Black Balloon

To everyone who is saying "how is this song about drugs..?" or denying the fact that it is, please read because this is my absolute favorite song and at first i was confused but when i started looking into it, really thinking about each line, and when i sort of knew somebody where this song can sort of relate to, everything started making sense to me. It is known to goo goo dolls fans that supposedly this song was written about Robby's(bass player/vocalist)ex-wife who died from heroin. Honestly this song is so beautiful. I'll break it down line by line for you.

Baby's black balloon makes her fly --black balloon is a name for something that looks like a black balloon in which heroin comes in. "makes her fly" refers to her getting high

I almost fell into that hole in your life --whoevers prospective the song is sung by maybe almost tried it

And we're not thinking about tomorrow --the girl isn't thinking about how terrible heroin can effect her future and how much it really is hurting her

Cause you were the same as me, but on your knees --she wasn't that different from him besides the fact she used heroin. she was still a perosn with interests and hobbies and what not,although she was "on her knees" as in she was suffering

A thousand other boys could never reach you, how could I of been the one --He is so happy that she choose her because many couldn't get her

I saw the world spin beneath you --He was there when everything went down, when her addiction started

And scatter like ice from the spoon --This line means 2 things-its a description/visual of what happened with her life but also how they make heroin

That was your womb --This can either be figurative or she was really having a baby but it died inside of her because of her addiction

Coming down, the world turned over --This referring to when she would "come down from her high", she became a totally different person and it was all a bad experience.

Angels fall without you there --This mean that she died unfortunately

I go on as you get colder --Her life gets worse and he has to continue to live his life and move on even though it is hard as he watches her

Or are you someones prayer? --This means is somebody out there praying for you to live or is it too late?

You know the lies they always told you --This refers to the drug dealer telling her that heroin is good or it won't hurt her, while in reality those were all lies

And the love you never knew --This refers to some many people who supported her during the dark stage of her life, but she didn't realize and didn't want to listen to their help because she thought she was fine

Whats the things they never showed you --This also reffering to the lies and just everything about heroin and also what some family/friends never showed about their love for her and how much they cared, and with these things hidden, it could of been what killed her

That swallow the light from the sun, inside your room --The addiction took out all of the good in her life, and made her go through a real dark period of her life. "Inside your room" is just stating it wasn't the world going through a dark starge but her in particular

(chorus again) And there's no time left for losing --This is him telling the girl she has to stop using heroin before it is too late and she dies from it

When you stand they fall --This is about how her actions are really hurting people

chorus yet a little different; Coming down the years turned over --She died yet too early, you would think she would be much older but she was too young to die

And angels fall without you there --Same meaning from before, referring to her dying

I'll go on to bring you home --He wishes he could of done something else to help her, he wishes he could of brought her back to the old her that he fell in love with (pre-heroin)

All because I'm..All because I'm --This line is the only one that confuses me, I guess its up for interpretation. I think of it as he is trying to say something, yet he can't quite figure out what he is trying to say because he is always going to be devastated by her loss. He can't finish his thought because its too hard to get out, that why he never completed the sentence.

I'll become, what you became to me --he wants/wish he became the most important thing in her life, because she was the most important thing is his own life. I love this line, its really deep and perfect. It's so simple..yet means so much.

I hope I explained it well. I love this song so much, its my favorite song ever so as crazy as it seems, I don't have it on my iPod. I have 30+ GGD songs that I love on it, but not the studio version of this(I have the live--I originally bought it because I thought I liked it better but now I realize the studio version is perfect once you know what the meaning is. The studio version really tugs at my heart) This song is way too good for it because I only listen to it every once in a while opposed to everyday like the other GGD songs, simply because I want to preserve it. But I'm not worried--a song this beautiful, the beauty isn't going away.

This song IS about drugs. Heroin addicts wrap a black balloon around their arms in order to inject the drug into their veins. Maybe the guy in the song almost gets caught up in the drug use, or just allows himself to be enveloped in the girl's problems ("I almost fell into that hole in your life"). The boy wonders why he is the only person the girl trusts. He watches her life crumble before his eyes. The "ice from the spoon" refers to the drug that the girl heats on a spoon to prepare it for injection. "Comin' down the world turned over" refers to how she feels as her high wears away. He tries to save her by showing her the love she never felt and that she looks for in heroin. The drug is her "womb," or her shelter from the harsh realities of life. It was this that caused her death, despite the boy's attempts to save her. The lines "And I go on as you grow colder" and "Or are you someone's prayer?" reveals that heroin took her life. Though this is a sad demise, the song ends with hope. "And I'll become what you became to me" shows that the boy has learned what love is. The girl, with all her problems, enveloped the boy with her love and devotion, and this was important to him. He wants to be like that, minus the addiction. The girl taught him about love, an invaluable lesson, despite her untimely death.

the beauty of such songs are their openess to various interpretations

I love this song! I love all the Goo Goo Dolls Songs!

This song, according to the band's frontman Johnny Rzeznik, is about a woman with a heroin addiction and how her lover is desperately trying to save her. He has also said that it is about "seeing someone you love that is so great just screw up so bad."

some people think it is about a drug addict giving birth.(That was your womb) the baby lives but she die (And I go on as you get colder)

"And scatter like ice from the spoon"

I think that line is purely GENIUS. Great wording, great vision, just great! :)

You were the same as me but on your knees- Perhaps he's a "casual user". He does heroin once in a while, making them "the same", but she's completely addicted and brought to her "knees" by the drug. And to me, it's always seemed that he'd been trying to distance himself from her (almost fell into that hole in your life, and I'll go on as you get colder) He cares but he's cautious that her addiction may have a negative imapact on his life. Are you someone's prayer= He's saying that there's someone else out there praying for someone like her to come into their life. And I've always thought that at the end of the song (I'll lead you home) he got her into some sort of rehab program against her will. She hated him for doing that to her, but in a way she loved him for caring for her. He had the same sort of love/hate for her, hence the "I'll become what you became to me".

That's just what the songs allways seemed to say for me. PurpleGutterflower

"about a woman drifting away into hopelessness, is about Takac's ex-wife" "fcked up sht happens to good people sometimes"

apparently, john wrote it about robby's ex-wife, they both know what the song means, but they never ever ever talk about it.

I think this song is about a woman who is on drugs and is dying during child birth....Well let me just go over it a little at a time....

"Baby's black balloon makes her fly" (Do you know how if you morn someone you dress in black? and when a child is born people send like gifts and pretty balloons, well to her it was a black balloon she was dying from drugs and the balloon is for her baby) "I almost fell into that hole in your life" (the kid inside her almost got addicted to drugs also) "And you're not thinking about tomorrow" (basically what is says, just thinking of this moment) "Cause you were the same as me" (We are the same people meaning we are one) "But on your knees" (In child birth pain)

A thousand other boys could never reach you (meaning like sperm trying to reach the egg they couldnt make it they died inside her most likely from the drugs) How could I have been the one (he is saying how could I have made it) I saw the world spin beneath you (Meaning when she is giving birth shes lying on her back and the baby is coming out "spin beneath you") And scatter like ice from the spoon (drugs like how H is cooked on a spoon) That was your womb (meaning the drug entering her womb not so much her womeb but going to the baby meaning maybe the baby has a chance of dying from the drug)

Comin' down the world turned over (like the baby coming out of the womb when the woman is on her back) And angels fall without you there (She dies "Without you there" even angels would fall because of her death "angels fall" And I go on as you get colder (meaning the baby lives as she dies like as he goes on living she gets colder as in dying) Or are you someone's prayer? (meaning is someone praying for you to keep you alive)

You know the lies they always told you And the love you never knew What's the things they never showed you That swallowed the light from the sun Inside your room ( I think this part describes what happen the day she got pregnant. like "the lies they always told you" meaning hey drugs won't hurt and if we have sex you won't get pregnant. She never knew love so she just trusted the man "and the love you never knew" nobody taught her anything about drugs or safe sex"Things they never showed you"....."That swallowed the light from the sun Inside your room"...I think that part means like they swallowed her innocence from her body "Light from sun" Now she is just a dark lonely person. Inside your room i think means were they had sex when she got pregnant.

But that is just what I think.... Thank you for listening (if your just going to say Oh SHUT UP!! that's not right please don't respond I took a lot of my time trying to figure this out...and yes I might be a loser for doing that....But this is just what I think.

Thank you, Buddy

"about a woman drifting away into hopelessness, is about Takac's ex-wife" "fcked up sht happens to good people sometimes"

apparently, john wrote it about robby's ex-wife, they both know what the song means, but they never ever ever talk about it.