Rosalie
I've been waiting all evening
Possibly years i don't know
Counting the passing hours
Everything merges with the night
I stand on the beach
Giving out descriptions
Different for everyone i see
Since i just can't remember
Longer than last september.
Santiago
Under the volcano
Floats like a cushion on the sea
Yet i can never sleep here
Everything ponders in the night.
Rosalie
We've been talking all summer
Picking the straw from our clothes
See how the breeze has softened
Everything pauses in the night.


Lyrics submitted by iNclet

Everything Merges with the Night Lyrics as written by Brian Eno

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

Lyrics powered by LyricFind

Everything Merges with the Night song meanings
Add Your Thoughts

6 Comments

sort form View by:
  • +1
    General Comment

    What does this song mean to you?

    everything

    a the wonderon May 31, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    this song carries such a beautiful emotional weight

    youeatpoopon May 11, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    there is a key to the universe in this song. Good God what a freakish genius is Eno.

    orphan_yachtson August 07, 2008   Link
  • 0
    Song Meaning

    So the meaning can be whatever you want. I doubt this song is meant to convey something literal. Something surreal to evoke a response.

    But isn't it funny how the part about the volcanoe seems to have a counterpart in reality? There's an island in the Galapagos called Santiago. It's formed from two volcanoes. And being an island, it "floats like a cushion on the sea" in a manner of speaking. Wonder if Eno had heard of the island... maybe couldn't sleep with the fear of volcanic activity.

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SantiagoIsland%28Gal%C3%A1pagos%29

    normlomanon December 21, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I was just thinking of this song and the phrase "Santiago/under the volcano" struck me. It occurred to me that it was only a couple of years or so after the coup in Chile when Eno wrote this song. I can't read a direct comment on the coup into the song, but unless he specifically had another Santiago in mind it's difficult to think he could have referred to it without thinking about the repression in Chile. Perhaps there was something more deliberate in it to start with and it got changed for artistic reasons. Of course with Oblique Strategies in play there might have been some other consideration at work.

    PaulH42on August 28, 2022   Link
  • 0
    My Interpretation

    I guess it's a song about love. "Rosalie" is the name that represents Love in this song. It's about a love that has been in a certain way removed, but maybe is returning. During the separation from love, standing and waiting, the Narrator gives out different descriptions for everyone he sees. I wonder why he does that. Maybe he is trying to help other people to encounter their "Rosalies". Or maybe he is trying to descript "Rosalie" into those people, trying to convert them into Rosalie, in a certain way. "Rosalie" may not even indicate a specific person, but something like "roses". Something beautiful but maybe with a thorn! Like Love.

    And I love this verse, "Everything Merges With The Night". It sounds very mysterious and true to me. It is with the Night that everything merges. We fail to perceive many sources of light in the constant and strong light of the Day. But in the Night we can see a more profound universe maybe, reflected in the light of the Stars. It is also in the Night that our life is more quiet, away from distracting noises. And it is the Night also the moment when we can be the most alone with ourselves, if so we wish.

    Santiago is the place where the Narrator lives, in the Night. In one side, it has the volcano with it's Fire activity and the danger of burning. In the other side, there is the possibility that the Sea swallow the whole city. Santiago floats between the two. But under the Volcano, even without it's eruption, there is a strong activity; an activity strong enough to left the Narrator awakened at the Night, in a moment where everything merges, ponders, and is in silence, because everything have paused for an instant. The breeze has softened.

    And what happens after the Pause? Maybe the Dawn? The Coming of Love? Maybe Brian Eno have sung about it in another song...

    igorvisentinon October 16, 2022   Link

Add your thoughts

Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.

Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!

More Featured Meanings

Album art
Holiday
Bee Gees
@[Diderik:33655] "Your a holiday!" Was a popular term used in the 50s/60s to compliment someone on their all around. For example, not only are they beautiful, but they are fun and kind too ... just an all around "holiday". I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
Album art
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988. "'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it." "There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
Album art
I Can't Go To Sleep
Wu-Tang Clan
This song is written as the perspective of the boys in the street, as a whole, and what path they are going to choose as they get older and grow into men. (This is why the music video takes place in an orphanage.) The seen, and unseen collective suffering is imbedded in the boys’ mind, consciously or subconsciously, and is haunting them. Which path will the boys choose? Issac Hayes is the voice of reason, maybe God, the angel on his shoulder, or the voice of his forefathers from beyond the grave who can see the big picture and are pleading with the boys not to continue the violence and pattern of killing their brothers, but to rise above. The most beautiful song and has so many levels. Racism towards African Americans in America would not exist if everyone sat down and listened to this song and understood the history behind the words. The power, fear, pleading in RZA and Ghostface voices are genuine and powerful. Issac Hayes’ strong voice makes the perfect strong father figure, who is possibly from beyond the grave.
Album art
No Surprises
Radiohead
Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
Album art
Punchline
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.