This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
I've forgotten my name
I'm sick and weak and fresh from sleep
I crawl from a crooked bed
With dirty feet and shaky hands
The numbers on the clock read
1140 am
I've got time to clean myself
Then sell my soul again
When I sleep I dream
I dream I am awake
Or was it when awake
I dream I am asleep
I work I shit I eat I sleep
I'm inspected by the number seven
This can't be my life
No this isn't me
I don't know what's beset this change
I barely recognise my own face
In my mind something's just not right
But in my heart I'm bathed in golden liiiight
Bathed in golden light
Bathed in a golden light
My eyelids still heavy, my pulse still faint
I'm puzzle pieces, my memory's strained
I feel strength swell, a day dream
Is shaking under this duality
my pulse still faint
I hear a strange voice but don't know what it's saying
And in this moment
Second stop and I burst with clarity
A wealth of love and hate, gone blank
For I finally remember my fucking name
I eat rocks
And I breathe wind
I've been around the world
And back again
I've lost the static
And the gray is gone
I've got the power of
A million exploding suns
I am consumed by my might
Blinded in light as I would be in night
This void is holding me tight
It doesn't feel right
When will I ever break free
Within or without I'm chained by the dream
The void is holding me tight
It doesn't feel right
When will I ever break free
Within or without I'm chained by the dream
The void and light are both me
It doesn't feel right
Bright lights flood my eyes
It's true
Now I realise
The perilous truth
Of a perilous life
By my own device
The strength of my high
Is the strength of my low
Unless there's no me
They both
They both explode
I'm sick and weak and fresh from sleep
I crawl from a crooked bed
With dirty feet and shaky hands
The numbers on the clock read
1140 am
I've got time to clean myself
Then sell my soul again
When I sleep I dream
I dream I am awake
Or was it when awake
I dream I am asleep
I work I shit I eat I sleep
I'm inspected by the number seven
This can't be my life
No this isn't me
I don't know what's beset this change
I barely recognise my own face
In my mind something's just not right
But in my heart I'm bathed in golden liiiight
Bathed in golden light
Bathed in a golden light
My eyelids still heavy, my pulse still faint
I'm puzzle pieces, my memory's strained
I feel strength swell, a day dream
Is shaking under this duality
my pulse still faint
I hear a strange voice but don't know what it's saying
And in this moment
Second stop and I burst with clarity
A wealth of love and hate, gone blank
For I finally remember my fucking name
I eat rocks
And I breathe wind
I've been around the world
And back again
I've lost the static
And the gray is gone
I've got the power of
A million exploding suns
I am consumed by my might
Blinded in light as I would be in night
This void is holding me tight
It doesn't feel right
When will I ever break free
Within or without I'm chained by the dream
The void is holding me tight
It doesn't feel right
When will I ever break free
Within or without I'm chained by the dream
The void and light are both me
It doesn't feel right
Bright lights flood my eyes
It's true
Now I realise
The perilous truth
Of a perilous life
By my own device
The strength of my high
Is the strength of my low
Unless there's no me
They both
They both explode
Lyrics submitted by postlapsaria
A Million Exploding Suns Lyrics as written by Engstrom Arkenstone
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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More Featured Meanings
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo
This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
No Surprises
Radiohead
Radiohead
Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
Just A Little Lovin'
Dusty Springfield
Dusty Springfield
I don't think it's necessarily about sex. It's about wanting to start the day with some love and affection. Maybe a warm cuddle. I'm not alone in interpreting it that way! For example:
"'Just a Little Lovin’ is a timeless country song originally recorded by Eddy Arnold in 1954. The song, written by Eddie Miller and Jimmy Campbell, explores the delicate nuances of love and showcases Arnold’s emotive vocals. It delves into the universal theme of love and how even the smallest gesture of affection can have a profound impact on our lives." https://oldtimemusic.com/the-meaning-behind-the-song-just-a-little-lovin-by-eddy-arnold/
Punchline
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.
I never realised it until I read these lyrics, but this song is so blatantly about The Sentry, a Marvel Comics superhero. I have no clue at all why I never guessed it when the goddamn title is the same as the subline to The Sentry's name.
God I'm a moron.
for me this song is about overcoming addiction. fuck your comics
I interpret this song both ways, it has too many references to The Sentry to not be about him at all. He's the mightiest of all Marvel superheros. An enhanced super soldier serum causes the sentry's molecules to be supercharged by the sun and move at a different rate than the rest of the world. He's been around since before the Fantastic 4, but no one remembers him because of the Watchtower. Bob Reynolds doesn't remember much about his life as a superhero; he lives his life as a regular person, a slob more or less, laying around the house watching tv and sleeping most of the time. The Watchtower is a kind of safeguard created so the Sentry doesn't remember his powers, and so the public forgets about The Void. The Void is the Sentry's alter ego. He claims that every time he does something good, the Void retaliates with something just as bad ("the strength of my High is the strength of my low"). "The Void is holding me tight." describes being crippled by the fear of the void taking over. Of course this is just my interpretation, as the Sentry is badass, but there are several things lines that don't quite fit. Nathan may be comparing himself to the Golden God of Good, but it's not clear if his statement about schizophrenia is true. He has referred to his alterego is General Beam, as he usually comes out after drinking some Jim Beam.
first of all i want to say that this is some of the most intelligent discussion of modern music that i have EVER seen and it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside; people DO care about lyrics and meaning in songs !!!!!!!! secondly i think that you guys are all capturing one aspect of the meaning and trying to relegate it to only being about that one thing. Considering that a lot of the songs from H the B are about Nathans personal problems including his inner struggles i would say that even though this song is obviously about the marvel character it is also probably about how Nathan relates to that character (wether that be because hew himself has schizophrenia or just simply because he can relate to a character who has problems in general)
I just thought I would share this with you guys.
Reading the comment about the song being about the Sentry has had a profound effect on me. I always interpreted this song, like some others, as being about addiction and recovery, and the constant struggle that never ends. I was/am an addict so obviously that's why I saw that in the words.
Turns out, the song is 100% blatantly about the Marvel superhero The Sentry. The real catch and utterly intriguing thing about this is - The Marvel backstory for The Sentry, who's real name was Bob Reynolds, was a meth addict (same with me) who broke into a research facility to get high or steal shit, ended up coming across a serum called Project Sentry, drank it and gained the power of a million exploding suns. He became the superhero The Sentry. What he didn't know was he also became the supervillan The Void, at the same time. For everything good the Sentry did, the Void did something horrible of equal value. So in a sense he became THREE different people. He was still Bob Reynolds and both alter egos. He substituted his addiction for meth with an addiction to the serum. He was constantly struggling to figure out which one he was at any given time.
That's exactly like what being a recovering addict is like.
When you're in the throes of addiction, you're the void. Nothing good comes from you, you just go around ruining lives and being horrible, even if it's not on purpose. You're the lowest you can possibly get. And the power the low has over you is overwhelming.
When you're actively in recovery, you feel like the Sentry. The drugs are gone and you start to feel super human, not just like you used to, you are overwhelmed with the realization that you can finally be a normal person again. It makes you feel happier than you've ever been in your life, you feel invincible.
Once you're off of dope for long enough, the high of recovering goes away, and real life and reality start to settle in again. You turn back into the Bob that you always were, before the drugs. And you start to realize that all of the problems you had before it all, all of your hangups, insecurities, all of that, are still there. You aren't some super human, you're just back to being human again, and all that entails, good and bad. And you realize that you will have to struggle every day to avoid becoming the Void again.
That's when the strength of your high is the strength of your low. You remember all the people you hurt, let down, how you let yourself down. You remember what rock bottom really feels like, and all you know is you never want to be there again. It was so horrible that it motivates you to avoid it - at all cost. Your low was so strong, that it has empowered your high.
I can go on and on really. I'm just amazed at the lyrics and even the Sentry story. I don't find much in life that I feel I can truly identify with, but his story, this song, what it's all talking about really hits home.
HTB lyrics can range from utterly nonsensical to incredibly profound. This is certainly some profound shit.
Video for this song ownnnnnnnnnnnnnnns. asssnake.com/horsetheband/video.wmv yee yee.
Could any of you shiny sexy people tell me what the video is aboot? I saw it on a dvd and have been... slightly confoozed ever since. It rox!
Could any of you shiny sexy people tell me what the video is aboot? I saw it on a dvd and have been... slightly confoozed ever since. It rox!
At the end of the video they explode just just megamen characters do when they die.
in my opinion the best part of this song is the keyboards in the "bathed in a golden light" part. it almost seemed impossible how fast they were!