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.
I heard the news today
That you're not mine to keep
Don't struggle too much now
While I kill you in your sleep
What is lust if it's not beating by yourself?
I won't be gentle to the body on the shelf
It's only water, it's only fire, it's only love
It's only slaughter, we're only liars, it's only blood
They're only thoughts that
I'm having thoughts safe within my head
You're only crying, you're only dying, you're only late
I heard the news today
That you weren't not mine to save
I hope that you're comfortable
In the quiet plastic grave
What is lust if it's not beating by yourself?
I won't be gentle to the body on the shelf
It's only water, it's only fire, it's only love
It's only slaughter, we're only liars, it's only blood
They're only thoughts that
I'm having thoughts safe within my head
You're only crying, you're only dying, you're only late
It's only water, it's only fire, it's only love
It's only water, it's only fire, it's only love
It's only water, it's only fire, it's only love
It's only water, it's only fire, it's only love
It's only water, it's only fire, it's only love
It's only slaughter, we're only liars, it's only blood
They're only thoughts that
I'm having thoughts safe within my head
You're only crying, you're only dying, only water
That you're not mine to keep
Don't struggle too much now
While I kill you in your sleep
What is lust if it's not beating by yourself?
I won't be gentle to the body on the shelf
It's only water, it's only fire, it's only love
It's only slaughter, we're only liars, it's only blood
They're only thoughts that
I'm having thoughts safe within my head
You're only crying, you're only dying, you're only late
I heard the news today
That you weren't not mine to save
I hope that you're comfortable
In the quiet plastic grave
What is lust if it's not beating by yourself?
I won't be gentle to the body on the shelf
It's only water, it's only fire, it's only love
It's only slaughter, we're only liars, it's only blood
They're only thoughts that
I'm having thoughts safe within my head
You're only crying, you're only dying, you're only late
It's only water, it's only fire, it's only love
It's only water, it's only fire, it's only love
It's only water, it's only fire, it's only love
It's only water, it's only fire, it's only love
It's only water, it's only fire, it's only love
It's only slaughter, we're only liars, it's only blood
They're only thoughts that
I'm having thoughts safe within my head
You're only crying, you're only dying, only water
Lyrics submitted by anniekaitlyn, edited by Sockmaster, zozohasme
It's Only Lyrics as written by Harrison Mills Carlos Anderson
Lyrics © Downtown Music Publishing
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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No idea the meaning. But i love the beats, song, and lyrics.
But hey, I'll take a stab, say what I think when I hear the song/read the lyrics in regards to my own personal situations.
She wanted to sincerely help someone out of love. But that person, in the long run, would not allow it. And of course, the love can turn to resentment in instances like these. And to her, the person is now dead.
Lyrics are beautifully juxtaposed to the tone of the song.
@cheesesteak dang, now i gotta find out how to message Odesza or Zyra and figure this out...
ok, i found out this was used in a documentary called Denali. I think rather than the subject not allowing the singer to save him/her, the subject CANNOT be saved. And that's what causes the pain for the singer.
Imagine: Two people meet. It's love at first sight. There is fire, there is passion! They are soul mates.
...but, he is married. He's stuck in a hollow relationship.
They promise each other that love will prevail. He will leave his relationship to live again.
Time passes... He's taking too long. He isn't moving forward.
Why isn't he taking the leap to life, love, passion? Finally, she realizes that he isn't going to. She's angry. She's bitter. She cries.
She wishes him dead; wishes that they had never met. She smashes a photo of him instead. She can't save him. She has to kill her love for him. True love did not matter enough to him. They were lying to themselves. He will continue his hollow life.
All the tears, all the hardship, love itself... it was all for nothing in the end.
After reading the story above, listen to the song again and it'll take on new meaning.
@Sockmaster beautiful interpretation but so very sad
@Sockmaster You nailed the story, but I do not believe she crumpled the photo. She expresses the element of water and fire. I believe the fire represents her burning the photo and the water are the tears.
As a generation we have been completely dessentive from almost everything. Making love and even death almost unamusing and plain unimportant. When we fall in love some of us just take it lightly we don't fall that hard,it's really easy for us to take back the little love we gave and continue like it never really matter and then make it as "it's only love" ,"I'm just moving along" without thinking what possible consequence it haves on the other person's heart. She then proceeds to "kill him in his sleep" in her mind she's so mad,so she's doing horrible things and doing exactly what he did,making it as it's not important,"it's only blood","you're only red" and "you're only dying".
It feels like it is a ode to the human condition. Seems like there's an ultimate loneliness to what is life. Things are bigger than you, but then what is your place? Do you matter? What is the self? Until we figure this out we aren't going to be gentle to ourselves or our bodies waiting on the shelf.
A rover of water, a river of fire that runs through all the universe. We attach ourselves with love. There's a condition of water and fire that are ever changing, but also very permanent to the observer at times. Love is the same way. The song creates a pattern of with and without and ultimately tries to tell a story that tries to make the listener worry less. Don't worry about love not being there... It's only love.
It also seems like the futility of the message though isn't lost on the writer. We are human. We can't deny who we are. We will seek not to be lonely. Who that makes us and ultimately who we are though are at odds with so much. There's a thread throughout the song that reinforces the idea that our life is not our own and it is simply being borrowed for the time being.
The chorus in particular points to the universal nature of love's presence and absence. Elements like 'fire' and 'water' have so many different forms, but each have an overarching 'essence' that we think of, when we see the words, that is more singular and removed. In the same way, the overarching concept of 'love' is also removed, while it is simultaneously expressed in many forms. I wanted to draw parallels between the detachment in the definition of the word 'love' and the feeling of helplessness and distance someone feels from love when love is absent. The narrator of the song faces rejection herself, and portrays her reaction to the power of love's absence with metaphors that express the great extent of her love. In a personal situation where one person is open to love and the other is detached, love can be wonderful and all consuming - where "It's only love" means 'it's nothing but love' - or the very opposite side of the dialogue, where it means 'don't worry about creating an absence of love, it's only love'. The director illustrates the more distant, eternal quality of love's absence by showing scenes throughout history (another overarching concept - rendered impersonal when at a distance) where love has been absent. It illustrates the recurrence of pain, cruelty and betrayal in a very personal way to make you consider our ability to forget the multiplicity of love, in it's personal form, over time. The realisation about humanity that we have as we watch is the realisation the narrator hopes the detached subject will have within her own situation.
Source: facebook.com/zyramusic/posts/1028476397210736