| Florence + the Machine – What the Water Gave Me Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| I think that the water represents turmoil, at first it's about a relationship: "time, it took us to where the water was" -> trouble in the relationship, "and time goes quicker between the two of us" -> it's end is nearing, "oh, my love, don't forsake me" -> don't quit on me, "take what the water gave me" -> past turmoil gave her experience in this sort of thing and she knows it can get better; then the chorus sets in, and the bit about pockets full of stones, I know it's about how V. Woolf killed herself, but I also know that in the dark ages there was this method of telling if someone's a witch by tying stone's to the woman's legs and throwing her in a lake, and if she floated she was a witch, and if she drowned she wasn't and her soul was free, I know it's a stupid idea but that's how it was back then; anyway, Florence is wearing something similar to a witch's hat in the video and that's what made me think that maybe putting stones in her pockets and jumping in water is her way of proving she's truthful, and instead of words, the overflow of the water, her actions alone will prove her innocence; And then Atlas is mentioned, the titan that holds the world on his shoulders and the world is a "beast of a burden" - I think it's simply an expression, saying that it's a "big burden", and that Atlas has been holding on to it for a long time -> again, water is turmoil, the shields are left to rust -> it corrodes your strength and defence, and you're in pain, that's what turmoil gives you, pain so let go of it. And then the chorus sets in again and then there's the bit about they took your loved one's but returned them in exchange for you, and water here seems to be elevated to the status of death -> I think it's about the feeling we get when we lose someone we truly love, we wish we could have done something, we wish we could give ourselves in exchange for them, but in the end we realize that even if we could have had it any other way death still is irreversible, and a balance needs to be kept, the bargain must be made, some die and others live, but we must not forget the lost ones "my love, don't forget me, I let the water take me". I know it's a pretty unorganized chain of thoughts here, but it's my own subjective opinion and that's why it looks like this :P | |
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