Laura Marling

Flicker and Fail

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Flicker and Fail Lyrics

Took a bus to meet me in a bar in a Tuscan hill
Oh a sight I’d never seen, I believe in God still
But you wouldn’t be able to stop me if I feel like running away
Wouldn’t be able to stop me if I didn’t want to stay

And the rain fell on the houses
And on the late swaying trees
It fell its fiercest on the skulls of the willingly deceived
They put money in their hearts and God where their mouth is  
They put money in their hearts and God

Said he’d been sleeping lonely, spending nights under the stars
Little darling, we’re all lonely, we don’t all show our scars

It’s my heart, and my burden, and I would never bring you down like that
My heart, my burden, I would never bring you down with me

And the rain fell on the towers and on the late swaying trees
And it hammered and it raged on us unwillingly
And the believers were forewarned, and they ran into the storm
And watched the earth’s light flicker and fail
Watched the earth’s light flicker and fail
Flicker and, flicker and fail

They put money in their hearts and God where their mouth is
 They put money in their hearts and God where their mouth is
They put money in their hearts and God where their mouth is
They put money in their hearts and God

Submitted by

twentytwopages On Feb 08, 2011

Said he’d been sleeping lonely, spending nights under the stars
Little darling, we’re all lonely, we don’t all show our scars

It’s my heart, and my burden, and I would never bring you down like that
My heart, my burden, I would never bring you down with me

They put money in their hearts and God where their mouth is
 They put money in their hearts and God where their mouth is 
They put money in their hearts and God where their mouth is 
They put money in their hearts and God

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twentytwopages

Submitter

2011-02-08 18:01:03

1 Meaning

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by thatone

12y ago

Such a shame that this has never been released on an album. It's a beautiful song imo. It's hard to objectively interpret, but my interpretation is that it's about the struggle of having faith (religious) while you feel that the 'elite' that you are supposed to see as examples, are not sincere.

"Oh a sight I’d never seen, I believe in God still" Here the narrator (let's call her Laura) connects the beautiful Tuscany landscape to her faith in God, and this stays connected throughout the song.

"But you wouldn’t be able to stop me if I feel like running away" Here is the first mention of a struggle. The person she is meeting has a strong faith, but Laura is struggling, and this person is not going to stop her.

Then it starts to rain on the landscape. A metaphor for the decline of religion. The beauty of the landscape was connected to Laura's faith, so as the landscape gets rainier, Laura's faith weakens.

"It fell its fiercest on the skulls of the willingly deceived" The people feel willingly deceived by the 'elite', and lose their faith because of it.

"They put money in their hearts and God where their mouth is" The 'elite' talks about God, but really just cares about money.

"Said he’d been sleeping lonely, spending nights under the stars" The person she was meeting feels lonely in his strong faith.

"My heart, my burden, I would never bring you down with me" Laura doesn't want to bring the other person with her in her struggle.

There are two lines that I can't seem to fit in this interpretation: "Little darling, we’re all lonely, we don’t all show our scars" I just have no idea what to think of this line. It sounds like "don't be such a crybaby", but that would make no sense. "And the believers were forewarned, and they ran into the storm" As I have said, I interpret the storm as a metaphor for the decline of faith. I don't see who the believers are here, and why they were forewarned.

My Interpretation

Such a shame that this has never been released on an album. It's a beautiful song imo.
It's hard to objectively interpret, but my interpretation is that it's about the struggle of having faith (religious) while you feel that the 'elite' that you are supposed to see as examples, are not sincere.

"Oh a sight I’d never seen, I believe in God still"
Here the narrator (let's call her Laura) connects the beautiful Tuscany landscape to her faith in God, and this stays connected throughout the song.

"But you wouldn’t be able to stop me if I feel like running away"
Here is the first mention of a struggle. The person she is meeting has a strong faith, but Laura is struggling, and this person is not going to stop her.

Then it starts to rain on the landscape. A metaphor for the decline of religion. The beauty of the landscape was connected to Laura's faith, so as the landscape gets rainier, Laura's faith weakens.

"It fell its fiercest on the skulls of the willingly deceived"
The people feel willingly deceived by the 'elite', and lose their faith because of it.

"They put money in their hearts and God where their mouth is"
The 'elite' talks about God, but really just cares about money.

"Said he’d been sleeping lonely, spending nights under the stars"
The person she was meeting feels lonely in his strong faith.

"My heart, my burden, I would never bring you down with me"
Laura doesn't want to bring the other person with her in her struggle.

There are two lines that I can't seem to fit in this interpretation:
"Little darling, we’re all lonely, we don’t all show our scars"
I just have no idea what to think of this line. It sounds like "don't be such a crybaby", but that would make no sense.
"And the believers were forewarned, and they ran into the storm"
As I have said, I interpret the storm as a metaphor for the decline of faith. I don't see who the believers are here, and why they were forewarned.

Reason:

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