Safe and Sound

I think this is Katniss' song to Prim because it sounds like the song is all about protecting someone from the hurt and wars that go on in Panem. Trying to keep someone innocent and safe in a world that is anything but.

This song is really beautiful, and I love it. I hate Taylor Swift, no offense to all the TS lovers out there, but I really do. This song, I feel, is the best she's ever sung... and I do love The Civil Wars. :) Anyways, here is my interpretation of the song in The Hunger Games. Could be completely wrong, but this is how I see it.

"I remember tears streaming down your face, when I said I'll never let you go. When all the shadows almost killed your light, I remember you said don't leave me alone. But all that's dead and gone in the past, Tonight."

This is the part where Katniss is in the Cave with Peeta, and she thinks he's going to die, but then she saves him. 'When all the shadows almost killed your night" That's when he's almost dying, the next two lines have to do with how he says not to go to the feast, but she does, and in the end it doesn't matter to them, because they're both alive and fighting.

"Just close your eyes, the sun is going down. You'll be alright, no one can hurt you now. Come morning light, you and I'll be safe and sound."

This is later in the games, where they are up on the cornucopia, and Cato is being killed below them. This is Katniss telling Peeta he'll be fine, they'll be fine. She's so worried that he's going to die, but she's not going to let him die "No one can hurt you now" they're so close to winning, she won't allow him to die now.

"Don't you dare look out your window, Darling, everything's on fire. The war outside our door keeps raging on. Hold onto this lullaby, even when the music's gone. Gone."

This is where they just found out one of them is going to have to die because they changed the rule in The Games. Katniss is saying, don't worry, everything will be fine, and that's when they almost take the nightlock. The second half of this stanza is saying no matter what happens, they love each other. Everything will be fine.

"Just closes your eyes, the sun is going down. You'll be alright, no one can hurt you now. Come morning light, you and I'll be safe and sound.

Just closes your eyes, you'll be alright. Come morning light, you and I'll be safe and sound."

The games are over, and they won, and soon everything will be okay. They have to believe everything will be okay. That they'll be safe and sound.

Even though I'm not a fan of either Taylor Swift or The Hunger Games series, this song is actually pretty good.

Even though this song was written for the Hunger Games as a film adaptation, I feel that since the soundtrack itself was treated as a concept album (as none of the tracks are actually used in the film), this song is meant to tell the untold stories of the rebels who died long before the events of the film, whose stories were sorely lacking in the film itself. Interestingly enough, the song seems to be organized in a chronological order, from the rebellion's first shots to its last breaths.

"I remember tears streaming down your face when I said, 'I'll never let you go'" could refer to their loved ones taking up arms against the Capitol, as a literal plead to not go fight for the rebellion. The phrase "when all those shadows almost killed your light" could easily be referencing gunships overhead or fast-moving infantry in the surrounding forest; this could be either in reference to the first line or throughout.

"I remember when you said 'Don't leave me here alone'" could be an anecdote from the fighting itself, meaning that the narrator was faced with overwhelming odds and forced to choose between comforting the fallen comrade or forsake them in a retreat, or it could be the other side of the first phrase's "story" (perhaps a young wife begging her husband not to go to war, and his cynical, retrospective response "after" his death).

The second stanza is a hauntingly ironic play off of the song's structure as a lullaby; instead of lulling a person to sleep, it's a kind of last-rite comfort before their death, and the bright tone of the song and fluidity contrasted with the morbid, dark lyrics is what makes this song so effective.

The third stanza hits even closer to home; by all indications, it refers directly to the tragedy of a mother or older sibling faced with the very real and imminent prospect of death for them and their loved ones, and as perhaps their last will and testament, they implore their loved ones to "hold onto this lullaby" even if "the music stops".

Holding onto a song sung with your back against the wall and the bloodthirsty Capitol closing in is heavy-handed material, to be sure, but as those doomed souls must have done, the song continues to progress in a defiantly unwavering fashion; without a doubt, the third stanza was intended to give its subjects strength and comfort beyond its narrators' fleeting existence.

The remaining stanzas repeat the same tragic, bitterly ironic phrases of the second stanza, representing the fact that these stories of tragedy were numerous among the rebels, and with the final stanza, the song closes the chapter of Panem's history with a whimper, an understated yet powerful ending to a song with far more complexity and nuances than even the film itself.

i think the first verse is about rue, but like as if whe's watching from above. "I remeber tears streaming down your face." --rue seeing katniss crying "When all those shadows almost killed your light."--when rue died, it hurt katniss, but also gave her the strength to stay alive, and keep her light. "I remeber you said, don't leave me alone." rue remembering katniss' hope for her not to die. "But all that's dead and gone and passed tonight." Rue thinking that's in the past, and just be happy to be alive tonight.

the chorus: i think this one's as if katniss is talking to rue as she dies. "Just close your eyes, the sun is going down. you'll be alright, no one can hurt you know. Come morning light, you and i'll be safe and sound." just close your eyes and listen to my words as the sun sinks, you'll be alright, you'll be safe from harm. wait for morning and we'll be safe.

verse

This song.... it has a way of making people want to cry, but also making them want to hold onto the pieces of an impossible hope. I only read the first book - which was amazing, by the way - and the only anguish that I can think of that is on almost the exact level of loss and tragedy... is the death of Rue. When I read the part where she's brutally killed, I fell to pieces. Almost literally. I knew that Rue was going to die, but I didn't expect it so bluntly and violently. This song conveys sorrow in a way that only Taylor can. I <3 you, Taylor!

I think that is prim walking the streets of the now abandoned district 12, as a ghost.

I absolutely LOVE this song! And not just because it's in the Hunger Games, Taylor's voice is beautiful in this song:)

Taylor Swift joined up with Nashville singer-songwriter duo the Civil Wars to pen this melancholy acoustic ballad for the soundtrack to the movie The Hunger Games. The film is set in a post-apocalyptic world where teenage boys and girls fight to the death in an annual televised event and is based on Suzanne Collins' young-adult novel of the same title. It was released as a single on iTunes on December 23, 2011.

Whilst Swift sings reassuringly "Just close your eyes / The sun is going down / You'll be all right / No one can hurt you," the Civil Wars add restrained backing vocals. The Civil Wars pair, Joy Williams and John Paul White, originally met at a songwriting camp in Nashville. In 2010 the pair partnered up with CCM veteran producer Charlie Peacock to record their debut full-length studio album, Baron Hollow, which debuted at #12 on the Billboard 200 the following year.

The soundtrack was produced by T. Bone Burnett, who is well known for his work on rootsy-Americana records such as O Brother Where Art You and the Robert Plant/Alison Krauss collaboration Raising Sand.

The sullen track was penned by The Civil Wars and Swift over the course of just four hours. "I had this title that I had been working with called 'Safe & Sound,' and I just knew that I wanted it to deal with the empathy, sort of the more sensitive side, the bittersweet side of this story," Swift told MTV News. "Never imagining that this would ever be picked or a single, 'cause it's a lullaby. This song was such an amazing experience, because it's like it just happened."

T-Bone Burnett then added his sparse production. "We wrote this song and recorded it one day. When we got the track back, I was so surprised by the restraint," said Swift. "He created this ethereal sound without making it this big battle anthem."

Speaking at the 2012 Grammies after performing their song "Barton Hollow," White joked of their superstar collaborator, "We told her to stop using us to further her career."

The song's music video was shot by director Philip Andelman in a forest, cemetery and log cabin in the Tennessee town of Watertown. It features Swift walking barefoot through the woods, wearing a long white gown as the Civil Wars accompany her in front of a fireplace. Swift had to endure uncomfortable shooting conditions for her part. "It was so cold. It was freezing. I was shaking the whole time and trying not to be shaking when the cameras were rolling. It was about 40 degrees in Nashville. It had just rained," she said to MTV News. "I'm wearing this 1920s vintage nightgown that didn't provide much warmth. I didn't get sick. I thought I was going to get sick. That was the upside." The video contains several references to the best-selling Hunger Games book trilogy including the iconic mockingjay pin. "I felt like I was really needing to pay tribute to this movie and tell this story," Swift said to MTV News. "There's this moment in the music video where I find this mockingjay pin and hold it up."

The song was penned during a spontaneous writing session at Bennett's home studio in the fall of 2011. "The Civil Wars had a show that night in L.A.," recalled Taylor to Rolling Stone. "So they raced right over to T Bone's house. There's so many things he could've done production-wise to make that song bigger sonically than it is, but I think that would have possibly been a mistake. For him to have left the song as a lullaby is brilliant."

The official Hunger Games companion album debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 chart, selling 175,000 copies in its first week. It was the first multi-artist film soundtrack to reach the peak position since The Twilight Saga: New Moon rose from #2 to #1 in its second week on the tally in November 2009.

SPOILER FOR BOOKS

Ok so this is quick, but if you've watched the video and read all the books: You know when prim dies? Taylor is Prim, as she's like a "ghost". and in the video, The house cabin is where the fire and warmth is, but taylor's not in there. Shes always on the outside. Her dress is ghostlike. Shes like singing to Katniss to stay strong without her. Just a thought :D