This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
If I die young, bury me in satin
Lay me down on a bed of roses
Sink me in the river at dawn
Send me away with the words of a love song
Oh-oh, oh-oh
Lord, make me a rainbow, I'll shine down on my mother
She'll know I'm safe with you when she stands under my colors
Oh, and life ain't always what you think it ought to be, no
Ain't even gray, but she buries her baby
The sharp knife of a short life
Well, I've had just enough time
If I die young, bury me in satin
Lay me down on a bed of roses
Sink me in the river at dawn
Send me away with the words of a love song
The sharp knife of a short life
Well, I've had just enough time
And I'll be wearing white when I come into your kingdom
I'm as green as the ring on my little cold finger
I've never known the lovin' of a man
But it sure felt nice when he was holding my hand
There's a boy here in town, says he'll love me forever
Who would have thought forever could be severed by
The sharp knife of a short life
Well, I've had just enough time
So put on your best, boys, and I'll wear my pearls
What I never did is done
A penny for my thoughts, oh no, I'll sell 'em for a dollar
They're worth so much more after I'm a goner
And maybe then you'll hear the words I've been singin'
Funny when you're dead, how people start listenin'
If I die young, bury me in satin
Lay me down on a bed of roses
Sink me in the river at dawn
Send me away with the words of a love song
Oh-oh (oh-oh)
The ballad of a dove
Go with peace and love
Gather up your tears, keep 'em in your pocket
Save 'em for a time when you're really gonna need 'em, oh
The sharp knife of a short life
Well, I've had just enough time
So put on your best, boys, and I'll wear my pearls
Lay me down on a bed of roses
Sink me in the river at dawn
Send me away with the words of a love song
Oh-oh, oh-oh
Lord, make me a rainbow, I'll shine down on my mother
She'll know I'm safe with you when she stands under my colors
Oh, and life ain't always what you think it ought to be, no
Ain't even gray, but she buries her baby
The sharp knife of a short life
Well, I've had just enough time
If I die young, bury me in satin
Lay me down on a bed of roses
Sink me in the river at dawn
Send me away with the words of a love song
The sharp knife of a short life
Well, I've had just enough time
And I'll be wearing white when I come into your kingdom
I'm as green as the ring on my little cold finger
I've never known the lovin' of a man
But it sure felt nice when he was holding my hand
There's a boy here in town, says he'll love me forever
Who would have thought forever could be severed by
The sharp knife of a short life
Well, I've had just enough time
So put on your best, boys, and I'll wear my pearls
What I never did is done
A penny for my thoughts, oh no, I'll sell 'em for a dollar
They're worth so much more after I'm a goner
And maybe then you'll hear the words I've been singin'
Funny when you're dead, how people start listenin'
If I die young, bury me in satin
Lay me down on a bed of roses
Sink me in the river at dawn
Send me away with the words of a love song
Oh-oh (oh-oh)
The ballad of a dove
Go with peace and love
Gather up your tears, keep 'em in your pocket
Save 'em for a time when you're really gonna need 'em, oh
The sharp knife of a short life
Well, I've had just enough time
So put on your best, boys, and I'll wear my pearls
Lyrics submitted by babyghostrogue, edited by skyler36199999
If I Die Young Lyrics as written by Kimberly Perry
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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I personally think that this song is absolutely beautiful. Kimberly Perry's vocals are not original, but they are classic bluegrass. It is worth noting that bluegrass vocalists don't make careers as singers, but they make careers by songwriting, and by being in bands surrounded by great bluegrass musicians. All that aside,to grasp the full effect of the song, you almost have to watch the music video ( youtube.com/watch ).
The song alludes to Lord Tennyson's poem "The Lady of Shalott" (based off a legend from the days of King Arthur, Elaine of Astolat), and a collection of Tennyson's poems is a freqent image in the video. Tennyson's "The Lady of Shalott" is a poem about a girl living in a mysterious tower, who is cursed with death if she should leave. The Lady of Shalott does leave and she takes a boat and floats down a river toward Camelot. She dies while singing before she arrives. She is found with the boat near Camelot, and Sir Lancelot and all the people marvel at her beauty.
One of my favorite lines, "Send me away to the words of a love song", is spirited and light and still inneocent in the face of death. It inspires me and haunts me.
I am hoping that this song gets some solid radio airplay, because it is truly a nice song. Thanks for reading.
i completely agree with you. very very beautiful song.
heyy you know now the song has more meaning to me now that i think of that, my mom is obsessed with this song and plays it twice on the hour, she'll be over it soon, but in the meantime, gah, what does it mean??..I guess its just her thoughts on how she lives life, but i like your idea, however, after an interview with the band perry, it turns out that they just sat down and made it up.
You know what? You are totally right. I regret ever saying that about KP- she is a lovely singer.
You know what? You are totally right. I regret ever saying that about KP- she is a lovely singer.
You are totally on the money! the author was close friends with the artists who made up the Pre-Ralphaelite brotherhood and other artists who painted in the same style - 1850-1890. The images chosen for the video are taken from the artwork of Waterhouse, Hunt and others who painted and titled their painting after the parts of the poem itself.
I really don't think it is about the poem...<br /> In the poem, she dies from freezing to death because she sang too much. Why the mention of a knife, then? And if it were about the poem, you'd think they'd include more about weaving, a mirror, shadows, etc.<br /> All it really has in common is early virginal death and a river, which is a pretty common romantic (if tragic) theme.<br /> <br /> I really think it's just an expression of romantic ideas of death more than anything else.
@Daughtryhead you are missing a couple parts that relate the song to the poem even though i think the song is very loosely based on the poem. In the beginning of the poem the townspeople are pretty much oblivious to Lady Shalott. They are going about their day as if nothing is happening and she is singing her heart out. She is so removed from the people that they whisper the voice is a fairy. When she is dead in the poem in the boat the townspeople finally take interest in her and all come out to see her corpse, "funny when you're dead how people start listening". Also "sink me in the river at dawn, send me away with the words of a love song", relates to the part of the poem where she first falls in love with Lancelot. His singing is one of the things that captures her heart and once she hears his voice she is doomed. There is also the imagery of the lady of Shalott weaving bright wonderful colors then all of a sudden the curse hits her and it's autumn (when things begin to die and fade away) and the subject of the song shining down a rainbow contrasted with how her mother isn't even "grey". I think it's all very deliberate.