New Ceremony

This music, shows how doubt and fear of the future ruin a relationship.

The 'he' cared about 'her', and had no doubts about the love he felt was real. There's also the reference that he loved her so much that he couldn't even sleep, because she was there, and he felt in need to look at her, that sleeping was not important, when he had a dream right by his side.

But without any reason the "angel of doubt" planted the doubt in her mind, the doubt "crept into your bed". The lyrics in this part are kind of strange, because he "waited by your bedside", but the doubt "crept into YOUR bed" (and they "were sleeping in our beds", different beds), so he wasn't sleeping with her, so the lyrics tell about or a young love or a distant one, or both. And he was just imaginating her, instead of literally looking at her, he couldn't sleep because he couldn't stop thinking of her.

This doubt made her start to fear the future of the relationship and the inevitable end of it (but he believed it was forever) instead of enjoying love and the possibility of happiness, she said "I know [the future] it's gotta stop love, but I don't know how.".

"Now the stairs forget your shoes, And the gate don't creak for want of you. But the jury's out on me."

I don't understand the context of this part honestly, it's a reference to Cinderella. Also as @wisemat182 said there might be an age issue, but in my opinion, the age issue is that they are both young, they're planning the future too much "We're wise beyond our years" but they're also immature "But we're good at bad ideas"

He doesn't want her to think about the future, to enjoy the present, think positive, that there's always hope for something that would last forever, that the future might not be as dark as it seems "Shine a little light", as he thinks of her at night and can't sleep because he thinks how much he loves her, she cannot sleep because she cannot stop thinking negative about the relationship, "Don't wrestle with the night". He tells her not to worry about the future, but she simply cannot stop thinking that the love would end at some time.

"My little one,/My kettle drum,..." (Affectionate names, that show love and caring.)

"My babel tongue,/My come-undone,..." (babel tongue means misunderstanding, while come-undone means something ruined. My interpretation is that he was the only who ultimately stopped loving her, because the doubts made her change, she wasn't his "little one", his "kettle drum" anymore.)

"My prison kiss,/My dying wish,..." With prison kiss, I think it refers to the last kiss, that's never the last, he can't say goodbye, because he's not sure if he wants to, he's doubtful because of her doubts.

"I know I had a message at the start.../But it up and abandoned us, when we were sleeping in our beds." By saying all these this, he had a message, in my opinion that message was a "I love you." but he couldn't say it anymore, because now he was the one with doubts about the love he felt.

"It's anybody's guess how the angel of doubt laid down Sand beneath our house."

Notice that now it's "our house". In this context the house represents the things they shared together, they relationship that's falling apart because of the "sand" (doubt) beneth it.

"I know it's gotta stop love, but I don't know how."

In the end of the song, it's not her who says this, but he. Putting an end to all the doubts, ending the relationship.

The irony is that her doubt caused his doubt, which made him end the relationship, but also made her doubts right. Although the doubt and the end of the relation was her fault, she was rigth, because the future did stop their love.

I agree with gunshotglitter, it's about all the possibilities that disappear when a relationship ends. I don't think it relates to an age gap as wisemat182 said - it could just be circumstances that are pulling them apart (the 'prison kiss'.) 'Little one' and 'kettle drum' also sound like pet names that he's using to appeal to her, but ultimately he'll still end up wondering how they got to that place - how the angel of doubt undermined their relationship.

it seems to be about someone who thought he was in love, and suddenly a doubt was cast on his relationship. he and his lover both started to waver in their love, and he's lamenting the loss of his dreams about the future of the relationship.

English is not my first language, so it's very possible that I'm not getting it correctrly.

But my feeling is that this song is about a guy and a younger girl who've started dating (we're wise beyond our years; my little one; my prison kiss), despite knowing from the start that the age difference will make the relationship stop once.

It's just that they like each other too much to stop the love now, but the 'angel of doubt' is still around, because of the age difference. They know it, they know it has to stop, but now they just want to not be bothered about it. shine a litte light, don't wrestle with the night, don't think about the future now. because the future doesn't look as bright as the present.

The shipping forecast refers to rough seas as its a daily BBC broadcast for weather at sea around the UK.

Kettle drum is a hollow bowl-like hemisphere covered with a skin or membrane,

Now the stairs forget your shoes, and the gate don't creak for want of you, but the jury's out on me

She's not around anymore, leaving her shoes on the stairs, and the creaky gate isn't creaking because she doesn't come round anymore

I feel like this is about an affair with someone you're really in love with while you're in a relationship with someone else.

"It's anybody's guess how, The angel of doubt came down, And crept into your bed."

I think this refers to the doubt in the actual relationship. You find someone else, and what was once your everyday life, a relationship you're used to, seems less perfect now. Maybe there's something better out there, the one you're having an affair with.

"Now the stairs forget your shoes, And the gate don't creak for want of you. But the jury's out on me."

The affair has ended, they're not seeing each other anymore but the narrator's still got to take responsibility of their actions.

"We're wise beyond our years, But we're good at bad ideas, my love. Or so it seems to be."

While the affair has ended, they're still in love or feel a deep connection. They're wise, they know what matters in life and they know what they are supposed to do. Maybe they've had conversation neither of them can have with anyone else. They know exactly what they're not supposed to do, yet they do. Even though they know they're hurting themselves, each other and everyone involved. Because the narrator is truly in love with the person s/he's having an affair with, "Or so it seems to be" refers to how they might not see the affair as such a bad idea after all. They know it won't end well, but they still hope it might because after all they're in love. The narrator is a romantic.

"Shine a little light, Don't wrestle with the night, Don't think about the future now. I know it's gotta stop love but I don't know how."

There will be darkness, things will go wrong and they'll be found out and everyone will get hurt and they will have to stop their affair at some point. The narrator's persuading them not to think about their impossible future but live in the moment and do what they want to do once more. They both know it can't go on forever but they don't want to stop it as it feels right.

"My little one, My kettle drum"

This shows how they are truly in love with each other, it's more than just a sexual affair.

"My babel tongue, My come-undone"

Babel is "In the Bible, a city (now thought to be Babylon) in Shinar where God confounded a presumptuous attempt to build a tower into heaven by confusing the language of its builders into many mutually incomprehensible languages."

The idea of the person was heavenly, yet doomed in the first place.

"My prison kiss, My dying wish"

The person is the one thing the narrator wants anymore, it's always the one they'd choose, the last person to think about, the only person to see.

I waited by your bedside and couldn't close my eyes all night. I named you like a prayer. It's anybody's guess how the angel of doubt came down and crept into your bed. But after we danced to the shipping forecast the words escaped your mouth: "I know it's godda stop, love, but I don't know how".

This guy knew she was drifting away from him, he already knows about the 'angel of doubt'. By that he means her mind filling with doubts about their relationship. She's probably scared of the intensity of the love. So this verse is about him watching her while she sleeps, wanting the moment to last forever, almost praying that she doesn't say the words that she eventually does ('I know it's godda stop, love, but I don't know how.') He's trying to work out where they went wrong. I reckon the shipping forecast is metaphorical of the doubts/worries spinning around their heads. Shipping forecasts warn about where ships are etc, so perhaps they're just dancing together for one last time, trying to block out the inevitable end of their relationship like a radio playing in the background, but she says what she does, which acknowledges the massive elephant in the room they'd both been desperately avoiding.

Now the stairs forget your shoes, and the gate don't creak for want of you, but the jury's out on me

This is about him making a feeble attempt to pretend he doesn't miss her, but even he has to admit in the end, he's blatantly guilty of missing her.

We're wise beyond our years but we're good at bad ideas, my love, or so it seems to be

They both know better than to keep going back to each other, but they just cannot help it. Or maybe it's about one of them not being faithful - 'bad ideas'

My little one My kettle drum My babel tongue My come undone My prison wish My dying wish I know I had a message at the start But it up and abandoned us, when we were sleeping in our beds.

I think this is just him starting a sentence, but loosing himself in her brillance - ' I know I had a message at the start'. Like he forgot what he was even talking about. Then he gets back on track with a fragment of a sentence 'but it up and abandoned us, when we were sleeping in our beds'. It's almost like he's shocked and appalled at the missing love, ripped from him. He can't fathom how it happened and how he's gona keep going.

Shine a little light, don't wrestle with the night, don't think about the future now. I know it's godda stop love, but I don't know how.

At this point, I feel as though they are both just like, fuck it, lets just live in this moment here and now where we both love each other. Deal with everything else another time but for now, I'm drunk off you.

It's anybody's guess how the angel of doubt laid down sand beneath our house. I know it's godda stop love, but I don't know how. I know it's godda stop love, but I don't know how.

First line is pretty self-explanatory. Possible a reference to the bible. A house on sand is gona crumble and fall, so the doubt in her mind is pulling the love down. The final 2 lines is just him telling himself over and over again that it has to stop, but admitting he has no idea how. Or it could be him reflecting on her words in sorrow or denial.

To me this song is about two young people who are forbidden to love each other for what ever reason.

{I waited by your bedside And didn't close my eyes all night I named you like a prayer} This just show how much the narrator loves the “love interest” of the song. Narrator couldn’t allow themselves to close their eyes because love interest was there. Narrator named love interest like a prayer, therefore held them with high esteem and thought them very precious.

{It's anybody's guess how The angel of doubt came down And crept into your bed But after we danced to the shipping forecast The words escaped your mouth "I know it's gotta stop love, but I don't know how"} Love interest begins to feel doubtful of how long the relationship will last, they might even feel as though, perhaps, the relationship isn’t even worth the trouble. Love interest is keeping all their worries hushed. One day when though love interest voices their concerns, “I know it’s gotta stop, love, but I don’t know how.” This could mean, either that love interest doesn’t know how the relationship will end but is certain it will, and/or that love interest know the relationship should end but doesn’t know how to stop loving narrator.

{Now the stairs forget your shoes And the gate don't creak for want of you} I honestly have no idea what this means, lol.

{But the jury's out on me} If they get caught narrator will be in a lot of trouble.

{We're wise beyond our years But we're good at bad ideas, my love Or so it seems to be} The first line here implies that they both are young, as you wouldn’t say that an older person is wise beyond there years. Them dating is a “bad idea” or so people would seem to think.

{Shine a little light Don't wrestle with the night Don't think about the future now I know it's gotta stop love but I don't know how} Narrator is telling love interest to be more optimistic, to shine a light on the bad, stop worrying – tossing and turning in the night – so much, to stop focusing on the future. That just because it’s destine to end doesn’t mean they shouldn’t enjoy the time they have together.

{My little one My kettle drum} These are just terms of endearment.

{My babel tongue My come-undone} Babel tongue implies a miscommunication. Perhaps narrator said something to someone that accidentally gave off the relationship, they came-undone and spilled the truth. Or maybe narrators just worried that this will happen. An other theory is that they both speak a different language and that the miscommunications between them will be their undoing.

{My prison kiss My dying wish} Every time narrator and love interest kiss they both know that it isn’t allowed, they’re breaking the rules. Narrators dying wish would be to kiss love interest one last time.

{I know I had a message at the start But it up and abandoned us} I haven’t a clue what this means…

{when we were sleeping in our beds} They sleep in separate beds, which I think supports my theory of them being young and not allowed to be together.

{It's anybody's guess how the angel of doubt laid down Sand beneath our house I know it's gotta stop love, but I don't know how} The first two lines imply, however, that they live in the same house. Now this “house” could possibly be a boarding school or something akin to one. Or it could mean that they are older now and living together – or even that they ran away to be together – finally away for the people who tried to keep them apart but after a while the doubt came back.

Again this is just my, personal, interpretation of the lyrics.