Bright Eyes - Poison Oak Lyrics

This is amazing and makes me cry every time. Genius lyrics. I didn't think I liked bright eyes but shit this man is a hell of a musician. Talented and smart. He deserves all the praise.

This is probably the best and most heartfelt song he ever wrote.

sad reddie hours my brothers 👊😔

This song reminds me of my cousin. They just passed in July of a heroin overdose, and they were trans. I miss them so much. I hope they've found peace.

"In polaroids, you were dressed in women's clothes
Were you made ashamed, why'd you lock them in a drawer?
Well, I don't think I've ever loved you more ..."

knowing the context, this shit breaks me

What's the context?

He told me I was the yellow bird he’s been waiting on but it seems as though he’s forgotten me. I miss him so much.

That big change at 2:38 chokes me up everytime.

The sound of loneliness makes me happier

Rest in heaven sweet angel

Sorry guys can't do it. Been a good 18 years.

But me I'm a single cell on a serpents tongue
There's a muddy field where a garden was
And I'm glad you got away
But I'm still stuck out here
My clothes are soaking wet from your brothers tears
And I never thought this life was possible
You're the yellow bird that I've been waiting for

i never thought this life was possible, you're the yellow bird that i've been waiting for (i'll miss you and love you until the end of my days and beyond)

Thanks for sharing this song with me. You are so beautiful and I will miss you. I had a crush on you since the moment I saw you 😢

Such a beautifully depressing song.

This song is hope for the realists. It's insightful... for an endless road....

I almost lost a cousin to suicide 😞😞😞😞

So many nights lying naked next to passed people I don't want to be with, with nothing but Bright Eyes playing on my phone....

https://youtu.be/XbgsMhAjMJs

"Let the poets cry themselves to sleep."

that line about being ashamed for wearing women's clothes always hits me because i was like that myself at one point. i've come a long way since then but damn this song always makes me wanna cry

I love this so much :”(

God, so many memories with this one. Haven't heard it in years and it literally brought tears to my eyes.
I swear, sometimes if it wasn't for music I don't think I would feel at all. (Shut up...lol...I know that sounds so cliche and emo-y)

Poison Oak, some boyhood bravery
When a telephone was a tin can on a string
And I fell asleep with you still ctalking to me
You said you weren't afraid to die

In Polaroids you were dressed in women's clothes
Were you made ashamed, why'd you lock them in the drawer?

Well I don't think that I ever loved you more
Than when you turned away
When you slammed the door
When you stole the car drove towards Mexico
And you wrote bad checks just to fill your arm

I was young enough, I still believed in war
Well let the poets cry themselves to sleep
And all their tearful words would turn back into steam

But me I'm a single cell on a serpents tongue
There's a muddy field where a garden was
And I'm glad you got away
But I'm still stuck out here
My clothes are soaking wet from your brothers tears

And I never thought this life was possible
You're the yellow bird that I've been waiting for

The end of paralysis, I was a statuette
Now I'm drunk as hell on a piano bench
And when I press the keys it all gets reversed
The sound of loneliness makes me happier

the music and the lyrics aren't bad, but the vocalist sounds like Yoshi getting his nuts licked by a doberman at choir practice.

I have never been able to get through this song without tearing up

My favourite Bright Eyes album

we are younger than we will ever be again, give future you some good times to think of and feel sad about hahaha. go outside it's a beautiful day to be alive :)

Conor is the only one who understands me

This helped me with my near death experience

I dont think that I ever loved you more
Then when you turned away
When you slammed the door

"Im glad you got away, but Im still stuck out here..." fuck. Ive heard this song everyday in my car for months... i literally tear up every time. Conor is a fucking god

in polaroids you were dressed in women's clothes

Poison Oak some boyhood bravery
When the telephone was a tin can on a string
And I fell asleep with you still talking to me
You said you weren't afraid to die
In Polaroids you were dressed in women's clothes
Were you made ashamed, why'd you lock them in the drawer?
Well I don't think that I ever loved you more
Than when you turned away
When you slammed the door
When you stole the car drove towards Mexico
And you wrote bad checks just to fill your arm
I was young enough I still believed in war
Well let the poets cry themselves to sleep
And all their tearful words could turn back into steam
But me I'm a single cell on a serpents tongue
And there's a muddy field where a garden was
And I'm glad you got away
But I'm still stuck out hear
My clothes are soaking wet from your brothers tears
And I never thought this life was possible
You're the yellow bird that I've been waiting for
The end of paralysis I was a statuette
Now I'm drunk as hell on a piano bench,
And when I press the keys it all gets reversed
The sound of loneliness makes me happier

I saw him in 2006 as a teen and I went by myself. Had my dad drive me two hours and he sat in the car during the concert. They played this and I wept so hard to ‘the sound of loneliness makes me happier.’ I don’t think anything has been as perfect as that since.

I got _really_ drunk in a random rural town in Pennsylvania with a bunch of people I didn't know sometime around late summer 2009 - A dude was playing this album in his truck and a couple people were just hanging around not really saying anything and actually listening to the music.

When the breakdown hit "But me I'm a single cell, on a serpent's tongue", all of us began singing in unison. As corny as that sounds, it was _fucking awesome_

One of my favorite memories.

Anyway, there are a lot of people that hate on Bright Eyes. And I understand why, but this music has impacted a lot of people. It's amazing how it has the quality to get people listening and actually relating to the music. Conor's lyrics are naturally nostalgic, if you're feeling a bit sentimental, it's perfect for that.

If you don't like Bright Eyes, I probably don't fuck with you.

"cause it hurts when you discover one's worse and one's better
to suffer or cause others to
and you can live by your conscience
now guilt is a concept
you're no longer subscribing to"
Also I think society mostly mistakes sadness as a weakness.

Was this me?

People that open up to listening to Bright Eyes are the real ones.

This song sucks cock. It's a major downer. Fuckthis, I wanna be happy, where's Gloria Estefan??????

'in poloroids you were dressed in womens clothes. were you made ashamed why did you lock them in a drawer'
I know this probably inst the case but this lyric was really important to me when transitioning from female to male? it really shows how you are different to others than you are inside

Ethan Has Good Manners i think it actually is the case, this song is about his trans cousin who killed himself. i’m proud of you for transitioning, it’s really brave of you to come out in general. i’m glad you’re happier

Conor Oberst recently said during a performance that this song was about his transgender cousin who committed suicide.

@Anthony Aer definitely was a thing, just wasn't as common as it is today or have a coined term that we use to call them.

Anthony, there are literally people who are 40 who transitioned like 20 years ago, you're just flat out wrong

@Anthony Aer You should maybe do your research before you decide to make a complete ass out of yourself on youtube.

@Anthony Aer transgender people have always been a thing :/

Anthony Aer for all of human history, bud

Reminds me of a couple of my friends who committed suicide. This song portrays the feeling of losing someone like that so well. Absolutely beautiful...

Your the yellow bird that ive been waiting for

"I'm glad you got away but I'm still stuck out here. My clothes are soaking wet from your brother tears"

There is something really relatable in his shaky voice.

you're the yellow bird that i've been waiting for..

http://realsaddlecreek.livejournal.com/18877.html definitive answer from Saddle Creek about the song.

24.) What is Poison Oak about?
Poison Oak is about Conor's cousin named Collin (He also dedicated Lifted to him).
Collin committed suicide in 2001. He was the brother of Ian McElroy from Desaparecidos.

THE SOUND OF LONELINESS MAKES ME HAPPIEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRR

Me and my best friend spent a long time getting this right. He is dead now and this song makes me think of him and hurting

Beautiful, just beautiful.

Beautiful, just beautiful

Beautiful, just beautiful

sometimes i just like to be sad, i just like to sit and cry. thats my idea of fun and happiness because thats all i know anymore. is that fucked up or are there other people like this. everyone tells me im going to be lonely forever and it doesnt bother me anymore. they say im going to end up dying and no will care. they push me aside and im unaffected. this is how ive been for about five months.

It's a fine oak to care about bob dylan and connor oberst in the same fucking thing

His voice sounds so sad and swollen yet it sounds so beautiful I love it

2004 was a great year for Conor Oberst. This song reminds me of my best childhood friend, Decker (Decker Goss what a great name).

This has been my all time favorite since I was like fucking twelve and holy shit no doubt it always will be

I could loop this song over and over. Real tears shed.

"But me I'm a single cell on a serpents tongue..."

im trying to play this song on guitar. can someone help me? I know the chords are C F Am G but i dont understand how the strumming pattern works : ' (

Jonathan Dalili try strumming in 9/8 with ghost notes (1+a2+a3+a4+a)

Getting this album for Christmas. Looking forward to the night rides home.

Skyy did you do it?

@James Uhles Yes I did. This cd got me through a lot last year.

"Let the poets cry themselves to sleep, and all their tearful words will turn back into steam"

I was 15 back in 2008...when I heard this line I was amazed...

brilliant

what does he mean when he says "i was young enough, i still believed in war"?

i think he's talking about the sense we have when we're little that there's good people (us) and bad people (them). that means we believe in war as a necessity because *we* must defeat *them*. when we get older we understand that the world isn't that simple and that war isn't good against bad but many different terrible factors. growing up in israel me and other kids my age had a phase where we would realize that the conflict isn't as simple as we would like it to be.

i see what you mean. Thanks for your point of view! I think in many cases of war, the participants can't ever be divided between good and bad, because the opinions are always subjective to the country that they're coming from. When it comes to this, nothing is ever black or white, but rather various shades of grey. Thanks for making the lyrics clearer, I hadn't thought about it in that sense :)

im happy to help:) and i totally agree with you

I think the whole young enough part was playing info the fact that when we're kids, one side is right because that's what we're told. it also touches on how we might think war might solve a problem, but it really never does because, like you said, it's too complicated and there's never really one true winner of the war.

"it all gets reversed, the sound of loneliness makes me happier"

Same Honestly :)

This is one of the songs where I feel like I'm in a car driving down an endless road.

Same, woman. Same.

I feel like everyone here could do with a hug tbh.

I don't deserve it but thank you

@Deadhead, don't be so hard on yourself my friend <3

Yes, thinking, it's the day of the dead and the dead have returned in my heart

*hugs you*

i'm sure you're right.

its one of those moments

im so sad

i hear ya, i just feel like giving up.

so do i...

if you need anyone to talk to, i'm all ears, i hope something comes into your life to make you feel better, even if its just for a moment.

hey guys, it sucks having that feeling it really does. I hope you all find love and happiness. lets be friends

fuckin stunning song.

im stuck

please send help

@ApachePieman What's wrong?

dont get stuck luke, just love

life makes you stuck. it gets you stuck and stagnant and hurt. puts you into a pit and leaves you there. But life is more than that pit. theres so much beyond the walls of the hole. you have to see through the dirt and hope that one day, someone will help you crawl out.

@VictrolaGod Very well said.

My address is 123 help

This song reminds me of me and my brother fighting in our feild... He was much older would always win, and would leave me to walk home alone with bloody knees and hands... Now he's dead and I put his ashes out to that field... Not sure if i feel liberated or lonely...

I'm so sorry for your loss. Losing a loved one, especially a sibling is so hard. I hope you're ok

Damn, man. The ending of your comment is so deep. Much love to you, dude. Sorry for your loss.

i think it's okay to feel both.. loneliness is aways going to be there, and liberation will always be right up ahead of it. The important thing is to keep your memories and let them heal after loss c:

Damn that’s really heavy, are you thee “Joey Cape” from lagwagon universe? 🤔

U feel both

"The Sound Of Loneliness Makes Me Happier"...

And I never thought this life was possible

I need an album to put in and play on bad days

Hey everyone! If you're a fan of introspective acoustic tunage like Bright Eyes maybe you'd like my original music, I'd very much appreciate it if you gave it a listen!

I'll bite.

'when you wrote bad checks just to fill your arm,
I was young enough, I believed in war'

What does that line mean really? I want your opinions.

Sullivan Roosvelt I think the “bad checks just to fill your arm” part refers to money used to buy tattoos or probably drugs (i.e. needles), the latter possibly reflecting on the bad place the person this song is about was in during this time.

The “war” part I’m less sure of but my guess is that it’s just a commentary on adolescent worldviews (learning about horrible things in that go on in the world such a war or terror), or maybe just the fact that now that he’s older he doesn’t pay attention to news/war anymore because it doesn’t concern him as much as other personal issues, and therefore doesn’t “believe” in wasting his time thinking about it. but idk I’m just rambling lol. What are your thoughts?

"And I fell asleep with you still talking to me, you said you weren't afraid to die."

This is the first song that's made me cry in a long time

I get that, dude.

No lies just love by bright eyes does that to me everytime

There's a muddy field where a garden was...
And I'm glad you got away, but I'm still stuck out here....

And I'm glad you got away,
but I''m still stuck out here.

Dorothy Clawson it really hurts to hear

I'm the one that got away, and it hurts just as much.

Just hold on

Well, I don't think that I ever loved you more than when you turned away, when you slammed the door.

to me this whole album is about the dichotomy between true love and understanding. true love requires you to know a person more and more; the more you know about someone, the more 'ammo' you have on them. the more "woke" you are to someone's shit, the more you are familiar and thus able to be in love.

Let the poets cry themselves to sleep.

Great songwriter ,, up there with the best

this songs makes me cry everytime i listen to it and ive been listening to it every day for 3 years.

"The end of paralysis
I was a statuette
Now I'm drunk as hell
On a piano bench
And when I press the keys
It all gets reversed
The sound of loneliness
Makes me happier."

Freaking chills everytime I here that part

This was my favorite song for literally years.

I forgot all about it until the other night. I about flipped my computer desk when I thought about it. I was so stoked to find this again. It's almost like listening to it for the first time all over again.

+Johnny D'Ambrosio I wish I could delete it from my head, just to listen to it again...

That's what I really like about not listening to songs often, it makes it so special when you hear it again

We are going to make it

Life Forms nostalgia bombing 💗

the sound of loneliness...

I love how people are posting which lyrics affected them the most but I especially love how they are all different. We are all touched by different parts of the song.

such observation ma'am. :)
it sure is, lovely

@Mister Dewart
opps. Good catch.

most of his songs are like that, he is such a poet that many people find comfort in different lines of his songs.

Emily Patterson after my my dad passed, his beautiful garden turned into that muddy field...I felt like we were all stuck out there

Brings you to your senses, idk how else to explain conor.

I can not describe the emotions that go through my body when I hear this song

Words cannot fathom

It is a musical sin that I am just hearing of them now :,(

+DigitalFire5000 feeling exactly the same way.

Better late than never...

And you wrote bad checks just to fill your arm. I was young enough I still believed in more. Well let poets cry themselves to sleep... (Fuck gets me everytime)

+connor boren Sorry but what did that line mean?

+Shiloh Way Well, I think the singer feels remorse for losing his best friend to a reckless lifestyle. "Fill your arm" is referring to heroin addiction. Back then, he "still believed in war", meaning he could not accept his friends' actions, maybe judged or condemned him for them. He was left to deal with the grief he caused everyone which made him angry. But now, looking back, he feels as though he's never loved his friend more than when that time he abandoned everything and in turn, taught the singer a valuable lesson about life.. A silly "war" between two friends caused them to go their separate ways in life, which is tragic, but over time it also made them who they are, and that's beautiful.

+Ian Corry Holy fucking shit, man. I got tears in my eyes as I read the last sentence. lol, srsly, the song became even more beautiful. Thanks

It gets me too, every time. 
After many listens in many different points in my life, I feel like I can understand the message here now. It's as if Conor is saying to his long lost friend "I'm sorry I gave up on you. But letting you go helped you find your own way, and taught me who I'm supposed be. I was paralyzed, scared, a statuette, now I'm pouring my heart out in front of all these people I don't even know."

Absolutely brilliant songwriting. Every word weighs a ton.

Exactly. And "I don't think that I ever loved you more."
Tears, everytime. This is one of the greatest songs ever written. And you're not so bad with your words as well. ;)

Oh god i love it but im crying

Were you made ashamed?
Why'd you lock them in a drawer? :(

Heart achingly beautiful.

I love and miss you

One of the greatest songs ever written.

Hands down, yes.

The entire album I would say

awesome.