I think it's pretty straight-forward and agree with the interpretations above -- he has wronged a lover and feels horrible about it afterwards. Maybe in the end, where he says "You're still next to me," he means that he was accepted regardless of what he had done, and the relationship worked out in the end.
And although I agree that the song being in English doesn't have the same magic as it does when I can't understand it-- in NO WAY do I think they did it to become more mainstream, as epliohunk said. Sigur Ros could never be mainstream because not everyone (in the English-speaking world at least) has the capacity or patience to listen to such abstract music with words they don't understand. Most people prefer the generic cookie cutter crap they're used to.
In my opinion, we should be grateful to Sigur Ros because I feel that this is a gift to their English-speaking fans, and was bound to happen eventually.
I'm glad they did it, but I don't doubt they will continue to produce music in Icelandic and Hopelandic, as they always have (and I can't say I have any complaints :D)
I think it's pretty straight-forward and agree with the interpretations above -- he has wronged a lover and feels horrible about it afterwards. Maybe in the end, where he says "You're still next to me," he means that he was accepted regardless of what he had done, and the relationship worked out in the end.
And although I agree that the song being in English doesn't have the same magic as it does when I can't understand it-- in NO WAY do I think they did it to become more mainstream, as epliohunk said. Sigur Ros could never be mainstream because not everyone (in the English-speaking world at least) has the capacity or patience to listen to such abstract music with words they don't understand. Most people prefer the generic cookie cutter crap they're used to.
In my opinion, we should be grateful to Sigur Ros because I feel that this is a gift to their English-speaking fans, and was bound to happen eventually.
I'm glad they did it, but I don't doubt they will continue to produce music in Icelandic and Hopelandic, as they always have (and I can't say I have any complaints :D)