The Curse

Never mind, I found something... First of all I must say these lyrics are wrong. I submitted the lyrics I thought were the correct one! And now for the meaning, Agnes Obel had had an interview with Best Fit, and about The Curse they have said:

Best Fit: This is one of the more story-led tracks on the album…

Agnes Obel: I think it was a song that asked for the story. I felt like there was a story there as soon as I started writing it. The first thing that came out was “And the people…”, [This is why these lyrics are not correct] it just sort of came out. And I just knew that it was something that was outside of me. I was reading two books at the time and maybe that had something to do with it. One of them was a book about how we think and how we construct meaning and memory and the author has a great way of describing how we construct our own stories. We apply so much symbolic meaning to things. Humans do that all the time, it’s like the curse of being a human but also a blessing because a lot of beautiful things come out of it. We put meaning into random things. [She calls this process 'The Curse'] The other book was a diary and the author was standing between the old world and the new world and he was rationalising the meaning of the new world and longing for the meaning of the old world. But with the curse of modern life. So it was just what I had in my mind at the time.

So, I think that makes sense. I really adore the composition of the instruments in this song: You can hear cello, blended perfectly into piano. Magical.

I really like this song without even knowing what it's about. Can someone please share their knowledge?

My first interpretation of the lyrics was that The Curse was the fear of death or dying, e.g. came from underground; gave hope to live unlike before; the cycle of life and death is suggested in mentioning winter and the grass growing beneath as well as [it being] a blessing in disguise. Simply put: only in death can creation be found--can life truly be cherished. That is The Curse and the blessing of our fragility in the universe. Our mortality. Our desire to live our life. Our love. Our humanity.

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One could also apply it to the political condition of the current administration.

First... (taken from above...)

Agnes Obel: "We apply so much symbolic meaning to things. Humans do that all the time, it’s like the curse of being a human but also a blessing because a lot of beautiful things come out of it."

I believe that is so true...and here is the meaning I apply to the song...It's like a musical meditation for me:

the "Curse" would be the human ego's tendency toward fear and/or greed and in the context of this song, I like to think of the "Curse" as those who've become the most powerful in this world....fearful themselves of the potential "chaos" that could come from people being truly free.... but possessing the knowledge to psychologically manipulate the fear & hopes of the masses through promises of "happiness by consumption".... ("to live unlike before")...in order to maintain control.

(The curse ruled from the underground) Happening covertly..under the radar...or under the conscious awareness, of the masses.

(And their hope grew with a hunger to live unlike before)....illustrating how easy it is to exert control via the hopes of the human race, with promises of a "better life" through things such as ...Consumerism...Autonomous vehicles...genetic engineering...etc..etc... all with their own "shadow sides" that we generally don't pay anywhere near enough attention to.

("Tell me now of the very souls that look alike, look alike") Ok! Don't mind if I do! :) ....the false construct of the "reality" that's fed to the masses...and then the masses, in turn, feeding and reinforcing this same "reality" to each other, perpetuates the cycle, resulting in the majority of us agreeing on and believing we know what "success" is......which then triggers a need in everyone to live up to that false image....which, in turn, makes everyone "look alike"....while striving to be that "picture of success"

("Do you know the stranglehold covering their eyes?") Yes...I believe I do...

...and while the interpretation I paint here may seem "dark"...I believe it's the very "seeing" of the dark, which makes it possible to experience the light....which IS a beautiful thing ("a blessing in disguise")

Just love this song...as I stated above....as a meditation. Helps to keep me grounded in a more expansive/higher reality.

I feel like this sounds like human greed that grew with time. At first people had little and were somehow better morally( in terms of being less mercenary and cutthroat) and that's why knowing someone on this world was something good because a person in your life could be a blessing.

But now people are so steeped in greed that people are now living curses to each other and that bad things can happen because of people'd greed and selfishness and it is fast approaching people but people can't see it so blinded they are by their delusions.

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I totally agree with Plaidwallflower : General Comment My first interpretation of the lyrics was that The Curse was the fear of death or dying, e.g. came from underground; gave hope to live unlike before; the cycle of life and death is suggested in mentioning winter and the grass growing beneath as well as [it being] a blessing in disguise. Simply put: only in death can creation be found--can life truly be cherished. That is The Curse and the blessing of our fragility in the universe. Our mortality. Our desire to live our life. Our love. Our humanity

This is what I think of it, again my opinion, I'm a hapless romantic.

And the people went into their hide, ay-oh From the start they didn't know exactly why, why Winter came and made it so all look alike, look alike Underneath the grass would grow, aiming at the sky

She sings that people went into hiding from their emotions. "From the start they didn't know exactly why" As we all know we tend to hide our emotions because we're afraid of being hurt. "Winter came and made it so all look alike" here she refers to the cold personality we create in order to suppress our emptions so we all look alike cold and emotionless.

It was swift, it was just another wave of a miracle But no one, nothing at all would go for the kill If they called on every soul in the land, on the moon Only then would they know a blessing in disguise

"It was swift, it was just another wave of a miracle" We all know what is swift and feels like a miracle, yes LOVE! But no will there to go for the kill "making the first move" . "If they called on every soul in the land, on the moon, Only then would they know a blessing in disguise" We feel love but we're also blind to it, so here she says, only if we ask every soul we'll know that it's a blessing in disguise , referring to love in disguise as it's still an emption and the most powerful I may say so but we don understand it so it's in disguise.

The curse ruled from the underground, down by the shore And their hope grew with a hunger to live unlike before The curse ruled from the underground, down by the shore And their hope grew with a hunger to live unlike before Tell me now of the very soul that look alike, look alike

The curse it's simply love and nothing more , it hurts us cuz we don't know how to cope with it and it feels like a curse when we're in love and don't know how to express it. When we're in love we change "love/curse grew with a hunger to live unlike before" we're ready to change and live like never before.

Tell me now of the very soul that look alike, look alike Do you know the stranglehold covering their eyes? If I call on every soul in the land, on the moon Tell me if I'll ever know a blessing in disguise

"Tell me now of the very soul that look alike, look alike Do you know the stranglehold covering their eyes?" Once in love we're no longer the same so each soul is resonating differently so we're no longer looking alike we're all unique as love affect each one of us differently. The stranglehold is the grip that triggered love, strongly engraved in us through our eyes "the person we fell in love with". "If I call on every soul in the land, on the moon, Tell me if I'll ever know a blessing in disguise" Simply craving for love to be returned back at us, cuz only then we feel complete.

She sings about how beautiful love is when we feel it and how bad it feels when it's not meet by our soulmates . This is a beautiful love song .

Again my opinion.