Bedshaped

"bedshaped is about feeling that you've been 'left behind' by an old friend or lover. and about hoping that you'll be reunited one day so that you can live out the end of your lives together the way you started them. i guess there's some anger at a friend who wants to move on in search of new, exciting, more sophisticated things, leaving behind the simple things you used to share....and a hope that they'll eventually want to get away from the bright lights and come back home. it's a sad and angry song, but also full of hope. i hope that makes sense. I think i'm right in saying that in hospital when someone is ill or infirm and has to spend a lot of time in bed they can become 'bedshaped'. it sounds a bit depressing...well i guess it is a bit depressing in reality, but in the context of the song i wanted to suggest old age and frailty, along the lines that i mentioned before about two old friends coming back together in the twilight of their lives. it's great that you guys like bedshaped...it's a song that means a lot to us." - Tim - messageboard This is from keane's faq page, tim answered this question on a message board. this is the best keane song though

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i think it's a combination of the ideas mentioned so far

"Many's the time I ran with you down The rainy roads of our old town Many the lives we lived in each day And buried altogether"

the couple had a long happy relationship but she left him (or vice versa)

"Don't laugh at me Don't look away You'll follow me back"

and he's begged and pleaded for her to come back but she thinks it's silly how he's reacted

"With the sun in your eyes And on your own Bedshaped And legs of stone You'll knock on my door And up we'll go In white light I don't think so"

now he's left dreaming about her coming back to him on her own. 'bedshaped' indicating that it's a dream (as in shaped by the bed, not shaped like a bed). the 'legs of stone' meaning that she'll never leave again.

"But what do I know What do I know? I know"

in his head he doubts she'll come back but he still believes she will in his heart

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The meaning behind 'Bedshaped' has been confirmed by Tim Rice-Oxley in a recent interview :)

The lyrics refer to old friends or girlfriends he knew in his 'old town' who inevitably moved away or he drifted away from over time. The song is about this drifting from people he used to know and reflects the slight hope that one day they will meet again in the future (you will knock on my door, and up we'll go) when they are too old to be moving around and travelling. 'Bedshaped', Rice-Oxley says, is a term his mother used to use in reference to hospital patients who had been in bed so long they'd lost their mobility and where in fact, shaped like a bed. In the song it is used to suggest old age, when people may also be in a similar state of restricted movement.

I know a lot of people interpret this song as a breakup song, or about two lovers drifting away from each other. While thats probably right, I've never seen it like that.

I'm agnostic, and don't know if I believe in a deity or not, so please don't be offended by the religious refrences I pressumed- they are in no way there to upset people of any religion, belief or idealogy

I've always interpreted it as a song about someone who was once very religious, but then a friend of his/hers dies very suddenly and it causes them to lose faith. He likes to think he'll see her again in a afterlife of some description, but can no longer bring himself to believe that, and instead concludes that there is nothing left of his loved one but a dead body, so he falls into a deep state of feeling foolish, uncertain and bitter. He wishes he could believe that her soul still lives on somewhere, but can't anymore.

Lets have a look at some of the lyrics; "Many the lives we lived in each day And buried altogether" "and buried altogether" I always thought meant "In the end we'll be buried in the ground. Everyone. So whats the point?" This is him thinking fondly back to memories of his deceased love (and the "lives we lived in each day") but then realising it doesn't matter because they'll all die eventually, and they'll be nothing left of them. No memories, no soul, no heaven.

"You'll knock on my door and up we'll go In white light I don't think so But what do I know What do I know I know"

The "white light" to me seems to signify the tunnel of light often associates with the journey to heaven/through purgatory. This is him trying to convince himself that his beloved has moved onto a better place and that he will see her again there. Then "I don't think so" seems to be him admitting hes not so sure anymore. "But what do I know? What do I know? I know." Seems to be a representative of his confusion and uncertainty. Him wavering between believing and not believing, partially because its easier to believe.

Really this is a heart rendering song.

yeah, exactly XDanny_TorrenceX, that's what I got from those lines too. I don't know if the whole song is sarcastic, but that part definitely is. Kind of laughing like "yeah, right, our future will never be perfect; there will never be a happy ending, but what the heck cuz it's gonna happen anyway."

But what about the "bedshaped"? What does that refer to?

Okay, I'm sorry for this. I thought I'd try and decipher the song, and the previous post helped encourage and convince me, but it's clear I know nothing about Keane. I don't know anything except the emotion I get from this song.

That's my problem. I only get emotion from songs, instead of their actual meaning. But hey, that's what this site is for, right? We can help and complete each other. So don't argue people, alright? Thanks.

peace again

--Mari

From the first time I heard this song, I was mesmerized by the lyrics and the arrangement of the music. And also, from the first time I heard it - I had always interpreted the word 'Bedshaped' as in 'Dreaming'. Which makes sense to me, because he talks about things he and this other person will do (in his dreams) - 'bedshaped' but that the dreams have 'legs of stone' - meaning they will never do the things he dreams of. I am probably wrong about my take on this, but this is how I always understood this song...

I know its probably been said a lot by now but i think its a bout a person who left their roots. Now that person laughs and denies their past "And buried altogether". Now a person from their past is trying to reconnect with them but he/she says that they are just holding him/her back and keeping him/her from moving on. Deep down though he/ or she wants to return to what they once had "You'll knock on my door And up we'll go In white light"

What if he means that when she does come back, it won't be perfect and they won't go up in 'a white light'... And with bedshaped it is how he is describing her legs. Bedshaped and stone like. I'm not sure what he means by bedshaped but it is definitely descriptive. This is by far my favourite Keane song. :D

Tim Rice-Oxley said this about it:

"[The song] is about feeling that you've been "left behind" by an old friend or lover, and about hoping that you'll be reunited one day so that you can live out the end of your lives together the way you started them (...) a hope that they'll eventually want to get away from the bright lights and come back home. it's a sad and angry song, but also full of hope.

I think i'm right in saying that in hospital when someone is ill and has to spend a lot of time in bed they can become 'bedshaped'. It sounds a bit depressing (...)but in the context of the song I wanted to suggest old age and frailty(...)"

you got that one spot on Panzer_Demon10, well done, well said mate, as i said in another keane song i tryed to explain, " the songs mean so many differant things to me, so much go s through my head when i listen to them, that is why they are the band i love. Just wish i could explain it as clearly as Panzer_Demon10, Gonna go listen to ON A DAY LIKE TODAY LOL,