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Big Black Nothing Lyrics

Big black nothing
Fooling everyone
Big black nothing
Put a halo around what you've done
Because a big black nothing
Is coming up

Would you be my
Would you still be my friend
If I told you
It's all just pretend
Because a big black nothing
Is not the end

Sing me something
Something I can feel
Sing it louder
The whole world has to hear
Because a big black nothing
Was made to appeal

Lock the doors
Hide the keys
Flipping channels
Through the streets
All this news
Just makes me scared of you

Board up the windows
Unplug the phone
Make it look like nobody's home
I am very scared
But so prepared for the worst
Big black nothing
Fooling everyone
Big black nothing
Put a halo around what you've done
Because a big black nothing
Is coming up
5 Meanings

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Cover art for Big Black Nothing lyrics by Conor Oberst

I think this song is about radical religious people. The big black nothing is religion. "big black nothing, foolin' everyone. Big black nothing, put a halo around what you've done" - is saying that people are fooling themselves into thinking the radical and bad things they do are in the name of religion. The part about still being friends is the singer asking if the religious people would still talk to him if they knew he thought everything was just pretend and all fake. And the 'apocalypse' isn't really the end. "... was made to appeal." - religion was just made to appeal to people and make them have something to believe in, but it's not real. He is saying how scared he is of the people for believing in all of this: what would they do to prove their religion is the right one? So, he is hiding from it because he doesn't want to be sucked in.

My Interpretation

I absolutely agree with you, thank you for writing this. To add to your interpretation, I think the lines 'Sing me something / Something I can feel / Sing it louder / The whole world has to hear' is him praying for someone to come along with some sort of philosophy that can appeal to the world as much as religion has, so that religion might finally be replaced.

i always got the same thing from this song. they glorify the things they do in the name of "god" or whomever that divine being may be for their religion. groups will always find a way to justify anything from strange religious routines to murders. such as everyone having their own prediction about the end of the world and as we see certain predictions coincidentally unfolding on television before our very eyes whatever group that made the "call" considers themselves right. religion only separates us from one another and it is quite frightful at how militant...

Cover art for Big Black Nothing lyrics by Conor Oberst

i love when nik freitas starts singing "sing me somthing" and the background vocals fills in "big black nothing" in between each word.

: )

Cover art for Big Black Nothing lyrics by Conor Oberst

This track wasn't written by Conor, as the disclaimer at the bottom suggests. I understand it being on Conor's page, being Mystic Valley Band, but it's Nik Freitas singing and Nik Freitas is the one who wrote it.

Cover art for Big Black Nothing lyrics by Conor Oberst

this part: "board up the windows unplug the phone make it look like nobodies home I am very scared but so prepared for the worst"

its very strange that i just heard this song today as last night i had a dream that i lived in a country where my family was not allowed anymore, but my baby sister died (i dont have a baby sister in real life) so we went back to our old house secretly because we figured she deserved to be buried in our city but was had to board the basement windows and keep the blinds shut and the lights off, so that no one would know we were there. and we were very scared of the guards finding us.

but i love this song i have a feeling its kind of referring to death?? maybe.

i think it is a hopeful song conveying a belief in an afterlife. The "big black nothing" is not the end. I'm not sure though. Love the song.

man what have you been smoking? lol anyway yea i think you're right

Cover art for Big Black Nothing lyrics by Conor Oberst

ive never listened to Conor Oberst before, and started with the album Outer South. And it was this track that hooked me in, just something about it - its fun to listen to. :)

 
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