What is it about this song?! It has 4 chords. There is no chorus, only verses. And yet, I am mezmerized by it. You can't stop listening to it. I'll tell you what it is that's so alluring; it's the lyrics. The lyrics stand alone, even without music.
your post is 2 years old but i will still reply in hope anyone reads it :) my english is not the best and the words in this song are not hard but it leaves so much space for your own thoughts even if i misunderstand or dont understand some things, and to be honest... old times are good times or as we say in my country (translated) back than, everything was better... this video teleports me back when i was 15, beinning to love girls, having trouble in school, listening all kinds of music and so on. thats what it is for me :)
Don't worry, I still read it, and yours. And agreed on all this. The magic you described Dennis i the magic of 98% of Iron and Wine (especially the early stuff - a handful of chords and a capo). Sam doesn't write complex songs, just captivating ones.
Hope you gonna read it. It's not the four chords, it's not even the voice ore the lyrics. It's everything that make this song painfully beautiful. And I say "painfully", because it's a song that reminds me of something too far from me now: love. It's a song about letting go the ones you love, for their goodness.
I didn't cry when my uncle killed himself. I didn't cry when each of my grandparents died. I cry EVERY TIME listening to this song. I cry for my uncle and my grandparents. Thank you for helping me feel.
Revisiting this masterpiece to keep myself grounded. Been having rough weeks recently and I remembered how this song (particularly this version) comforted me during my lowest points sometime ago.
I have a father who raised me and my siblings as if we were poetry that he was writing; the goal being to make us turn out as beautiful and inspiring as he possibly could. My entire childhood was filled with unconditional love and a constant stream of music in a warm, nurturing environment that cultivated honesty, altruism, compassion, creativity and the use of our imaginations. When I was a little boy, I fell off my bike one day. Skinned up my knee, hand, elbow and forehead pretty badly. Started crying, and some other kids on the block started making fun of me for doing so. I told my dad about it while he was cleaning my wounds, expressing my embarrassment that these kids saw me crying. He came back with something like, “Oh Michael, don’t let those boys get under your skin. I assure you, they cry too. All kids do. And it’s nothing to be ashamed of. Crying is one of the body‘s natural ways of healing itself. You’re a tough kid. No crybaby, that’s for sure. So don’t worry about it. When you need to cry, do so. Because one day, when you grow up and become a man…it’s going to be very difficult for you to cry. And sometimes you will miss being a boy, back when crying came so easily.” I wasn’t able to wrap my head around what he was telling me. I asked him, “How could it possibly be difficult to cry? It’s difficult NOT to cry! So like…you NEVER cry? Even when you get really sad or when you cut yourself really bad or break your bones? You will cry then, won’t you?“ He smiled at me, “No, probably not. But there are some things that can occasionally make me cry, if I open myself up and allow them to.” “Like what?” “Like beautiful things. Something that’s so beautiful and touching it moves me to tears. Like a very beautiful poem or song.” Now I was even more confused. This truly made absolutely no sense to me, at that point in my life. And I told him as much. He just smiled at me again, put his arm around me and pulled me into his chest for a hug. He kissed the top of my head and let out a sigh, saying, “I don’t know why it’s so difficult for a man to cry. It just is. I wish I was able to do it more often. I’d probably feel a lot better, during difficult times, if it wasn’t so difficult. One day you’ll understand. You were going pretty fast when you fell. I’m glad you’re ok. I love you, Miko.” Of course, he was correct. And this song is a perfect example of what he was talking about. Btw, my dad was a singer-songwriter, same folk genre. All three of his sons turned out to be singer-songwriters, too. I have played/sang this song HUNDREDS of times, by myself, alone in my living room. But I’ve never played it live. Because I can’t get through it. Even after hundreds of times. I always get choked up at some point. Because it’s just that fucking beautiful. The words in this song are so deeply moving to me, so magically poetic, that I just can’t help it. The same thing happens to me when I read the poetry of Kahlil Gibran. I can also describe it as this feeling I get that I find to be present in moments like…when I am personally connecting with an audience/know that I am giving a powerfully touching and emotionally cathartic performance. Or like…when I first reach the summit of a mountain I’ve spent days climbing up, and gaze out over the world from that spot. Or say…when a dangerously aggressive dog that I have been rehabilitating for weeks finally allows me to pet him. Such moments are so filled with beauty that I feel some thing which might be best described as the touch of God. And I write that, as an atheist. Because the only proper response when you’re so overwhelmed by beauty that you feel the touch of god - is to allow that touch to run its naturally intended course through my being, eventually exiting itself in the tears that drop from my eyes. This song is so beautiful that it almost always makes my eyes swimmy when I listen to it. So when the pain inside reaches a point where I feel like I am starting to succumb, and something HAS to break - I listen to this song. So that I can cry. And allow my body to heal itself…even if it’s only enough to prevent any further progression to succumbing. Because of this, the trapeze swinger will always make me think of my father when it’s serving as the soundtrack to my grieving. You wrote the common time responding to six months ago. I hope the sun has risen for you since then, Jon.
@@K9MikePerfectly phrased, you certainly have a talent for storytelling. You can be proud of your wise, empathetic and loving father. Even though I was constantly fighting with mine I still miss him. He was a talented painter and artist who turned our house into an art exhibition of all kinds of styles and categories but from early on his family forced him into a job that bored him so badly that he developed a bad drinking habit. Even though he often vented his anger and frustration on us, he should have had the chance to follow his own path in life.
I discovered this song right after someone I had known well professionally passed away by suicide. It was such a raw time for everyone in our community when it happened and this song just popped up somewhere. Even though I’ve loved Sam’s music for quite a while, I had never heard it. The hypnotic effect of hearing “please remember me..” so consistently, is just so fitting to me of how I imagine someone would feel, if they can, after they pass. All the pain, all the energy and effort is gone and the only thing left that really mattered deep down is this person’s soul or desire to simply be seen and loved. Such genius with this writing and everything about the songs structure and feel emanates from such an empathic view. Really remarkable, love this songwriter!
I will never understand why this song moves me the way it does. It destroys me and rebuilds me bit by bit with every note and woeful word. A flawless painting of poetry and sound, the kind that maybe comes by once or twice in the course of a lifetime
AlphaRapax This song wrecks me. I saw him open for Flight of the Conchords at Red Rocks in Colorado. I remember being in the mood for comedy. He closed with this and I was openly weeping before the comedy show :-)
wow, you said perfectly.. Would be interested to talk to you and share some thoughts on this timeless song cause your words moved me as well. :) Add my face: Matteo de Maria(don doc) or insta (matteodemaria8).. Anyone who see this comment can add me..especially if you love this song that leaves you breathless everytime you hear it and this kind of music, deep conversations, talking to some new people.. connecting.. cheers.
Regret. Shame. Loss. The persistence of memory. Hope. Forgiveness. Dissolution into what will come, and what was. Thank you for existing, Sam, and sharing this searing vision with us.
I find the live renditions of this song to be much better than the main recording of it. So much more emotion and variation in tempo which work so well for a song like this.
I saw someone write this on another post and thought I should share: 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).
Beautiful…it’s just so fucking beautiful 😭😭. I know what you’re thinking “why you gotta throw the f bomb in there?” ….well I’m a stereotypical Midwestern guy who doesn’t know how to express his emotions in a healthy way so I feel the need to do it in a Brute like fashion. 😂
I saw Sam play this about 10 years ago at the Paramount Theater in Austin. The couple in front of me was wiping tears, my date was wiping tears, and I was trying my hardest to swallow the lump in my throat, ha. You could hear a pin drop in every pause. Such an incredible song and songwriter and so good to come back to!!
This ACL version of The Trapeze Swinger is beyond amazing. You simply cannot turn it off, and then you hit repeat. Always so disappointed that I cannot find a DVD Version of the original PBS Broadcast of the show. ACL should re-issue it. Again, just an amazing version of such a beautiful song.
Crying. Every time I hear it. Not because it reminds me of love or a boy. Because it reminds me of a happier and more carefree time in young adult life. Before the ugliness of life jades you.
I'm only coming in on this now because I just needed to hear this and see this today. As a long time fan of Sam and Iron and Wine I must echo the sentiments of some of you here. This song arguably is one of the most beautiful and best songs I've ever heard. The entire catalog is an embarrassment of riches, more gems than you'll find anywhere from anyone. Of course all of this is only my opinion but this is one band that I never tire of. I listen to them every day in my rotation whatever it may be that day. All the best.
This song elicits more emotion from me than almost anything else. I cannot listen to it without being moved to tears in some capacity. This version specifically. Other versions still move me to feel, but this version is a dagger.
Something about this song that makes me happy and sad at the same time. It's like thinking about all the good things that have happened to you life with a sudden realisation of how fast time has moved and how much life has changed. A feeling like no other.
LYRICS 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 And Please, remember me Fondly I heard from someone you're still pretty And then They went on to say That the pearly gates Had such eloquent graffiti Like 'We'll meet again' And 'Fuck the man' And 'Tell my mother not to worry' And angels with their great Handshakes Were 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 And 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 Leave 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 Aside 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 Swing as high as any savior And 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 To where it spells On the wall behind St. Peter's 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 hands 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 And 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 G-d and Lucifer A boy and girl An angel kissing on a sinner A monkey and a man A marching band All around the frightened trapeze swingers
16 днів тому
Even without the music, just reading the lyrics, this song makes me cry.
I can't believe I was unaware of this song until just today...Wow, what an amazing piece of music. The most emotional I've felt about a song since I can remember...
One of the highlights of my summer was, while looking for my lost iPhone in my Jeep, finding an iPod I lost about five years ago with this song on it. I've never heard a song that connected with my actual life the way this one does. When I die I want the entirety of my memorial service to be the playing of this version of this song and then reminding everyone what Jesus said when asked by a follower to explain God in a way he could understand. He said simply, "God is Love".
Sam's best versions are always the less produced ones. It doesn't take much: he strikes the first chord, the power is cast and suddenly we're all under.
This is the greatest song ever written. I said that when I first heard it a year or so ago and thought my feeling of it would just fade but it hasn't. There has never been a better written song than this one right here.
fuck I've just found this song. It's having the same effect as Flightless Bird, where so much emotion and context and so much of a life (fictional or not) is conveyed is such a simple verse form over a few minutes. So eloquently worded, so preciously raw
So much better as a solo number or with minimal backup when compared to the album version. Saw this live in Raleigh a few years ago... still haunts me.
You guys, later on in life (hopefully much longer) we should all go to Sam beams funeral..and sing this, all in unison all together. It will be one of the most beautiful momments this earth has ever witnessed. Love you Sam, this is forever my favorite song.
I have always considered a few songs from my childhood my favourite ones. Because I used to go down into the basement and sneak up with my fathers records for no reason. I could listen to them whenever I wanted, but I did that. Some of those songs became so great because of the time and the memories and the impressions they made when I was a child. This song just blows everything out of my mind. It's not reliant on when and where or how I feel. It's just the same every time. It sucks me in and traps me until it's done talking to me then spits me out again into this world. I might have a few songs I can't let go but this must be the best song ever written. The greatest piece of art.
a girl broke my heart this past weekend, picked my guitar up and this was the first song i played lol thank you sam beam your music heals the heart and soul
This is the type of inspiration Pink Floyd must have gotten just before writing The Dark Side of the Moon. This is truly one of the greatest songs I have ever heard. Sam is truly an epic poet, perhaps Morrison reborn.
I remember going to see these folks performing in Galway city in Ireland, around about the time this video was made. I can't remember whether they actually sang this song live, or whether I have just superimposed this recording over my patchy memory. One thing I do recall: they closed out their set with In the Reins, which has to be another one of their finest songs.
Am I right in thinking that the 100,000 views on this are probably done by only 1,000 people?
I come here every few weeks to listen...breaks my heart every time.
This is timeless. I keep coming back to this and everytime it hits me in a new way
What is it about this song?! It has 4 chords. There is no chorus, only verses. And yet, I am mezmerized by it. You can't stop listening to it. I'll tell you what it is that's so alluring; it's the lyrics. The lyrics stand alone, even without music.
Dennis Anthonis not too mention Sam has an incredibly beautiful voice!
your post is 2 years old but i will still reply in hope anyone reads it :)
my english is not the best and the words in this song are not hard but it leaves so much space for your own thoughts even if i misunderstand or dont understand some things, and to be honest... old times are good times or as we say in my country (translated) back than, everything was better... this video teleports me back when i was 15, beinning to love girls, having trouble in school, listening all kinds of music and so on.
thats what it is for me :)
Don't worry, I still read it, and yours. And agreed on all this. The magic you described Dennis i the magic of 98% of Iron and Wine (especially the early stuff - a handful of chords and a capo). Sam doesn't write complex songs, just captivating ones.
Poets make the words dance and it’s fair to say Sam walks with the best of them......”give a gift for your behavior”...!!
Hope you gonna read it. It's not the four chords, it's not even the voice ore the lyrics.
It's everything that make this song painfully beautiful.
And I say "painfully", because it's a song that reminds me of something too far from me now: love.
It's a song about letting go the ones you love, for their goodness.
One of the best songs ever, I feel like a child reading a story book every time I hear it :):):)
Thank you for putting that into words for us. That's exactly the feeling i've had, but couldn't find the proper expression. Cheers & Salute
Thank you from the author of this song your comment fills me with great heat and wormth
Great description
look up "Gregory Allen Isakov The Trapeze Swinger." Enjoy
I didn't cry when my uncle killed himself. I didn't cry when each of my grandparents died.
I cry EVERY TIME listening to this song. I cry for my uncle and my grandparents.
Thank you for helping me feel.
Matt It feels like a little piece of poetry what you put in here. Capturing, beautiful and rare!
Praying for you brother🙏🏼. Keep feeling…
Hear you, brother.
Revisiting this masterpiece to keep myself grounded. Been having rough weeks recently and I remembered how this song (particularly this version) comforted me during my lowest points sometime ago.
Hang in there Jon. Let Sam stitch it all back up for you, you just keep walkin’ the days. 🙏
Hey Jon u need a hug. Fly a sign. Full of Love outta luck. It’ll help ya it helped me. Much love 💗
I have a father who raised me and my siblings as if we were poetry that he was writing; the goal being to make us turn out as beautiful and inspiring as he possibly could.
My entire childhood was filled with unconditional love and a constant stream of music in a warm, nurturing environment that cultivated honesty, altruism, compassion, creativity and the use of our imaginations.
When I was a little boy, I fell off my bike one day. Skinned up my knee, hand, elbow and forehead pretty badly. Started crying, and some other kids on the block started making fun of me for doing so. I told my dad about it while he was cleaning my wounds, expressing my embarrassment that these kids saw me crying. He came back with something like,
“Oh Michael, don’t let those boys get under your skin. I assure you, they cry too. All kids do. And it’s nothing to be ashamed of. Crying is one of the body‘s natural ways of healing itself. You’re a tough kid. No crybaby, that’s for sure. So don’t worry about it. When you need to cry, do so. Because one day, when you grow up and become a man…it’s going to be very difficult for you to cry. And sometimes you will miss being a boy, back when crying came so easily.”
I wasn’t able to wrap my head around what he was telling me. I asked him, “How could it possibly be difficult to cry? It’s difficult NOT to cry! So like…you NEVER cry? Even when you get really sad or when you cut yourself really bad or break your bones? You will cry then, won’t you?“
He smiled at me,
“No, probably not. But there are some things that can occasionally make me cry, if I open myself up and allow them to.”
“Like what?”
“Like beautiful things. Something that’s so beautiful and touching it moves me to tears. Like a very beautiful poem or song.”
Now I was even more confused. This truly made absolutely no sense to me, at that point in my life. And I told him as much.
He just smiled at me again, put his arm around me and pulled me into his chest for a hug. He kissed the top of my head and let out a sigh, saying,
“I don’t know why it’s so difficult for a man to cry. It just is. I wish I was able to do it more often. I’d probably feel a lot better, during difficult times, if it wasn’t so difficult. One day you’ll understand.
You were going pretty fast when you fell. I’m glad you’re ok. I love you, Miko.”
Of course, he was correct. And this song is a perfect example of what he was talking about. Btw, my dad was a singer-songwriter, same folk genre. All three of his sons turned out to be singer-songwriters, too. I have played/sang this song HUNDREDS of times, by myself, alone in my living room. But I’ve never played it live. Because I can’t get through it. Even after hundreds of times. I always get choked up at some point.
Because it’s just that fucking beautiful.
The words in this song are so deeply moving to me, so magically poetic, that I just can’t help it. The same thing happens to me when I read the poetry of Kahlil Gibran. I can also describe it as this feeling I get that I find to be present in moments like…when I am personally connecting with an audience/know that I am giving a powerfully touching and emotionally cathartic performance. Or like…when I first reach the summit of a mountain I’ve spent days climbing up, and gaze out over the world from that spot. Or say…when a dangerously aggressive dog that I have been rehabilitating for weeks finally allows me to pet him.
Such moments are so filled with beauty that I feel some thing which might be best described as the touch of God. And I write that, as an atheist. Because the only proper response when you’re so overwhelmed by beauty that you feel the touch of god - is to allow that touch to run its naturally intended course through my being, eventually exiting itself in the tears that drop from my eyes.
This song is so beautiful that it almost always makes my eyes swimmy when I listen to it.
So when the pain inside reaches a point where I feel like I am starting to succumb, and something HAS to break - I listen to this song.
So that I can cry.
And allow my body to heal itself…even if it’s only enough to prevent any further progression to succumbing.
Because of this, the trapeze swinger will always make me think of my father when it’s serving as the soundtrack to my grieving.
You wrote the common time responding to six months ago. I hope the sun has risen for you since then, Jon.
@@K9MikePerfectly phrased, you certainly have a talent for storytelling. You can be proud of your wise, empathetic and loving father. Even though I was constantly fighting with mine I still miss him. He was a talented painter and artist who turned our house into an art exhibition of all kinds of styles and categories but from early on his family forced him into a job that bored him so badly that he developed a bad drinking habit. Even though he often vented his anger and frustration on us, he should have had the chance to follow his own path in life.
He attacks other versions. This one is gentle, and perfect. I also visit it often, when times are the worst.
I discovered this song right after someone I had known well professionally passed away by suicide. It was such a raw time for everyone in our community when it happened and this song just popped up somewhere. Even though I’ve loved Sam’s music for quite a while, I had never heard it.
The hypnotic effect of hearing “please remember me..” so consistently, is just so fitting to me of how I imagine someone would feel, if they can, after they pass.
All the pain, all the energy and effort is gone and the only thing left that really mattered deep down is this person’s soul or desire to simply be seen and loved.
Such genius with this writing and everything about the songs structure and feel emanates from such an empathic view. Really remarkable, love this songwriter!
I will never understand why this song moves me the way it does.
It destroys me and rebuilds me bit by bit with every note and woeful word.
A flawless painting of poetry and sound, the kind that maybe comes by once or twice in the course of a lifetime
+AlphaRapax I can't listen to it without sobbing uncontrollably, lol
AlphaRapax This song wrecks me. I saw him open for Flight of the Conchords at Red Rocks in Colorado. I remember being in the mood for comedy. He closed with this and I was openly weeping before the comedy show :-)
Yes! Exactly! Same with me!
Wow... just wow... agree...
wow, you said perfectly.. Would be interested to talk to you and share some thoughts on this timeless song cause your words moved me as well. :) Add my face: Matteo de Maria(don doc) or insta (matteodemaria8).. Anyone who see this comment can add me..especially if you love this song that leaves you breathless everytime you hear it and this kind of music, deep conversations, talking to some new people.. connecting.. cheers.
Regret. Shame. Loss. The persistence of memory. Hope. Forgiveness. Dissolution into what will come, and what was. Thank you for existing, Sam, and sharing this searing vision with us.
Theres a handful of songs that make me miss someone ive never met. This is one.
I find the live renditions of this song to be much better than the main recording of it. So much more emotion and variation in tempo which work so well for a song like this.
It’s the best, or my favorite version of a favorite song. Amazing writing
When it's never new and it never gets old it probably is a folk song.. This is the finest I ever heard.
+Chris Kelby Yep. I love this guys music and Gregory Alan Isakov's songs as well.
Best ever version of this song. Better than the studio version
Listening to every version I can find.
Did our Will today. Added this song to be played at our funeral. God Bless!
I love this song.
wow you just want everyone to feel worse
I saw someone write this on another post and thought I should share:
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).
ty
Wow!!!!! This in itself could be a movie❤️
That's Amazing
Well, that got me teary-eyed. Damn, what a beautiful story.
Beautiful…it’s just so fucking beautiful 😭😭. I know what you’re thinking “why you gotta throw the f bomb in there?” ….well I’m a stereotypical Midwestern guy who doesn’t know how to express his emotions in a healthy way so I feel the need to do it in a Brute like fashion. 😂
This song is so beautiful in such a way that it hurts.. it's almost like falling in love.
This is perfection in a song. Play this at my funeral please
I saw Sam play this about 10 years ago at the Paramount Theater in Austin. The couple in front of me was wiping tears, my date was wiping tears, and I was trying my hardest to swallow the lump in my throat, ha. You could hear a pin drop in every pause. Such an incredible song and songwriter and so good to come back to!!
I listen to this infrequently. I dont know why it effects me like it does. The gods brought him this one, put it in his fingers.
Colin Kennific agree with this. it's a remarkable work of art.
Sam beam one of the most undervalued treasures of the musical industry. Such an incredible artist
I listen to a lot of music but I can only think of a few songs that hit me as instantly and hard as this one does.
One of the last songs my brother in law shared with us before he passed. I'm miss you Justin. Rest in paradise brother.
Maybe the best lyrics since American Pie. Both blow me away. But this makes me think. A lot.
And they're both long-ass songs but still ain't that tiring to listen all over and over again
Johnny Thunder I’d put “Boxer”, “Thunder Road”, and “Up From Under” on that list.
This ACL version of The Trapeze Swinger is beyond amazing. You simply cannot turn it off, and then you hit repeat. Always so disappointed that I cannot find a DVD Version of the original PBS Broadcast of the show. ACL should re-issue it. Again, just an amazing version of such a beautiful song.
I wish you could file FOIA requests against the ACL archives… hey, wait, it IS public broadcasting… 🤔
Crying. Every time I hear it.
Not because it reminds me of love or a boy. Because it reminds me of a happier and more carefree time in young adult life. Before the ugliness of life jades you.
Wow, there is something about this song that just gets me like no other
This made me cry.
Beautiful ❤️ Thank you Sam Beam
Every version of this song is just magical. This song helps me remembet all those who i lost and helps keep them alive within me.
I'm only coming in on this now because I just needed to hear this and see this today. As a long time fan of Sam and Iron and Wine I must echo the sentiments of some of you here. This song arguably is one of the most beautiful and best songs I've ever heard. The entire catalog is an embarrassment of riches, more gems than you'll find anywhere from anyone. Of course all of this is only my opinion but this is one band that I never tire of. I listen to them every day in my rotation whatever it may be that day. All the best.
"Please remember me, my misery and how it lost me all that wanted"
This song elicits more emotion from me than almost anything else. I cannot listen to it without being moved to tears in some capacity. This version specifically. Other versions still move me to feel, but this version is a dagger.
ditto
This song almost makes me wish I believed in heaven.
Something about this song that makes me happy and sad at the same time. It's like thinking about all the good things that have happened to you life with a sudden realisation of how fast time has moved and how much life has changed. A feeling like no other.
LYRICS
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
And
Please, remember me
Fondly
I heard from someone you're still pretty
And then
They went on to say
That the pearly gates
Had such eloquent graffiti
Like 'We'll meet again'
And 'Fuck the man'
And 'Tell my mother not to worry'
And angels with their great
Handshakes
Were 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
And
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
Leave 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
Aside 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
Swing as high as any savior
And
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
To where it spells
On the wall behind St. Peter's
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 hands 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
And
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 G-d and Lucifer
A boy and girl
An angel kissing on a sinner
A monkey and a man
A marching band
All around the frightened trapeze swingers
Even without the music, just reading the lyrics, this song makes me cry.
I can't believe I was unaware of this song until just today...Wow, what an amazing piece of music. The most emotional I've felt about a song since I can remember...
+Bobby Carlsen He has a few songs like this one, you should check them out! :)
Hits the spot, everytime!
One of the highlights of my summer was, while looking for my lost iPhone in my Jeep, finding an iPod I lost about five years ago with this song on it. I've never heard a song that connected with my actual life the way this one does. When I die I want the entirety of my memorial service to be the playing of this version of this song and then reminding everyone what Jesus said when asked by a follower to explain God in a way he could understand. He said simply, "God is Love".
This song and this version is a blessing from God
Still one of my favorite songs ever. A book in a song.
This is going to be played at my funeral. Absolutely beautiful
Sam's best versions are always the less produced ones. It doesn't take much: he strikes the first chord, the power is cast and suddenly we're all under.
This is the greatest moment in music.
Best version of the greatest song ever.
I don't think I've ever listened to this version without being moved significantly.
It makes me cry...
This is the greatest song ever written. I said that when I first heard it a year or so ago and thought my feeling of it would just fade but it hasn't. There has never been a better written song than this one right here.
fuck I've just found this song. It's having the same effect as Flightless Bird, where so much emotion and context and so much of a life (fictional or not) is conveyed is such a simple verse form over a few minutes. So eloquently worded, so preciously raw
The was my happy place in 2011. Still works. Love this song
Far better than the studio version, to put it politely. One of the best songs around.
Sam’s songs are as vivid as paintings. So image heavy. So colorful.
His imagery in his writing & his phrasing is so incredible.
So much better as a solo number or with minimal backup when compared to the album version. Saw this live in Raleigh a few years ago... still haunts me.
Please bury me to this.
jenlllable I hear you/
I want this song played in my funeral
This is helping me through quarantine. Thanks Sam. #covid19
How can people dislike this?? How???
I couldn't belieive the first time I saw these guys on ACL. The audience reaction shots say it all- I want this song played at my funeral..
You guys, later on in life (hopefully much longer) we should all go to Sam beams funeral..and sing this, all in unison all together. It will be one of the most beautiful momments this earth has ever witnessed.
Love you Sam, this is forever my favorite song.
What a nicel song. It took me away on a beautiful journey.
I have always considered a few songs from my childhood my favourite ones. Because I used to go down into the basement and sneak up with my fathers records for no reason. I could listen to them whenever I wanted, but I did that. Some of those songs became so great because of the time and the memories and the impressions they made when I was a child.
This song just blows everything out of my mind. It's not reliant on when and where or how I feel. It's just the same every time. It sucks me in and traps me until it's done talking to me then spits me out again into this world. I might have a few songs I can't let go but this must be the best song ever written. The greatest piece of art.
This is an amazing version of this song..... I was lucky enough to find the ACL DVD of this performance....
a girl broke my heart this past weekend, picked my guitar up and this was the first song i played lol thank you sam beam your music heals the heart and soul
Just brings me a hollow sadness and longing for. My god, how long ago it has been.
This is song is too perfect, I do not have words for it.
the chorus singer totally adds to the performance.
@littlepingman i can't stop coming back to this video too...prefer this live version to the album one.
This song is about coming of age and growing apart. So perfect.
This song could lull me right to sleep in a good way, but I stay awake because I want to keep hearing it.
Time and time again, I find myself listening to this song. Probably my favorite of all time. Great work man! Thank you!
Thanks for sharing this version. (I hope you never have to take it down)
"Please remember me, my misery, and how it lost me all I wanted"-----😢
Such a beautiful voice.
Seriously. I have listened to this song every day for about two weeks now. It's just mesmorizing.
This is the type of inspiration Pink Floyd must have gotten just before writing The Dark Side of the Moon. This is truly one of the greatest songs I have ever heard. Sam is truly an epic poet, perhaps Morrison reborn.
UGH i cant get enough of this!!!!!!!!!!
I remember going to see these folks performing in Galway city in Ireland, around about the time this video was made. I can't remember whether they actually sang this song live, or whether I have just superimposed this recording over my patchy memory. One thing I do recall: they closed out their set with In the Reins, which has to be another one of their finest songs.
Absolutely fantastic. One of the single greatest songs if all time, and this live performance in particular is amazing. Top stuff Sam, thank you.
Absolutely mesmerized by this..my fav song
Great song...he got the soul for it.
This and November Rain. Two of the best songs ever. We all have our tastes. I like mines.
Brilliantly said.
if i could hear only one performance of one song ever again it would be this!
Hell yeah he deserved that ovation!
I'm FINALLY gonna see him live!!
sept. 18 take root festival=)
Great song and great live version.
it always amazes me how a song that's so repetitive can be so captivating for 9 minutes but that being said this song never ceases to amaze me
no words came out of my mouth but a gasp of joy first time I've ever experienced that feeling. thank you sam
Sam's raw performances just him and guitar. Simply the best EVER! He needs to do an album just him and guitar!
And a backup singer.
What an incredible poet he is as well as a master musician.
amo esta cancion ♥
A stunning song in every way.
Don't know the song. Don';t know the artist. UA-cam brought be here in a whim (after a counting crows song FYI) Amazing song and performance
Denis Valente it brought me here after God of Ocean Tides by CC :) so glad it did. it's as moving as Round Here in concert.
Wonderfull, Sam is so geniously. !
I have this on repeat.
I’ve been trying to paint this song for years it’s my favorite iron and wine and I just love them so much
Best version of this song
My God! Wonderful!
Best version I've ever heard of this beautiful song. God Bless You, Sam Beam
Would be indebted for an upload of the rest of this night