I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
One went out at a bus stop in Edinburgh
One went out in an english park
One went out in a nightclub when I was fifteen
Little lights in my heart
One went out when i lied to my mother
Said the cigarettes she found were not mine
One went out within me, now i smoke like a chimney
It's getting dark in this heart of mine
It's getting dark in this heart of mine
We’re born with millions of little lights shining in the dark
And they show us the way
One lights up, every time you feel love in your heart
One dies when it moves away
One went out in the backstreets of Manchester
One went out in an airport in Spain
One went out, I’ve no doubt when I grew up and moved out
of the place where the boy used to play
One went out when Uncle Ben got his tumour
We used to fish and I fish no more
Though he will not return
I know one still burns, on a fishing boat off the new Jersey Shore
On a fishing boat off the New Jersey shore
We’re born with millions of little lights shining in the dark
And they show us the way
One lights up, every time you feel love in your heart
One dies when it moves away
We’re born with millions of little lights shining in our hearts
And they die along the way
Till we’re old and we’re cold
And we're lying in the dark
Cos they’ll all burn out one day
they’ll all burn out one day
they’ll all burn out one day
they’ll all burn out one day
One went out in an english park
One went out in a nightclub when I was fifteen
Little lights in my heart
One went out when i lied to my mother
Said the cigarettes she found were not mine
One went out within me, now i smoke like a chimney
It's getting dark in this heart of mine
It's getting dark in this heart of mine
We’re born with millions of little lights shining in the dark
And they show us the way
One lights up, every time you feel love in your heart
One dies when it moves away
One went out in the backstreets of Manchester
One went out in an airport in Spain
One went out, I’ve no doubt when I grew up and moved out
of the place where the boy used to play
One went out when Uncle Ben got his tumour
We used to fish and I fish no more
Though he will not return
I know one still burns, on a fishing boat off the new Jersey Shore
On a fishing boat off the New Jersey shore
We’re born with millions of little lights shining in the dark
And they show us the way
One lights up, every time you feel love in your heart
One dies when it moves away
We’re born with millions of little lights shining in our hearts
And they die along the way
Till we’re old and we’re cold
And we're lying in the dark
Cos they’ll all burn out one day
they’ll all burn out one day
they’ll all burn out one day
they’ll all burn out one day
Lyrics submitted by hahawht, edited by noelsguitar
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This song suggests a rather endearing notion that our hearts are filled with little lights which, as life goes by and things change, go out one by one.
This song is about the little lights, resembling love and the sparks of joy within every human soul, motivating us and keeping us enjoying life.
The progression of this song suggests that, as one gets older and more mature, the lights die out through disappointment, grief and the realization of powerlessness in the face of tragic events around us. The outcome is that eventually all lights die out one day, leaving behind someone without passion, without the spark that makes life bearable.
This song makes me think of a time when I was updating my contacts in my smartphone, I suddenly realized that some people's number or texts only exist in my old phone, not my new one. They are just like the continually darkening lights in my life, and I know one day they'll all burn down, like they've never existed in my life. Here's my interpretations of the song: en.lineday.co/passenger-little-lights-lyrics-meaning/
This is about someone experiencing nostalgic feelings, he's recalling all the warm cheerful heartwarming moments in his life that ignited a light in his soul. The premise of the song is that a human is born with these lights in our hearts that light up every time we experience love, and they turn off when those moments are gone. That's why he feels darkness in his heart. He no longer lives the things he mentions in the song, The light that was brought to him by his uncle ben and the house he grew up in are just memories now. I think this song is quite amazing and it captures the mixture of feelings nostalgia sets in you perfectly, the warmth of old memories combined with the sourness of knowing that these things are gone.
The lights in the song are the innocence and the purity of heart and emotions, they get corrupted with betrayal, loss, grief and many other things, The song symbolizes these lights saying that as the life progresses these lights will eventually go out, and the lights which made the person the joyful, pure and loving person, that will change, and in the end he would be corrupted completely by the world, and its ways, and that would be his last day.
Your sparks will run out but those sparks alltogether are transformed into a beautiful new star of the universe.