Dreamed I killed God, and woke up
Dreamed I killed God, and woke up
He's begging, "Please, please, please."
"No, don't..."

Dreamed I killed God and woke up
Time dries, time dries my mind
Oh, I'll survive, no one can save us
Talk to myself, talk to my soul

I want you to follow
Yes, follow...
It's only, it's only a dream, only

Dreamed I killed God and woke up
He was lying, bleeding, wishing

It's passing
It's passing
Dreamed I killed God
Dreamed I killed God
Is he dead?
And then I dreamt of him


Lyrics submitted by surfergurl1963

Dreamed I Killed God song meanings
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25 Comments

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  • +1
    General Comment

    Perhaps he is invisioning his loss of faith, not nessasarly in religon but in anything. Dreaming he killed God because he is moving further from his morals, and further from his faith. Again, 'He' not being Dave Matthews...

    Lissy Ratzon April 10, 2002   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    To all the "loss of faith" interpretations, I enjoy your interpretations. However I found a slightly deeper meaning to this song. Originally I agreed with you whole heartedly, however my view now has an a slight adjustment. This song represents a "temporary loss of faith." Dave sings the he dreamed he killed God, then WOKE UP. As past people have mentioned he was originally angry at God for taking away various family members of his. This drove him to want to, metaphorically, "kill God". After he does so, however, he "wakes up." The dream world he was immersed in no longer exists, because he has killed the God of that world. In other words, without God (using, of course, the purest sense of the word), there would be no existence. Dave is describing to use, in a very elegant way, how he originally hated God for "taking" his loved ones, but then realized the necessity of death. His realization that blaming a creator for such an event is self-destructive. In the song God begs, "please please no dont." This is God trying to plead with the currently wrathful Dave that he doesn't know what he's doing, and is simply acting on a negative emotion, wrath. Another strong piece of evidence is looking at the first and last lines of the song. The progression through the song is metaphorical of Dave's progression through his emotions. He first "dreams he kills god" out of rage but in the end he is "dreaming of him" once again. Thanks for reading!

    jp101on April 28, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    This one disturbs me almost as much as the Last Stop. I try not to read a whole lot into songs. I usually just like to 'listen to the music'. I would like to read into this one though. Maybe God is supposed to be a dream version of this person's real father who he has some serious issues with. 'He' not being Dave Matthews, but a figurative He.

    kshrnon March 11, 2002   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I agree with lissy ratz..it just seems to me like a loss of faith

    LILJCOXon May 12, 2002   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I'm going to guess on this one.. I've never heard the song but based on the lyrics I think this song is Dave's way of saying DAMN YOU GOD for taking my father and sister... Dave's Father died of cancer when dave was young and then his sister was killed later ... So I think this song is dave telling god that it's not fair what he did..

    Just a guess

    FamiliarNoiseon May 14, 2002   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Before we put down God for the things that go wrong in our lives, we need to look at ourselves... are we perfect? No. Will things on earth ever be perfect? No, and look who is to blame... we destroy each other. God did not crash planes into buildings, we corrupt the world. Maybe instead of living our lives without God, and blaming him for things that go wrong when we choose to ignore him, we should walk within his will and feel what it is like to be at peace with our Lord. God will always walk besides you, no matter what is going wrong.
    In Christ Jesus, Tim

    Timbaliyaon August 24, 2002   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    ok dude, you're fucking weird. i totally agree with FamiliarNoise though, and in te Under the Table and Dreaming cover it says, "In Memory of Anne" is that his sister? i've been lead to believe it was his wife for the past 4 or 5 years. eek. no telling how many people i've told that to too.

    gueveraliveson March 18, 2003   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Anne is Dave's sister. Right before "Under the Table and Dreaming" came out, her husband killed her and then himself. This, on top of losing a parent at the age of 10 would easily make someone angry at God, either openly or subconsciously (as in this song). I see this song as honest and painful, not "freaky."

    everythinggirlon April 05, 2003   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I wonder about this song. I just listened to spoon and there is a line in the song that says "could Dad be God".... maybe this is some referrence to the death of his father... It just seems like an interestin link between the two.

    Kerbixson April 17, 2003   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Can't this be taken literally? Couldn't have actually had a dream where he killed God? Just a thought but if I were writing songs and had a dream where I killed God, it sure write about it.

    PndrLwon June 21, 2003   Link

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