I Hope You Die

Given the rest of the album, I'm pretty sure this isn't song about two lovers, but about the speaker's mother, and euthanasia. The first song on the EP has lines like "my creator/ doesn't make a good neighbor," the second has lines like "try to live like this forever/ love my ma and not upset her," and the third "to follow with me far below" and "I'm sorry mommmy I cannot." So I get the sense that the narrative of this EP has more to do with mothers than with lovers. In this song, "still I sense/ Their judgment now/ As we ask for rest,/ Just rest." seems to suggest euthanasia to me.

I have loved this song for years, and always thought the initial verses pertained to the aftermath of an explosion - when it's so loud, you cant hear anything.

I don't know any other Wye Oak songs, so I cannot speak for the rest of the album. But given how it was released in 2011, 10 years post 9/11, and while reading an account of someone who was on the streets of New York that day...

It could very well be about 9/11.

I'm new to this website, am I allowed to tag in articles from elsewhere?

theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/09/glenn-vogt-september-11/620030/

The survivor interviewed in that article said "“I’m floating through Lower Manhattan like a ghost, It was so loud, it was actually quiet.” when I remembered this song.

"Still I sense Their judgment now As we ask for rest Just rest" Judgement from the rest of the world? The perpetrators?

And the rest of the song, witnessing a loved one who either died that day, or from sickness years later due to the dust and toxins in the air. Many people are still suffering to this day.

I always thought of this song to be about a bomb or plane crash, as well as euthanasia, but it could have been 9/11 related.

I haven't listened to the rest of the album so I don't have a feel for the direction of the EP but this sounds like a "Day After", post-apocolyptic scenario to me.

The reaction to the explosion, the initial aftermath and realization that things are very different, the curse of surviving and living a life in a world no longer livable, and eventually hoping to be released from suffering by wishing for death.

I could way off-base though :)

A beautiful love song.

Two lovers. The song's narrator has died, whose soul is in the next state waiting for the still living lover to die as well so they can join.

"In the belly of the crowd I was released You were released"

"Still I sense Their judgment now As we ask for rest, Just rest."

I'm pretty sure the line marked "Iron brick couldn't notch the wall" is much closer to "I could recognize the wall," but it's hard to say.

"At the ringing of a bell Or at the falling of a tree If you think of it at all Remember me Just me"

Oh, it's

"I don't recognize the world That you have made That we have made"

Thanks to all you guys who commented with corrections! I changed the lyrics as you suggested, and it seems quite an improvement. :D I love this song...it's beautiful, musically and lyrically.

-sunny-

You love someone so much, you can't breathe without them, you almost hope they die so you can live for yourself and not for them. But obviously you don't really hope they die, its just someone not being able to separate their soul from someone else. You need them more than they need you and it gives you pain being away from them, you need to see them sleep before you can.

I've always thought of this song about the end of a relationship. Her counterpart is so miserable/tormented/suffering, that all she wants is for them to be peaceful. Almost as if she realizes that death might be the best resolution for their situation.

To me, the song is sung from the perspective someone who was in a drunk driving accident with their significant other: "In the belly of the cloud" (of dust and debris kicking up) "Was it deafeningly loud Or was it peace, sweet peace" (The sound of the collision)

They both end up in the hospital where they are fighting for their lives and trying to recover: "Still I sense their judgement now As we ask for rest, just rest" (People asking what they can do for them, but still kind of judging them for drinking and driving and doing this to themselves)

At some point the narrator passes and watches over her significant other who is on life support: "I can't sleep until I see you sleeping Curse my mind and its all-seeing eye Watch the rise And wonder if you're breathing Against your will You are alive"

Their world was turned upside down to the point where it's unrecognizable to what their life was before the accident: "I don't recognize the world That you have made That we have made"

"Still you fool yourself to ask If you had stayed If we had stayed" (Them thinking about the 'what ifs' that may have prevented the accident)

When a traumatic event happens, people tend to be reminded of it by pretty much anything. She wants him to remember her only, and not the traumatic event that took her life:

"At the ringing of a bell Or at the falling of a tree If you think of it at all Remember me Just me" 

Her significant other survives and she continues to watch him in the hospital:

"I can't breathe until I see you waking Watching as the scars fall from your eyes" (He's crying because he's deeply hurt from losing her)

"I hope you die I hope you die I hope you die I hope you die" (She longs for them to be reunited and him dying is the only way for that to happen)