In the white room with black curtains near the station
Black roof country, no gold pavements, tired starlings
Silver horses ran down moonbeams in your dark eyes
Dawnlight smiles on you leaving, my contentment

I'll wait in this place where the sun never shines
Wait in this place where the shadows run from themselves

You said no strings could secure you at the station
Platform ticket, restless diesels, goodbye windows
I walked into such a sad time at the station
As I walked out, felt my own need just beginning

I'll wait in the queue when the trains come back
Lie with you where the shadows run from themselves

At the party, she was kindness in the hard crowd
Consolation for the old wound now forgotten
Yellow tigers crouched in jungles in her dark eyes
She's just dressing, goodbye windows, tired starlings

I'll sleep in this place with the lonely crowd
Lie in the dark where the shadows run from themselves


Lyrics submitted by Hunter, edited by HomerNoodleman, dgbaker, voyager1121

White Room Lyrics as written by Pete Brown Jack Bruce

Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.

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White Room song meanings
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74 Comments

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  • +11
    My Opinion

    Beautiful song. Sad but upbeat and emphatic. Lyrics are simple "Beat" poetry. Lost love is all. No drugs, no Nam, no nothing. Everything is bleak. What isn't bleak around train stations? Or lost love? Silver horses are tears. Tired starlings are the parting lovers. Yellow tigers is just her unspoken look of her recall and acknowledgement of their parting. Perhaps sympathy combined with an admonishment, "get over it. I have." Of course the erstwhile Lothario cannot get over it and continues to obsess. Otherwise there'd be no story here, folks. Lost love. It's a classic theme like Longfellow's "Evangeline".

    RulleMarieon May 22, 2012   Link
  • +5
    General Comment

    A lot of people think this song is about Vietnam - White room - white house and other little metaphors within the song, not to mention it was right in that time period, but i read that Jack Bruce and Pete Brown wrote this song about Brown's flat and it's surroundings and a longing for this girl. If you look at the descriptive words you'll notice that when talking about the outside world and everything in it, they use very flat descriptive words. But when they refers to the girl they use really good imagery and she seems to be the light in the poorly light white room. CLAPTON IS GOD!

    anakin821on July 08, 2002   Link
  • +5
    General Comment

    This was one of my favorite tunes of the year 1968. I saw Cream open their performance in Baltimore with White Room two days before Nixon was elected president in that crazy and fateful year.

    Like many of the songs of that era it is full of impressionistic phrases and imagery that leave a lot to the individual listeners' imagination.

    My own take was that the song was about alienation and depression and the way one's mind can shift from ecstatic epiphanies to cringing paranoia in the space of seconds.

    OlSloaneron February 24, 2010   Link
  • +4
    General Comment

    this is an awesome song!

    WeezerChicon July 02, 2002   Link
  • +4
    General Comment

    It's about throwing away a great relationship and then regretting it forever. Silver horses and Yellow tigers, is more likely a nod to the poems of William Blake - The lamb and Tiger tiger burning bright, respectively (possibly the songs of innocence/experience too) than anything to do with War and Vietnam.

    codfanglerson March 17, 2006   Link
  • +4
    General Comment

    Jazz w/o the sax

    prince nicon July 27, 2015   Link
  • +3
    General Comment

    When I hear this song, I get this sort of gothic/victorian imagery in my mind. It all sounds very 19th century. It's gorgeous.

    moviefan1899on March 19, 2007   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    it's about depression

    five_to_oneon February 14, 2005   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    I heard pete brown say it was about his old apartmant or something and it had a white room

    aen1maon January 26, 2006   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    Heres the real meaning I had to get it from wikipedia. "White Room", written by Jack Bruce and Pete Brown, is a single by Cream from their 1968 album Wheels of Fire.

    After bassist Jack Bruce wrote the guitar pieces, Cream's lyricist, poet Pete Brown, grouped colorful four-syllable phrases, loosely organized around images of waiting in an English train station influenced by the drugs he was taking. The combination is often considered one of the shining moments in British psychedelia. "White Room" is further noted for its unusual time signature of 5/4 in the introduction and bridge, with triplets played on toms by Ginger Baker, his thunderous bass drum part also lacing the verses. Finally, "White Room" is notable for showcasing guitarist Eric Clapton's best known use of the wah-wah pedal (possibly aside from "Tales of Brave Ulysses") in the bridge and extended solo.

    Along with "Sunshine of Your Love" and "Crossroads", White Room is one of Cream's most notable songs, reaching number 6 on the U.S. pop charts.

    "White Room" was placed at #367 on the 2004 List of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

    Robboton December 24, 2007   Link

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