Black Balloon

This song is about addiction itself, but more precisely it parallels heroin addiction and love addiction and/or affection kinds of addiction if you get what I mean. Let me break it down... Heroin: Heroin is generally sold in little square pieces of plastic torn from plastic bags or rubber balloons that are tied up at the top resembling a balloon. It's done this way so the dealer can swallow the drugs in the event that he is being investigated or arrested by police officers. No drugs means no incriminating evidence. In most areas, the most common form of heroin tends to be black tar, hence "black balloons".

First Verse: Heroin "Elevator straight into my skull" - The high of heroin takes mere seconds to feels. When you shoot it, it goes straight to your brain real fast. "The escalator rises as it falls" - Since heroin is a sedative, it's anesthetic effects cause the user become numb, weak and nimble; slowly falling into a "relaxed" sleep-like trance as it gets you high. Hence, you fall as you rise... "I swear our jet is crashin' in my mind" - Just a simple metaphor for being high and what's going on in your head at the moment... "You can hold on but I wouldn't waste your time" - You can hold on and try to resist the effect but it's only a matter of time before you fall into the sleep-like trance, so don't waste your time trying to resist.

Chorus: It's about kicking the habit; saying goodbye to the heroin.

2nd Verse: Ironicly, the user keeps coming back to habit even though they tried to kick it, hence the strong addiction of heroin. No the second verse could be taken two ways. On one side, it could be refering to a love obsession of some sort. It's easy to see how this one work as it could parallel the strength of both heroin addiction and love obsession. In my opinion it's still about heroin...

"I've stood in a thousand street scenes, Just around the corner from you" - Different places on the street around the corner from the heroin dealer. If the stereotype holds true, they tend to sell dope on the street corner.

"On the edge of a dream that you have" - That you'll one day kick the habit... "Has anybody ever told you it's not comin' true?" - But you'll never really kick it. Let alone is the habit itself hard as fuck to quit, but you'll always have a chance to relapse and there for, you'll never really be fully away from it.

2nd Chorus: "Farewell my black balloon, let the weather have it's way with you" - This one goes many ways too. Could be about finally getting clean. Could be about letting go of your love obsession for someone. Could also be about just letting giving up on both...

Bonus: From the looks of the band it safe to say they've both had their experiences with heroin if not still do, which is more then likely which would justify the song...

Although the black balloon is part of a fix kit for heroine frequently portrayed in the media, this song transcends that literal interpretation to include anything a person uses addictively to protect them from bad feelings or just life in general in my opinion. "Let the weather have it's way with you" means the author won't be altering reality with whatever (person, drugs, alcohol) they used previously to protect them from life. Personally, when I hear it, I think of this sick relationship I was in that had me so consumed that nothing else mattered but that person's opinion of me. "I swear our jet is crashin' in my mind, You can hold on but I wouldn't waste your time" reminds me of how I felt whenever I would try to stay away from him - I would truly get a physical rush, knew it would end badly, but still engage. The part about "On the edge of a dream that you have, Has anybody ever told you it's not comin' true?" represents finally giving up the fantasy about the person and seeing the reality. Obsession was a good way to ignore my own life. BTW, I think the lyrics are wrong in one part: It's "I've scored in a thousand street scenes" on other sites. Anyway, the music and her voice captures that forlorn feeling when you finally give something up you wanted so much. That song reminds me of that time in my life and makes me happy it's over!!

i don't get why she keeps saying

"let the weather have it's way with you"

I really can't see this song being more perfect, at least lyrically. That's how I appreciate and look at songs though, through their lyrics. The lyrics perfectly describe telling someone not to wait anymore, telling someone that you and they are over; that's just my guess.

I f*ckin love this song. My interpretation:

The Black Balloon is probably a friend who doesn't know what to do or have any direction in life. The singer (Allison) probably used to help them, but now she has let go of the person (let go of the balloon) to let them be on their own. The weather, meaning life, will now have its way with you.

this is such a great song. i think its about letting go of someone who you've tried and tried to save but have to let go of in the end because you finally realise that you can't change them.

Obviously about heroin. Black balloon? Hello?

Sounds like a heroin reference to me too.

First, it's black. At least tar heroin is. And frequently sold in balloons. But it's usually just a little bit of balloon tip tied up into a tiny little hobo sack-like thing. Not like, a whole balloon. Nothing big enough to tie off with. Unless... but what indie band has the kind of money to buy enough drugs that they come in whole balloons??

And I don't know about tying off with balloons anyway. That just sounds stupid. Especially since there are so many other, free tieing-off devices around, but who knows. Maybe people do this. I would have just used a belt or a scarf or something laying around. Buying balloons to serve a purpose that can be served by the procurement of free objects does not sound like typical junkie behavior to me, but again, who knows. Maybe people do this for aesthetic reasons. Especially if they happen to sell dope and just have a lot of balloons lying around.

Second, have you seen them? They couldn't look more like the Royal Trux if they tried. Biggest junkie band ever, maybe.

Third, the Goo Goo Dolls song.

If I had to guess, I'd say the black was the dope. The balloon was the little thing it came in. It's a nice metaphor though- empty hole, being high- all that. Maybe saying "Farewell... let the weather have it's way with you" is a figurative way of being zen-like about the whole thing. The wind could blow it away... or it could also blow it right back in your lap.

Plus, she was in a band called Dead Weather. Maybe they did a lot of drugs together and that was her way of saying goodbye to it all or whatever.

Or maybe she was just lamenting the empty balloon. Who knows. Someone should ask them!

To me its about finally letting go of a life long dream. In this case its Alison Mosshart's dream to be a "rockstar" and she has tried and tried a thousand "street scenes" but "has anyone ever told you its not coming true?" farewell my black balloon is the thought of her dream dying and saying goodbye to it...

I look at it as being about someone, maybe a friend maybe something more, who is investing their whole life in a dream that will never happen. she's telling this person to let it go. the whole song is about release really.