Ed Sheeran tells a story of unsuccessfully trying to feel “Amazing.” This track is about the being weighed down by emotional stress despite valiant attempts to find some positivity in the situation. This track was written by Ed Sheeran from the perspective of his friend. From the track, we see this person fall deeper into the negative thoughts and slide further down the path of mental torment with every lyric.
She calls me from the cold
Just when I was low, feeling short of stable
And all that she intends
And all she keeps inside isn't on the label
She says she's ashamed
Can she take me for awhile
Can I be a friend, we'll forget the past
Or maybe I'm not able
And I break at the bend
We're here and now, will we ever be again
'Cause I have found
All that shimmers in this world is sure to fade
Away again
She dreams a champagne dream
Strawberry surprise, pink linen on white paper
Lavender and cream
Fields of butterflies, reality escapes her
She says that love is for fools that fall behind,
And I'm somewhere between
Never really know
A killer from a savior
'Til I break at the bend
We're here and now, will we ever be again
'Cause I have found
All that shimmers in this world is sure to fade
Away again
It's too far away for me to hold
Too far away....
It's too far away for me to hold
Too far away....
It's too far away for me to hold
Too far away....
It's too far away for me to hold
Too far away....
It's too far away for me to hold
Too far away....
It's too far away for me to hold
Too far away....
Guess I'll let it go....
Just when I was low, feeling short of stable
And all that she intends
And all she keeps inside isn't on the label
She says she's ashamed
Can she take me for awhile
Can I be a friend, we'll forget the past
Or maybe I'm not able
And I break at the bend
We're here and now, will we ever be again
'Cause I have found
All that shimmers in this world is sure to fade
Away again
She dreams a champagne dream
Strawberry surprise, pink linen on white paper
Lavender and cream
Fields of butterflies, reality escapes her
She says that love is for fools that fall behind,
And I'm somewhere between
Never really know
A killer from a savior
'Til I break at the bend
We're here and now, will we ever be again
'Cause I have found
All that shimmers in this world is sure to fade
Away again
It's too far away for me to hold
Too far away....
It's too far away for me to hold
Too far away....
It's too far away for me to hold
Too far away....
It's too far away for me to hold
Too far away....
It's too far away for me to hold
Too far away....
It's too far away for me to hold
Too far away....
Guess I'll let it go....
Lyrics submitted by yc324
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More Featured Meanings
Amazing
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.
Sunglasses at Night
Corey Hart
Corey Hart
In the 1980s, sunglasses were a common fashion for people who wanted to adopt a "tough guy" persona (note all the cop shows from that era -- Simon & Simon, Miami Vice, etc. -- where the lead characters wore shades). So I think this song is about a guy who wears shades as a way of hiding his insecurity after learning that his girlfriend is cheating on him. He's trying to pretend that he's a "tough guy" to hide the fact that his girlfriend's affair is disturbing him.
System
Mel And Kim
Mel And Kim
Just listening for the 784,654th time....and it's just perfect in every way. Just incredible. The only reason it was remade was to scoop up a boatload of money from a more modern and accepting audience. But it is a completely different song than the other one that sounds slapped together in a few takes without a thought for the meaning.
This song captivates me still, after 50+ years. Takes me to the deep South and the poverty of some who lived thru truly hard times. And the powerful spirit of a poor young girl being abandoned to her future with only a red dress and her wits to keep her alive.
She not only stayed alive, she turned her hard beginnings around, became self sufficient, successful and someone with respect for herself. She didn't let the naysayers and judgers stop her. She's the one sitting in the drivers seat at the end.
So, not a song about a poor girl, but a song of hope and how you can rise up no matter how far down you started.
There is a huge difference between a singer who simply belts out a song that is on a page in front of them, and someone who can convey an entire experience with their voice. Telling not just a story with words, but taking you inside it and making you feel like you are there, with their interpretation.
Here's what Carl (Lead Singer) said about the song:
Was the song shimmer about any one girl in particular??? Fuel_Carl: "Yes, it actually was. A girl I dated in college and I thought -- at one time we got close to getting married and then she married someone else. Then she called me two years later. It was weird. Two lives that are so interconnected -- then your worlds collide again...it's pretty intense."
Really?! dats wut happened to me. n diz song brings me memories from a relationship . i was 15 though n he was 20. i was young n didn know what i had.we broke up n he promised to be there for me no matter wat n he stopd callin me den two months later he was engaged. a couple of more later married n i just cried myself to sleep every night. its been almost 2 years n i just dont know wat went wrong. i say it was da age difference but i never got a call bak to make it all better. i sometimes wonder if well see each other later on in life n if ill b strong enough to not throw myself into his arms n ask him wut i did wrong:(<br />
@missinusince07: <br /> <br /> you - 15<br /> him - 20 = pedophile<br /> <br /> And p-l-e-a-s-e write the words the way they are spelled, not the way you say them. Jeez.
@janettetsmith<br /> <br /> Big assumption there, you may be interested to know that with other people a relationship doesn't have to involve a horizontal folk dance. More sympathy and less pedantry would be nice too :)<br /> <br /> @missinusince07 <br /> <br /> I don't know exactly why, but this is one of few songs that can make tears well in my eyes. Much to the amusement of my 10yo song. And don't blame yourself at all, as painful as it may seem you were on different trajectories. Be true to yourself and your path
@Jams very similar thing happened to me. the first woman i fell in love with, we were engaged we kind of split up to work on each other and she ended up marrying some other guy. a few years later she added me on facebook and hated her life, said shed have killed herself if not for her kids. that if she knew some of the things she knew before she married the guy she wouldnt have. we became friends again for a short time, and she even watched my boys from my current marriage. then she blocked me and we havent spoken mcuh since then. it killed me. its been almost 13 years since we were together and about 11 since we broke up. about 9 since we were on good terms as friends.<br />
this song has a pretty deep meaning i think, about a guy dating a kinda messed up girl..and he can't tell that he is..and she's bring him down..well that's my view of the song...the last verse is pretty clear i think..she dreams all the "far out" dreams..and reality escapes her..and that love is for fools that fall behind..love holds you back..and he's somewhere in between..letting all this bring him down..he never really knows a killer from a savior..he can't tell the difference from her..he thinks she's the best thing to happen to him..but she's slowly killing him..well that's what i think anyway
Here's the real, on the song, and it's not what you think. It seems that the real meaning is easily lost amongst us simpletons. The standard on this forum seems to break down the song, line for line, so I shall follow suit. The song is a simple breakdown of the relationship between the Sun and the earth, and all on it. "She calls me from the cold" - She, being the Sun, in the cold of space… "Just when I was low, feeling short of stable" - I, being the earth and humans and the state of the planet's destruction from man, feels low and unstable. "And all that she intends and all she keeps inside, isn't on the label" - The extreme, destructive force that she will ultimately release on the entire solar system, is her true intentions and no one knows what is in the center of the sun or what causes it. "She says she's ashamed and can she take me for awhile?" - There would be shame in sharing time with someone you intended to destroy and I know the words say "awhile" but everyone has to admit it sounds like he sings "a whirl". Either word explains the time spent in direct relation to one another. "And can I be a friend, we'll forget the past, but maybe I'm not able" - The friendship is that She actually provides a life source for the entire planet, but any past Extinction level event caused by the sun can easily remain unknown or forgotten but shouldn't be, by it's inhabitants. "And I break at the bend" - Once the Sun grows to the point of scorching the earth when the elliptical pattern sends us close again it will be the breaking point of life surviving on the planet. [Chorus] "We're here and now, but will we ever be again" - this is a dual example of reality in our minds and this dimension. Here and now is truly all that applies in life since it could all end in a second, but we don’t live that way as a society, where instead, we live correcting the past or planning for the future, when, if we ever, are living here and now, meeting our immediate needs, (not wants and desires) equally distributing the resources available in a way to meet the most needs. "'cause I have found all that shimmers in this world is sure to fade away, again." All natural light we experience here is a direct result of the sun and it will end and be dark in this region again, as it was before there was a sun here. "She dreams a champagne dream" - If you're going to dream, dream big! She knows she's going to explode and the biggest star explosion, we are aware of, is the champagne super nova. Also note that the music bursts into loud, explosive, hard rock tempo, with this line in the song, and it totally jams. "Strawberry surprise, pink linen on white paper" - colorful descriptions of humans, red jelly insides, pink skin on white bones, and a fragile description applied. "Lavender and cream, fields of butterflies, reality escapes her" - all the lavenders and creams we use to protect ourselves from her, simple existences we know as reality, have no meaning to her. "She says that love is for fools who fall behind" - Love is generally a possessive statement, feelings related to persons seeking attachment. If you love the relationship, (earth and sun) possessively, with the hope of preserving its love for eternity, instead of finding a way for the species to survive in a new location, we will be left behind and destroyed. "And I'm somewhere in between" - Earth has reached its half life. "I never really know a killer from a savior, till I break at the bend" - regardless of beliefs, most religions in history of man, are but anthropomorphized for the worship of the sun. Even Jesus Christ is a copy of Egyptian religion and similar stories are the only reference to the behaviors of the sun and the earth's relationship. The sun is our ultimate killer, leading to our bodies decay and the earths decay, but is also the provider of life and is represented, by us, as a Savior, throughout history. When we break at the bend, the truth will be revealed and then we'll know for sure. "It's too far away for me to hold, it's too far away… guess I'll let it go?" - too far away, in actual space and actual time, as well as in our thoughts, for any of us to truly grasp, as a concept of singularity of the species, so I guess I'll let the conversation or thought just go!
And the album title is SUNBURN!!!!
fucking brilliant, these comments are why I enjoy reading interpretations of song meanings
You are simply brilliant!!! How long did you think about this for?! At first I thought how high is this guy, but it really does make sense. Nice interpretation
"...and it totally jams." Dude for sure.
Wait! I just realized something! If you look at the sunburn album cover, It shows fire on the ground and a man looking towards the sun as if confused and frightened. This supports trieyeopen's comment. He looks confused as the sun causes havoc on the world, as he thought that they were coinciding in friendship.
@trieyeopen its a stretch but i can see your interpretation. I enjoy these though cus everyone says the same thing and has pretty much the same opinion and understanding of what ever song is the topic. This is why i come here. to see some interpretations that i would never have considered. kudos
@trieyeopen the champagne dreams she has (She dreams a champagne dream<br /> Strawberry surprise, pink linen and white paper<br /> Lavender and cream) is obvious dreams of marriage and all the trimmings.. the champagne supernova was not t real it was a song by oasis and the supernova that was named champagne supernova was actully named in honor of the oasis song that came out in 1996. and shimmer came out in 1998 and the naming of the supernova was in 2003<br /> <br /> en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SN_2003fg<br /> <br /> i still like your interpretation though. as humans we look for meaning in anything we see. even the other replies chimed in about the album name and the cover and they gave it credence based on interpretation.. i hate to be a buster but when i said your interpretation was a stretch it really is.. but still i like it.
@trieyeopen THis is awesome. I do the same things with songs. I'm usually very wrong most times. Its easy to look at it after its written, but are these guys really THAT clever to come up with that? That's like Chuckles Manson saying the Beatles White Album was about him.
@trieyeopen Man, sounds like the kind of B.S. Captain Planet (first name Gaylord) would be trying to use to frighten children into becoming Green Weenies. Remember, "THE POWER IS YOURS!" Gimme a break, doofus!
@trieyeopen That’s a very eloquent assessment, and it’s entirely possible, but I have a feeling it’s a song about a girl he used to f*ck.
This song is so amazing. This is one of the few songs that I could listen to over and over and over and never get tired of it. Although i think this song has an underlying sad meaning of not being able to go back to the past, this song for some reason just gives me the happiest feeling. It's one of the best songs to put on in if your in the car with a bunch of friends and you can just blast it and everyone can sing to it.
It's interesting how the same song affects people differently. I go more with the underlying sad as it makes me very emotional, but I can definitely listen to it over and over, as I'm doing now.
I agree that that I see the underlying sadness of the song, and it's not one of those songs that makes me happy. I find it to be about someone who broke his heart and how he was so happy in the past but he can never go back to that. "All that shimmers in this world is sure to fade away", meaning everything that's good fades away and never comes back. It's all fleeting. He tries to hang on that time, but it slips his grasp, and that's what the line "too far away for me to hold" means. He is left heartbroken and both the love of his life and his happiness are too far away for him to hold, and he has to let it all go. It's one of those songs that is really emotional and resonates deeply.
LiveUrLife- I realize you made your posting over a year ago, but just coming across it now still angers me. You are correct in that Carl Bell is not the lead singer. But before making smart comments, try purchasing the actual album and reading the liner notes. There you would learn that though he is the guitarist, he writes all the brilliant music that Fuel performs.
She killed his spirit when she left
@Romantic_mi This is what I see in the song as well. It's a sad, but sweet song.He tries to hold on to her and the happiness he felt with her, but it slips away after she goes a separate way and leaves him. And now he's left all alone as all that was good in his life has faded away. He can't return to that place in the past, and all he has now is the memories, which bring far more pain than joy, because it's difficult to remember a time when you were happy and know you can never have that again in this life. The past becomes "too far away for him to hold", and begins to seem like a dream now that all he feels is despair. That's the way I see this song.
i think his girlfriend is too idealistic, and he's too jadaed to deal...but i'm no expert
I'll interpret this song line by line.:D
She calls me from the cold-the girl that left him comes back to him when her life has gone sour Just when I was low, feeling short of stable-still when he misses her, having no stability in life And all that she intends-her true intentions And all she keeps inside isn't on the label-can't be seen because she hides them She says she's ashamed-says she's ashamed of how things ended. Can she take me for awhile-she wants to be in his life again Can I be a friend, we'll forget the past-at the least a friend, and can they forget the past? Or maybe I'm not able-but he's not sure if he can foget how she was to him And I break at the bend-and he "breaks" from trying to bend himself from the person he is to the one she wants him to be
We're here and now, will we ever be again-she's back now, will they ever have a second chance? 'Cause I have found-he's realized All that shimmers in this world is sure to fade-anything that is good, will never stay that way Away again-ever
She dreams a champagne dream-she dreams a perfect life Strawberry surprise, pink linen on white paper-"" Lavender and cream-"" Fields of butterflies, reality escapes her-everything she believes, is not true She says that love is for fools that fall behind,-this line confuses me..ha And I'm somewhere between-he's somewhere in between the love triangle Never really know-he never knows A killer from a savior-the girl is there to save him or ruin him more 'Til I break at the bend-and breaks again
We're here and now, will we ever be again-same 'Cause I have found-same All that shimmers in this world is sure to fade Away again-same
It's too far away for me to hold Too far away....-she's been gone for so long that the love he once had fornher is to far for him to get back It's too far away for me to hold Too far away....
It's too far away for me to hold Too far away.... It's too far away for me to hold Too far away.... It's too far away for me to hold Too far away....
It's too far away for me to hold Too far away....
Guess I'll let it go.... -so even though he knows he loves her, he has to give her up because she will never be the girl he wants
^^Perfect interpretation, but that line about "love is for only fools that fall behind" means that she's having fun and love isn't in the equation. She just wants to have fun and not worry about love yet, but he's behind in her seek for enjoyment.
Loved your interpretation.
@chilimak20
@chilimak20 Your exactly right! I've a been rock musician/songwriter since the late 80's. It's basically a break up song in different packaging. He's saying, they were once together, she calls him out of the blue just when his heart was healing & thought she might restart their relationship & is talking about marriage etc. He's at the point where he's isn't quite over her & unfortunately vulnerable enough to take her back regardless of how the relationship ended.<br /> He's pretty sure that if he takes her back, she'll break his heart again. So he's thinking out loud, "do I try this again? Can I love her all over again? Will it be different? <br /> Seems we've all been there. Music is timeless & regardless what the writer intended, we all have our interpretations of songs. That's the beauty of music....<br /> :(Rexx Anthony Michaels)
The key to this song is and i break at the bend. Means that he chooses the familiar over the Unknown. He chooses to go back to her even though he thinks she isnt right for him, because the one that he dreams about (who shimmers) is too far away for him to hold.
So the song is about him settling for her.
@Raycharles01 they always settle
@Raycharles01 they always settle
@Raycharles01 they always settle
I've always had the personal belief that the song is about being in love with someone out of your league, and it eats away at you has try your best to become hers. "All that shimmers in this world is sure to fade-anything that is good, will never stay that way" means to me that everything in this world you want is worthless without her. "She dreams a champagne dream" means to me how someone can be luxurious to you and dream of better things than you. This applies to my case of having a crush on a girl who is most definately more decent than I am, and has ambitious dreams.