This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
The sweet smell of a great sorrow lies over the land
Plumes of smoke rise and merge into the leaden sky
A man lies and dreams of green fields and rivers
But awakes to a morning with no reason for waking
He's haunted by the memory of a lost paradise
In his youth or a dream, he can't be precise
He's chained forever to a world that's departed
It's not enough, it's not enough
His blood has frozen and curdled with fright
His knees have trembled and given way in the night
His hand has weakened at the moment of truth
His step has faltered
One world, one soul
Time pass, the river roll
And he talks to the river of lost love and dedication
And silent replies that swirl invitation
Flow dark and troubled to an oily sea
A grim intimation of what is to be
There's an unceasing wind that blows through this night
And there's dust in my eyes, that blinds my sight
And silence that speaks so much louder than words
Of promises broken
Plumes of smoke rise and merge into the leaden sky
A man lies and dreams of green fields and rivers
But awakes to a morning with no reason for waking
He's haunted by the memory of a lost paradise
In his youth or a dream, he can't be precise
He's chained forever to a world that's departed
It's not enough, it's not enough
His blood has frozen and curdled with fright
His knees have trembled and given way in the night
His hand has weakened at the moment of truth
His step has faltered
One world, one soul
Time pass, the river roll
And he talks to the river of lost love and dedication
And silent replies that swirl invitation
Flow dark and troubled to an oily sea
A grim intimation of what is to be
There's an unceasing wind that blows through this night
And there's dust in my eyes, that blinds my sight
And silence that speaks so much louder than words
Of promises broken
Lyrics submitted by Demau Senae, edited by hcannon
Sorrow Lyrics as written by Dave Gilmour
Lyrics © CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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A nice work ... by David Gilmour ... his voice is God gifted . Whenever I listen this song I remember my friend Nasir who is a big fan of David Gilmour and the group Pink Floyd.I agree with paradox ...solo is heart wrenching .
This is definitely one of their most poetic songs, right up there with "Echoes." And the solo is heart wrenching.
I use to think that this song was about the damage we are doing to our environment. I have changed my way of thinking. These lyrics speak to me now like never before. I hear in these lyrics the sorrow and hopelessness of a man who had an opportunity for happiness, a light in his life, a bright and beautiful future but it slipped away from him because he could not break from his past commitments. Because of a strong sense of honer and duty he feels his one true chance is lost forever. He trods through life now questioning and regretting who he is. Knowing inside he will have to accept the pain and sorrow as his rather than cause that pain and sorrow for others. I think songs like this can mean what you want or need them to mean.
@Manfred33 absolutely brilliant interpretation man. This is exactly what I am going through now because of my "now only apparently I have found my choice of wife and life partner" to have been the single worst life choice I could have ever went with. But loyal as us men are, I feel that I denied it to myself for 40 hard years of endless work and struggle to TRY to make it work. For it to give me one final HUGE kick in the balls, and here I stand, trying to make sense of it and start my life over at 61 years old from where I was at 17 when I met MY HELL ON EARTH
This is about a guy who lost his chance at something big, sounds like love to me but that's up for debate. He's regretting all the decisions that led him to this point and looking back to see where he went wrong,
I realize Pink Floyd wasn't the same after Roger Waters left, but this album is seriously underrated. It lacks the weirdness and critical weight of some of the better Floyd albums but I think Gilmour and friends still did a great job and deserve a little more credit than people are giving them
'Haunted by the memories of a lost paradise.' Let's see what we can do as the human race to prevent these potentialy prophetic words.
A few of the words above are due a re-wording. Demau can probably edit just a wee bit. Dogs of War is ahead of this on the album. I hope it's not that way in the future. All the tracks were read in order on alternate radio the week of,.........9 letters in Pink Floyd and 11 tracks of 1987's AMLOR.
Great David Gilmour and his guitar's magic wonders!
lost my love, lost my life, not much left to live for except a meaningless existence of sorts which is mandatory...good thing there is this song...or id be down to zero...not far from it anyways.
@gofigure000 you can do it man. I got a huge case of (if only I could have known way back then)(or ,"Can we just go back 45 years so I can NOT get with her)!
an amaing intro.
In my opinion; <br /> This song is about a man suffering depression due to severe loss who is about to commit suicide via means of drowning himself.<br /> <br /> 'flow dark and troubled to an oily sea<br /> of grim intimation of what is to be'<br /> <br /> Think that line pretty much sums it up.<br /> And I will add that this is one of my greatest songs of all time and have listened to it a thousand times since getting Delicate Sound of Thunder at the age of 5 (and I'm now 27). It is one of Gilmour's best lyrically and musically - and anyone who says that Gilmour can't write lyrics just as meaningful/powerful as Roger Waters does not know what they are talking about :-) <br /> <br /> GILMOUR IS GOD
thankyou superslug1000, im sick of seeing quotes like "Roger's wrote this song, gilmour couldnt write words this deep" gilmour writes the best music and lyrics for the style of pink floyd that i like, and his voice is perfect for the lyrics that HE writes, thanks
The lyrics are good but they are a little verbose and there's something a bit stiff about them. I'm certain Gilmour didn't write them on his own. By his own admission he struggles to come up with lyrics and had a team of writers helping him on Momentary Lapse.
I believe this song is about realizing your going to die its an incredible song, haunting beutifull.
Gilmour usually writes the words after he gets the music, but he did it the other way with this song. At least that's what I've been told.
I first heard this song on the day that Syd Barret died!