1 Meaning
Add Yours
Follow
Share
Q&A
Orbital Lyrics
So it was that everything
That went to make up everything
Was wrapped up tight inside a grain
Of great insistence
Then someone gave the great command
All things paired off for the dance
The great to small the small to grand
Down to this instant
Ooh!
The hawk around the field mouse
The love around a lover's mouth
I find my mind is settling down
In circuits round you
The angels round their crowded pins
The amber-waved electrons spin
In planetary transits
Round the ones they're bound to
Ooh!
Who do you circle round
Who is it circles round you
Is it circles round you?
Who is it circles round you
Do you circle round who
Is it circles round you?
The ghost around the one it haunts
The want around the thing it wants
The way the mind just wanders off and then returns to
The thought around the second thought
Love or gravity or law
Whatever name it's got it's got me
Circling round you
The guess around the second guess
The hornet round the hornet's nest
The wheel time the wheel fate
The light that bends itself through space
The light that with it carries time
Which also bends in the same line
Relative to point of view
So when I catch a glimpse of you
Every time you come around
The room lights up
And time slows tooooooooooooooooo!
That went to make up everything
Was wrapped up tight inside a grain
Of great insistence
Then someone gave the great command
All things paired off for the dance
The great to small the small to grand
Down to this instant
Ooh!
The love around a lover's mouth
I find my mind is settling down
In circuits round you
The angels round their crowded pins
The amber-waved electrons spin
In planetary transits
Round the ones they're bound to
Ooh!
Who is it circles round you
Is it circles round you?
Who is it circles round you
Do you circle round who
Is it circles round you?
The want around the thing it wants
The way the mind just wanders off and then returns to
The thought around the second thought
Love or gravity or law
Whatever name it's got it's got me
Circling round you
The guess around the second guess
The hornet round the hornet's nest
The wheel time the wheel fate
The light that bends itself through space
The light that with it carries time
Which also bends in the same line
Relative to point of view
So when I catch a glimpse of you
Every time you come around
The room lights up
And time slows tooooooooooooooooo!
Add your song meanings, interpretations, facts, memories & more to the community.
This song is an ingenious poem celebrating the beauty of the unfolding of the universe, the laws of physics, life and nature, and finally love. Everything is portrayed as a series of orbits, whether electrons, planets, hawks, or him being drawn to his lover. The song finishes with Josh Ritter putting his lover as the finale of it all! The entire universe is made into a metaphor for his love.
Most of the references people are confused by are to quantum physics. The first whole verse is the big bang and the ensuing formation of the elements, and stars and planets and such. The middle is straightforward but the last 8 lines or so refer to Einstein's theory of relativity, where energy, time, and matter are all linked.