She Ionizes and Atomizes

this song means a lot to me because sunlight is the most beautiful mind blowing special thing there is. and i despise lights because they resemble sunlight in no way so i udnerstood exactly what eh was talking about.

its a girl whos maybe fucked up and shes dating a guy and she leaves. he tries so hard pulls harderthan grvaity but shessunlight and shes gone. and he gets another girl its distraction but its not real. this girl was sunlight beautiful and unbelievable.

you can turn on every light in the house but it will never be as bright or glow as much as sunlight will do. im feeling empty (shes depressed has problems?) the real lights sunlight can make you heavy but never ever really equal empty flourescent lights will always equal empty. sunlight as life hes messed up too but she choses to go out and experiences thigns anyway and he choses to distract himself. or maybe she is going out into the world and wont take any emdication for her problems and he does to solve them and acts like thigns are fine. because the real lights can make you heavy but never ever really equal empty. the most beautiful person can be a disaster- can make you heavy- but will never be empty like any random non descript normal person and also life can be havy but youll still feel things on mediation or with distractions youll never feel.

i dont know. i cant explain it. because i know the difference between sunlight and a light bulb. and it makes a world of difference to me.

the music in this song is also brilliant.

Reading these replies, I realized that there are not any people who are chemists or physicists. I know a bit about ionic and covalent bonds from college biology..

An ionic bond is when two atoms, rather than sharing one or more electrons, one completely donates an electron to another resulting in one strongly positively charged ion, and one negatively charged ion. This creates a strong bond between the two atoms or now, ions. It explains why salt crystals are so hard to break apart.

"She ionizes and atomizes" Makes me think that the couple forms, and she leaves him. "then turns to sunlight" could either mean that Brock is either realizing she's "the one" as soon as she leaves. Or that she turns to her own sunlight which is another guy, or just a lifestyle away from Isaac. I think it is maybe the latter. The rest is based on how you see the first part I guess.

I think I've finally understood the meaning of "She Ionizes and Atomizes" In chemistry, one atom can take the other atom's electron, giving the atoms a positive and a negative charge respectively. In transferred sense, this means that the girl takes his heart and then dissolves into atoms(she disappears from his life); these atoms turn into sunlight, representing love. Of course, as others have mentioned, only flourescent light, and not real sunlight, shines upon her, meaning that she's not in love with him. My take on it anyway :)

Its comparing the girl to sunlight and calling her perfect. "she ionizes and atomizes then turns into sunlight"...."the real lights will make you heavy but never really empty flourescent light will always equal empty" hes saying shes the real thing, shes the sunlight and everything else is the flourescent light, empty. the sun is the source of life for every living thing in the world and isaac brock is saying this girl is the source of life for him. honestly brock is a fucking genius...to compare a girl in such a way that its so subtle and yet so beautiful without it sounding like a sappy love song...holy hell. modest mouse is god...although i do like bellyful of swans interpretation as well. but to me its not about trouble in a relationship hes saying he needs her or he will be empty like a flourescent lightbulb.

God I love this song. and Modest Mouse. I can't think of any other band that leaves people so speechless. To love someone so much that they are your sunlight, they make you full and complete inside. You are empty when they leave. I love how Isaac is using scientific diction to explain something so un-scientific like love. So god damn beautiful

i believe the girl in this relationship wasn't over a past relationship or just got into things too quick.
so while Issac was completely in love, the girl feels pressured to give him back the same love, thus creating her fluorescent lights.
she makes these lights because she knows it isn't love, but she's too deep in the relationship to step out of it. she tries to make herself feel better by pretending it's love, but just isn't.

i think its a love song but the person is feeling empty about the relationship

yeah i agree.... light is untouchable but its always there... probably like her. he pulls harder than gravity trying to get things together but light is unefected by gravity.... i dont know.... thats what i get from it.... its one of their best songs i think.... well... i cant decide what their best song is....

"he realizes and itemizes pulls harder than gravity"

he knows she's somewhat untouchable for the moment and he's "itemizing" i.e. getting his priorities in order. obviously she comes in high on the list since he's pulling harder than gravity.

"flourescent lightbulbs will make and absense of dark, but the light just aint there still and she said 'i'm feeling empty, the real lights can make you heavy but never ever really empty flourescent lights will always equal empty.' "

that's talking about no matter how many lightbulbs you have, artificial light is not even half as good or wanted or needed as actual sunlight.

I love how you can't even understand the first line at all. I remember listening with my dad and thinking Isaac said "Shit I (gibberish", as the first line. Then my dad got all pissed (he's strict about cursing in music), but when I checked the lyrics, I realized he wasn't cursing at all.