Bright Eyes - Lime Tree Lyrics

I keep floating down the river but the ocean never comes
Since the operation I heard you're breathing just for one
Now everything is imaginary, especially what you love
You left another message said it's done,
It's done

When I hear beautiful music it's always from another time
Old friends I never visit, I remember what they're like
Standing on a doorstep full of nervous butterflies
Waiting to be asked to come inside
Just come inside

But I keep going out
I can't sleep next to a stranger when I'm coming down
It's 8 a.m. my heart is beating too loud
Too loud
Don't be so amazing or I'll miss you too much
I felt something that I had never touched

Everything gets smaller now the further that I go
Towards the mouth and the reunion of the Known and the Unknown
Consider yourself lucky if you think of it as home
You can move mountains with your misery if you don't
If you don't

It comes to me in fragments, even those still split in two
Under the leaves of that old Lime Tree I stood examining the fruit
Some were ripe and some were rotten, I felt nauseous with the truth
There will never be a time more opportune

So I just won't be late
The window closes, shock rolls over in a tidal wave
And all the color drains out of the frame
So pleased with a daydream that now living is no good
I took off my shoes and walked into the woods
I felt lost and found with every step I took

I used to go to my best friends Myspace when I missed him while he was in rehab and this was his profile song. Now 15 years later almost..he's in prison for a long time now and I'm gonna cover this song for him over the phone.

This song is close to me. I was assaulted when I was 14 and this song helped me get through a lot of heart ache and break ups, lost friendships. Up a and downs. I'm 24 now and I've been listening to this song as an escape from pain since I was 12 years old. Not a lot of songs can do that

You know he is hurt because of his haunting complacent words of pain and regret. He can only try to let it be as if it never mattered. so much natural meaning to this song. Don’t be so amazing

At 2009 this song sent me my ex girlfriend from New Jersey,and I am from Montenegro (Europe),we were so in love at the time,its creazy,we lived togheter at her parents house at Fairhaven.. now 9 years later she died,and this sad song just rips my heart! Rest in pease :(

Cassadaga is a great album, this is definitely one of the gems from it

Depressing af

I don't know why I cry everytime I hear this song...

just cum inside

Pervert

Don't be so amazing, or I'll miss you to much. I felt something that I had never touched .

The "when I hear beautiful music" line is so true right now in 2018. The music I normally hear, the "popular" crap on radios, is pop music with no real meaning.

Guy that's good at names this was written in 2007

Heard this song some 7 years ago, couldn't remember the name of it and at long last my yearning has ended. I've found it and I'm never losing it again.

As a Bright Eyes album? Cassadaga is my least favorite. Too folky for an otherwise Indie Rock band. This song and I must Belong Somewhere make this album better for me. I mean I'm not saying it's a bad album, I just personally don't think Conor should have released it minus The last two songs, under Bright Eyes.

a couple years ago i decided this would be my funeral song and when i overdosed i snuck my phone into the psych ward so i could play this song and imagined i hadn't survived, i get a weird feeling listening to it now. i still want it to be played at my funeral though

hey did you guys hear that Philip Brailsford from 4008 s. Chatham, Mesa AZ 85212, shot an anarmed civilian who was begging not to be killed?

I listened to this song while out of mind at a music festival and felt connected to the universe somehow. Singing this song allows me to vent so much emotion, its crazy. Amazing stuff, and feels like it was written for my soul.

my heart is beating too loud

i cried.

this is scary, I've tried this si many times. but I know this time its gonna happen. excited an sad. well I love you all. bye

"And all the color drains out of the frame."

God damn. Maybe the prettiest Bright Eyes song. I really hope Conor and Mike and Nate do Bright eyes again.

Kim Little there's speculation of a 2019 album and world tour, unsure how legit though

Ryo純度 I wish from the bottom of my heart

"So pleased, with the day dream, now livings' no good,
I took off my shoes, and stepped into the woods."

I don't understand why this video doesn't have more views? I've loved this song for the past 7-8 years. It really has its own meaning for every listener.

Conor said in the WTF podcast that this song came from a dream he had. music and lyrics and all.

Matthew Davis. I saw that interview as well. He said he dreamt his friend sang it to him, Conor woke up then wrote it down, soo cool!

WOW!!!....am i in heaven??.....

RIP my beautiful fiancée Maggie and our son thomas.

and im sitting here crying about a junkie ex and our trash relationship. god damn man, im so sorry. I hope you are well.

I hit thumbs down bc how cucking awful, I'm sorry I will never like this comment. Hope youre well my friend

So sad. I'm sorry :,(

Love you brother

Peace to you brother.

Samatha. please don't. my son Timothy turned me on to this band and he is not with us anymore. 2-11-2015. he was 23. Ironically my name is Justin and I wish I had been able to at least tell him how much I loved him. The pain I deal with every day.

I'm so sorry for your loss. Stay strong. My thoughts are with you and your family. X

i love rap music..but this group has opened my eyes ... :)

Are they bright

I love this song so much. I wonder why it hits me so every time...

glad i chose to keep you.

Talk about painting a picture...

Those last lines are so perfect. My favorite bright eyes song... Wow

When I hear beautiful music, it's always from another time.

Disturbed covered "Silence"... now it's on a videogame ad... : (

+Flinch Fu
On a dam good video game ad Gears 4 is guna kick ass

All music is from another time.

How do I comment to a Rey on a comment I've made?
Anyways, yes she was amazing and fragile. I miss her every minute of everyday

this is an incredibly beautiful song. it's about having awakened to spirit ... and leaving the world of illusion behind. how strange the world appears then! having been bathed in the light, who can return to dreams of nothing? what is there to see?

An Humble Messenger of the Law of One listen to it again and think about someone having and abortion

...and the story tellers point off view is the man that is losing his child. "left another message said its done " turning to drugs "i cant sleep next to a stranger when im coming down" , floating down the river... the birth canal, "breathing just for one" "felt something i never touched" the love he has for a kids he never held. "everything's imaginary, especially what you love" its all there. i guess all music is up to interpretation of the listener but i think there are heavy tones of what im mentioning.

This was the last song my daughter listened to before she passed

I am sorry to hear of your loss. I cannot think of a better song to pass to. I will suggest this song be played at my funeral. Much love. Peace be with you.

That's heartbreaking, I'm sorry for your loss. I can tell she was a romantic though--what an emotional moment she created. So strong yet fragile. I hope you're all doing well.

that's something to be charished

"It`s done"

haunting

I'm starting see beauty in Cassadaga. Before I thought that it isn't the best Bright Eyes' album, but now I think it's pretty pretty good. So poetic... Just a little more time, and I will fall in love with it.

You see, I always thought that it was the last great album by Bright Eyes. I've always loved it! That's what's amazing about Conor. He always makes music for us to either love when it comes out, or for us to come around to loving at another time.

@COURTLANDELLIOT When that album came out, it was just such an epic display, from the intro to the symphonies to the tour. When it happened, it just seemed assumed that the whole thing would become a strong memory I wouldn't forget. That's certainly proven to be true. A lot of nostalgia listening to the music and recalling where I was, how it affected me, attending the concert.

See, I heard this song a few years back and I thought it was a bad song and that he was a terrible singer, but here I am today, loving every single song they've put out.

It’s Johnny Depps favorite album of all time

Would kill for an acapella of this.. been wanting to make some experimental remixes and shit! Such a great song.

I love the fruit part.

im inlove with this song...

does Conor himself say that this is about a girl having an abortion, or is everyone just kind of following that idea? When I write poetry, most of the time my poems don't have a singular meaning. More often then not they are a collection of different thoughts put together and are always just me trying to express my emotions rather than send some kind of message. 

@sydlizard if i'm not wrong there was an abortion clinic called 'lime tree surgery' or something. anyway he may very well be simply using abortion as a metaphor like in The Antlers' 'Bear'.

@sydlizard It's about a girl NOT having an abortion and never telling the father that he fathered a child. The father was so distraught when he discovered he had a son that he committed suicide when he found out that he missed years of the child's life and that the child was brought into a world without loving parents.

+sydlizard The song is about enlightenment. Enlightenment is the realization that opposites, polarity, is one. If you listen to the song, the whole song reflects that, "I felt LOST and FOUND with every step I took" The abortion concept is probably just a part of what i'm explaining, as birth and death are polarity and essentially the same(where you go when you die, and where you are before you are born, are the same spot in enlightenment) Abortion reflects that perfect. The WHOLE album is about enlightenment, Cassadaga is a place where people reached it. Abortion is symbolic in many ways, in order to be enlightened you have to first kill your old self, the ego, birth and death are big enlightenment concepts as death is birth and birth is death.

"breathing just for one" is not a vague line...

exactly.

Years later still my favorite song ever.

This song kills me everytime. After I had my miscarriage I listened to it over and over and cried for days. I hate this song because it reminds me of that time, but at the same time I love it because it was everything I felt and still feel. "Don't be so amazing or I'll miss you too much."

It should be illegal to be able to song write this well. Fucking a.

motion sickness

LOOOOOL

Such a beautiful album...

That's hilarious because it's doing the exact same thing to me right now... p.q

Damn brown notes!

When I hear beautiful music it is always from Conor Oberst.

@noodraider it's beautiful, it's overpowering, it's not the saddest Bright Eyes song.

Listen to Amy in the White coat.

Messenger bird's song is beautiful (you are the switch on the wall, in the dark of the hall i'm still stumbling for.)

Well said.

What is the saddest Bright Eyes Song? (opinion)
I would say "The Messenger Bird's Song".

What is the saddest in your opinion???

Imagine being stood out in a clearing of a forest after seeing something that made you question everything you've known. The wind is pulling at your hair and you don't know why but everything just feels different. You look out at the expanse of life stretching out in front of you and the light coming through the branches in beams that touch the floor and you wonder if there is something around you that you can feel but you cant see or ever describe.

That's whats up with it, for me at least...

"Old friends I never visit, I remember what they're like
Standing on a doorstep full of nervous butterflies
Waiting to be asked to come inside
Just come inside"
Conor you phrase my thoughts so beautifully.

My friend always thought this to be the saddest bright eyes song. I disagree, but it is a good listen..... Dmn I need to get off this

Haha, you complete me?

EXACTLY!!! omg you so get me

I dunno about you, but the orchestra gives me an uneasy feeling, which is what I imagine Conor was feeling when he wrote this song. It comes in waves, much like fear or anxiety or sadness. That's my take on it.

Don't be so amazing, or I'll miss you too much. <3<3 This truly is a beautiful sad song. the orchestra makes it even intense, the lyrics, the simplicity. yet complexity. <3<3

because it' s a song

This is sheer genius. please. quiet. the master is singing.

Cass, I know you love it (:

I've just geard this song for the first time and its so stunning!

When I hear this song, I think of leaving my friends behind, now I'm graduated. And later when I'm old, thinking back. But crying my lungs out because that wonderful time will never come back. Dammit I'm crying now.

its a great poem, but whats up with the orchestral part swooping in all the time?

I think he's talking about the "Padric my prince" lyrics (I know I probably got that name wrong) not the mock story at the end of Tip the Scales. Or maybe he is? I dunno, I always thought that his brother did actually drown though.

Conor's lyrics make purpose out of my life..

I love reading comments about Bright Eyes songs and how much they mean to each individual. That's how powerful Conor's music is<3
Beautiful. Stunning.

its about an abortion

I think you're reading too far into it. I feel like the tree and the fruit are more a symbol of timing and memory. "Some were ripe and some were rotten" kind of fits that as well, as the whole song seems to be about missed opportunity and memories, both good and bad. Old friends you don't take the time to see anymore, and finally the resolution to change things. It's a really bittersweet song.

"I took off my shoes and walked into the woods, I felt lost and found with every step I took."

The song which had been alluding to death, and what happens after life concludes with the person letting go of material things "taking off shoes" and walking into the woods, or the unknown, or "death." This person died enlightened, feeling "lost and found with every step I took."

"It comes to me in fragments, even those still split in two. Under the eaves of that old lime tree i stood examining the fruit some were ripe and some were rotten, I felt nauseous with the truth there will never be a time more opportune."

Allusion to Adam and Eve eating fruit from the tree of knowledge, and becoming enlightened. Learning the sorrow of truth, versus the blissfulness of ignorance. Especially the sorrow of death.

...hehehehe?

I just had multiple, seismic eargasms.

I just really love this song okay?

don't be so amazing or i'll miss you too much

that line kills me

@LiketheSunflower You're right. Feeling that you connect with the message of a song makes it more powerful. I liked Bright Eyes when I was younger. I liked the addiction things I could relate with, and also the songs about depression, because I've had clinical (genetic) depression since I was 12. When I really started appreciating it, though, is when I felt the pain of a horrible relationship. The songs about that topic gained ten times more meaning to me.
Have you had a similar experience?

@oranjjjggg i take that back, you can comprehend the beauty, but it really helps to know what cassadaga is like

He wrote this in cassadaga (i'm pretty sure). If you've never been there, you may not be able to fully comprehend the beauty of this.

@DeviousDaveTV Honestly I care much more about the music than the lyrics anyway; the music is what draws me in. That's probably why I prefer instrumentals.

This song takes me so far from here.

@DeviousDaveTV I completely disagree. Even Conor said once in An Attempt To Tip the Scales, that the meaning of a song really "doesn't matter," and that "the message is intended to be universal." As in, the meanning is different for every listener. When you take a song into your life you inevitably find a way to connect to it, no matter if the meaning you find is not what the artist intended to express.

Silly people, this song is about an abortion the fruit, some were ripe some were rotten.. there will never be a time more opertune, represents fertility.

@jstolesomething If the message your audience gets is completely different from the point you were trying to make, then your attempt at expression isn't working very well. You haven't really expressed yourself if the people receiving your message can't agree on what you were trying to say. A pretentious and self-deceptive enough audience will even interpret the most meaningless babble as something related to their lives.

You, dont need to know exactly what the song is about to get meaning out of it. Many things have more than one meaning, purposely or not.

music is powerful

@lauriZbeth Fortunately for those who cherish Conor, I don't believe he is in as precarious a position as Elliott Smith was. The trouble with YouTube is that it provides a delayed and disorganized presentation of musicians' works so one really has to put together the pieces to see how what they are up to today. Thank you for your rare gentle words and empathy. It's rare in such a communal place as this.

This song makes my bowels relax....I have to go to the bathroom.

i really like the space on the mixes for the quieter songs on this album. The female bgv's and the strings rule! I could do without some of Conor's quiver, but whatev, greatness.
His stuff makes me think of deep wood grains, worn leather, wine, fall leaves... really amazing presence.

Who the fuck doesnt like this song? Just go ahead and rip your ears off.

This song absolutely breaks my heart- he reminds me so much of Elliott Smith. They both have the same gentleness and vulernability that makes me think about the world in a different way. It's criminal that Oberst is labeled 'emo' and 'depressing' because his songs are aching and painful to listen to sometimes, but they transcend words and labels that other people can give. The way Elliott Smith died scares me a lot- I hope Conor knows how loved he is by so many.

lauriZbeth "Reinvent the wheel" is actually about Elliott, if you haven't heard it, it's great.

This song may be the closest Conor got to writing an Eliot Smith/Nick Drake song - not that he was ever trying to write something like that. But few of his songs are this lyrical. Most of his stuff is much more grounded in reality compared to those two.

Incidentally this is my favorite Conor Oberst/Bright Eyes song. It is absolutely beautiful in every way. It makes me feel like I could leave this plane at any moment and feel content.

"So pleased with a daydream that now living is no good
I took off my shoes and walked into the woods
I felt lost and found with every step I took "

Could this song be any more beautiful?

@twoifbysea12 hurts so good?

@nfshaw1 You're essentially saying that having a central point is bad in songwriting. If I was an english teacher, I'd never give anything higher than a C to poetry that intentionally avoided saying anything.

you completely miss the point of poetry, then.