The Silence

For me it reminds me of how whenever I am in my crowd at school and try to talk I am always shut down and when no one bothers to listen to me and I am always trying to make an effort to start a conversation with people but they never give anything back- if that makes any sense. :)

To me, this is what the song means.

In the first verse, he is talking to a loved one, remembering how they would always tell him stories about their past, remembering how they filled the silence so well and he always enjoyed listening to them. At the same time he is begging the person to do it again, to fill the silence that has fallen upon them.

The pre-chorus (Now you've hit a wall) is saying that the person has- well, hit a wall. Like they've been shocked, and they don't know what to say at all. The "It's not your fault" part suggests that it was something someone else said to them, maybe the singer himself (which would be Dan Smith)? The "and you've hit it hard" tells you that the person didn't take whatever was told to them very well.

The chorus is Dan sort of freaking out and being like, "Please, just say something." Like maybe he confessed something that this person didn't approve of or simply didn't expect. He's saying. "Please, say something, show some kind of reaction. It's not enough to just stand there looking shocked, you've got to say something before I burst from the suspense in the silence."

Next verse. "Tell me a part of your history that you've never said out loud." The singer is asking the other person to share something about his/herself that /he/ doesn't know, to shock him into silence. "Pull the rug beneath my feet" = "Go ahead, tell me something that will send /my/ world crumbling down."

I honestly have no idea what the bridge is about.

Anyways, overall, I take it like this: The singer told a close friend or family member some big secret, confessed something to them. And the person is just shocked into silence, standing there, dumbstruck. And the singer is just sitting here, fidgeting, waiting for them to say something, /anything/, to just fill the silence. Because as long as there is silence, the singer is prey to his own thoughts, and he's wondering what his friend's reaction will be, whether or not they'll still be friends. He's just saying, "C'mon, spit it out. I want to hear your actual reaction, and if you don't fill the silence and give it to me now, I'll start dreaming up what your reaction /could/ be, and it will be horrible."

Yup. I dunno, maybe this is completely wrong, but it makes sense to me.

When he sings "Can you feel the silence, I can't take it anymore" and "Can you fill the silence, you must have the words in that head of yours", I feel a personal connection to the song, and I think that others might feel this. Recently, I had a friend, who I liked as more than a friend. When I asked her out, she rejected me. Ever since then, things have been really awkward between us, trying as much as we can to avoid each other, even though we have lots of the same classes together. This bit of the song is how I feel, and how the singer might feel as well. "Can you feel the silence, I can't take it anymore"

I think the the person the singer is talking to is going crazy.

Verse One: "Tell me a piece of your history That you're proud to call your own Speak in words you picked up As you walked through life alone. We used to swim in your stories And be pulled down by their tide, Choking on the words And drowning with no air inside." The person is at therapy or something like that and the therapist is trying to get some answers.

Pre-chorus:

Now you've hit a wall and it's not your fault My dear, my dear, my dear. Now you've hit a wall and you've hit it hard, My dear, my dear, oh dear." The person won't answer the questions and is pretty much saying, "You've got a dead end her, but it's not your fault."

Chorus: It is not enough to be dumbstruck; (Can you fill the silence?) You must have the words in that head of yours. And oh, oh, can you feel the silence? I can't take it anymore, 'Cause it is not enough to be dumbstruck. (Can you fill the silence?) The therapist is trying to get the person to talk and tell him/her what is going on but the person isn't budging.

Verse two: Tell me a piece of your history That you've never said out loud. Pull the rug beneath my feet And shake me to the ground. Wrap me around your fingers, Break the silence open wide, Before it seeps into my ears, And fills me up from the inside. The therapist is getting frustrated and trying to challenge the person to surprise them.

Chorus 2: It is not enough to be dumbstruck; (Can you fill this silence?) You must have the words in that head of yours. And oh, oh, can you feel the silence? I can't take it anymore, 'Cause it is not enough to be dumbstruck. (Can you fill the silence?) The therapist tries again to get the person to talk unsuccessfully Bridge:

If you give it a name, then it's already won. What you good for, what you good for? If you give it a name, then it's already won. What you good for, what you good for? If you give it a name, then it's already won. What you good for, what you good for? If you give it a name, then it's already won. What you good for, what you good for? The person is saying that he/she doesn't need a diagnosis and that the therapist is useless.

Last chorus: 'Cause it is not enough to be dumbstruck; (Can you fill this silence?) You must have the words in that head of yours. And oh, oh, can you feel the silence? I can't take it anymore, 'Cause it is not enough to be dumbstruck, oh. The therapist tries one more time but gives up

I realize this is probably wrong and my mind just making up weird comparisons, but his is how I see it.

I think this song is about an estranged relationship. The person speaking is on the proverbial outside looking in as he sees this person he loves slowly coming apart inside. The person whom he's speaking to has had to walk through life alone and learned to rely on themselves. The speaker is begging them to talk, say something or anything to let him in past their walls. To rely on someone else for a change.

I think this song is about a guy (The singer), who's in a relationship with a girl who has been married before. Her husband had an affair and she found out. He loves her and tells that to her. She never says it back, because she's afraid to be hurt again. "And it's not your fault My dear, my dear, my dear." He tells her to stop blaming herself for the affair of her ex.

"You must have the words in that head of yours." He means the words: I love you.

"Can you feel the silence, i can't take it anymore" He starts to get insecure about their relationship.

"Wrap me around your fingers, Break the silence open wide, Before it seeps into my ears, And fills me up from the inside." He wants her to make him fall in love even more and make him feel sure about the relationship, before he stops trying.

That's my interpretation of the song :)