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"
Right now, in the heat of my head
A flower blooms that was already dead
December's long gone
But these fields are forever frozen
And everything she said
Burns in the back of my head
Quick-sands of silver
Under dreams still glittering golden
All along I sing this song
It runs wild like a river inside
A voice cries out sharp words of doubt
If I take them to heart they make me bleed
Everyday my attention strays
Light like life it fades away
The clock it ticks
I turn my back
I feel the surface bulge and crack...
Tick tick tock tick tock tick tick tick tock tick tock tick
SLAM!
I want the change
I feel the change
Then post-metamorphosis where do the answers lie
One above and one below with lions locked inside
Then in silence turn the key
Setting all those lions free
Then I hold my head up higher and higher
Reach out tentacles to every desire
I faced the sea and it's time for a change
I am an octopus in flames
Sinking underwater
Sweating boiling getting hotter
Bubbles burst between my fingers
My breath is cracked and drawn
Sinking like an anvil
And facing several tentacles
My eyes go black and pop red cherries
The surface me is gone
Gone
I'm gone
Gone
I'm gone
I'm mesmerized - a servant to the light I can't deny it
With everyone standing here
I'm a million miles away
A change
A flower blooms that was already dead
December's long gone
But these fields are forever frozen
And everything she said
Burns in the back of my head
Quick-sands of silver
Under dreams still glittering golden
All along I sing this song
It runs wild like a river inside
A voice cries out sharp words of doubt
If I take them to heart they make me bleed
Everyday my attention strays
Light like life it fades away
The clock it ticks
I turn my back
I feel the surface bulge and crack...
Tick tick tock tick tock tick tick tick tock tick tock tick
SLAM!
I want the change
I feel the change
Then post-metamorphosis where do the answers lie
One above and one below with lions locked inside
Then in silence turn the key
Setting all those lions free
Then I hold my head up higher and higher
Reach out tentacles to every desire
I faced the sea and it's time for a change
I am an octopus in flames
Sinking underwater
Sweating boiling getting hotter
Bubbles burst between my fingers
My breath is cracked and drawn
Sinking like an anvil
And facing several tentacles
My eyes go black and pop red cherries
The surface me is gone
Gone
I'm gone
Gone
I'm gone
I'm mesmerized - a servant to the light I can't deny it
With everyone standing here
I'm a million miles away
A change
Lyrics submitted by postlapsaria
Octopus on Fire Lyrics as written by Buckley Arkenstone
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
Holiday
Bee Gees
Bee Gees
@[Diderik:33655] "Your a holiday!" Was a popular term used in the 50s/60s to compliment someone on their all around. For example, not only are they beautiful, but they are fun and kind too ... just an all around "holiday".
I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
When We Were Young
Blink-182
Blink-182
This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
Head > Heels
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Head > Heels” is a track that aims to capture what it feels like to experience romance that exceeds expectations. Ed Sheeran dedicates his album outro to a lover who has blessed him with a unique experience that he seeks to describe through the song’s nuanced lyrics.
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.
This song is about making your life better. "Not in the the don't do drugs type of way..."