“Blue” is a song about a love that is persisting in the discomfort of the person experiencing the emotion. Ed Sheeran reflects on love lost, and although he wishes his former partner find happiness, he cannot but admit his feelings are still very much there. He expresses the realization that he might never find another on this stringed instrumental by Aaron Dessner.
Have you seen this little toy
When you're down it gives you joy
You escape reality
Delve into its TV screen
For the rich and for the poor
For the even more secure
Doesn't matter where you are,
Where you go or where you've been
Well, there's still no guarantee
For your virgin mind, you see
Just go on and play the game
You will surely go insane
The game is on
And you have gone
Gone to a world on its display
And the game is fun
But when it has won
All you ever hear is what it says
There's a great amount of fumes
Coming out from somebody's room
The firemen got there
Making their way up the stairs
Find a man in a chair
But it doesn't seem he's there
With a grey box in his hands
He has gone to another land
The game is on
And you have gone
Gone to a world on its display
And the game is fun
But when it has won
All you ever hear is what it says
SOLO
You have played it much too long
Now your senses get things wrong
All your walls come crashing down
Now it's time for you to frown
How'd you like this heavy load?
Guess your brain will soon explode
You never had this ugly feel
Time to dial emergency
When you're down it gives you joy
You escape reality
Delve into its TV screen
For the rich and for the poor
For the even more secure
Doesn't matter where you are,
Where you go or where you've been
Well, there's still no guarantee
For your virgin mind, you see
Just go on and play the game
You will surely go insane
The game is on
And you have gone
Gone to a world on its display
And the game is fun
But when it has won
All you ever hear is what it says
There's a great amount of fumes
Coming out from somebody's room
The firemen got there
Making their way up the stairs
Find a man in a chair
But it doesn't seem he's there
With a grey box in his hands
He has gone to another land
The game is on
And you have gone
Gone to a world on its display
And the game is fun
But when it has won
All you ever hear is what it says
SOLO
You have played it much too long
Now your senses get things wrong
All your walls come crashing down
Now it's time for you to frown
How'd you like this heavy load?
Guess your brain will soon explode
You never had this ugly feel
Time to dial emergency
Lyrics submitted by RainbowDemon
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More Featured Meanings
Blue
Ed Sheeran
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Punchline
Ed Sheeran
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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.
Head > Heels
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“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.
Page
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
There aren’t many things that’ll hurt more than giving love a chance against your better judgement only to have your heart crushed yet again. Ed Sheeran tells such a story on “Page.” On this track, he is devastated to have lost his lover and even more saddened by the feeling that he may never move on from this.
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.
This is one of my favorite songs. It's about death by Game Boy.
Well, not quite. It more like playing the game to excess and becoming oblivious to everything going on around you. It's a statement as to how addicting Game Boy is, even though I don't think the song is actually being critical of it.
Meaning/Interpretation: Playing a video game... too much. In the first stanza, it talks about the game and how it can make you escape into a different world. In the second stanza, the room is on fire, but the person playing the game doesn't notice because he's playing the game. In the third, it talks about how the person playing is playing it too much because it's disorienting him and his sense of reality. In the first stanza, it seems it could be either a game boy or a console system, whereas in the second one it seems to be a console game.
My opinion of the song: This is an OK song, it's not the best song on the album, but it certainly isn't a filler, either. I love the use of the electronic sounds in it, including the infamous Super Mario "pause game" sound. :)
Personal: I've had that happen to me, actually (the 3rd stanza), whenever I've played over 9 hours in one day. It starts to hurt to look at anything but the screen. Some people use drugs to escape, I use video games (I have a very spatial mind that naturally space out easily, so it gets me "high" in a weird way). :] Hahaha Not one of my healthiest habits.
Does anyone know which "game over" theme it plays at the end? I know it was one of about 3 games I used to play on my original Gameboy back in the day and I can't for the life of me remember which one it was.
I think that is actually the coin collect sound, possibly from Mario Six Golden Coins (one of the games I mentioned could be where the sound at the end comes from).
This song is about Gameboys, not consoles.
To further my point, the "grey box" refers to the original Gameboy, not the orignal Nintendo controller. In the second verse, he is sitting in a chair in his room playing the Gameboy. <br /> <br /> My reasoning behind this? All of the sounds in the song come from old Gameboy games.
This track talks about video games, especifically about NES (Nintendo Entertainment System) consoles and the joy may proportionate while one plays it, assuring that these consoles were financially acquirable by anyone.
In a first moment, it makes reference to the ones that you connect to a TV, not exactly referring to Game Boy - that has its own small screen - but to a NES/Famicon family system. Though, during the song many Game Boy effects are used, such Mario and Baseball games and even Nintendo title sound - that appears and may be heard when you turn a Game Boy on.
The sequence kinda reveals the experience of gaming, while entering rooms, destructing walls and objects with so many effects of magic and thing you don't find easily in our 'outworld'.
It may also refer to the alienation process that people who play too much may contract, degrading the perception of their round while focused on the game at the point of not perceiving that their house is burning.
The track also mentions the symptoms one may incur by playing for extended hours, such as headaches and dizziness, like anything in excess.
Ultimately, the refrain speaks something that may sound deep when you're a gamer or enthusiast of the subject. It says that when the game wins (what we use to call computer or cpu) all you hear is what it says: You Lose/Game Over. First, you may have the opportunity of losing some times, or not. Losing all the lifes, continues, you will deal with the ultimate loss: Game Over.
Though, if you clear all the phases, kill all the bosses, makes everything you may do to clear the game, the game will be over, and sometimes, the CPU tells that to you while you watch an ending movie/CG or reveals a password to you, thanking you for playing, etc.
That said, we may consider that this state of happiness or finality hardly searched has an end that will necessarily happen: doesn't matter if you win or lose, the game will be over.