What does "Green" by Cavetown mean?

“Green” Music Video and Lyrics Meaning

(The following blog post is a transcript created by Xalma of the below video.)

Cavetown has a music video for his song "Green", and it is absolutely fantastic; I have to say, that out of a lot of the artists I listen to, Cavetown is one of those that I respect the most for the sincerity of his lyrics, and for the specificness of them; the way that he tells a story; a lot of people will try to write a song that is big, exciting, and it's love, and it's it's revenge, and it's breaking up, and it’s about all of these big things; but cave town does an incredible job of bringing it down to a very specific, human, and personal level; telling his story, and then just by simply telling the truth of his story, it reverberates with just about anybody who listens to it. There is power in his lyrics, and there's power in the music video; so let’s talk about it.

Music Video Meaning

I don't know if a lemon has ever made you cry before; but there is a good chance that it will, if you watch the music video for “Green”; it's an incredibly well done music video; it's a stop-motion animation; the music video is about this lemon, and this lime, who are best friends, they live in the forest, and they have like corks inside of them, that they can pull out, and give each other a drink of their juice or whatever; and so the lemon is a little bit greedier than the lime, and it keeps asking for more, and the lime just keeps dishing out, because the lime is like a really good friend; but that is a lot of juice to give, and so eventually the lime starts to look really shriveled, and it is like “Sorry, I can't give you any more, I'm out of juice”; and the lemon’s like “Screw you, man”; and it runs off into the forest by himself, leaving the lime alone; so the lime goes looking for him, but it trips and falls. Eventually, the lime gets help from a friendly orange, who gives him plenty of his own juice, to help out the lime. Unfortunately, we then see in a flashback later, that the lemon runs through the woods, until it gets eaten by a turtle, which it's kind of not the scene that you’d expect to see in a music video; but it's fine! I guess! And so, the ghost of the lemon wanders around the woods, and it sees the lime and the orange; they're both like great friends now; the orange is giving plenty of juice to the lime, to make it recover; and the lime is looking happy, and less shriveled again; the lime is still kind of sad though, you know, about the lemon being gone; it puts up a little gravestone, and remembers sadly the friendship with the lemon, and the orange is comforting the lime; then they both walk away, but after the lime smile at the “ghost of the lemon”, and it smiles back, as a last goodbye.

Yeah, it's basically what you would expect from Cavetown; cool, a little bit weird, but mostly cool. If you want to know the secret of what this music video and the lyrics mean; check out this description from Cavetown himself, he says,

The music video is about a girl I loved a lot, who's probably the most flawless person I can think of; I've been selfish in the past, I didn't treat her properly because I was new to loving people like that; and I didn't know what I was doing; I still feel bad about it, but it was a learning curve for me, and I'm better now because of it; she still holds a special warm place in my heart, and it just genuinely makes me happy now to see her happy.

I don't know if you guys caught that; but Cavetown who has released a song called “Lemon Boy” is the lemon; this girl was the lime; and the lemon -Cavetown- kept asking for more help, more support, it was very needy; and then got mad when the lime -the girl- couldn't give more for whatever reason, so he ran away. Now, Cavetown is still alive; he didn't get eaten by a giant turtle in the woods; but the lime has gone on to find another relationship; and at this point, Cavetown is just happy to see her happy; because he’s matured, and he understands what that kind of relationship is supposed to look like now.

Lyrics Meaning

This is erosion
Grinding up rocks with your molars

That's a reference to the relationship slowly dying, slowly eroding away.

A big fish swims past your rod
You can't catch it, it's far too fast

Maybe he was that fish, with his need for support and attention; that was too fast and too much to handle for her.

I see your eyes in the flowers
I'll pick a bunch for your room
Green and blue to match your pictures

This album has a lot of references to colour; the flowers is kind of a reference to how he's thoughtful now, even if he wasn't thoughtful in the past; and he thinks that she's beautiful.

You look so good in green
I hope you're well
and you look so good with him
and I'm proud of you still
I miss your perfect teeth
I was too blunt
I hope you feel happy
that's all I want

This is a tremendous amount of maturity; because I think most dudes would be like “Hey, I'm mature now; so let's try again, baby; I figured things out, and I'm a different person”; but Cavetown knows the ship has sailed; and he’s just saying “I just want you to be happy, and it makes me happy to see you happy”; now that's tremendously mature.

Mess in the kitchen
I was so disappointed
I guess I got to my head
and I was too young to understand it

Maybe they had some sort of a fight in the kitchen, or something like that; it is probably a personal reference; but he was too young to understand it; but now he does with a little bit of age, and a little bit more maturity. The next verse is probably one of the best stanzas of all.

I get it now that it's too late
I never stopped feeling guilty
I'm over it, I promise that
I just gotta sing it out of me

So, he's basically saying here that he still feels that guilt; but he's going to be able to figure it out; he will be fine, and she doesn't need to worry about him, or give any more “lime juice”, I guess; he's going to just sing about it, process it, and be done.

Okay, my other favourite part,

I hope you think of me
still as your friend
I hope you love yourself
your body and heart
I hope you feel happy
that's all I want

This is like a final wish or send-off for his friend; and I absolutely love this part because instead of trying to go back in for the romantic relationship; he friendzoons himself; “I hope you think of me; still as your friend”; and wishing her happiness even without him; he’s just so mature and it’s nice to see that in a form of a song; and those lyrics, the music video with the angry turtle, and the three fruit in the forest, man! I think it's a really powerful way to tell a really good story.

That was “Green” by Cavetown, Robbie, or Robin Skinner. I hope that you guys enjoyed it; and if you haven’t seen the music video for “Green”; I would highly recommend watching it, and you can do so by clicking in the link down below.