Of Monsters And Men – Yellow Light

General CommentMaybe it's about learning how to fall in love again, despite all of your residual fear from previous heartbreak. Terrifying, yet somehow worth it. That's what it makes me think of.

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  @anythingworks
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  For the most part I agree, and I think that the comments suggesting that the song is "about" madness or death are missing the point. My reading of this is that it is a song about a person experiencing "true" (in the mature, enduring sense) love for the first time and being terrified at the prospect of realising that she wants to spend her life with that other person. This is, indeed, a frightening prospect, as it necessitates confronting one's own mortality - the corollary to spending your life with another person is that they will outlive you - which the song evokes splendidly with the references to howling beasts and being eaten alive, and the funereal closing section (which would not sound out of place on a horror movie soundtrack).

  Flag MrEldritchon December 10, 2015  

General CommentI like the previous comment, especially because mine is a little on the morbid side. ^^; I heard this after I heard Little Talks, so, I interpreted this to be a follow up, and that the female singer has just passed on, and the male singer, who was her husband in Little Talks, has come to guide her home.

Of course, it may not be a follow up at all, and is simply that the first signer has passed and the second singer is merely her guide, leading her from the dark and to safety/heaven with a yellow light, showing her that it's not all that bad along the way.

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  @TehLislis

My InterpretationI have two very different interpretations of this song, both dark for some reason. When I listen to music my brain automatically paints a picture lol I'm strange. anywho

First, I kinda see a girl being sucked into a dark, mysterious world by a stranger. She is hesitant and afraid, for good reason too. But he charms her past her fear and she gives in.

Then, I see somebody recovering from the death of a loved one. Maybe this was a parent, spouse, sibling or child but they're trying to figure out how to live and love again.

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  @Caliabe

Song Meaning(sorry this view of the song is very dark but it makes a lot of sense to me and i wanted to share it)

This song is about a girl being pulled into insanity. The male voice telling her to grab his hand is the insanity, wanting access to her brain, or "wonderland". Her brain begins to be flooded with dangerous thoughts (the water and the sharks), but the insanity tells her to just continue on and ignore her brain trying to tell her this is dangerous.
The second verse is after she has already been submerged into the insanity, and the howling beast is actually her familys' worried screams. The colors the insanity is showing her are hallucinations.The lines saying that she is running into the night and that the earth is shaking is saying that she is being driven to an insane asylum. She sees the light of the hospital, and she is put into a padded cell (the soft walls) in which she is forced to stay while her and her insanity wither away.

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  @halgerl
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  I love this interpretation.

  Flag RosesAndRuffleson February 18, 2014  

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  @halgerl damn, but i do love this. makes sense

  Flag cmishapson June 10, 2015  

General CommentOk so, I get how, pretty much everyone get dark meaning to this song, but i have another take, purely because of my personal experiences with a very incredible man that has recently come back into my life :)
so..

'I'm looking for a place to start,
And everything feels so different now.'

- In my interpretation, she has messed up in the past with a relationship, She strongly believes that she has to rekindle the relationship, yet she is afraid of love, because she doesn't understand it. She might even think that Love is an absurd crazy world of madness...

'Just grab a hold of my hand,
I will lead you through this wonderland.'

- He wants to support her no matter what, even though she has hurt him in the past, he is willing to take her hand and walk with her, help her get over her fear of love, he even refers to love the way she interprets it, as a crazy wonderland.

'Water up to my knees,
But sharks are swimming in the sea.'

- Even though he has told her that he will always be there, he has expressed his love to her in the most divine way. She still takes caution to the wind, She is unsure on how to react to his kindness.

'Just follow my yellow light
And ignore all those big warning signs.'

-he extends her metaphor of caution, referring to his guidance as a yellow light, (Yellow is the colour of caution, a perfect example is when a robot turns yellow, you are supposed to slow down) he tells her to forget about the warning signs her body is giving her (In my opinion, she has rekindled her relationship with her true love, despite her running away from it previously)

'Somewhere deep in the dark,
A howling beast hears us talk.'

- Just because of personal experiences, I interpret the 'Howling beasts' as people who do not agree with their relationship. (I.E. a family member/members, friends or mentors) and even though she is afraid of what they might think, she just passes that fear because she doesn't care

'I dare you to close your eyes
And see all the colors in disguise.'

-He says out of desperation, 'I Dare you to close your eyes' So, hes asking her to take a blind leap of faith and discover the beauty and wonders of Love, this indicates that he acknowledges that she is afraid of love, but he doesn't understand why. His understanding of love is pure and beautiful, and he wants her to experience that too.

'Running into the night,
The earth is shaking and I see a light.'

- As she closes her eyes and takes this leap of faith ( He wants her to close her eyes, be careless and just fall in love again, She feels like in doing so, it is the equivalent of just running into darkness (Justifies her being afraid of love.)) yet true love prevails. but She is so afraid she feels like the earth is shaking (Like the feeling you get just before you pass out).. But finally she sees the light, she sees the meaning of love, the light represents her love, so she finally sees why love is so beautiful.

'The light is blinding my eyes
As the soft walls eat us alive.'

- This is personally my favorite line, He says the light is blinding his eyes because her light/ her love is so bright, so she has now finally fallen so so deeply and madly in love with him, hence the next line, 'The soft walls eat us alive' you generally find soft walls in an asylum, which is where crazy people go. :D Eeeep! they're so crazy in-love that they're in a crazy people room :P

Let me know your thoughts darlings

XOXO

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  @SarahRae
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  @SarahRae Wow! I really think that you hit the nail on the head, at least for me. That's what I feel this song is about as well. It is very personal to me. I just hope, if I ever have the chance to see this person again, I get the chance to close my eyes. It was never my intention to hurt him, I was just to blind and scared to realize what I had set in motion until it was too late.

  Flag cerabeeon March 16, 2015  

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  @SarahRae your view of the song is really beautiful and I must say you really opened my eyes. I didn't have one dark view of the song but I thought her loved one is telling her to hold his hand and he will be with her side through all the problems but your review really expanded my thoughts and elaborated the meaning even more.

  Flag AHeatFullOfQuestionson September 28, 2017  

My OpinionWow halgerl, your comment really got me thinking. Here's were my thoughts went:

What if it was something other than insanity luring her away? Something darker?
The devil?

I'm looking for a place to start-maybe she's gone through some traumatic event and is looking for a way to relieve the stress

And everything feels so different now.-she's going through shock, obviously everything has changed

Just grab a hold of my hand
I will lead you through this wonderland.-the devil saying "it's okay, come with me and I'll make everything better"

Water up to my knees
But sharks are swimming in the sea.-she goes with him and thinks "it's okay, I'm not that far in yet" but deep inside of her she knows that dangerous things lurk in these waters, and it's hard to get to shore once you're out at sea

Just follow my yellow light
And ignore all those big warning signs.-he's telling her that it's all in her head and nothing is wrong

Somewhere deep in the dark
A howling beast hears us talk.-she's starting to realize what a bad choice she's made, and even though she can't see anything, she senses the terrible things to come

I dare you to close your eyes
And see all the colors in disguise.-he tries to convince her that she's just not looking at the situation right/it may look rough now, but really, things are great

Running into the night
The earth is shaking and I see a light.-she realizes what she's done and tries to escape her choices

The light is blinding my eyes-he keeps her in the dark with him

As the soft walls eat us alive.-dark things were never build on a sound foundation, and the structure is flimsy, and the longer they stay, the more they fade away

Wow, that was really dark. I scared myself :I Just to make things clear: I don't think that OMAM are devil worshipers or anything, and neither am I, this is just where my mind went I guess. And even if this IS how they meant this song to be interpreted (which I doubt), I don't think that they were encouraging people to go out and seek evil and dark things. Rather the opposite actually. To remind people what has, and will happen. The song is actually quite beautiful and sad rather than dark.

Anyways......

(I'm actually not a creep I swear ;) )

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  @unillama
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  Your interpretation really made sense to me. But I think that the 'devil' could really be something else like drugs/the drug dealer/alcohol abuse, telling her that everything's fine, so that she would buy more substance, or alcohol, because as she was in shock, things moved and changed so quickly that she just got left behind and turned to drugs/alcohol/etc. The addiction slowly started to pull her down under, even though when she started she said that she would stop using before it got too bad. Great job interpreting it, I really got the meaning. :)

  Flag superninjakittehon December 26, 2013  

General CommentWow. No comments. Well I'll start this off by saying this is an amazing song. their entire album is just so soothing yet it stirs my soul a bit. As far as the meaning, I think it's simply a song about one person guiding the other through all of the world's trials, but it's told in a very vivid, imaginative way. Dark yet sweet and strangely haunting.

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  @Phillycheese

General Commenti feel as though these lyrics are about two people who have known of each other a long time, but never had the opportunity/advantage to truly explore/get to know one another until now, regarding many circumstances. so now they've stumbled upon each other and have may have realized they may have found what they really want regardless if it is what they had in mind or not. because everything is subject to change. Even that, that right there, but it's okay with them.

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  @swarraw

My InterpretationI'm not sure why, but this song seems to be about someone dying peacefully, with a loved one by their side. It's very sad, but also peaceful.

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  @thecowdiva

General CommentIt's painfully obvious this is about the ancient folklore creature Will-o'-the-wisp.

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  @TheB
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  @TheB I do like this interpretation, too. I like the sort of mystic thought.

  Flag seekinglifeon August 09, 2015  

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  @TheB I wouldn't call it painfully obvious. I do think that idea fits a lot with some of the lyrics but some of them don't have anything to with it. Interesting thought though.

  Flag hunter1175on June 08, 2017