7 Meanings
Add Yours
Follow
Share
Q&A
Before The Earth Was Round Lyrics
before the earth was round,
there was no end to things
no one tried to measure what they knew
everything was war
yet everyone would love
and every contradiction was true
the sun worked twice as hard
and the moon was twice as far
and the sky was still honestly blue
the sky was still honestly blue
but when the time came
everything spiraled in
and everyone forgot what they knew
and war became a job
and love became a mystery
and the heart and head were bent into two
and fear and doubt began
and God threw up his hands
and the sky didn't know what to do
the sky didn't know what to do
the sky didn't know what to do
there was no end to things
no one tried to measure what they knew
yet everyone would love
and every contradiction was true
the sun worked twice as hard
and the moon was twice as far
and the sky was still honestly blue
everything spiraled in
and everyone forgot what they knew
and love became a mystery
and the heart and head were bent into two
and fear and doubt began
and God threw up his hands
and the sky didn't know what to do
Add your song meanings, interpretations, facts, memories & more to the community.
I've been listening to the song a lot lately and I think it's, "And heart and head were bent into two," instead of "bent out of tune."
The lyric "and the sky was still honestly blue" is beautiful to me least of all as it is quietly intelligent. I suppose that part of the message pertains to an age of innocence and where the sky appears blue, it is actually an effect of sunlight passing through the atmosphere. Blue light wavelengths absorbed by the atmosphere are diffused and the sky only really seems to be blue. It's much more romantic to just think of the sky being the perfect blue that we see on a bright clear day. I heard the lyrics and thought it was just perfect. There are loads of lovely subtle things in songs from 'Of the colour of the blue sky'
i love this song. when i listen to it, i picture a Wall-E-esque robot sitting on a huge junk pile in a wasteland, staring at the moon and singing sadly.
I think that "and heart and head were bent out of tune" is actually "and heart and head were rent into two" I'm pretty sure the nn sound at the end is just the distortion.
The earth became round when Columbus discovered America. This song is about the native Americans and the world before the ensuing industrial revolution. The laws of nature were true, assuming they survived, everything was free to live and love: everything was war yet everyone would love.
That was soon replaced with war and the modern version of "love" that is so mysterious we have to seek couples counseling.
The sky doesn't know what to do: pollution, climate change.
My favorite part is that God isn't mentioned until the second part, the part where they're explaining how everything is fucked up. I think his exasperation is told as more of a symptom of the problem. We messed the world up, but there's this comforting thought that God and Heaven and a second chance life await us after this one we've destroyed.
Sounds like a satirical refutation of nostalgia-fueled reminiscence of 'the good old days'.
"Back in the good old days, things were better. Not in any way that facts and figures could demonstrate, not in any way that holds up to close examination, but the quality was different and something's been lost!"
The second half of the song then goes on to make absurd accusations, echoing the cries of the 'world is burning' types. (Who's forgotten anything? War is at relative low in history. Love is perfectly intact. Feelings and logic should be separate. Fear and doubt aren't new. Not touching the religious one. The sky is still honestly blue.)
Kinda writing this because the rest of the comments seem to suggest the lyrics support the nicer imagery of the first half.
In keeping with the line "War became a job", I think the lines above: "Everything was warm" and "And everyone would love" should read "Everything was war" and "But everyone would love". It might not make sense on first considering it, but war needn't be violent. I think it's about struggle only for the sake of triumph, no other agendas. When war becomes a job, it's struggle out of necessity.
Further, to me the line "and heart and head were bent out of tune" is incorrect. I don't suppose to know what it actually is, but it SOUNDS like "and heart and head were rent into tune". There's definitely a "nnn" sound at the end but it could simply be distortion. I'm thinking it was supposed to be "and heart and head were bent into tune". That kinda makes sense to me, so many lyricists/poets say the head gets in the way of heart matters or vice versa, and the implication is that they certainly shouldn't be "in tune" as that's unnatural (echoes of "everything was war"?).
This is such a beautiful song. The lyrics have a depth and flow I rarely have the pleasure of hearing. Such a sense of innocence lost and that poor old passive sky becomes a victim and knows regret. How sad. Rare a song makes me weep, but this one got me sniffling.
Technically, I hear some interesting similarities to material from the group Air, and not just the vocal distortion (like Portal's Still Alive), and another group called Battles (that time sig change at the end is so Battles).