Disappearing World

Have you ever spent a "final" night somewhere? Whether its your last night in your apartment or house you've lived in for years, and just looked around? You remember your home that first day you moved in, poetically looking as empty then as it does now. You think of all the memories you've had in that place, love, heartbreak and tears. There's this sense of tragic loneliness but despite it all, it's time to move on.

Take the lessons you've learned from the disappearing world you're about to leave behind.

We’re threading hope like fire Down through the desperate blood Down through the trailing wire Into the leafless wood

I think this song - in a way - is a continuation and more happy resolve to his "Ain't No Love' song.

I'll be sticking right there with it I'll be by your side Sailing like a silver bullet Hit ‘em ‘tween the eyes Through the smoke and rising water 'Cross the great divide Baby till it all feels right

It's a realization and acceptance that we are all we have got - there's no afterlife, and that we need to make the most out of what we get, making every moment in our lives filled with as much meaning as possible.

Appreciate the beauty. Love those who matter to you. Here and now is all that matters, so take hold of it.

This is one of my favorite songs of all time, not just one of my favorite DG songs. It's very melancholic and beautiful, very powerful.

Reminds me of my favorite R. W. Emerson quote:

("To laugh often and much; To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; To appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.")

Ah, David Gray once again leaves us mesmerized by the poise expressed through the creativity of his musicianship and profundity of lyricism.

I'll be sticking right there with it I'll be by your side Sailing like a silver bullet Hit ‘em ‘tween the eyes Through the smoke and rising water Cross the great divide Baby till it all feels right

When ever I hear that section I always think of a couple eloping, scared but investing so much hope in their actions. You stay loyal to each other, help each other out, get through the change with vigor, and adjust to a new situation until it feels normal.

ha no no no the song is about winter! when he says disappearing world, he is talking about the snow. it covers everything in a blanket of white, hence the disappearing effect. the rest of the song is about a feeling of sadness or a particular experience that happened in the sad months of winter.

Listen again (@Myrondoogas ), I don't think he's jamming anything in, think that change up is stunningly intentional, he's saying to those beside him ("Girl don't it look so pretty" post bridge) that although "the truth is loading" (the truth of being "weighted down with love" for a world that we come to know we only have a short disappearing time to love)...he's going to "be sticking right there with it, be(ing) by your side" fighting whatever existential dread comes in between the moments of beauty and realization we're not in this life forever. His bridge is a powerful part of the whole message ..fight through the fear of finite time, (and whatever else gets in the way of love), "rising water, smoke and sail across the great divide" (the existential divide). Agree wholeheartedly with mjohnson10, - It's a realization there's no afterlife, don't squander days, moments in life, fill them with as much meaning as possible, appreciate the beauty and love with all you've got now because when it's over that's ALL that will ever matter. Like mjohson10, this is also one of my all time enjoyed works of art. For me, David Gray's evolution into the depths of musicianship are alone enough to make him one of the best of his time producing an incredible library for anyone to discover but once your mind can resist a bit and focus on his words, you're into something so profoundly significant, I doubt he himself even knows the impact he's having! Thank you David.

wow lml342. no one could have said that better! i'm with you on this one.

I shall tell you EXACTLY what this song means, so that you don't have to think its meaning is relative or some such nonsense. After all, to the artist it meant one thing in particular, and that is what we really want to know, right?

First thing to acknowledge is that the bridge which starts with "I'll be..." about 3/4 through the song is actually a different song which David Gray just jammed into this one, which is unfortunate. It's the worst part of the song, musically and lyrically, and it doesn't go with the meaning of everything that comes before the bridge and after.

Those parts do all match together in meaning and logic though, and their total meaning is this.

David is on drugs which are wearing off. He is alone, from a high vantage point overlooking a city as night is falling over it in winter. He feels this strange moving feeling as he looks at the world and realizes it's all going to end some day. The lines of cars making a thread, the tall buildings, the seasons, and all the people; it's all just something that is here for a short time, and he feels sort of overwhelmed by the privelege, and the sweet sadness, of the idea that he is here seeing this amazing world, that will one day be gone. The red and gold are car lights and street lights and building lights respectively, which shows you that most sad/beautiful/moving to him in his drug state is the idea that people won't be here forever.

That is the one and only meaning of the song. Anything else you read is nonsense.