(Awful sweet to be a little butterfly
Just swinging over things and nothing deep inside
Nothing going, going wild in you, you know
You're slowing by the riverside, a-floating high and blue)

(Or maybe cool to be a little summer wind
Like once through everything and then away again
With the taste of dust in your mouth all day
But no need to know
Like sadness, you just sail away)
'Cuz you know
I don't do sadness
Not even a little bit
Just don't need it in my life

Don't want any part of it
I don't do sadness
Hey, I've done my time
Lookin' back on it all, man, it blows my mind

I don't do sadness
So been there
Don't do sadness
Just don't care

(Moritz Steephle
Ilse, you frightened me
What are you looking for?
If only I knew
Then what's the use of looking?
I'm on the way home, want to come?
I don't know
God, you remember how we used to run back
To my house and play pirates
Vend LeBergman, Melchior Gabor, you and I?)

Spring and summer
Every other day
Blue wind gets so sad
Blowing through the thick corn
Through the bales of hay
Through the open books on the grass
Spring and summer

Sure when its autumn
Wind always wants to
Creep up and haunt you
When silence got you
If it's heartache well, it's sorrow
Winter wind sings under cries

Spring and summer
Every other day
Blue wind gets so pained
Blowing through the thick corn
Through the bales of hay
Through the sudden drift of the rain
Spring and summer
(Actually I better go
Walk as far as my house with me
I wish I could
Then why don't you?
Eighty lines of virgils, sixteen equations, a paper on the hopsboard)

So maybe I should be some kind of laundry line
Hang their things on me, and I will swing 'em dry
You just wave in the sun through the afternoon and then see
They come to set you free beneath the rising moon

'Cuz you know
Spring and summer
I don't do sadness
Every other day
Not even a little bit
Blue wind gets so lost
Just don't need it in my life
Goin' through the big corn and bales of hay
Don't want any part of it

Spring and summer
I don't do sadness
Every other day
Hey, I've done my time
Blue wind gets so lost
Lookin' back on it all and it blows my mind
Goin' through the big corn and bales of hay

I don't do sadness
The wandering clouds of the dust
So been there, don't do sadness
Spring and summer
Just don't care


Lyrics submitted by manprettys_panties, edited by sopaipilla

Don't Do Sadness/Blue Wind Lyrics as written by Duncan Sheik Steven Sater

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.

Lyrics powered by LyricFind

Blue Wind song meanings
Add Your Thoughts

10 Comments

sort form View by:
  • 0
    General Comment

    It's really sweet that you typed up all these.this song is great.

    mockingsmileon June 12, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    A paper on the Hapsburgs.

    vsaturnon June 13, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    this is one of the most haunting songs i know. absolutely beautiful. and the interplay between "don't do sadness" and "blue wind" is simply brilliant.

    kajosaon September 26, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Ilse's song Blue wind is in the same song as Moritz's suicide song, Don't Do Sadness.

    It's kinda like a contrast of characters...Moritz has lost all hope and is wondering what he'll be after he kills himself. Ilse is hopeful of life despite her horrible daddy issues. aka, her father raped her and led her into prostitution

    nopurpleon April 18, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    It is quite stunning how the amazing contrast can be amazing when combined. Yes he is suicidal, and she does have hope, but there is much more deepy rooted in their speech. She is almost the wisened character of this musical, seeing as she has been through almost every form of abuse, and yet still has the courage to press on with life and try to find some happiness. But no matter how hard she tries to convince him that life is worth living, he is set on taking his own life.

    cid_wensonon July 14, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    This duet is gorgeous! However, it is heart breaking.

    Ilse is a young teen who is constantly abused by her father. This song has so much symbalism.

    "Sure, when it’s autumn Wind always wants to Creep up and haunt you Whistlin’ it’s got you With its heartache, with its sorrow Winter wind sings and it cries"

    You can almost look at this part as if her father is the wind. In the song "The Dark I Know Well" Ilse and Martha talk about how their dads will come up to their rooms and sexually assault them. He creeps up to her room and then he holds her tight and probably, in a very controlling way--he may tell her "I've got you"

    In the third verse Ilse is the "Blue Wind", and again, if you look at this symbolically her dad has become part of her as it is he who forces her into prostituition.

    I know a lot of people say that she is being positive and looking on the "bright side" of life, and trying to convense him why he should live. I used to think this too. But now after looking at it from another angle I can see that's not the case. She's actually talking about how lonely she is--how misrable life is--and how she wants him to help soak up her hurt.

    B*WAYfAnon July 28, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Nicely put, Cid. I agree about Ilse's message of hope, while Moritz is just sinking deeper into his depression. I'm not so sure what Ilse means by "blue wind", but she may be talking about either herself, Moritz, or humans in general. Also I think spring and summer are to her a time of hope, while in autumn and winter there is suffering, but that "every other day" spring and summer will return. So basically she's saying to Moritz that his state of sadness is only temporary and soon will be over. (similar to the message of Purple Summer-the future holds hope) Of course, I'm not really sure.

    pandemoniumcaton September 01, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    A lot of people view this song as being very hopeful, because in th dialog on th Cast recording, Ilse comes off as bubbly and fun, and she sings Purple Summer, which is the hopeful ending message in the musical. However, like Bwayfan said, it's not actually a cheerful or inspiring song. The recording leaves out a lot of dialog, during which it is revealed how sad, lonely and desperate Ilse is.

    Examples- Ilse tells Moritz stories of her crazy and fun life in Priapia, the artist colony where she movs from painters bed to painters bed, being dressed up and drinking, laughing. But At the end of every story, no matter how fun or adventurous she makes it sound, she gets sad, something bad happens. With the first story about Fehrenforf, she talks of how he chases her and stabs her with his paint brush, ending with "Thats men, if they can't stick you with one thing, they'll try another" which is a funny line until you put with it the physical and violent nature of their relationship, and Ilse's father's abuse. She also speak of "we all got so drunk and I just passed out in the snow. I just lay there unconscious all night" which says her "friends" left her drunk in the snow, alone. And finally she talks about staying with Gustav Baum, and how it was so wonderful until he wakes her with a gun and threatens to kill her. While she makes them out to be funny anecdotes it always comes down to "I just lay there.." "it really gave me the goosbumps" etc. And after her first solo part of Blue Wind, she begs Moritz to come home with her, telling about the things they did when they were children and how they can do those things again together. When he says she can't, Ilse is visibly upset about being turned down. And after their duet, Moritz finally refuses no matter her begging. Her final line before running off (usually in tears) is "By the time you finally wake up, I'll be lying on some trash heap"

    Ilse was sexual and physically abused before finally being thrown from her house because she fought back. Her life consists of wandering from man to abusive man to abusive man, never having an stability, seeking comfort in what was once her torment. While she eventually is the voice of reason, at this point she is a deeply morose character. The song says it to, the wind is sad and pained and lost. She is haunted and won't be let go by her past.

    12stepson April 01, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I partly agree with 12steps. I don't think Ilse is completely hopeful and carefree. Her dialogue is funny but also depressing. However, in this song, she is definitely trying to convince Moritz that he should not take his own life. She knows life can be awful- she has been raped by her father and driven into a bohemian life of prostitution. But she would never kill herself.

    Moritz, on the other hand, is obviously set on committing suicide. He is wondering what it would be like to come back as inanimate objects, unfeeling and with no consciousness. He would rather feel nothing at all than feel pain.

    baracudaon July 01, 2012   Link
  • 0
    My Interpretation

    As I have been studying this song because I auditioned for the role of Ilse, I came up with my own interpretation:

    I think this song is a metaphor for Ilse's manic depression, or bipolar disorder. "Spring and summer" refer to her good days, when she is feeling manic or normal, and "every other day" refers to the roller coaster back-and-forth of her condition. "Autumn" and "winter" symbolize her depression, the "Blue Wind" being her mood as it travels through the "seasons" of her illness.

    Since Ilse has had such a tragic life, it is easy to imagine she has horrible days and better days; she has many reasons to be depressed, but she also tries to find the hope in everything.

    hotelalyforniaon June 27, 2013   Link

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

Album art
Mental Istid
Ebba Grön
This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
Album art
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988. "'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it." "There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
Album art
Blue
Ed Sheeran
“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.
Album art
Head > Heels
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.
Album art
Page
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.