad song when I realized the meaning in these lyrics. Beautiful song amazing voice.
Once again the perfect song for the worst moment. I'm relishing in the moment, pain, and all. Ty
Im sorry
Beautiful song...Sam and Sarah Beam are very kind folks...Sam was a professor at FL state...i think...
I pulled on his beard...he just grinned at me...I talked with Sarah all night.... beautiful art...more beautiful people
Oh my heart. Reminds me of my son who passed oh so many years ago.⚘
Prayers to your boy ❤🕊
My favorite artist AND my favorite Iron & Wine song? It's my lucky day.😄
Great underrated artists
I remember that day we escaped and run through the cornfields and hid ourselves in the woods and made love endlessy long ago...
Incel alert
@@Jeremy.Bearemy wth does that even mean ?
@@Jeremy.Bearemy good try but that’s not what Incel means lmao 😭 if he was an incel he wouldn’t have a story like that.
@@chasie5928 good try but you totally missed my point. LMAO 😭
Only incels make up weirdly romantic stories about making love in the woods.
Real people just have sex, and don't have to make up stories about it.
@@Jeremy.Bearemy ur sad.
What a wonderfully refreshing song, different from most all others of the same genre. No repetition here! So much great music is out there, but sadly playing the same verse over and over.This guy sure doesn’t have that problem.
I am in live with this song- my new favorite!😉
I wish I had somebody I could say this to... That's my biggest fear is that I go without anybody to say goodbye to and the worst part is, that's how it is.🙄 I'm going to listen to this and cry and be alone in my perpetual loneliness and contemplate giving up... That sounds really nice... Why am I still here?
We don’t eachother but I love you stay strong 💪🏻
The world is big,and someone that is made for you will come , you don't have to give up but also do not be satisfied 😜 good luck 🤞
There were many Prostitutes criminals abuser’s around some of us didn’t say bye
Absolutely beautiful cover by Isakov of Iron & Wine's (Sam Ervin Beam's) exceptional song.
A most excellent music artist, cover song and art 😊🎶🌹😊🎶🌹
I love this song. On the first couple listens, it definitely got some emotion out of me. Especially the ending.
But reading your description of the song??? My friend, I bawled my eyes out. Especially with the song in the background. Regardless if that analysis of the song is from the author or a fan, it doesn’t really matter. Someone came up with it and it was beautiful, that’s all that matters.
Whoever wrote that description needs an award. It made me tear up
I cherish the description you wrote for this. Thank you, dear stranger.
Hello! The song belongs to Iron&Wine. Gregory Alan Isakov covered the song for Fuel/Friends Music Blog - Chapel Session in Colorado Springs, CO.
Such a beautiful song
Sam Beam wrote this song, guys. This is an Iron & Wine song.
Isaac’s cover is gorgeous, no doubt, but a lot of you are crediting his genius songwriting, and I think that’s a bit unfair to Sam. Just sayin’….
possibly the best song ever written. credit to sam but this is such a perfect cover
When I close my eyes my past is on the horizon, it is not getting any closer although the rising sun shines on it favourably, makes things seem more significant than they are. I am 11 years old sitting beside my uncle on a high stool the smell of porter igniting new experiences in my nostrils. the cousins and my brothers are out the back playing pool but I want to listen to men talk of the days trade and tomorrows hurling. It is a pleasant full memory, the kind we rarely hold onto and it reminds me I have grown up quicker than the weeds in a widows garden. There is no soundtrack for those times. This song helps.
Beautiful comment...Written by a man who can see his reflection, behind and
ahead. Feeling the textures , because he knows that his memories, even if polished and pruned, are moments that never truly end. Little miracles, big tragedies, all part of a life. And movement... always movement...
This song is clearly about asymmetric-symmetry. Beautiful.
Love this cover of the original Iron & Wine song , most beautiful
I am not crying.
My favorite of the many poems that this song inspired me to write:
I wonder if the world will carry these little memories
past the point where we shall cease to be.
(1.)
like the bite of your father's rosebush
weeping pinks down the palisade
bittersweetly
his girly flytrap weed he always called it
or 'Miriam'
after your mother passed one February bleak
whispering a prayer to repay the earth
from which she'd sprouted into beauty
with bloodlet fingertips,
welling eyes and a head held high
''you won't be rid of me that easily.''
(2.)
the graveyard of rainbows incomplete
which you mistook for a dream
framed so perfectly
by the window of the airplane
that shot us back to New Orleans.
(3.)
the clementine sunrise
stumbling down the canopy
painting morning dew into diamonds
worn by the spiderwebs between
those static storm clouds
slowly pried unstuck
by summer breeze
(4.)
how those crimson bugs
so small but twice so clever
spelled mayday in morse code
crawling round Sam's dancing hands
with no intention of abandoning ship
leaving that vessel of wreathed flesh
that her doctors had named Huntington's chorea
christened not with champagne
but earthquakes
and then set adrift
into the vacuum of dysphoria
to tremble forever
just another ghost
in god's phantasmagoria.
(5.)
what a thumbnail moon
after lion's mane rainfall
would smell like to me
(talcum powder, a field of irises, rebirth and nicotine.)
(6.)
and how death
that abhorrent monster lean
revealed itself to be
just a ballet of roots
returning to the seed.
- Ben Heart.
It's a little weird of OP to claim that this song is by Gregory Alan Isakov when they clearly spent a while looking it up online so they must have known this is a cover...
This song takes me some place good an rebuild s my mind with great calming just so brilliant and humbling thank you 😊
Thank you florence 💛
GIA does such a good cover of Iron and Wine (Sam Beam) who wrote the original The Trapeze Swinger, which is a freaking awesome song anyway.
What an incredible song
Who the hell can see forever!!
Oh, I memby!
But seriously; such a beautiful work of art. Such a sad story.
The frightened Trapeze Swinger is me and these are all the disoriented images that come in and out of view as I perform to Save My Life🛡️
I remember that time.
ذهبت إلى القول بأن بوابات اللؤلؤ لديها مثل هذه الكتابة على الجدران بليغة
💜💚☝️
beautiful
I wish I could send this one to someone from the past...
This song is so beautiful
Song was written by Samuel Beam (Iron & Wine)
this was written by Sam Beam, right?
(Iron and Wine)
don’t see his name
yeah it was! covered by GAI in some friendly session between the two i think, credit would be appreciated i agree
Yes but the description makes it sound like isakov wrote it. Although I like this version better.
@@ryanjordan8035 IMO it's a good enough version but a bit too sterile to hit a home run with me, both vocally and musically. It also doesn't capture the circus elements musically. If you've heard the original version first, that's a fairly big element of the song.
This song is a cover from Iron and Wine. Maybe should ad that in headline
Beautiful tears
Absolutely gibson j-45 acoustic sound
I be remembering rn 😭
This is it chief.
Yes
yes
thinking of my recently departed…
God blessed you Jesús and Holy Catholic wait for you always ❤️✨
Te Amo ❤️
Thanks for the interpretation Method in Madness. Beautiful song.
You should probably credit Iron and Wine (Sam Beam) as the original artist somewhere. GAI did this as a cover of the original song by Iron and Wine.
GAI acknowledges the original artist, it's not up to the RUclipsr who reposts this video to remind ppl of that.
@@bubby8825 but credit where credit is do is the right thing to do. It also allows people to be less ignorant of the fact that it is a cover, perhaps seek out the great original version, support Iron & Wine (Sam Beam), and discover his other great songs and collaborations.
I wonder how many funerals this will be played at.
Living or dead
nothings better than listening to this song with a glass of straight gin
Best version of this song. Better than Iron & Wine in my opinion.
not laconic, but it's an epitaph. john keats just said. "here lies one whose name was writ in water." if there was going to be a stone for me, I'd ask them to write these lyrics on it with an indelible marker. but since there won't be an engraved stone, lord may i be satisfied with just the stone.
You should also credit the individual who wrote the description. The original text came from the top comment on the actual live version.
sublime.
I Love You!❤
Love His Music His Songs are like small fortunes we all have shared in one way or another,spoken words from an experience this man shares into the universe to sooth our beings in relation to everyone of his words in song./|\£∆¥€\|/ all whom finds these words from a root to those whom combine together creating the infamous TREEOFLIFE
wundervoll
This should be a Psalm in the Bible.
why does it feel like I'm always on the run
lost a real friend, this song helps.
It's all right here!
Spotify?
Lost good friend over the holidays, n tho it was not sexual.. very significant to my life/growth, we went down rabbit hole ..it’s got me in all metaphors n times good & bad!! I love you forever Steven! And I miss you Already, enjoy ur journey, you uncover sweetheart! I’m so fucking sorry! ~P 🤍🔥✨✌️
Very poetic ❤️
Read the description. It’s brutal. Get some tissues (yes you!).
وإذا قمت بعمل بوابات لؤلؤية سأبذل قصارى جهدي لجعل رسم الله وفتى وفتاة لوسيفر ملاكا
♥️💚💜
Дякую
For when I die
Anyone know what the picture is in the video?
,m remember ing Robert Taylor Casstevens
Who the hell can see forever…