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Another World Lyrics

I need another place
Will there be peace?
I need another world
This one's nearly gone

Still have too many dreams
Never seen the light
I need another world
A place where I can go

I'm gonna miss the sea
I'm gonna miss the snow
I'm gonna miss the bees
I'll miss the things that grow

I'm gonna miss the trees
I'm gonna miss the sound
I'll miss the animals
I'm gonna miss you all

I need another place
Will there be peace?
I need another world
This one's nearly gone

I'm gonna miss the birds
Singing all their songs
I'm gonna miss the wind
Been kissing me so long

Another world
Another world
Another world
Another world
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Cover art for Another World lyrics by Antony and the Johnsons

Hegarty's minimalistic selection is profound and the use of language conventions create a solid thematic statement, riddled with romantic irony. The song opens with solemn piano chords and faint yearning moans. Hegarty sings the first stanza alone, and then joined by another voice in the second, with the faint but swelling moans in the third, and the personified 'wind' via flute in the fourth. The joining of voices do not seem conscious of each other - 2:55 the voices do not finish together, one lingers. The swelling moans and the personified wind in the background seem to be disconnected, abstract, but founded in reality in that they are creating dialogue in harmony. To me it suggests a universal truth of fearing or being anxious of the unknown. I wonder if these faint discords are even in the world of our own, as if the are representative of spirits seen in other planes of existence yet bound by the same universal truth. The intentional repetition of the same group of words at the beginning of successful clauses "I need another.../ I need another... I'm gonna miss the... / I'm gonna miss the" (lines 1-2, 67) also known as an anaphora creates the effect of a trance like beckoning. It reminds me that of a child's pessimistic lamenting while coming of age, that regardless of what you tell them they are going to be anxious and fearful for the change that inevitably will come, primarily because they have not experienced or know. This inability to know what is to come from death is spotted throughout the entire album, until that of the final song which provides a great swelling of empathy. This is similar to that of Heart of Darkness with the thematic agony of not knowing, yet contrasting in that it suggests that universal truths do exist.

aw, stop dissecting it! you almost ruined the mood. almost, but not quite (it's not quite possible anyway).

very good and interesting insight, but i think it's better to subconsciously absorb everything you observed as the unified beauty of the music than to figure out exactly what makes it beautiful

i don't mean to criticize you; we all have our own ways and ideas :) thanks for sharing yours anyway

<3

Hi there, yeah I wrote that nearly a year ago and looking back I feel like I don't even know the person who wrote them. I was in a rough state of mind to say the least. In any case, I suppose there might be some plausbility in that theory of disconnected voices... but there's really not enough evidence to prove it.

I totally agree it is important to simply enjoy the experience of the piece. I think it was a matter of me enjoying it so much that I had to know what it was that was affecting...

Cover art for Another World lyrics by Antony and the Johnsons

I actually agree with Billy's interpretation. For me it's about a terminal patient coming to terms with the fact that s/he is about to die and acknowledging all of those things that will be missed.

This "(an)other world" is the unknown that comes with death (be it the christian afterlife, the budist/hinduist samsara or whichever religion you believe in). The question "will there be peace?" reflects precisely that.

I like the idea that is conveyed in the sentence "I need another world, this one is nearly gone" of not being us who vanish but the world. As if by dying, we don't leave this world to enter a new one but actually this world is the one that disappears.

For me, "Still have too many dreams, never seen the light" represents the grief of having all this projects and dreams being interrupted by a terminal illness and the forthcoming death.

This song reminds me of a dear friend of mine that died a year ago after almost six years battling against cancer. I really hope she finally found "another world".

Cover art for Another World lyrics by Antony and the Johnsons

I think this song's about committing suicide. Which is ironic, at least to me, as if I was thinking about committing suicide, hearing this song would single-handedly prevent me from doing so. If this song isn't one of the most gorgeous songs I've ever I heard, I don't what is.

Bravo!

I never thought about it that way, but that makes total sense to me now. Previously, I saw this as a sort of "green anthem" song... like, look what we're doing to this beautiful world. He's longing for people to wake up to that beauty and take responsibility for their actions, otherwise it'll be too late. Maybe it's because of my environmentalism background.

On a different note, I'm pretty sure the lyrics are "I'm gonna miss the bees" not "beach." As far as pairings go, bees pollenate and make things grow. Without bees, the human race could only...

Your interpretation makes perfect sense as well. It's obviously about something at the end of it's life, whether that be nature and mother earth, or whether it be the narrator, the sadness still resonates.

Also, is that a whale I hear in the background? I think it might be someone playing a saw. In any case, it's absolutely haunting.

at first i thought it was about a reluctant suicide, but i see now that the environmental interpretation makes as much sense. and at first i thought the sound in the background was supposed to be the wind, but if this is an environmental statement, it does sound beautifully like a whale antony probably intended it to be interpreted both ways, as a lot of his other songs also seem to have duel meanings, one obvious to some people, a different meaning apparent to others, but both make sense

and i too think it's "bees" not "beach"...

Cover art for Another World lyrics by Antony and the Johnsons

:( :( :(

Cover art for Another World lyrics by Antony and the Johnsons

amazing song

Cover art for Another World lyrics by Antony and the Johnsons

(: (: (:

Cover art for Another World lyrics by Antony and the Johnsons

(: (: (:

Cover art for Another World lyrics by Antony and the Johnsons

Arrested, I didn't interpret this as a suicide song at all. I thought it was about the destruction of the planet and how he would miss nature's beauty after it was fully ravaged by mankind. Hence his need for "another world." But I suppose either interpretation is possible. I do agree that this is a beautiful song, one of the best I've ever heard.

Cover art for Another World lyrics by Antony and the Johnsons

these two interpretations are really good. I think the song is about the two things, at the same time.

I need another place, will there be peace? - suicide interpretation

I need another world, this one is nearly gone. - nature lost interpretation

Still have too many dreams, never seen the light. - suicide interpretation

I need another world, a place where I can go. - a place where you can go is more than a 'health' place (talking about nature), it's also a place where you be accepted.

Cover art for Another World lyrics by Antony and the Johnsons

Wow. This song is amazing! It got me thinking. Imagine IF the earth (Which we take for granted) starting dying. If the trees suddenly stopped growing and the rivers dried out. What would we do? We would die as well. It's a frightening thought.

the world is already dying.

 
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