Gregory Alan Isakov covers "The Trapeze Swinger" by Iron & Wine for a Fuel/Friends Music Blog Chapel Session in Colorado Springs, CO. Audio by Ian and Conor Bourgal of Blank-Tape Records.
My husband died suddenly a few days ago. I'm thirty-five. A widow. With an infant. It's so heavy, and so hard. But this morning, I was driving through the city and I threw on his TH-cam mix, and this was the first song to play. I smiled and I sobbed and I felt him. Music is medicine. It transcends space and time and life and death. It thins the veil between everything that feels binary, and I'm so grateful.
Audra Hibbs terribly sorry to hear of your loss. There’s nothing worse. This song has made me laugh and cry at the same time. Most beautiful song I’ve ever heard.
Hello Audra so sorry for the loss of your love ..this is hard work but music lifts us when our burdens cripple us. I believe that we will be reunited with all those who make our heart swell with their presence and bow us with the loss. I am laying in a hospital bed fighting so hard to stay here with all whom I love. Today is my 50th Anniversary and my 68 th birthday. ..first time in all those years I am not with my husband. Music has lifted me so high when I have lost hope of planting my feet again so thankful there is so much beauty to find. Take care of you and your baby Audra..love from Canada
"Please remember me, happily ..." I thought that's a really nice last message he left you but then I remembered that he's left his child, your child with you, and from the joy my son brings me, that is better than any song. I hope you can find strength, hope, and peace during this terrible time, and that his memory will continue to bring you joy
Every time I hear « I heard from someone you’re still pretty » I hope that he’s looking down from those gates to see me, and says exactly that to himself. Here’s to « we will meet again ». 🥃
Im not kidding when I say that I have listened to this song a thousand times.. yet I love it as much as I did the first time hearing it, it never gets old.. this cover is pure magic.
My father passed due to suicide. I remember you happily, dad. And if I make the pearly gates, I'll find you there. But until then, I'll make you proud.
I listened to this on the day of my father's cremation and it hits just as hard as any other time, but it holds you in a sweet emotional embrace that very few songs can do Next to nothing by mandolin orange is another for me and as the last light fades by them too, they're haunting and beautiful
Seems like the lyrics exist outside of time. Almost like a ghost describing the world, and it can't decide whether or not it wants to be remembered or forgotten.
I know right? That one small limerick in the verse is like a gut punch it is so strong. I wanna feel what the dude who wrote this was when he penned it.
Good call, friend. This one STUNG me. I'm still young enough to have what I think I want, but 46 years in, it could have been different if not for choices. Great line.
I'm a 62 year old man. I stumbled upon this song while I searched a different GAI song. I wasn't familiar with the original version. at my age I have millions of memories. I love to apply them to the lyrics of this song. This artist with his voice his demeanor and they way he seems to feel it, transcends all of me that was there before.
Same - hadn't heard it before until now when it happened to pop up on a ray lamontange mix right after finding out a friend's child passed away suddenly. I have listened to Iron and Wine before however, can't decide which version I like better. But you're right - this guy Gregory sure can feel it!
John, I want to share one of my memories associated with this song. I was working as a Wildfire Lookout Observer in Northern Alberta. It was my rookie season and I was just listening to the whole Around the Well album while looking out the South window of my tower's cupola. The trees had already gone through a few green-up stages and the forest was just starting to look colourful after a long, snowy first month.
@@arialoren4877 It's been many years and they have grown old (with out seeing each other). Someone (a mutual contact) tells him that she is still pretty.
Every time I put my baby to sleep we listen to this thing song, it’s been going on two years. I think this song will help her when she’s older and has to deal with my passing.
“The trapeze act was wonderful, but never meant to last” Such a striking line. I’m in my final year of university and I’m really starting to feel the stack of pages thinning in my right hand, and this song reminds me to make the most of it before it all just becomes memory. We can’t hold on to anything that’s in time, just appreciate it as it comes and let it go.
As someone in the 2nd year in university, the stacks of pages seem so overwhelming, especially with the pandemic fiasco(Sleepless nights doing schoolworks/well I am doing something right now as i am writing this listening to Isakov). I honestly don't know what the future will hold as it looks very treacherous but glad we get to realise moments like this where the only thing we need to be is in the present--because that's all we know and have.
I don't know if you meant textbook/schoolwork pages as you read or if you meant if your life was a book, but I interpreted it the second way and that's a very poetic way to describe getting older. I'm in my second year of university myself.
Not only do I love this version of this song. God do I! But reading all your responses adds so much texture and connection to the souls of my fellow travelers. Thanks everyone for taking the time to share your reactions of how this performance has touched you.
"Please remember me, mistakenly". Man, that just tore me apart. I've listened to this cover hundreds of times, but that line in particular is the one that got me today. 3 years ago, my wife and I adopted a pup that was having a hard time finding a home due to "behavioral issues" diagnosed by the vet. After 2 and a half years of running after him down the road, cleaning up after him, getting up in the middle of the night to calm him down, and him absolutely crawling all over us and licking us to death, we find out that he never had behavioral issues. It turns out that he had been in the middle stages of kidney failure from the get-go. By the time we found out, it was too late. He's been gone for 6 months now, and when I "mistakenly" run across a picture of him it just rips me apart. He was my greatest responsibility, but proudest accomplishment. He's still giving me hell, I just he was still giving me hell here. I wish I could have done better by him and will live with the guilt of not fixing his problems. I still have so many unresolved feelings toward losing him, but I guess that's life. RIP to my little dude.
Hey friend, I just came across your comment and feel moved to reply-just in case. Because, yes, someone made a mistake in regard to your dog, but it wasn’t you. You aren’t a vet. You are a civilian. The vet made a tragically bad call: he misdiagnosed kidney failure as a behavior problem. That is egregious. He did your dog wrong. But you didn’t: you loved that dog. Every word you write bleeds it. I worked at a shelter for years. So many dogs never get adopted, never get loved. Especially the “problem dogs,” the dogs with “issues”: they get bounced from home to home and end their lives back in a shelter. It’s devastating. And it’s no kind of life. Your decision to adopt that dog and love that dog with all its problems (however misdiagnosed) gave him a life-a real life where he knew true goodness amid the pain, in spite of the misdiagnosis. You did right by him. (P.S. I adopted a “problem dog” too, she gave me hell for most of her 14 years, and I miss her to this day.)
@@robert.artinian Thank you so much for taking the time to write this. He's been gone for going on two years now, and I've finally been able to forgive myself. I wouldn't say that I've "moved on", because I still want to keep him at the forefront of my mind to challenge me to do better by those around me. But the timing of your comment is funny, because we just adopted another pup a couple of days ago. We have a dog that is going into his "middle years" who has some separation anxiety and missed his brother, so we decided it would be good for all of us to pour our affections into another little dude. They are playing so much that it's hard to keep up! Thank you again for your kind words and the service you've done for all the furballs.
@@blakeq9325 that’s incredible man. Hope things have been well with your middle aged pup. I adopted my Stella about a year and a half ago from the humane society, she was a 5-6 month old German Shepard found in a field. probably wasn’t my wisest decision at that point in my life but we’ve stuck by each other through everything so far and I regret nothing. She also has very bad separation anxiety and she’s still young so she’s just nuts in general lol. But I can’t help to think back to when I adopted her (I was 20 now going on 22) I thought about how much training and learning she was going to need but it’s fair to say she taught me way more than I could ever have to teach her and she made me become a man, I don’t go out and party or get in trouble any more and I am now sober. She’s the best and biggest responsibility I’ve ever taken on but I will never be able to repay her for everything she’s done for me. Mans best friend is an understatement. Much love to you and yours
@@peytonhodge1260 Wishing you and Stella many more years of friendship. Dogs are remarkable creatures who are way better at loyalty and living in general than we are, and there is so much we can learn from them. I'm glad to hear that you were able to make that leap so early in life. I was around that same age when I adopted my older dog and it might have been the best decision of my life.
It's actually sad that you think this is beautiful because this is nothing at all, compared to the original! You really need to go back and listen to Iron & Wine's original
The absolute, unquestionable, undeniable best song I’ve ever heard….period. I know it’s a cover…..I don’t care. Still my favorite song of all time…..just wow….
This song makes me ache for dreams never realized, connections never made, and decisions that changed the direction of my life for the worse. But, also, at the same time, it feels like a celebration of the life I’ve been lucky to live. Scars, heartbreaks, and losses which have made me into the person I am. It’s almost too deep to express in the words the fill my vocabulary. I feel it in my bones.
My only son died 1.5 years ago..he was 45 years old. A kind and humble man..the most caring and compassionate man I have had the pleasure and good fortune to know. Watching him grow from a babe to the man he was..he lived with me..his previous two relationships wore on his heart. Hard on a mother watching the pain that our children live with...learn from..suffer from. My heart is literally broken...crushed...I am 73 years old..I am battling Stage 4 mRCC..I wanted to die the day he did. My daughter and grandsons are here and I need to be here for them and myself..my wee dog and cats..close friends...I will never recover from his loss...and I pray that there is something after this earth life we live as I cannot bear to go through the next phase without him. Gregory Alan Isakov, his poetry, music, presence provides a strength...
I hope you see this. My heart breaks with yours. I have one child, he'll be 2 in December. When he was born, he was not breathing and he was blue. I thought he was dead and I felt like I broke into a million pieces.... When I heard him cry for the very first time, I felt like I was breathing again and nothing else mattered but my baby boy. I'm so, so sorry about your son. From one mother to another, I send all of my love and empathy. ❤️❤️
My sincere apologies. Losing a child is my greatest fear. I’m so sorry this tragedy fell on your shoulders. I found this song today, while trying to heal from my father’s recent passing(Aug 25/20) As I write this, I notice you’re from my ol stompin grounds. I’m originally from Taber. My parents have been big supporters of LCCR💚 Sending hugs, from NW Sask💚
This is the hardest song in the world to get through without breaking down. I sing/play this version about once a month, and every time I think I am going to make it to the end, and then I spill over in a wave of sobbing halfway through the final verse and rarely get the last two lines out.
This song is like looking back on childhood and the memories with tears in my eyes...such a bitter sweet feeling of loss of the past ,which we can only look back on but never get back.
This song brings such a profound feeling. It's its got such a potent combination of melancholy and loss but also a feeling of love and light. It feels as though I'm lamenting a memory I was never a part of. It's beautiful
As a songwriter, who always performed my own songs. Someone who as a younger man refused to sing other peoples songs, and didnt want to give or sell my music to other people. This performance touches me on such a level. I went and listened to the original, and as good as it is, I wouldnt have listened to it but a few times. But this version, I cant turn it off. This man made this song a part of my life now. I never really thought about it, but sometimes, someone out there may be able to sing what you wrote with a passion that truly gives it a different life.
you said this beautifully. but it has to be with passion without it is just a poor parody. i hope you continue to write and perform and enjoy this life of yours
@@wedgeman8910 I was just in 60 Road Studios recording. If you would like to hear my music, I am happy to share. You are dead correct. Without passion it is just parody.
What is both haunting and charming is his ceaseless desire for her to remember him. In different contexts, undergoing different states of souls...he wants her to remember him in his entirety. To be remembered overpowers to be loved, for it never dwindles. Although he may have lost her, asking her to remember him would carry him within her forever.
If I wasn't married with kids I'd chase this man around the globe to hear him play everywhere. Esp. at Red Rocks. His band is awesome and they put on one of the best live shows ever.
After years of seeing him in our hometown we finally made the trip to CO and saw him at Red Rocks this past Monday. It was absolutely glorious. Such a beautiful show and venue. ❤
“So please, remember me, finally, and all my uphill clawing, my dear” Such a devastatingly beautiful way to finish this journey through time. No one is perfect and everyone is doing their best. Love deeply and understand that life is fleeting. The unique familiarity of Iron&Wine’s lyrics crossed with GAI effortless perfection is what keeps pulling me back to this song year after year.
It's incredibly powerful, simple and beautiful all wrapped into one amazing and wonderful song. Nobody could ever replicate what Gregory has done here, it's astonishingly good.x
the reconciliation of death. the miracle of life, the miracle of death. the marvelousness of the dance between the two. the rapidity, the brevity of it all. the smidgens we remember; the gaps which we forget. the afterthoughts, the foresights, the remembrances. the heights by which we are remembered as we pass through the lowest exits mortality drags us through. This is an expression beyond which the words of which it is composed can verbally express. This song is felt rather than heard.
I would be something like "starry night over the rhone" It has and a very isolated feel to it and somehow automatically sets itself in an evening with a sky full of starts
Karli, I revisit this song too. It makes me human again after a tough shift in the ER when everything has come crashing down. When I feel myself turning into a prickly asshole I know it's time for another listen. I am so thankful to Sam for writing it and to Gregory for this Soul Expanding cover.
Reading all these comments are almost as beautiful as the song itself... So heres mine A friend who grew up with me, stayed with us more than his own mother, my first kiss, one of my first friends, closer than a brother, but in growing up fell away, distant, but still so close to my heart... took his life. He was only in his early 20s. No one knows why. No one thought Chris ever felt anything but happy and silly and funny. He was one of those people in your life you never imagine leaving. You run into them every few months and are suddenly filled with love again, embracing. He gave the best hugs. When he took his life my entire home town was broken by it. You could feel how the world was darkened by his absence. Ive written many songs for him and none do him justice. This song lets me feel him.
A year ago today my best friend who I've known my whole life committed suicide. Not too long before that, his 7 year old son died from leukemia. Everyone in his life were completely devastated. After the tragedy of losing his son, we all tried our best to help, but he no longer had the will to live. I know he'll meet those pearly gates, and spend that time with his son. RIP my friend. You'll never be forgotten.
Me and my friend used to listen to this song in our first year at university when she was sad. Now I listen to it when I’m sad, I don’t know if you will ever read this Elizabeth, but I hope you are happier now than when we used to be friends, I think it’s funny how we remember people, please remember me, H
My 38 year old brother was diagnosed with stomach cancer a week ago. I'm not ready to lose him, he has a wonderful 3 year old child. I hear this song on repeat every day, it gives me hope
Gregory, thank you so much for this rendition, I find that it surpasses the original in its ability to capture the profound essence of life: where there is happiness, there will be pain. These emotions are meant to coexist, and once we acknowledge and embrace this truth, we can discover inner peace.
To me this song is , on one level, a reflection on a failed childhood /teenage romance - but in a larger sense a reflection on the tragedy of time, love and loss - and all of the confusion and pain in our romantic relationships - as well as life in general (hence the many religious references). I love this song - and it speaks to me deeply on so many levels. I think the older you are ( I am 61) the more the melancholy of the song's sense of time, past mistakes, and the tragedy of life as a whole resonates with you. I can't believe it was written by such a young artist - and so beautifully performed by Gregory.
My brother died of OD a few a months back. I've been having a hard time with it. I wept while listening to this. Thank you, Gregory. Thank you for the healing.
My husband ODed ten years ago. I was there. Part of me died too. This song brings me back to watching him die “angels with their grey handshake’s” it brings me to my own struggle with the life and death business of being an addict. I think the thing people forget is nobody wants to be a drug addict. We want it to go away we want to be left alone. I want to be normal I want to be able to live just like everyone else but for some reason we are forced against our will to do things some feel that is free will to do things that we don’t want to do. I believe that demons and angels exist and I believe the demons control addiction. I believe that addiction is a fight for the soul. Something in your life corrupts your soul to the point that heaven and hell has to fight over it and you only get a small say in the matter. I don’t know. That’s how it feels to be an addict for me. I’m a lot of things. Im not a street addict. I’m a suburban mom who you walk past and never know the difference. But I’ve been there. Those dark awful places your soul is up for grabs and it’s not just an easy yes or no decision like most people want to believe of addiction. Somehow there is so much more to it.
When I heard this version of the song I cried instantly. While I was crying I ran downstairs to tell my girlfriend how beautiful it was and how it meant so much to me that a song this beautiful and heartbreaking could bring me to tears. She didn't even bother to look at me. She just stayed on her phone and ignored the tears coming down my face as I cried. 10 hours later we broke up, and as I was trying to save our very, very, broken relationship she just sat there on her phone. I was in tears and sobbing, just like I was that morning. Moral of the story here is: Be with someone who is willing to stay by your side and work through anything with you. Be with someone who will set their phone down and make sure you're okay, even if it's sad or happy tears. Don't settle.
In German they call such moments Augenblich 'the blink of an eye' when truth is revealed. You have a good soul and you will find someone who appreciates it. Go well. Slan leat
I talked to Gregory after his show Sunday night, and my friend and I told him we liked his cover of this song and he talked about what a great guy Sam Beam is and that he loves playing with him. Gregory is such a sweet, humble and genuine guy.
Met Sam a couple of months ago in the local Whole Foods, the nicest dude on the planet, even asked me what my name was as I was obviously trying to hold back a total freakout (not very well). Greatest beard ever... "angels with their great handshakes, but always done in such a hurry."
This man is playing in San Luis Obispo CA, just 30 minutes from my house and I am super freaking stoked to see him hopefully I get to talk to him after the show too. That would be exciting I love this guy and his music 😏
Nick Fernandez You're in for a phenomenal experience. Definitely don't leave right after the show if you have time to stay. You'll most likely find him talking to people. Greg loves interacting with his fans on a personal level and is truly blown away by how much people love his music.
***** Thanks! Yeah I'm gonna try to get him to sign my guitar, his music can change lives honestly. I mean the entire album "The Weatherman" is made up of songs that describe every day life! They're so simple yet so impactful! His music is the bees knees man. I'm definitely looking forward to this show he is perfection haha
yes It's funny how any two individuals can see the same situation/event so differently But when I hear music like this and i hear your assessment I know that I have found kindred
The narrator is the trapeze swinger. The circus is life. The narrator has recently died. He is caught somewhere between heaven and hell in something like a waiting room for eternity. He is reflecting on the relationship that defined much of his life. It's here we sense 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. The partner he depended on is the girl to whom he is singing. But she cannot hear him because she is still alive down on earth. In fact, I like to think she is seated in the back row of his funeral service. She does not realize that she is being viewed from above. Her admirer, still waiting for his name to be called, finds himself too far removed to get a message across. 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 their senior year of high school. Even still, his love for her had never gone cold. After all, the two of them had grown up together! As kids they enjoyed rough-and-tumble fun and make-believe adventures at the kitchen table. Their childhood innocence wasn't totally divorced from the real world, either. They counted black cars passing because, during WWII, the Army used a black car to deliver word to families that a family member (a son or a brother) had been killed in combat. So the two of them, even as kids, knew enough to know the world had its complications. But that didn't deter them from falling in love as teenagers. Times were good then - simple is the right word. Their duo seemed a thing predetermined by fate, a thing set into motion by some choreographer hidden just off stage. But then, toward the end of high school, the balancing act got complicated: college applications, bigger opportunities, a chance to see the world. That summer she left him and their hometown behind. A few years later she heard the news of his death (a suicide?) via a long-distance phone call. She decided to travel 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. Angels live in a place where there is no death, where seasons don't change, where trees don't fall over. They have come to see the humans passing through this place as another number to be processed, another sinner to be judged. Their handshakes are hurried. They don’t grasp the human experience, the joy and heartache of it all. For a boy to look down at the love of his life, her beauty lit up by the city of God, yet remain separated from her presence, divided by stubborn dimensions that now press between them. "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 heartbreak that will ensue. But our narrator disregards the warning. He continues to peer 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. But now that he really is a ghost, he pleads with her: please never forget the time we forgot about each other. She broke up with him because he was unhappy with himself. He lacked the confidence to leap after an unfamiliar trapeze. 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 expeditions taking them over the square folds of their paper-map, its creases being like mountain ranges that boxed them in.) Their future turned out differently than he envisioned. The "frightened trapeze swinger" instead clung to what he knew. He now 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).
I've thought about ending my own life almost everyday for the past 5 years. Music like this brings relief from those irrational, ruminations. There's magic in it, I can't explain it but I feel it.
Same. This song gives me hope to make new experiences so I can eventually look back on them and my life and have a story to tell. Keep on chugging my brother. I will do the same
Thanks. Your message is great relief to me as it's a sign that I'm not alone. I've struggled too but I'm glad we can all receive respite from ruinous reflections through this song.
My wonderfully kind, Gentle Giant of an ex-lover would play this song for us over and over when he was in his deepest private hell. It took me a loooong time to catch and process the agonisingly beautiful words/lyrics of this song. And when I finally burst out one night that I understood it's achingly perfect message; as we sat before one of our many soothing campfires.... he began to cry with relief that I finally understood a small slice of him. He then made me promise him...that if he left this world before me; I would play this song at his funeral It was one of the landmark moments of my life, and I will keep that promise my friend; should there ever be a need.❤ All my love, S
Mysterioso I hope you have learned to listen to your little voice. It will never steer you wrong. Mistakes are good if you learn from them. Don't let the past hold you down. Admit the mistake, own it, learn from it, and move on my dear.
Mysterioso. I been there, and it’s a sick and lonely place. If you haven’t yet, forgive yourself. It won’t change the past but it could change the future.
Your crying was the beginning of your healing. You choose the day your life changes for the better. It can be any day. Any time. For any reason. No one or nothing can stop you once you choose. You are that powerful and that important. We are all doing the best we can with what we have in a really tough world. We are also all rooting for you.
Same here. Managed to get myself a few thousand miles from the nearest family. Id move back except they are in Florida. That state is poison. Good luck to you. Find balance. Cheers!
Goodness. With everything we are going through globally, Gregory just made me tear up. No shame in saying it. I hadn't revisited this song in years - today, it hit me unimaginably hard.
Stefan Steebz While your opinion is likely one shared by people, how is liking one better than another automatically mean you dislike the other? I love both versions. I've played them both on repeat and in various playlists a LOT. Liking one more than the other doesn't preclude one from liking both.
I love this song and now it has much more meaning to me than before. I was able to see my dad in the hospital where I work as an RN and be with him in his last hour. I played many songs for him to help ease his passing and now this one will forever be my favorite song. I hope my dad enjoyed it too and that he felt my love and knows I will always remember him. 4-28-2020/2:56 PM
I never met your dad; I really know nothing about him. I know that the only consolation I'd want as a father is to know that my daughter made such a great life for herself. Given that, I can't imagine how proud he was.
I keep revisiting this song when I need to connect to what it is to be human. When My heart needs to be opened up, to fly and be grounded in the same motion... to stretch and transcend logic and material constraints. I too am an RN. My 22 years have been in the ER and this version if this song resonate so strongly and deeply with me. So much has hammered on me and scorched me and washed powerfully over me in the course of my work and somehow GAI lifts me up and I know it will all be alright. There is powerful magic here. Strong but gentle.
I got to know Gregory's music through a very loved artist of mine (Let's call him N). N was my secret crush since I was 16 years old, I saw him live once, and we took a photo together. Years went by, I continued to listen to Gregory, I was getting older but his music never did. 13 years later, last October, I went to a live music show. Someone was singing San Luis, there he was, N. I couldnt believe it. At the end of the show I gathered all the strength I had to talk to him, I told him how much I love his music and his voice. That was it, it was like two lost souls found each other. After endless nights and days, he told me he loved me, i love him too. Unfortunately timing was not on our side. I think about him everyday. And this song reminds me of him
Great cover. Dude is for real. I always trip when you realize that you are watching a human being doing exactly what they were put here to do or so I believe. That song goes to the heart and starts pulling quick.
if you every met your soul mate and lost her, then no song better explains that even if your not with her you just wish when she remembers you mistakingly it should be fondly. love
I met my soulmate in high school and we dated and married and spent half a lifetime together. I just recently lost her. I attempted suicide, but that just led to a year and a half in the hospital rehabilitating my broken body from a 4 story parking garage jump with a noose around my neck. I don’t know how the rope broke and I don’t know how I survived the fall, but I did and i have to live with it. To lose her hurt far worse than the 4 story fall.
This beautiful song brings me back to a time where I was care free, content, but very naive - loving someone and thinking life would never change, but of course it did. Now deep in my soul I always yearn for a time like that to come back, and for it to stay that way forever, but I know it never will.
When the song is a masterpiece even 8 minutes feels like seconds. You want it to last hours with it's story so you could imagine the whole picture. It's so fascinating and sung in such a delicate way that you feel you living inside of this exact story for a moment
“Who the hell can see forever?” Everytime life gets hard I come back to this song. Working 2 jobs to get a bright future for my girl and me. Yet I lost track of the most important thing. Showing the people you love how much you love them. My girl feels trapped in our relationship. She feels insecure. Now, when I’m listening to this song, again, I feel so lost. Hoping that everything is going to be alright, but I don’t know if it will. The pain that comes with admitting to yourself that you’re also not feeling well but the hope that you can find eachother again. Here’s to you, if you read it, probably not. S. ❤️
The internet has been kind of rough lately, but reading the beautiful thoughts and witnessing the lovely dialogue has restored a little hope for us and the way we interact with each other. Beauty and art have such an amazing ability to bind us together around a common experience. Thanks for this all.
My favorite album of all time is This Empty Northern Hemisphere by Gregory Alan Isakov and my favorite song by Iron & Wine is The Trapeze Swinger. I don't think I've ever clicked on a video this fast.
Yesterday my wife told me she wants to separate. Couple hours later in my empty house, I heard this for the first time. I don't know if I've cried like that before.
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 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 gray 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 But 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 their running In circles 'round the well and where it spells On the wall behind St. Peter's So bright on cinder gray and 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 Do my best to make a drawing Of God 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 Na-na-na, na-na-na, na-na, na-na, na-na-na-na-na Na-na-na, na-na-na, na-na, na-na, na-na-na-na-na Na-na-na, na-na-na, na-na, na-na, na-na-na-na-na Na-na-na, na-na-na, na-na, na-na, na-na-na-na-na
I've never heard this until after Never Losing You by Kevin Costner led me here but it's obviously meant for me to find and reminisce about my Love who always swung so much higher than the mere mortals around here. Was so blessed to have been invited to a front row seat in her world
This sing just popped up in a post from a couple years ago. I don’t think I’ve ever actually heard this song sober. It use to be a song I’d listen to after a night of drinking and feeling down on myself. It’s just as devastating sober as it was when I use to drink myself to sleep. I haven’t drank in a year and a half and this has me spinning with all the loss I felt when I first heard this song. This song is so beautiful in a way that breaks you down no matter where you are. Here I am 50 years old, just got out of bed, and here this song is breaking me down like a cardboard box. I never set out to quit drinking. It’s just something that happened. I just woke up and said I didn’t feel like drinking today. That was June 23rd 2022. A year after I lost my big brother. Nothing can break you in two like music. This song breaks me every time I’ve hear it.
I'm sitting here sobbing, listening to this song, drinking, and wishing I wasn't. It and more have cost me the love of my life and so much time I have wasted in my life with addiction. I hope to get where you are someday and be free of these chains to be the person I want to be. Your comment has made me realize I need to fix myself but I don't know where to start but I have to try.
![Iron & Wine - Call It Dreaming [OFFICIAL VIDEO]](/img/n.gif)
My husband died suddenly a few days ago. I'm thirty-five. A widow. With an infant. It's so heavy, and so hard. But this morning, I was driving through the city and I threw on his TH-cam mix, and this was the first song to play. I smiled and I sobbed and I felt him. Music is medicine. It transcends space and time and life and death. It thins the veil between everything that feels binary, and I'm so grateful.
Audra Hibbs terribly sorry to hear of your loss. There’s nothing worse. This song has made me laugh and cry at the same time. Most beautiful song I’ve ever heard.
My heart aches for your loss. Glad this song was able to provide you with some solace.
It is truly magic. The magic that connects us all. I am so glad you felt him. Hugs and love to you!
Hello Audra so sorry for the loss of your love ..this is hard work but music lifts us when our burdens cripple us. I believe that we will be reunited with all those who make our heart swell with their presence and bow us with the loss. I am laying in a hospital bed fighting so hard to stay here with all whom I love. Today is my 50th Anniversary and my 68 th birthday. ..first time in all those years I am not with my husband. Music has lifted me so high when I have lost hope of planting my feet again so thankful there is so much beauty to find. Take care of you and your baby Audra..love from Canada
"Please remember me, happily ..." I thought that's a really nice last message he left you but then I remembered that he's left his child, your child with you, and from the joy my son brings me, that is better than any song. I hope you can find strength, hope, and peace during this terrible time, and that his memory will continue to bring you joy
2024 everyone? What a beautiful song 🥃
Yessir.
yep
"I heard from someone you're still pretty..." Gets me everytime. I bet that's the truth. Here's to lost love 🥃
Saluti 🥃
🍺 you never quite get over them, do you?
Damn, didn't think a comment would hit me this hard. 🍻
Every time I hear « I heard from someone you’re still pretty » I hope that he’s looking down from those gates to see me, and says exactly that to himself.
Here’s to « we will meet again ». 🥃
heres to fuck you
7 minutes, 58 seconds, and this song still isn't long enough.
Atlas agree!
I suppose the frightened Trapeze Swinger feels the same way.
I have 7 minutes & 58 secs, where is that extra minute!!
my fav sad song all time...
Sam extra second
Im not kidding when I say that I have listened to this song a thousand times.. yet I love it as much as I did the first time hearing it, it never gets old.. this cover is pure magic.
Same
This remains one of the most devastating covers of all time.
In a good way
@@taylerjames2886 yesin a good way. rekts my soul. puts me to pieces. love it it hurts.
This was done better. I sob every time i listen to this for numerous reasons. He felt this so hard and it shows
@@shavaughnsoward-rands492 fuck yeah.
this is the most true thing ive ever read.
My father passed due to suicide. I remember you happily, dad. And if I make the pearly gates, I'll find you there. But until then, I'll make you proud.
Sending much love to you.
Sending hugs
He is proud of you for sure.
This is the only song I can hear a hundred time and every time time it still effects me as if it was the first time I heard it.
It sure has that power! Love from New Zealand!
AgreeI hope he remembers...that's all
I hear different parts of the lyrics each time.
I love the flow
Go listen cover from Ocie Elliot
My mother's funeral was today.
I played this song.
It was perfect and beautiful.
That's all I have to say.
Sorry for your loss
I'm so sorry man
🫂
I listened to this on the day of my father's cremation and it hits just as hard as any other time, but it holds you in a sweet emotional embrace that very few songs can do
Next to nothing by mandolin orange is another for me and as the last light fades by them too, they're haunting and beautiful
😢
Thank God Iron and Wine made this song just so Gregory could cover it…the BEST song of all time nobody could change my mind
Kind of like Postal Service created "Such Great Heights" for Iron & Wine to cover...
This version is more personal.
Seems like the lyrics exist outside of time. Almost like a ghost describing the world, and it can't decide whether or not it wants to be remembered or forgotten.
❤
Astute observation
"please remember me, my misery, and how it lost me all I wanted."
ow.
I feel that verse.
I know right? That one small limerick in the verse is like a gut punch it is so strong. I wanna feel what the dude who wrote this was when he penned it.
Yea felt that shit
Good call, friend.
This one STUNG me.
I'm still young enough to have what I think I want, but 46 years in, it could have been different if not for choices.
Great line.
I feel this way too much. I am comfortable in my misery.
I'm a 62 year old man. I stumbled upon this song while I searched a different GAI song. I wasn't familiar with the original version. at my age I have millions of memories. I love to apply them to the lyrics of this song. This artist with his voice his demeanor and they way he seems to feel it, transcends all of me that was there before.
john Kerrigan Beautiful ☺️
john Kerrigan You should check out his cover of John Hartford's "In tall buildings" absolutely amazing.
beautifully written! thank you
Same - hadn't heard it before until now when it happened to pop up on a ray lamontange mix right after finding out a friend's child passed away suddenly. I have listened to Iron and Wine before however, can't decide which version I like better. But you're right - this guy Gregory sure can feel it!
John, I want to share one of my memories associated with this song. I was working as a Wildfire Lookout Observer in Northern Alberta. It was my rookie season and I was just listening to the whole Around the Well album while looking out the South window of my tower's cupola. The trees had already gone through a few green-up stages and the forest was just starting to look colourful after a long, snowy first month.
"Heard from someone you're still pretty"- probably the most heart wrenching line in the whole song.
what does that line mean?
@@arialoren4877 I think it means that the other person is doing better and it pains the singer.
@@arialoren4877 It's been many years and they have grown old (with out seeing each other). Someone (a mutual contact) tells him that she is still pretty.
@@nessaahmad4781 amazing right
If you’re a simp.
I have loved this song for 8 years. I always return.
For my 1st born, happy 25th birthday Son. You’ll always be missed, daddy loves you
Bless you Sir, and bless your boy.
Yes…..bless you. Bless your boy. I am sorry……
My daughter, first born, would be 29 today. She died at 19. This song is my go to when I just don’t know what else to do. I’m sorry for your loss.
Every time I put my baby to sleep we listen to this thing song, it’s been going on two years. I think this song will help her when she’s older and has to deal with my passing.
"Who the hell can see forever?"
Hits me every time. Peace & love ✌
Me too
Me too :')
Me too.
“The trapeze act was wonderful, but never meant to last”
Such a striking line. I’m in my final year of university and I’m really starting to feel the stack of pages thinning in my right hand, and this song reminds me to make the most of it before it all just becomes memory. We can’t hold on to anything that’s in time, just appreciate it as it comes and let it go.
As someone in the 2nd year in university, the stacks of pages seem so overwhelming, especially with the pandemic fiasco(Sleepless nights doing schoolworks/well I am doing something right now as i am writing this listening to Isakov). I honestly don't know what the future will hold as it looks very treacherous but glad we get to realise moments like this where the only thing we need to be is in the present--because that's all we know and have.
This is exactly how I’m feeling right now. Described perfectly
I don't know if you meant textbook/schoolwork pages as you read or if you meant if your life was a book, but I interpreted it the second way and that's a very poetic way to describe getting older. I'm in my second year of university myself.
It's all you can do.
You are blessed to have learned it so early in life. Many don't until much later.
same here
there's a whole new chapter awaiting us.
-Dad, why is my sister called Rose?
-Because your mom loves roses.
-Oh, thanks, dad.
-No problem, Gregory Alan Isakov covers "The Trapeze Swinger"
haha
That was pretty good :)
Awwww this made me smile! 😃
Lolol
Hahaha ❤️
Here I am. Back again. Wiping tears away. Wondering about beauty and sadness and who the hell can see forever.
Not only do I love this version of this song. God do I! But reading all your responses adds so much texture and connection to the souls of my fellow travelers. Thanks everyone for taking the time to share your reactions of how this performance has touched you.
Most underrated singer and musician, in my opinion..
When you don’t know if you’d rather be remembered or forgotten.
woah. yeah.
Eventually both
"Please remember me, mistakenly". Man, that just tore me apart. I've listened to this cover hundreds of times, but that line in particular is the one that got me today. 3 years ago, my wife and I adopted a pup that was having a hard time finding a home due to "behavioral issues" diagnosed by the vet. After 2 and a half years of running after him down the road, cleaning up after him, getting up in the middle of the night to calm him down, and him absolutely crawling all over us and licking us to death, we find out that he never had behavioral issues. It turns out that he had been in the middle stages of kidney failure from the get-go. By the time we found out, it was too late. He's been gone for 6 months now, and when I "mistakenly" run across a picture of him it just rips me apart. He was my greatest responsibility, but proudest accomplishment. He's still giving me hell, I just he was still giving me hell here. I wish I could have done better by him and will live with the guilt of not fixing his problems. I still have so many unresolved feelings toward losing him, but I guess that's life. RIP to my little dude.
Gregory wrote a wonderful song about a similar experience. It’s called “San Francisco.”
You gave your dog a good life. Be proud.
Hey friend, I just came across your comment and feel moved to reply-just in case. Because, yes, someone made a mistake in regard to your dog, but it wasn’t you. You aren’t a vet. You are a civilian. The vet made a tragically bad call: he misdiagnosed kidney failure as a behavior problem. That is egregious. He did your dog wrong. But you didn’t: you loved that dog. Every word you write bleeds it. I worked at a shelter for years. So many dogs never get adopted, never get loved. Especially the “problem dogs,” the dogs with “issues”: they get bounced from home to home and end their lives back in a shelter. It’s devastating. And it’s no kind of life. Your decision to adopt that dog and love that dog with all its problems (however misdiagnosed) gave him a life-a real life where he knew true goodness amid the pain, in spite of the misdiagnosis. You did right by him. (P.S. I adopted a “problem dog” too, she gave me hell for most of her 14 years, and I miss her to this day.)
@@robert.artinian Thank you so much for taking the time to write this. He's been gone for going on two years now, and I've finally been able to forgive myself. I wouldn't say that I've "moved on", because I still want to keep him at the forefront of my mind to challenge me to do better by those around me. But the timing of your comment is funny, because we just adopted another pup a couple of days ago. We have a dog that is going into his "middle years" who has some separation anxiety and missed his brother, so we decided it would be good for all of us to pour our affections into another little dude. They are playing so much that it's hard to keep up! Thank you again for your kind words and the service you've done for all the furballs.
@@blakeq9325 that’s incredible man. Hope things have been well with your middle aged pup. I adopted my Stella about a year and a half ago from the humane society, she was a 5-6 month old German Shepard found in a field. probably wasn’t my wisest decision at that point in my life but we’ve stuck by each other through everything so far and I regret nothing. She also has very bad separation anxiety and she’s still young so she’s just nuts in general lol. But I can’t help to think back to when I adopted her (I was 20 now going on 22) I thought about how much training and learning she was going to need but it’s fair to say she taught me way more than I could ever have to teach her and she made me become a man, I don’t go out and party or get in trouble any more and I am now sober. She’s the best and biggest responsibility I’ve ever taken on but I will never be able to repay her for everything she’s done for me. Mans best friend is an understatement. Much love to you and yours
@@peytonhodge1260 Wishing you and Stella many more years of friendship. Dogs are remarkable creatures who are way better at loyalty and living in general than we are, and there is so much we can learn from them. I'm glad to hear that you were able to make that leap so early in life. I was around that same age when I adopted my older dog and it might have been the best decision of my life.
I sit in silence after this song and think of how there's no other song like it
Does anybody like this cover more than the original? Besides me
Significantly more
nah man, just you. That's why we're all here. To listen to the version we like less and tell you you're all alone in your preference.
Iron and Wine kind of sucks. Lyrically, they are great, but covers of their music are always better. Plus Gregory Alan Isakov is amazing.
The lyrics are excellent and that cannot be understated, but musically I much prefer the way Gregory covers the song.
Amazing❤️ This version is what led me to loving all of His music… hooked 💕
undeniably the best song ever written
This is possibly the most beautiful sad thing I've ever heard.
soundingplace very special!
It's actually sad that you think this is beautiful because this is nothing at all, compared to the original! You really need to go back and listen to Iron & Wine's original
Ron Riggs I like both, but liking one doesn’t devalue the other
Amen
This song should realistically be somewhere between #1 to #5 on every 'Most beautiful songs ever written' list compiled since 2005.
if it's not number 1, then please send forth...
@@danjmham second, third and fifth while you're at it! 😂
What are the most beautiful songs written before 2005? I will add them in my playlist.
This song is like an axe to the heart, an eternal wellspring of tears.
The absolute, unquestionable, undeniable best song I’ve ever heard….period. I know it’s a cover…..I don’t care. Still my favorite song of all time…..just wow….
He needs to add this to his next album
Anyone who thought this cover was a good idea was right. They can jump off a cliff, but they were right.
This song makes me ache for dreams never realized, connections never made, and decisions that changed the direction of my life for the worse. But, also, at the same time, it feels like a celebration of the life I’ve been lucky to live. Scars, heartbreaks, and losses which have made me into the person I am. It’s almost too deep to express in the words the fill my vocabulary. I feel it in my bones.
Oh you nailed it.
Yes
My only son died 1.5 years ago..he was 45 years old. A kind and humble man..the most caring and compassionate man I have had the pleasure and good fortune to know. Watching him grow from a babe to the man he was..he lived with me..his previous two relationships wore on his heart. Hard on a mother watching the pain that our children live with...learn from..suffer from. My heart is literally broken...crushed...I am 73 years old..I am battling Stage 4 mRCC..I wanted to die the day he did. My daughter and grandsons are here and I need to be here for them and myself..my wee dog and cats..close friends...I will never recover from his loss...and I pray that there is something after this earth life we live as I cannot bear to go through the next phase without him. Gregory Alan Isakov, his poetry, music, presence provides a strength...
I've said a prayer for you and your son and all those who mourn his loss. I wish upon you the energy of compassion and peace of heart.
You're a good mother! You're a beautiful human being.
Thank you for sharing your grief.
Sending you blessings for a happy life ahead. ❤️
I hope you see this. My heart breaks with yours. I have one child, he'll be 2 in December. When he was born, he was not breathing and he was blue. I thought he was dead and I felt like I broke into a million pieces.... When I heard him cry for the very first time, I felt like I was breathing again and nothing else mattered but my baby boy. I'm so, so sorry about your son. From one mother to another, I send all of my love and empathy. ❤️❤️
My sincere apologies. Losing a child is my greatest fear. I’m so sorry this tragedy fell on your shoulders.
I found this song today, while trying to heal from my father’s recent passing(Aug 25/20) As I write this, I notice you’re from my ol stompin grounds. I’m originally from Taber. My parents have been big supporters of LCCR💚
Sending hugs, from NW Sask💚
I'm sorry for your heartbreak. Send you lots of love and hugs from afar!
This is the hardest song in the world to get through without breaking down. I sing/play this version about once a month, and every time I think I am going to make it to the end, and then I spill over in a wave of sobbing halfway through the final verse and rarely get the last two lines out.
Thanks for posting that. I can't get by without crying. Not once.
First time I heard this song today yet, I feel like I have been listening to this song forever....
This song is like looking back on childhood and the memories with tears in my eyes...such a bitter sweet feeling of loss of the past ,which we can only look back on but never get back.
One of those gems I keep coming back to, like many others I see. Heading towards 10 million views!
It's absurd a song should be so beautiful.
This song brings such a profound feeling. It's its got such a potent combination of melancholy and loss but also a feeling of love and light. It feels as though I'm lamenting a memory I was never a part of. It's beautiful
As a songwriter, who always performed my own songs. Someone who as a younger man refused to sing other peoples songs, and didnt want to give or sell my music to other people. This performance touches me on such a level. I went and listened to the original, and as good as it is, I wouldnt have listened to it but a few times. But this version, I cant turn it off. This man made this song a part of my life now. I never really thought about it, but sometimes, someone out there may be able to sing what you wrote with a passion that truly gives it a different life.
Well said
I agree, and I also feel that way about almost every cover that Chase & Sierra Eagleson have done. Check them out, I think you will be moved.
Johny Cash did something similar with Hurt. With his performance it became his song.
you said this beautifully. but it has to be with passion without it is just a poor parody. i hope you continue to write and perform and enjoy this life of yours
@@wedgeman8910 I was just in 60 Road Studios recording. If you would like to hear my music, I am happy to share. You are dead correct. Without passion it is just parody.
What is both haunting and charming is his ceaseless desire for her to remember him. In different contexts, undergoing different states of souls...he wants her to remember him in his entirety. To be remembered overpowers to be loved, for it never dwindles. Although he may have lost her, asking her to remember him would carry him within her forever.
that's literally the best explanation
@@chakhansurinoormohammad717 Oh wow! Thank you!
Beautifully put to words, thank you
Criminally underrated comment on a criminally underrated video
If I wasn't married with kids I'd chase this man around the globe to hear him play everywhere. Esp. at Red Rocks. His band is awesome and they put on one of the best live shows ever.
Do it with the kids and fam
After years of seeing him in our hometown we finally made the trip to CO and saw him at Red Rocks this past Monday. It was absolutely glorious. Such a beautiful show and venue. ❤
Yes, the Labor Day weekend show was incredible, nothing beats seeing him live at red rocks. We drive from wisconsin to see him there
“So please, remember me, finally, and all my uphill clawing, my dear”
Such a devastatingly beautiful way to finish this journey through time. No one is perfect and everyone is doing their best. Love deeply and understand that life is fleeting. The unique familiarity of Iron&Wine’s lyrics crossed with GAI effortless perfection is what keeps pulling me back to this song year after year.
It's incredibly powerful, simple and beautiful all wrapped into one amazing and wonderful song. Nobody could ever replicate what Gregory has done here, it's astonishingly good.x
the reconciliation of death. the miracle of life, the miracle of death. the marvelousness of the dance between the two. the rapidity, the brevity of it all. the smidgens we remember; the gaps which we forget. the afterthoughts, the foresights, the remembrances. the heights by which we are remembered as we pass through the lowest exits mortality drags us through. This is an expression beyond which the words of which it is composed can verbally express. This song is felt rather than heard.
Beautifully said.
Thank you for getting so close to capturing the rainbow of this song that plays with light, colour and time.
Extremely well written! You come close to capturing, in words, the feeling that this song inspires in me.
Beautifully put, like the miracle you are 😊
Bravo
Could you imagine what a painting of this song would look like? I would most likely cry at the sight of it.
I wish you could paint it and email me
I would be something like "starry night over the rhone" It has and a very isolated feel to it and somehow automatically sets itself in an evening with a sky full of starts
i second that!
Stephen now that’s a beautiful statement
Same
“A boy and girl. An angel kissing on a sinner.”
I don’t know why but this image completely crushes me.
I’ve come back to this cover at least once or twice a year for the last few years. “Who the hell can see forever?” Always gets me
Karli, I revisit this song too. It makes me human again after a tough shift in the ER when everything has come crashing down. When I feel myself turning into a prickly asshole I know it's time for another listen. I am so thankful to Sam for writing it and to Gregory for this Soul Expanding cover.
Totally- the way that comes out is amazing
Reading all these comments are almost as beautiful as the song itself...
So heres mine
A friend who grew up with me, stayed with us more than his own mother, my first kiss, one of my first friends, closer than a brother, but in growing up fell away, distant, but still so close to my heart... took his life. He was only in his early 20s. No one knows why. No one thought Chris ever felt anything but happy and silly and funny. He was one of those people in your life you never imagine leaving. You run into them every few months and are suddenly filled with love again, embracing. He gave the best hugs.
When he took his life my entire home town was broken by it. You could feel how the world was darkened by his absence. Ive written many songs for him and none do him justice. This song lets me feel him.
Who the hell can see forever…
A year ago today my best friend who I've known my whole life committed suicide. Not too long before that, his 7 year old son died from leukemia. Everyone in his life were completely devastated. After the tragedy of losing his son, we all tried our best to help, but he no longer had the will to live. I know he'll meet those pearly gates, and spend that time with his son. RIP my friend. You'll never be forgotten.
That's so tragic man. Sorry for your loss. Hope your doing ok
Terribly sorry for your loss! Just awful.
What a beautiful thing to say about your friend and his family. Everyone needs friends that are just like you.xxxx
Been finding my way back to this for over a year, and I never get enough of it. How can a song break you and heal you at the same time
Yes!
sometimes to heal the darkest parts you must first dig to them
“Please” something about the way he just says please, it sounds desperate. It sounds in need. I couldn’t love it any more than I do right now.
Me and my friend used to listen to this song in our first year at university when she was sad. Now I listen to it when I’m sad, I don’t know if you will ever read this Elizabeth, but I hope you are happier now than when we used to be friends, I think it’s funny how we remember people, please remember me, H
You are happier. You were a good friend. Good on you.
This is so heartbreakingingly beautiful. The original is good, but this is ridiculously good.
I've heard this song hundreds of times and it still hits like a train
Yes it has mass. It squeezes 😢
im the same way, i cant explain how much i wish this song was on spotify because i would listen to it non stop
My 38 year old brother was diagnosed with stomach cancer a week ago. I'm not ready to lose him, he has a wonderful 3 year old child. I hear this song on repeat every day, it gives me hope
Gregory, thank you so much for this rendition, I find that it surpasses the original in its ability to capture the profound essence of life: where there is happiness, there will be pain. These emotions are meant to coexist, and once we acknowledge and embrace this truth, we can discover inner peace.
Please remember me. My misery and how it lost me all I wanted. That lyric always hits me like a train
To me this song is , on one level, a reflection on a failed childhood /teenage romance - but in a larger sense a reflection on the tragedy of time, love and loss - and all of the confusion and pain in our romantic relationships - as well as life in general (hence the many religious references). I love this song - and it speaks to me deeply on so many levels. I think the older you are ( I am 61) the more the melancholy of the song's sense of time, past mistakes, and the tragedy of life as a whole resonates with you. I can't believe it was written by such a young artist - and so beautifully performed by Gregory.
Sad but somehow so whole and fullfilling at the same time. A glimpse of Heaven maybe?
Perfectly said. This song makes my heart ache
"The trapeze act was wonderful but never meant to last" says it all
My brother died of OD a few a months back. I've been having a hard time with it. I wept while listening to this. Thank you, Gregory. Thank you for the healing.
Hope yer doing good man!
Lover from Berlin!
I am sorry about you brother. Wishing you the best as you heal.
My husband ODed ten years ago. I was there. Part of me died too. This song brings me back to watching him die “angels with their grey handshake’s” it brings me to my own struggle with the life and death business of being an addict. I think the thing people forget is nobody wants to be a drug addict. We want it to go away we want to be left alone. I want to be normal I want to be able to live just like everyone else but for some reason we are forced against our will to do things some feel that is free will to do things that we don’t want to do. I believe that demons and angels exist and I believe the demons control addiction. I believe that addiction is a fight for the soul. Something in your life corrupts your soul to the point that heaven and hell has to fight over it and you only get a small say in the matter. I don’t know. That’s how it feels to be an addict for me. I’m a lot of things. Im not a street addict. I’m a suburban mom who you walk past and never know the difference. But I’ve been there. Those dark awful places your soul is up for grabs and it’s not just an easy yes or no decision like most people want to believe of addiction. Somehow there is so much more to it.
you aren’t alone
So sorry to hear about the loss of your dear brother. My thoughts are with you and your beautiful family.xx
This version of this song never gets old for me and touches me in places no amount of therapy has ever been able to get to. Thanks for the healing!
When I heard this version of the song I cried instantly. While I was crying I ran downstairs to tell my girlfriend how beautiful it was and how it meant so much to me that a song this beautiful and heartbreaking could bring me to tears. She didn't even bother to look at me. She just stayed on her phone and ignored the tears coming down my face as I cried. 10 hours later we broke up, and as I was trying to save our very, very, broken relationship she just sat there on her phone. I was in tears and sobbing, just like I was that morning. Moral of the story here is: Be with someone who is willing to stay by your side and work through anything with you. Be with someone who will set their phone down and make sure you're okay, even if it's sad or happy tears. Don't settle.
Holy shit dude, I'm sorry. You made the right choice and I hope you find someone who appreciates beauty as much as you do
Tyler Waaler that means a lot to me! Thanks bro! Finally went and dropped off the last of her stuff today. Feels good
In German they call such moments Augenblich 'the blink of an eye' when truth is revealed. You have a good soul and you will find someone who appreciates it. Go well. Slan leat
@@Rich2969 Thank you so much.
You're gonna get through this man, and become stronger...
This is one of the rare cases where a cover is better than the original. This version, to me, is the definitive version of the song.
A reminder that real artists, and real art, are alive and well.
I talked to Gregory after his show Sunday night, and my friend and I told him we liked his cover of this song and he talked about what a great guy Sam Beam is and that he loves playing with him. Gregory is such a sweet, humble and genuine guy.
Met Sam a couple of months ago in the local Whole Foods, the nicest dude on the planet, even asked me what my name was as I was obviously trying to hold back a total freakout (not very well). Greatest beard ever... "angels with their great handshakes, but always done in such a hurry."
sweet! i also got to speak with him last night after a show and he is so soft spoken and humble like you said, his show was great!
This man is playing in San Luis Obispo CA, just 30 minutes from my house and I am super freaking stoked to see him hopefully I get to talk to him after the show too. That would be exciting I love this guy and his music 😏
Nick Fernandez You're in for a phenomenal experience. Definitely don't leave right after the show if you have time to stay. You'll most likely find him talking to people. Greg loves interacting with his fans on a personal level and is truly blown away by how much people love his music.
***** Thanks! Yeah I'm gonna try to get him to sign my guitar, his music can change lives honestly. I mean the entire album "The Weatherman" is made up of songs that describe every day life! They're so simple yet so impactful! His music is the bees knees man. I'm definitely looking forward to this show he is perfection haha
This guy seems to have a million diffrent ways to sing that same melody over and over again without getting boring. Amazing!
I’ve been listening to this version for about 4 years now. Still gives me the chills every time.
This song gives me a feeling that I really can't describe. I don't know what it is, but it transforms my mind at any given moment. And I just smile.
Its amazing how certain music can do that to us. I couldn't imagine life without it.
Exactly same for me
Same ♥️
yes It's funny how any two individuals can see the same situation/event so differently But when I hear music like this and i hear your assessment I know that I have found kindred
the word youre looking for is "ineffable"
The narrator is the trapeze swinger. The circus is life. The narrator has recently died. He is caught somewhere between heaven and hell in something like a waiting room for eternity. He is reflecting on the relationship that defined much of his life. It's here we sense 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. The partner he depended on is the girl to whom he is singing. But she cannot hear him because she is still alive down on earth. In fact, I like to think she is seated in the back row of his funeral service. She does not realize that she is being viewed from above. Her admirer, still waiting for his name to be called, finds himself too far removed to get a message across. 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 their senior year of high school. Even still, his love for her had never gone cold. After all, the two of them had grown up together! As kids they enjoyed rough-and-tumble fun and make-believe adventures at the kitchen table. Their childhood innocence wasn't totally divorced from the real world, either. They counted black cars passing because, during WWII, the Army used a black car to deliver word to families that a family member (a son or a brother) had been killed in combat. So the two of them, even as kids, knew enough to know the world had its complications. But that didn't deter them from falling in love as teenagers. Times were good then - simple is the right word. Their duo seemed a thing predetermined by fate, a thing set into motion by some choreographer hidden just off stage. But then, toward the end of high school, the balancing act got complicated: college applications, bigger opportunities, a chance to see the world. That summer she left him and their hometown behind. A few years later she heard the news of his death (a suicide?) via a long-distance phone call. She decided to travel 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. Angels live in a place where there is no death, where seasons don't change, where trees don't fall over. They have come to see the humans passing through this place as another number to be processed, another sinner to be judged. Their handshakes are hurried. They don’t grasp the human experience, the joy and heartache of it all. For a boy to look down at the love of his life, her beauty lit up by the city of God, yet remain separated from her presence, divided by stubborn dimensions that now press between them.
"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 heartbreak that will ensue. But our narrator disregards the warning. He continues to peer 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. But now that he really is a ghost, he pleads with her: please never forget the time we forgot about each other.
She broke up with him because he was unhappy with himself. He lacked the confidence to leap after an unfamiliar trapeze. 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 expeditions taking them over the square folds of their paper-map, its creases being like mountain ranges that boxed them in.) Their future turned out differently than he envisioned. The "frightened trapeze swinger" instead clung to what he knew. He now 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).
thetrailorman1 beautiful interpretation
Beautiful!
thetrailorman1 wow
Very well said ❤️
Thank you for sharing ❤❤❤
I've thought about ending my own life almost everyday for the past 5 years. Music like this brings relief from those irrational, ruminations. There's magic in it, I can't explain it but I feel it.
Same. This song gives me hope to make new experiences so I can eventually look back on them and my life and have a story to tell. Keep on chugging my brother. I will do the same
To suffer, is to feel deeply. To feel deeply is life’s beauty and cruelty, but ultimately it’s point. Let those waves move through you,.
I'm so happy to hear that something helps you. Five years is such a long time. Please give it another five years before you make that decision.
Thanks. Your message is great relief to me as it's a sign that I'm not alone. I've struggled too but I'm glad we can all receive respite from ruinous reflections through this song.
Don't ever Fucking give up. The world needs you!
My wonderfully kind, Gentle Giant of an ex-lover would play this song for us over and over when he was in his deepest private hell. It took me a loooong time to catch and process the agonisingly beautiful words/lyrics of this song.
And when I finally burst out one night that I understood it's achingly perfect message; as we sat before one of our many soothing campfires.... he began to cry with relief that I finally understood a small slice of him.
He then made me promise him...that if he left this world before me; I would play this song at his funeral
It was one of the landmark moments of my life, and I will keep that promise my friend; should there ever be a need.❤
All my love, S
Beautiful words.xxxx
My family is thousands of miles away, and my life is a series of foolish mistakes. I couldn't help but cry as this played.
Mysterioso keep them with you and let your soul heal. hopefully you can regain the wonders of a family. never give up!
Mysterioso I hope you have learned to listen to your little voice. It will never steer you wrong. Mistakes are good if you learn from them. Don't let the past hold you down. Admit the mistake, own it, learn from it, and move on my dear.
Mysterioso. I been there, and it’s a sick and lonely place. If you haven’t yet, forgive yourself. It won’t change the past but it could change the future.
Your crying was the beginning of your healing. You choose the day your life changes for the better. It can be any day. Any time. For any reason. No one or nothing can stop you once you choose. You are that powerful and that important. We are all doing the best we can with what we have in a really tough world. We are also all rooting for you.
Same here. Managed to get myself a few thousand miles from the nearest family. Id move back except they are in Florida. That state is poison. Good luck to you. Find balance. Cheers!
my favourite musician covering my favourite iron and wine song.. what did i do to deserve this...
Chip Bayer what did you do to not deserve this?
I understand you, Chip
@@blakependlebury8205 Your outlook just tripped my world
@ChipBayer you exist
Goodness. With everything we are going through globally, Gregory just made me tear up. No shame in saying it. I hadn't revisited this song in years - today, it hit me unimaginably hard.
Mike Morris - I mightn't have wept (yet), but it sure made my throat tight.
Yo i need this on spotify badly
Menno Plenter YES
Same
How could someone dislike this? I give it a nine out of ten, only because it ends.
^this
Stefan Steebz While your opinion is likely one shared by people, how is liking one better than another automatically mean you dislike the other? I love both versions. I've played them both on repeat and in various playlists a LOT. Liking one more than the other doesn't preclude one from liking both.
Justin Naugles Listen to Pete Siner- Tonight
+EDarien Yep, I totally agree with you comment. I do prefer this version, though. :)
+jr4chargers Thanks. So do I. I LOVE both of them, I really do, but I prefer this one, as well.
The problem with this not being on Spotify is that now I’m worrying about all the other magic I might be missing out on 😭 by golly I love this guy
I love this song and now it has much more meaning to me than before. I was able to see my dad in the hospital where I work as an RN and be with him in his last hour. I played many songs for him to help ease his passing and now this one will forever be my favorite song. I hope my dad enjoyed it too and that he felt my love and knows I will always remember him.
4-28-2020/2:56 PM
I never met your dad; I really know nothing about him. I know that the only consolation I'd want as a father is to know that my daughter made such a great life for herself.
Given that, I can't imagine how proud he was.
I keep revisiting this song when I need to connect to what it is to be human. When My heart needs to be opened up, to fly and be grounded in the same motion... to stretch and transcend logic and material constraints. I too am an RN. My 22 years have been in the ER and this version if this song resonate so strongly and deeply with me. So much has hammered on me and scorched me and washed powerfully over me in the course of my work and somehow GAI lifts me up and I know it will all be alright. There is powerful magic here. Strong but gentle.
I got to know Gregory's music through a very loved artist of mine (Let's call him N).
N was my secret crush since I was 16 years old, I saw him live once, and we took a photo together.
Years went by, I continued to listen to Gregory, I was getting older but his music never did.
13 years later,
last October, I went to a live music show. Someone was singing San Luis, there he was, N. I couldnt believe it.
At the end of the show I gathered all the strength I had to talk to him, I told him how much I love his music and his voice.
That was it, it was like two lost souls found each other.
After endless nights and days, he told me he loved me, i love him too.
Unfortunately timing was not on our side. I think about him everyday.
And this song reminds me of him
Whichever ends of the spectrum of the folk genre I seem to traverse to, I always come back to Gregory. His voice is simply enchanting.
I’m 45 minutes late for work. I’m in my car outside the job site…I’m finishing this song. ❤️
Isakov did to "The Trapeze Swinger" what Johnny Cash did to "Hurt".
Very well said!
I've been listening to this song once a day, almost like coffee for the soul. Beautiful.
I think of his songs as a hug for your soul. So beautiful.
Great cover. Dude is for real. I always trip when you realize that you are watching a human being doing exactly what they were put here to do or so I believe. That song goes to the heart and starts pulling quick.
wonderfully put friend, I hope you are well.
if you every met your soul mate and lost her, then no song better explains that even if your not with her you just wish when she remembers you mistakingly it should be fondly. love
I met my soulmate in high school and we dated and married and spent half a lifetime together. I just recently lost her. I attempted suicide, but that just led to a year and a half in the hospital rehabilitating my broken body from a 4 story parking garage jump with a noose around my neck. I don’t know how the rope broke and I don’t know how I survived the fall, but I did and i have to live with it. To lose her hurt far worse than the 4 story fall.
MisterFourier How did you loose her? Would be interesting to know. And I’m so glad you survived, remember your life has a purpose! Get well soon
I'm not and I hope shes happy. Now ya got me all sad.
This beautiful song brings me back to a time where I was care free, content, but very naive - loving someone and thinking life would never change, but of course it did. Now deep in my soul I always yearn for a time like that to come back, and for it to stay that way forever, but I know it never will.
Put love first ❤🙏 stay blessed
My song, but also my song. Maybe you'll like:
m.th-cam.com/video/KcU4qjraDsg/w-d-xo.html&start_radio=1
In the same boat
I hear you
I feel you whoever you are
When the song is a masterpiece even 8 minutes feels like seconds. You want it to last hours with it's story so you could imagine the whole picture. It's so fascinating and sung in such a delicate way that you feel you living inside of this exact story for a moment
Wow
“Who the hell can see forever?”
Everytime life gets hard I come back to this song. Working 2 jobs to get a bright future for my girl and me. Yet I lost track of the most important thing. Showing the people you love how much you love them. My girl feels trapped in our relationship. She feels insecure. Now, when I’m listening to this song, again, I feel so lost.
Hoping that everything is going to be alright, but I don’t know if it will.
The pain that comes with admitting to yourself that you’re also not feeling well but the hope that you can find eachother again. Here’s to you, if you read it, probably not. S. ❤️
here's to enjoying the beauty of life, pain and all.
❤
All of the graffiti he describes. I don't know why nobody else has ever thought of this, but it's stunningly poetic.
❤yes
The internet has been kind of rough lately, but reading the beautiful thoughts and witnessing the lovely dialogue has restored a little hope for us and the way we interact with each other. Beauty and art have such an amazing ability to bind us together around a common experience. Thanks for this all.
Well said brother.
Omg... I thought you posted this one week ago. Not one year ago. And sadly it's only gotten worse in this year.
Music is , I think, one of the only languages every human being understands. Second only to love.
My favorite album of all time is This Empty Northern Hemisphere by Gregory Alan Isakov and my favorite song by Iron & Wine is The Trapeze Swinger. I don't think I've ever clicked on a video this fast.
Same here untill I heard his songs backed by the Coloardo Symphony Orchestra which elevated his music to one of the greatest ever.
Yesterday my wife told me she wants to separate. Couple hours later in my empty house, I heard this for the first time. I don't know if I've cried like that before.
I’m in the same boat. We’ll get through this brother.
Take care of yourself Austin.
Damn bro...hope you're doing well ❤
Never give up on your dreams....
I wouldn't trade the late nights I've listened to this on repeat for anything.
Who the hell can see forever? Not me son. Not me. Trapeze acts never last. This song, delivered by this gifted musician, will last forever.
All the eloquent graffiti. Such great lyrics.
I am very glad that this recording exists!!!!
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
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 gray 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
But 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 their running
In circles 'round the well and where it spells
On the wall behind St. Peter's
So bright on cinder gray and 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
Do my best to make a drawing
Of God 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
Na-na-na, na-na-na, na-na, na-na, na-na-na-na-na
Na-na-na, na-na-na, na-na, na-na, na-na-na-na-na
Na-na-na, na-na-na, na-na, na-na, na-na-na-na-na
Na-na-na, na-na-na, na-na, na-na, na-na-na-na-na
I've never heard this until after Never Losing You by Kevin Costner led me here but it's obviously meant for me to find and reminisce about my Love who always swung so much higher than the mere mortals around here. Was so blessed to have been invited to a front row seat in her world
Please remember me
Thanks for this...Quite the poem, Quite the epilogue of a life lived with all
the ups and downs we must create if it is to be deemed worthwhile.
The world needs more people like you. Thanks 🙏
I can't listen to this without crying. It's an incredibly moving performance.
This sing just popped up in a post from a couple years ago. I don’t think I’ve ever actually heard this song sober. It use to be a song I’d listen to after a night of drinking and feeling down on myself. It’s just as devastating sober as it was when I use to drink myself to sleep. I haven’t drank in a year and a half and this has me spinning with all the loss I felt when I first heard this song. This song is so beautiful in a way that breaks you down no matter where you are. Here I am 50 years old, just got out of bed, and here this song is breaking me down like a cardboard box. I never set out to quit drinking. It’s just something that happened. I just woke up and said I didn’t feel like drinking today. That was June 23rd 2022. A year after I lost my big brother. Nothing can break you in two like music. This song breaks me every time I’ve hear it.
I'm sitting here sobbing, listening to this song, drinking, and wishing I wasn't. It and more have cost me the love of my life and so much time I have wasted in my life with addiction.
I hope to get where you are someday and be free of these chains to be the person I want to be. Your comment has made me realize I need to fix myself but I don't know where to start but I have to try.
Wow!!!! So beautifully put.x
Listening to this with a bottle of wine thinking of every love lost. Cheers to all who read this 🍷
Who the hell can see forever.