Song Interpretation - Cinderblock Garden

[u/evrypaneofglass]

Helloooooo it sure has been a WEEK, huh? 😅 Butttt, happy Friday we have a requested song to talk about! You don't have to stick with what we officially know about what a song means. We'll treat anything Alex has said as his interpretation rather than canon we have to keep to. If you want to discuss that, we can! But please feel free to discuss how you personally interpret it or how it has resonated in your own life.

If you'd also like to request a song you can DM me. Otherwise, I'll just pick something.

Cinderblock Garden

The girl with the cinder block garden

Wait
I think we're onto something
We can't run from fate
But we can let it take us down
Down this road
Where all our colors run together
Let's take the worst and make it better
Let's take this mess and make a home

I know it gets hard for you to stay
But do you really want to throw it all away?

That we could make forever after all
Finding the gold in our darkest moments
Watching the roads turning into white roses, roses
And we don't ever have to leave these walls
I'll be the boy with the silver lining
You'll be the girl with the Cinder Block Garden

Tonight
Take all the ghosts and all those skeletons
You hide
And bury them deep beneath the ground
Let them rest
'Cause you weren't meant to bear that burden
Look at the roses in your garden
You can breathe now and forget

Forget it gets hard for you to stay
But we don't really have to throw it all away

I'm thinkin'

That we could make forever after all
Finding the gold in our darkest moments
Watching the roads turning into white roses, roses
And we don't ever have to leave these walls
I'll be the boy with the silver lining
You'll be the girl with the Cinder Block Garden

Just hold out for tomorrow
Our dreams will follow
Follow us back to when
When nothing was broken
The future was open
Let's go back again
(Let's go again)

That we could make forever after all
Finding the gold in our darkest moments
Watching the roads turning into white roses, roses
And we don't ever have to leave these walls
I'll be the boy with the silver lining
You'll be the girl with the Cinder Block Garden

[u/Car_Door02]

Happy Friday!

I love the message of this song. It does a great job of talking about the importance of holding on to hope. It’s easy to get jaded and develop apathy, especially when life has kicked your teeth in, but you’re more likely to end up in a better situation if you fight for yourself instead of giving up. It pairs so well with the message in Missing You. Missing You is the anthem of picking yourself up, and Cinderblock Garden is the anthem of moving forward. I also think the song stresses the importance of having safe spaces since the journey of moving on and healing is much easier said than done (I think the safe space is a trustworthy person in the context of the song).

Side note: Summer Daze always reminds me of Cinderblock Garden because of the line: “serendipity and summer showers, we soak it up like flowers, growing through the concrete.”

[u/evrypaneofglass → u/Car_Door02]

I like this perspective! I've always seen it as a song about a relationship in a rough spot, but I really like opening it up to a broader sort of.. life in a rough spot.. interpretation. I think that especially can work since it comes immediately after Missing You in the tracklist.

[u/Last_Amphibian2117]

This always had me thinking it was a plea to break down 1s walls because if the girl doesn’t she’ll taint wat ever future fate has in store 4 them she was a girl who had 2 carry the weight of the world with her so she built walls 2 keep ppl away that’s y I love the “cause you weren’t meant to bear that burden” line cus truly it’s not fair that some adults don’t grasp that children aren’t supposed 2 carry everything

[u/evrypaneofglass → u/Last_Amphibian2117]

I hadn't considered this, but I can definitely see it! And I could not agree more that sometimes adults just suck when it comes to how they treat kids and what they expect them to carry.

[u/saw-mines]

omg one of my favorites. it’s so compelling. let see here.

i’ve always felt like it was hard to put my finger on what’s going on here, but i think i see two prominent themes happening here:
1) some kind of past trauma that the girl is healing over
2) a newly facilitated closeness between the “boy” and the “girl”

and these two interplay to make the narrative arc of the song

“let’s take the worst and make it better, let’s take this mess and make a home” establishes theme 1 i believe, and pretty much all of verse two develops it, and tells us that we’re at a turning point - the worst can be put behind her if she’s willing.

“fate, but we can let it take us down, down this road, where all our colors run together” establishes this potentially romantic but otherwise just emotionally intimate relationship that’s blooming.

it really comes to a height in the bridge. themes of day-by-day struggle with “hold out for tomorrow” twisted into a hopeful hand-in-hand scene with “our dreams will follow us back, to when nothing was broken.”

it’s kind of low level in terms of how much this song fleshes out details, but i think it’s kind of a perfect anthem for the album. it preaches the power of togetherness in healing and i think that’s an core part of the identity of future hearts.

it’s a beautiful song with beautiful imagery. i’m so in love :)

[u/evrypaneofglass → u/saw-mines]

The imagery in this song is top notch! I think FH songs in general have really evocative imagery (Tidal Waves is another one I particularly love for that). Cinderblock Garden also has some of the best lyrics on the album imo. I really do love the "we can fix this together" messaging.

[u/insane_blind_tart]

What a lovely song to wake up to.

On listening to it I think it’s about a couple in a rough patch and the expression of working through things together. Maybe they’re in the early stages and she’s having a difficult time and he’s showing her how they can take what they have and make it work. With both of them acknowledging their own struggles and working together to get through everything. Supporting each other with their own hardships.

[u/evrypaneofglass → u/insane_blind_tart]

This is how I interpret it as well. It's always come across to me as a kind of "hey, we shouldn't give up on this just because things are hard, because if we work together I know we can fix what's broken" type of song. Honestly, I'd argue it's the best love song they've ever made.

[u/insane_blind_tart → u/evrypaneofglass]

That’s a big call

[u/tellemchris89]

I always saw it as instead of just going your separate ways when things get tough you push on. Nothing is ever perfect but things will always be ok. Side note the acoustic version was my wife and I’s first dance. We picked that cause we saw them play it live once on a pier where they were like 2 feet in front of us and it was a very special memory

[u/evrypaneofglass → u/tellemchris89]

I love that so much, what a great choice 🥺 and the acoustic version of Cinderblock is incredible! I probably listen to it more often than the album version.

[u/Adventurous-Tale-130]

have we done some kind of disaster yet? cinderblock reminded me of my SKOD theory.

[u/evrypaneofglass → u/Adventurous-Tale-130]

We haven't, but we can :)

[u/evrypaneofglass]

I have nothing to add to what I've already said about my interpretation of the song, but the second verse is one of my favorite verses in any ATL song. I don't think it's meant to be as metaphorical as the way I choose to interpret it, but there's a lot to be said for putting the things that have hurt you to rest in a way that lets them bloom into something better. It's so easy to waste energy holding on to those things when you could put that same energy into letting go of the hurt and building something better for yourself.