Babylon

"Let go of your heart, let go of your head, and feel it now." I really like that line... it just reminds me that sometimes you have to stop trying so hard to control everything in life and just be.

This is just a suggestion of why it might be called Babylon, go with me on this one without freaking out...

In the Old Testament of the Bible, the Jews went after every God except for their own. When they were enslaved in Babylon they realized how good God was to them and missed being in the promised land.

So how the heck does this relate to this song? Well...Sometimes we don't know how much we've lost until we have what we think we want. In this song...it sounds like he left the girl because of selfishness and bitterness. He wanted to leave her for his own reasons, but now that he's isolated from her he sees how amazing and perfect she really is. Babylon in this case is the state of heartbreak and contemplation that he's experiencing.

Now, I want you to know that I'm not saying this is a religious/christian song. I'm not saying that at all, but David Gray has used biblical allusions in his songs a few times in the past. And this is definitely a song about love, not religion.

Just a suggestion...

I'm going to disagree with those who think Babylon is supposed to be some utopia. The most famous reference to Babylon by far is Psalm 137, talking about the Jewish captivity and diaspora in Babylon: "By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.... For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song.... How shall we sing the LORD's song in a strange land? If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning."

Babylon--far from utopia--represents loss, loneliness, confusion, bewilderment, and longing. The utopia, by contrast, is Jerusalem. The psalmist can never forget Jerusalem, even in all the sensual delights in Babylon.

For Gray's song, I think the meaning is very similar to this psalm. The narrator goes through all the stages of loss. On the first day (Friday) he is just sitting around remembering what he lost. In fact, he regrets even becoming attached to her in the first place. The next day (Saturday) he's trying to forget about the whole thing by going a little bit wild. "Chemicals" might represent drugs/alcohol or it might just be an adrenaline rush. But even in the midst of this pleasure, he just feels his loss even more clearly, "only wish that you were here." He realizes he was simply afraid the whole time. Far from regretting getting to know her, now he regrets only that he didn't "show you how I really feel."

Then comes the chorus, which is great just in its simple message: If you are lonely, if you have lost, or whatever-- "If you want it/ Come and get it/ For crying out loud!" Don't let your heart or head get in the way! If you are in Babylon, get out! My love was never really in doubt, somehow something just got in the way...

On Sunday, he is thinking about finding her again, wondering "where it is you might be going to." Of course, after all his doubt, wandering, and sadness, he finds what he was looking for all along when he comes back home, she was waiting, "smiling there." Happy ending.

The only question then: Who is 'she'? What is your 'Jerusalem'? Who/what is the one thing that YOU have been looking for all along? What are you waiting for?

I definately agree with JimmyJazz about the tower of Babel, but I would say its more about communication and emotional barriers in general. "To ever open up my heart to all that jealousy, that bitterness, that ridicule". Hes referring to how the fear of the opinions of others and the fear of the failure has stopped him from living his life. He stuck at a "red light". Then, the next night, he "pushes through the crowd he sees" and can see clearly. The chorus then clearly explains the meaning of the song by saying "let go of your heart, let go your head, and feel it now". In other words, he stops thinking and starts doing. I would say its more of a "break through whats holding you back" type song instead of one focused on a relationship.

Babylon (ancient city) ( “gate of God”), one of the most important cities of the ancient world, whose location today is marked by a broad area of ruins just east of the Euphrates River, 56 miles south of Baghdad, Iraq. Babylon was the capital of Babylonia in the 2nd and 1st millennia BC. In antiquity the city profited from its location extending across the main overland trade route connecting the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean. http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761560431/Babylon_(ancient_city).html

Babylon represented the very finest education, economic opportunity, and modern civilization. Babylon = Utopia. Ironically, it was the very reason for its demise. Babylon would eventually fall because of greed, from the Babylonians and from outsiders looking to conquer new land.

I believe that the reason that David Gray mentions Babylon is because of the historical perspective that I just mentioned. A relationship between two people that was, or should have been, perfect falls apart.

As a side note, the word Utopia comes from “the perfect place… that does not exist”.

My view on what this song means is quite different to a lot that I've read on here. The way I see it is he's not talking about a love relationship with another being, he's talking to himself. He starting to see society and the world around him in a different light - how we're controlled by money, power, lies etc.

'You know I'm seeing it so clear I've been afraid To tell you how I really feel Admit to some of those bad mistakes I've made'

This is him talking to his previous self/ state of mind.. those 'bad mistakes' are him getting lost or wrapped up.. or 'blind' as he says.

'The love that I was Giving you was Never in doubt Let go your heart Let go your head And feel it now'

Like the majority of us we live our lives striving for material goods, money, big house without ever questioning/ doubting that this is not a true existence.. the only way to see this point of view it to let go of what you 'know' and think fresh.

I believe his reference to babylon is simply authority/ power/ cities.

The realisation in your self that you've lived a big portion of your life without once questioning anything can be a hard one to digest.

But this is just how I see it, each to their own opinion :)

Jeez, all of these comments and nobody's mentioned the Tower of Babel? Which happened to be located in BABYLON? And represents the "confusion of tongues"? Y'all need to read more. :) Anyway, that's what Babylon represents in the song: the misery caused by miscommunication and the inability of men and women to communicate using terms they can agree on. "Let go your heart Let go your head And feel it now" is about learning to communicate on a non verbal level.

i think this song is reflecting on an argument with a loved one. he starts with friday night after the argument everything changing green to red, thinking of the situatoions in his head and how he was jealous and bitter. in the second verse he starts to realise that he is wrong, things are changing red to green, he's thinking of how he can make it up to her "chemicals running thru my bloodstream" and "only wish that you were here to show you how i really feel, admit to some of those bad mistakes ive made". by the third verse hes thinking how hes made such a mistake after he goes to see her and shes not there, but as he returns home, to his surprise, shes waiting for him. the days dont actually represent days, i just think they represent the stages of feelings a person passes thru in such an instance. the chorus is stressing that the loved one should understand that their love was never in doubt, so let go of your heart and head and embrace the fact that i love you so much and im sorry.

I actually thought he said, "Agolly aha Agolly ahey!!" but it's actual lyrics of "let go your heart, 'et go your head, and feel it now"

this song doesn't so much mean something to me as it makes me feel something. it feels to me like a moment similar to when you can feel the sun on your face as your walking through downtown and you're smiling thinking of someone you love. i put it on my list of songs that sound like a feeling / sound as if they existed before they were written. it's beautiful... definitely one of my favorites. david gray is a musical genious.