If you've ever really seen the sun rise
You will see how many times it tries
If you've ever really seen the sun set
You will see how long it takes to die.

You can see the butterfly has landed
Landed on your prison plates, you're out
You can feel its trouble making a teardrop
You will see how long it takes to fly

You can see the universe beginning
Making all the sun and the sky
You can see the universe is ending
Making love darker than the night


Lyrics submitted by FloydFlips, edited by Wazoo92

Butterfly, How Long It Takes To Die Lyrics as written by Michael Ivins Kliph Scurlock

Lyrics © BMG Rights Management

Lyrics powered by LyricFind

Butterfly, How Long It Takes to Die song meanings
Add Your Thoughts

2 Comments

sort form View by:
  • 0
    General Comment

    This song is hauntingly gorgeous, and one of my favorites off The Terror. The lyrics are pretty much self-explanatory, as with most Flaming Lips songs, but damn do they hit home.

    Wazoo92on July 07, 2013   Link

Add your thoughts

Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.

Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!

More Featured Meanings

Album art
Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
Led Zeppelin
This is about bronies. They communicate by stomping.
Album art
Cajun Girl
Little Feat
Overall about difficult moments of disappointment and vulnerability. Having hope and longing, while remaining optimistic for the future. Encourages the belief that with each new morning there is a chance for things to improve. The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future. Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere" The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
Album art
Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
Album art
When We Were Young
Blink-182
This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
Album art
Magical
Ed Sheeran
How would you describe the feeling of being in love? For Ed Sheeran, the word is “Magical.” in HIS three-minute album opener, he makes an attempt to capture the beauty and delicacy of true love with words. He describes the magic of it all over a bright Pop song produced by Aaron Dessner.