How would you describe the feeling of being in love? For Ed Sheeran, the word is “Magical.” in HIS three-minute album opener, he makes an attempt to capture the beauty and delicacy of true love with words. He describes the magic of it all over a bright Pop song produced by Aaron Dessner.
if you open up the cage
you will hurt yourself
the king said it's forbidden
or you may get hell
but the prisoner lets you know
where to find the key
under her satin pillow
yes, there it has to be
modesty is fine but it doesn't take you very far
when you make your decision
don't be afraid of the dark
longing for the golden ball
that it will be yours for keeps
be sure about it as you saw
so shall you reap
lets take a ride on iron john's shoulders
he has more gold than anybody in this world
lets tak a ride, hey-ho on iron john
he has more gold
than anybody in this world
jump on the train to nowhere
from now on you are free
after rising from the ashes
you'll become a mystery
too many of those strange injections, too many gazes at the sun
the lady says, well that's the business, running after no.1
for all their childish daydreams you caught their falling stars
just for the cheapest contracts you signed your autograph
and if you started much too early, therefore you stopped too late
make sure no one can stop you now, here comes the ultimate
he will be with you, he will be there when you call out the magic words..
you will hurt yourself
the king said it's forbidden
or you may get hell
but the prisoner lets you know
where to find the key
under her satin pillow
yes, there it has to be
modesty is fine but it doesn't take you very far
when you make your decision
don't be afraid of the dark
longing for the golden ball
that it will be yours for keeps
be sure about it as you saw
so shall you reap
lets take a ride on iron john's shoulders
he has more gold than anybody in this world
lets tak a ride, hey-ho on iron john
he has more gold
than anybody in this world
jump on the train to nowhere
from now on you are free
after rising from the ashes
you'll become a mystery
too many of those strange injections, too many gazes at the sun
the lady says, well that's the business, running after no.1
for all their childish daydreams you caught their falling stars
just for the cheapest contracts you signed your autograph
and if you started much too early, therefore you stopped too late
make sure no one can stop you now, here comes the ultimate
he will be with you, he will be there when you call out the magic words..
Lyrics submitted by Ice
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

Magical
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran

Plastic Bag
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Plastic Bag” is a song about searching for an escape from personal problems and hoping to find it in the lively atmosphere of a Saturday night party. Ed Sheeran tells the story of his friend and the myriad of troubles he is going through. Unable to find any solutions, this friend seeks a last resort in a party and the vanity that comes with it.
“I overthink and have trouble sleepin’ / All purpose gone and don’t have a reason / And there’s no doctor to stop this bleedin’ / So I left home and jumped in the deep end,” Ed Sheeran sings in verse one. He continues by adding that this person is feeling the weight of having disappointed his father and doesn’t have any friends to rely on in this difficult moment. In the second verse, Ed sings about the role of grief in his friend’s plight and his dwindling faith in prayer. “Saturday night is givin’ me a reason to rely on the strobe lights / The lifeline of a promise in a shot glass, and I’ll take that / If you’re givin’ out love from a plastic bag,” Ed sings on the chorus, as his friend turns to new vices in hopes of feeling better.

Trouble Breathing
Alkaline Trio
Alkaline Trio
While the obvious connections with suicide or alcoholism could be drawn easily, more subtly this song could be about someone who views the world through a negative lens constantly and how as much as the writer tries to show the beauty in the world, this person refuses to see it. It's one or another between the rope and the bottle. There is no good option for this person. They can't see it. Skiba sings it in a kind of exasperated way like He's tired of hearing this negative view constantly and just allowing that person to continue feeling the way they feel knowing he can't do anything about it. You can hear it when he says maybe you're a vampire.

Somewhere Only We Know
Keane
Keane
Per the FAQ on Keane's website, Keane's drummer Richard Hughes, stated the following:
"We've been asked whether "Somewhere Only We Know" is about a specific place, and Tim has been saying that, for him, or us as individuals, it might be about a geographical space, or a feeling; it can mean something individual to each person, and they can interpret it to a memory of theirs... It's perhaps more of a theme rather than a specific message... Feelings that may be universal, without necessarily being totally specific to us, or a place, or a time..."
With the nostalgic sentiment and the overall tone of the song, I think Keane is attempting to express a Portuguese term known as 'saudade', which does not have a direct English translation but roughly means "that which we remember because it is gone."

Indigo
Of Mice & Men
Of Mice & Men
This track is about is about questioning why the sky would choose to be blue if it had the choice to be anything else, “blue also meaning sad,” states frontman Aaron Pauley. “It's about comforting a loved one in a time of loss by telling them you feel blue, too.”