| The Head and the Heart – Sounds Like Hallelujah Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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What I take the meaning of the song to be is about the cycle of coming and going, and how that relates to a relationship the singer is in. The sun goes down, and we put our arguments aside; "never go to sleep angry" as they say. The moon goes down, we get to watch the sunrise together as a new day begins. The cycle breaks pretty abruptly in the third stanza (beginning with "So, I won't keep myself around..."), though, when the singer states the limits of his willingness to be a part of the cycles of the relationship - he wants more than what their relationship currently is. He's considering whether to stay or go, and has knows he won't stay "just to keep you warm". The following stanza (beginning with "Momma don’t put no gun in my hand...") seems like a reference to his affinity for non-violence, or an aversion to confrontation. It seems like a reference to a deeply held desire to avoid conflict - I see it almost as an apology, like, "I've been considering leaving, but I haven't said anything to you about these feelings, because I don't want to cause conflict between us. I'm sorry, but I've been like this from childhood, I've just never liked confrontation." Then the next stanza is a more obviously defensive one (beginning with "I'm not walking away..."), where the singer is explaining that it might look like he's just walking away to avoid conflict, but in his mind he sees this as a natural next step considering what he has realized about the relationship he's in with his partner. He's just _really hearing_ what they've been saying all along for the first time, and so going makes the most sense to him, and it feels like a "Hallelujah" to do it. He doesn't believe he's avoiding conflict by walking away, he's living into the next natural step of the cycle of their relationship, he's come, and now he's gone. Like the moon and the sun, they come up, they go down, they are gone. The last stanza before the final chorus (beginning "And I'll miss you someday...") is his recognition that there will be times when he will wish things weren't over between them, but that's to be expected. Right now he may not have those feelings, but that's because "someday" is not "today". For him, today, the sun is rising, and it feels like hallelujah. TL;DR Summary This is a beautiful break up song, where the singer expresses his experience of the end of this relationship as a part of the cycle of beginnings and endings that happen throughout our lives. Realizing this has left him singing hallelujah. |
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| Iron & Wine – Flightless Bird, American Mouth Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| Yea, most "artistic" stuff is sort of gimmicky and pretentious. But, eh, people express themselves in different ways, my man. Some use elaborate metaphors, some use "attitude", some do both at once, and some start out one way and end up another. It seems like maybe the important thing, when all is said and done, is that we express ourselves at all, no? | |
| Bon Iver – The Wolves (Act I and II) Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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And actually, the line "don't bother me" kind of sounds like a plea in a lot of ways. That second part really just wants to be left alone, wants the grief to go away, wants to tell the first part, "Please, don't bother me, it's too much." |
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| Bon Iver – The Wolves (Act I and II) Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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I love the refrain at the end of the song: What might have been lost Don't bother me It could be two parts of himself struggling to deal with loss. There is the part that is stuck mourning a future that has been lost; a future that is no longer seen as a possibility. And with meaningful loss comes grief, and grief can be incredibly painful. To ask yourself "what might have been lost" in the aftermath of a meaningful loss is often too much to bear. Sometimes the only way to deal with the thoughts and feelings that come are to deny them; to tell ourselves that we don't care what might have been lost. That's where that second part comes in, it's the part that wants to be done with it because it's too much to handle. The part of us that insists that we don't care; that what was lost doesn't bother us anymore. It's the part of us that finds the pain of grief and loss to be too much to bear, and insists that it doesn't care about what 'might have been'. In my experience there are few things more difficult to let go of than plans for the future, particularly when that hope has been given time to grow deep roots. While that refrain at the end is haunting - a reminder of our own losses, our own grief - it's also somehow cathartic to see the struggle all played out with such honesty. |
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