I was always right
About the morning
Okay, I'm an old shoe
Danced above the blades
Never stopped crawling
Over the black dunes

And I'm waiting
For you
Waiting forever
Are you awake now too?

I am always one
Without a warning
Whole days
Reappear
Lift away
Past the gate
Desert keeps forming
Underneath the black moon

And I'm waiting
For you
Waiting forever
Are you awake now too?


Lyrics submitted by evolibol

Black Moon Lyrics as written by Jeff Tweedy

Lyrics © BMG Rights Management

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Black Moon song meanings
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  • +2
    My Interpretation

    This song seems genius to me.

    At first, i thought the first lines, "i was always right about the morning," referred something coming to past and being able to say "i saw this outcome coming" (dawn or morning usually refers to when everything comes into light. I thought he was trying to say that when all has come to light, i always knew this was going to be the outcome.) But then, you get to the line "i am always one without a warning" and it seems to completely contradict the first interpretation. How can you see something coming, be right about the outcome, and then say you are always the one blindsided?

    Then i looked at the rest of the song a little closer and realized it's structure. The story of this song is split in half. The entire top half is referring how things used to be, how the author used to see things, and how nearsighted he was, and the bottom half refers to realities of where he is now, and what he sees ahead of him. You see this in the word structure of "I WAS always" in the top, as apposed to "I AM always" in the bottom.

    Danced above the blades Never stopped crawling Over the black dunes

    He's saying he thought he used to dance above the negatives, like he missed the bad things, (unless "blades" refers to grass) happy, light, blissful, but is now realizing he never even got on his feet. I'd think that black dunes refers to hills to climb and dark periods in life. He never actually got over something in his life, and these lines:

    And I'm waiting For you Waiting forever Are you awake now too?

    refer to a person he hasn't gotten past. He's asking if she has come to the same realizations he has ("are you awake now too?"). He wants to know if she is hung up on him too, but he's waiting forever regardless of whether she is waiting for him because he can't get over her.

    Now we get to where he has arrived in life. In this last half he's talking about how he didn't have things as figured out as he used to. He's found himself in a completely different place than he could have anticipated.

    I am always one Without a warning

    He's realizing he doesn't have things figured out, and he never did. There were always things he didn't foresee with this person.

    Whole days Reappear

    He's looking back at events with this person and seeing them differently now that time has past and realizing the mistakes, and signs of downfall he missed.

    Lift away Past the gate Desert keeps forming Underneath the black moon

    Now looking ahead, instead of feeling like he knows what's out there, he knows he's lost his way. "Desert" could refer back to the "black dunes" as he's realizing what's in front of him, or it could just refer to the desolate unknown that seems to keep forming under his feet as he ventures out, but this time all alone. The black moon is referring to how alone, lost, and unenlightened he is. It's just him, this desert, and his hills to climb, now dawn or morning to come to light, but he's still waiting for this person.

    It's a complicated interpretation, and i don't know if it is right, but that's how i see it. Songs like this could mean a lot of things, and people tend to see themselves in them if they can relate to the song, so that might be what i'm doing here. I can also see this being about fighting depression, or drugs, or anything really negative in your life that involves some kind of struggle, or back and forth, but this is the interpretation that i've decided on.

    ME68on April 26, 2014   Link

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