When you fall asleep
With your head
Upon my shoulder
When you're in my arms
But you've gone somewhere deeper

Are you going to age with grace?
Are you going to age without mistakes
Are you going to age with grace?
Or only to wake and hide your face

When oblivion
Is calling out your name
You always take it further
Than I ever can

When you play it hard
And I try to follow you there
It's not about control
But I turn back when I see where you go

Are you going to age with grace?
Are you going to leave a path to trace?

But, oblivion
Is calling out your name
You always take it further
Than I ever can

When oblivion
Is calling out your name
You always take it further
Than I ever can


Lyrics submitted by sourwolf, edited by cbelle94, azurities, tabikatt, Hammurabi, sugarsnap, KeroseneFire, TrickyTea, MycroftJr, DanielsDen, smileyyanti, thinkyoulovex, daninmyden, masterlilypad, Bendubz, inlaced

Oblivion Lyrics as written by Daniel Smith

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, O/B/O DistroKid

Lyrics powered by LyricFind

Oblivion song meanings
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16 Comments

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  • +17
    My Interpretation

    I think this song is about the singer trying to understand the severe depression that his friend is going through, while he's going through his own problems.

    The friend is looking for numbness, oblivion, and first finds it in sleep (When you fall asleep… you've gone somewhere deeper).

    The singer asks the friend what will happen to him or her, whether he/she will survive and grow older (Are you going to age with grace?) and if that they'll age while leading the life they want to lead (Are you going to age without without mistakes?). Then the singer asks again whether he/she will grow older like everyone else, or whether he/she will keep living a depressed and empty life without other people (Or only to wake and hide your face).

    Then the singer is saying that the depression is the reason that the friend tries to feel numbness, rather than the friend actually wanting to feel this way (Oblivion / is calling out your name).

    The singer also seeks oblivion, but not as much as the friend does. (You always take it further/than I ever can). This makes me think that the singer seeks oblivion (possibly through drugs/alcohol) for different reasons than the friend, and that the friend takes it further possibly because he/she is not as concerned about death.

    The second verse iterates the idea that the friend goes further into oblivion than the singer can. The singer tries to explain that he is not trying to control the friend or make the friend stop his/her actions, but that he can't follow the friend to the end of where he/she will go if he/she continues.

    The second chorus has the same message as the first but with the singer's realization that the friend's depression might not just make it impossible to age with grace/age without mistakes, but might end his/her life (Are you going to leave a path that joins?).

    I think the song represents the journey the singer goes through from trying to correct his friend's actions to understanding the gravity of them and what oblivion really means, which explains its repetition at the end of the song.

    azuritieson November 25, 2013   Link
  • +3
    My Interpretation

    (Although I now love azurities^ interpretation) When I first heard this song, and before reading the aforementioned interpretation, I pictured it like you're holding a sleeping infant (referring to oblivion and how babies are unaware of their surroundings to an extent) and just wondering what his/her future is going to be like. Although I love that with Bastille songs, even though there is usually a defined story, it is still ambiguous enough to be left to subjective interpretation.

    Jac93on November 28, 2013   Link
  • +2
    General Comment

    I think the song is generally about death calling out to all of us. As depressing as it sounds.

    emptycanvason July 15, 2014   Link
  • +2
    My Opinion

    I think the song is about a man lamenting the fact that he's losing his girlfriend to drugs. He is able to control his usage but she is slipping away and he does not want to follow her down that road . this is what this song means to me! I am not stating this as fact , so save your criticism

    2minuteshateon August 01, 2014   Link
  • +2
    My Interpretation

    I take this song as a way of trying to show a friend or lover that they don't give themselves enough credit in life.

    "When you fall asleep With your head Upon my shoulder When you're in my arms But you've gone somewhere deeper" This verse seems that the person is using sleep as more than just rest, but rather an escape from reality.

    The singer asks their friend/lover: "Are you going to age without mistakes? Are you going to age with grace? Or only to wake and hide your face?" It seems like he's asking if they expect to never make mistakes in life-to be perfect. Otherwise are they going to be ashamed of themselves for not being perfect 100% of the time? By making their expectations of themselves so high, they set themselves up for failure- or Oblivion.

    "You always take it further Than I ever can When you play it harder And I try to follow you there It's not about control But I turn back when I see where you go" In a way, the singer seems to admire the friend/lover's drive to achieve perfection. He also realizes that while it's a good goal, it's not an attainable one. He can't push himself to the extent that they do because otherwise he'll never be satisfied with who he is. He's not trying to tell them how to live life, but he wants to help them to be happy with themselves.

    Britfiton March 14, 2016   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    really not sure what this song is about, but i love it. also, i'm with hammurabi. some errors in the lyrics. tried editing them, but you know how that goes. here are what i believe to be the correct ones:

    When you fall asleep, With your head Upon my shoulder. When you're in my arms, But you've gone somewhere deeper.

    Are you going to age with grace? Are you going to age without mistakes? Are you going to age with grace? Or only to wake and hide your face.

    When oblivion Is calling out your name. You always take it further Than I ever can.

    When you play it hard, And I try to follow you there, It's not about control, But I turn back when I see where you go.

    Are you going to age with grace? Are you going to leave a path to trace?

    But, oblivion Is calling out your name. You always take it further Than I ever can. When oblivion Is calling out your name, You always take it further Than I ever can.

    KeroseneFireon March 18, 2014   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    i think its about a friend/partner who used to always be together. but at some point, the friend changed.. and started to "leave" or get "separated" because of theyre difference.

    one have their own vision about where he/she will go. and the other one tries to catch up, but refused to follow any further. because of the difference, and they got separated, walking their own way

    persimmonsatuon June 21, 2014   Link
  • +1
    My Interpretation

    I always have a picture of dan ( the singer ) sitting with his ( female ) best friend/girlfriend on a chair and she's kind of in a coma, he's staring at her and waiting for her to wake up but she doesn't ? she is going trough a tough time which is also really sad for dan himself,, she can just kind of fall asleep and forget everything around her so she doesn't feel the pain anymore but dan isn't able to fall in that kind of coma to forget about everything ( bc she is always taking it further than he would ever can ). so she's kind of dead but also kind of alive. she doesn't talk or doesn't do anything, she's just sitting there ( because she's in that kind of sleep/coma thing ) and dan is slowly losing his interest on her and thinks less about her and then finally forgets her, even though he could've never thought something like this would ever happen and could've never imagined a world without her.

    but that is life i guess.

    my grandpa died as I was about nine years old and i used to cry very much but now i dont cry anymore because I just got used to live without him and think less about him and idk maybe the time will come when I do never think about him once again even though I don't want it to be like that but you can't choose, it just happens.

    idk if thats the actual meaning of the song but its just my interpretation, pls let me know in the comments what you think about it x

    ohnoitsalessaon September 12, 2014   Link
  • +1
    My Opinion

    So, I am a self conscious girl, so when I hear this, I think of how his girlfriend is lying asleep on his shoulder, and she is going deeper by going to sleep deeper into her thoughts, having nightmares about being rejected and yet she is going to age with grace only to wake and hide her face from the world thinking she is some hideous monster. I love this song, because I hold onto the fact that I may age with grace and get prettier and a little less, well me. And when he tries to figure out whats wrong with her, she just wont tell him, but he understands why when somehow he figures out how she is feeling. People with different feelings have different interpretations, like a mother or a drug addict or me, A self conscious girl.

    ThatGirIon September 14, 2014   Link
  • 0
    Lyric Correction

    There are a LOT of errors in this lyrics page. When you fall asleep, With your head, Upon my shoulder. When you're in my arms, But you've gone somewhere deeper.

    [Chorus] Are you going to age with grace? Are you going to age without mistakes? Are you going to age with grace? Or only to wake and hide your face. When all Oblivion. Is calling out your name. You always take it further, Than I ever can.

    When you play it hard, And I try to follow you there, It's not about control, But I turn back when I see where you go.

    [Chorus] Are you going to age with grace? Are you going to leave a path to trace? When all Oblivion. Is calling out your name. You always take it further, Than I ever can. When all Oblivion, Is calling out your name You always take it further, Than I ever can.

    Edit LyricsEdit WikiAdd V

    Hammurabion December 01, 2013   Link

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