I had a relationship in mind with this song- but 'Jeunesse' also means 'youth' (I think).
So it's about a romantic relationship, but also our wider relationship with the passing of time, and the supposedly 'best time of your life', your early twenties (spoiler alert: frequently awful).
lyrics
Met me in the hallway
Laughing so easy,
Yes in every small way
You know, you always please me,
And it's strange to find
I've been counting time
Since you were mine
In the rooms I'm sweeping,
Timber needs weeding,
Iron's been sleeping,
Bricks are all bleeding,
But the dust is blessed-
Thought I knew you best,
But I loved you least, Jeunesse
Singing like a child would,
Tigers in your yawning,
Silent as a wild wood,
Solemn as the morning,
Somewhere in the West,
All the skies undress
Waiting for the night, Jeunesse
I am always tracing
Beds you would wake in
Summers you were racing
Bodies you were breaking
With a subtle art
Yeah, we moved apart
Right from the start
Shiver in a storm, you
Stare so sternly!
When I go to warm you,
Now you only burn me.
It felt like a test.
Is it cruel to guess
Why you moved through me, Jeunesse?
credits
from Electric Ladywood,
released September 25, 2020
Dominic Hyde: songwriter, vocals, acoustic and electric guitars, bass
Adam Feeney: drums
Kate Wilkins: harmony vocals, piano
Toby Wilson: engineering, mixing
Andy Gordon: engineering, mixing, mastering
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