| Ben Howard – Esmerelda Lyrics | 9 months ago |
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In my opinion, this song is about a man who was in love with a woman. However, the man suffered from some form of mental illness (most likely depression). This caused him to bring her down with him; she tried to love him, but he hurt her/destroyed her. “My orange tree left in the darkness, room for three of us to share” The fruits of his love are shared between him, his lover and his depression (which, if you’ve suffered from severe depression, you know is an entity all on its own). “Oh, maybe you were free before my blackened wind covered you. I took the sing from your song” She was a free spirit before she met him, but when they met, his negativity surrounded her. She used to have a voice, but now it is gone. She used to be positive, but now she is not. “I made a bed where you don’t belong” To make your bed is to accept unpleasant results, and she doesn’t belong with these unpleasant results. “She fell beneath the wheels to help me up” She stopped living her life, achieving her aspirations to stay by his side. “Black Sea, I failed to be a light you found in love” “Black Sea, the monster killed the melody you love” To me, the Black Sea is a reference to the depths of his soul/how he truly felt about his relationship. The monster = his depression, let him down. He failed to lead the relationship to happily ever after. The Black Sea is also 90% anoxic, and is known for its dark, treacherous waters and severe storms. “Now I’m going places on my own” Leading to the next paragraph, which speaks about the darkness that surrounds them both: “Blinded, now I see the death moves amongst us. And with such ease arrived to surround us. These silent beasts are hard to bear” *The* death could mean the death of the relationship, and because they’ve both reached a place of rock bottom, there’s not much to hold onto / no hope for it to recover. These silent beasts = the obstacles they have both created for each other, the toxicity that has ensued. “I have a grave to dig. Fast moving feet, you gave me light where it once was gone” To me, this references her running away from him (fast moving feet). But he now can see there is light, in spite of it all. The song continues/repeats, but I think this overall means that a relationship was killed. Not that his partner actually died. |
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