In the Woods Somewhere

So I see all these people saying the song is a metaphor, and honestly? I don't think so. This song is for one purpose, and it's horror. A horror film in musical form.

The entire song tells the story of a man, who wakes up sweating. He likely had some kind of nightmare, that woke him up. Also likely involveing somebody close to him. So why does he have this nightmare, that results in him wakeing so early?

"My skin was soaked, I called your name 'til the fever broke."

So why does he have this nightmare, that results in him wakeing so early? Either this could be a known thing for the narrator, but I personally believe it was a loud, terrifying noise. What is it? Well, that I'll go over later.

"When I awoke, The moon still hung"

He goes on about how he is still tired and worn out, but gets up anyway, likely because with a nightmare like that, he couldn't go back to sleep.

"I raised myself, My legs were weak"

This is when the story kicks up. He hears a noise, from outside. A scream. What was the scream? That's in the next stanza.

"I heard a scream In the woods somewhere."

He hears the noise and says it's the voice of a woman. In hopes of helping, he runs out to check. Most importantly, he does so unarmed.

"A woman's voice! I quickly ran Into the trees with empty hands."

So to those who don't know a ton about foxes, they have an absolutely insane vocal range. I believe he didn't hear a woman. He h eard a cry from this Fox, so high a pitch it could be mistaken for human. The scary part, is that it's shakeing, more then likely out of fear, or pain. Again, the next stanza.

"A fox it was, He shook afraid"

The fox is wounded. Not only wounded, but it's literally dying, in an insane amount of pain, slowly. This, is one of the most grotesque lines I've ever heard in a song. (Not THE anyway, Radiohead holds most of the top five, but getting off topic...) The fox has literal bone exposed, with how painful the wound is. Totally didn't look this up just now, a 'hind' refers to the back of an animal, with 'lame' meaning very, very weak. It's basically putting in a lot of effort just to stand. He's so disgusted and upset by the image, that he puts it out of it's misery, with a nearby stone. (This line here gives me hardcore Poe vibes, by the way.)

"His bone exposed, His hind was lame. I raised a stone to end his pain"

He's now wondering what could have happened to this fox. Not only was it near death, but whatever attacked it, didn't kill it. That means it's killing for fun, and the torture of it is practically a game now. This gives you a good idea of how terrifying this monster is. He then acknowledges, that the beast that did this, is still here.

"What caused the wound? How large the teeth? I saw new eyes were watching me."

Now it finds a new prey, and one that approached it unarmed. The beast attacked our narrator, and he begins to run. 'save a life I didn't have' meaning that he doubts that he'll make it out of this alive. With how terrifying and fast this monster is, he's almost certain that running wont do anything.

"The creature lunged. I turned and ran To save a life I didn't have"

This whole stanza is literally him talking about how panicked he is, and ultimately realizing that he likely wont make it out of this.

"Dear, in the chase There as I flew Forgot all prayers of joining you."

The beast gets him. Just like the fox, he's dying, slowly.

"I clutched my life And wished it kept. My dearest love, I'm not done yet"

This is my most iffy line in the song, and I think it's simply saying that he is upset by how many years of his life he'll no longer have to live. With ultimately saying, there's something out there.

"How many years I know I'll bear. I found something in the woods somewhere."

Opinions? I'm pretty confident this is what the song's about, and this is actually my first review here on this site, so hi there! If anyone's interested, i'll take requests! Show me a song, and i'll try and figure it out. I have a rather flexible taste in music, so I may end out enjoying it, too!

I love this song- it reminds me alot of a fairy tale. And like a fairy tale I feel like it is a simple tale (the sick protagonist has a close call in the woods) with a much deeper background (see my interpretation below):

The first few lines refer to the protagonist suffering from some unspecified illness and calling out to someone. The interesting thing about this is that the protagonist is completely alone- whoever he calls out to is gone.

The next few lines deal with the peak of the illness passing. I find the line "I prayed my mind be good to me" interesting as it could just be referring to the sickness, but it could also be referring to depression or grief.

When the scream is heard the protagonist is instantly put in mind of a woman and rushes off (defenseless) to help her. I feel like this urgency means the protagonist is in some way thinking of the unnamed person they were calling to earlier.

When they discover the fox things get interesting: "I spoke no words, No sound he made"- the protagonist sees himself reflected in the injured fox... and due to these injuries the protagonist immediately decides to end the foxes life "to end his pain". However as he is about to strike the fox down, he begins to reflect upon what caused the foxes injuries in the first place. The moment this happens the protagonist becomes aware of something watching him in the darkness.

The creature attacks and the protagonist runs "To save a life I didn't have." There is a sense of emptiness in this line- the protagonist has already lost their life in some way and yet they are still fleeing death.

Then we get the protagonist reflecting:

"Dear, in the chase There as I flew Forgot all prayers of joining you"

followed by:

"I clutched my life And wished it kept. My dearest love I'm not done yet"

The unnamed person is likely dead and the protagonist was wishing to join them, however when faced with certain death they still cling to life.

In the final lines they state they will bare their pain for many years as whatever they found "in the woods somewhere" caused them to realize they still wanted to live after all.

TLDR: The underlying message of the song is about someone facing their own mortality and choosing to live on after grief or loss because of it.

Okay. I'm 99% certain I know what this song's about, and it doesn't have an interpretation yet, so I'll do a write-up.

In briefest possible terms, it's about fighting a battle with oneself and losing. That's clear.

Anything more in-depth involves me applying traditional literary symbolism, and accepting the only explanation for the narrative I've found that doesn't produce inconsistencies.

Line-by-line:

My head was war, My skin was soaked. I called your name 'til the fever broke.

This is blunt, but I only see one thing here: Acute opiate withdrawal. The war is the question of whether the speaker should continue using drugs or stop. At this point, he's calling the name of a woman because he's using the desire to be sober with her as a reason to quit, and as a source of strength to get through the physical difficulties (fevers, sweating) involved in making that decision.

When I awoke The moon still hung. The night so black that the darkness hums.

The acute phase was finished, he awoke. At this point, one would expect to be seeing clearly -- perhaps for the first time in a long time, with open eyes and sobriety in hand. The moon is in the sky, and there's an air of disappointment. It "still" hangs. The moon is a celestial body that illuminates, but exudes no light of its own. It's effectively a false god floating in the sky, something that claims to guide but, in reality, has no virtue or purpose. I'm not entirely certain, but I think this is meant to represent still having a psychological devotion to the drug in spite of having chosen not to consume it any longer. It still hangs, overbearing, the desire attempting to guide him with its false light. A black night is symbolic of fear, confusion, sightlessness, and uncertainty. Anything could be in the blackness. In short: He does not have the clarity of purpose or conviction he was hoping for, he is still not free of the false god that's stalking him, even though the physical sickness has abated.

I raised myself. My legs were weak. I prayed my mind be good to me.

Fairly straightforward. He raised himself, continued to persevere in spite of it being difficult (weak legs), and hoped his mind would treat him well -- that he could steel his will, and keep his resolve to remain on the path he chose.

An awful noise Filled the air. I heard a scream In the woods somewhere.

Woods in literature are really loaded. They are frequently used explicitly to reference the unconscious mind, which fits nicely in the context of this song. They represent growth, unexpected and unforeseen changes, danger, and generally all the nice and nasty things that we don't like thinking about too often in our own heads. They can bear fruit, positive fruit, but never without struggle and confusion. The scream is, I think, representative of the struggle and strife within the speaker's own mind. Parts of his mind that he cannot control are screaming at him -- hence it coming from within the metaphorical woods, and never being attributed to any character we see.

A woman's voice! I quickly ran Into the trees with empty hands.

The noise that once seemed awful now seems appealing, or at least vulnerable. In either case, it's something that compels him to run towards the voice that's been screaming at him. (To be more explicit: Cravings were screaming at him, and while they first seemed awful, it's gone on long enough that it now seems like going towards That Which Is Craved may be the right, even the virtuous decision.) Going into the woods implies giving in to unconscious desires, rather than following the rational path. He comes with empty hands, which implies that he is both defenseless and receptive. It's a position of weakness.

A fox it was, He shook afraid. I spoke no words, No sound he made.

His bone exposed, His hind was lame. I raised a stone to end his pain.

Foxes are deceivers in literature, much as addictions are in life. The characters are seeing each other clearly. The speaker sees deceit where he expected to find salvation (a woman, for instance). The fox is afraid, and we see the cause of its fear: It is now known by the speaker that he does not need it, it is not the salvation he was seeking when he ran into the woods and stopped behaving rationally. It's just a lame animal, inept and senseless. He seeks to put the fox, the addiction, out of its misery and destroy it with any tool at hand.

What caused the wound? How large the teeth? I saw new eyes were watching me.

Hesitation. The other side of the coin. If this addiction formed, if this wounded creature had to exist within his mind to be killed, what caused it to begin with? There is an additional implication: If the cause behind the addiction is just, letting the fox live and nurturing it -- saving it from the other creature -- may be a valid and virtuous choice. He is no longer worried about the fox, but the other, deeper eyes that caused the initial wound.

The creature lunged. I turned and ran To save a life I didn't have.

The creature is never identified, I love that. Unlike his addiction, which he can openly acknowledge, he could not see this other, more frightening creature clearly. He chose not to, he chose to run away. And in running away, he gets lost in the woods, rather than killing his demons (the fox) and finding his way out and back to rational existence. He flees his fears, whatever they are, and falls back into escapism. Meanwhile, escapism is not living. It's a half-life, a life that embraces illusions in a desperate gambit to flee one's fears.

Dear, in the chase There as I flew Forgot all prayers of joining you.

Punny. First, the sonic deer/dear bit: he has chosen to be a prey item, acknowledging that he is merely fleeing pain rather than seeking anything actively. This segment is likely meant to be interpreted two other ways. One is as an appeal to the woman for whom he was attempting to get clean, as an apology for flying away and being unable to join her in a real, full life. The second is a bit more base, an open acknowledgement that while he "flew," or got higher (rather than just fleeing), as he started chasing that which was truly "dear" to him, he forgot any desire he had to be among the normal, living denizens of the world.

I clutched my life And wished it kept. My dearest love I'm not done yet.

His life can now be clutched, a physical object. A drug, to be explicit, is what he has in lieu of the life he'd hoped to have. He wished that the life he wanted, the life he had before the drug, could have kept, because currently the drug is all he has left. "My dearest love/I'm not done yet," is another pairing that is probably meant in two ways. The first, another apology to the woman for his choice. The second, addressed to his drug, his "dearest love," acknowledging that it isn't over.

How many years I know I'll bare, I found something in the woods somewhere.

I don't think I actually need to clarify anything else at this point, do I? Sad song, but lovely. Kinda hope I've just read too much Baudelaire, but that's what I got out of it either way. Would love to hear different views.

The beginning of the song is the singer suffering from a failed suicide attempt (he attempted to kill himself because his love died).

So he's recovering/waking up from the attempt and is just super depressed, so depressed that the world is just black and bleak and the misery is so thick he can hear and feel it.

Next part is him trying to get up, to go on, begging his own depressed brain to go easy on him.

The awful scream he hears, he thinks it's the voice of his dead lover calling out to him to join him. But instead of his love he finds an injured fox. Some pitiful lame half dead creature.

That fox represents the singer, it's him, half dead and barely clinging to life.

When he goes to mercy kill it, what is happening is he's considering attempting to kill himself again. He wants to end his own pain, better dead then this awful suffering.

And so the raising of the stone is him about to kill himself -when he feels something, he feels the eyes of the creature.

The creature is death itself.

The creature lunging at him and the singer running from it is the singer running away from death.

This is the singer deciding that he is not ready to die.

He has decided not to try and kill himself, running away from the creature, from death to "save a life I didn't have"

(the singer is still in this awful depression, he isn't cured, but he's decided he isn't ready for it to be over and he's going to fight)

"Forgot all prayers of joining you" confirms that he is not going to kill himself so that he can join his love in the afterlife.

"I clutched my life And wished it kept. My dearest love, I'm not done yet."

He's holding his life tighter, now he is saying that not only is he NOT going to attempt to kill himself, he "wished it kept," He is saying he wants to live.

For someone with depression there is a big difference between not actively trying to kill your self, and actually wanting to survive.

A lot of depressed people have this desire to just not exist, for their suffering to be over, but it's a different state then being actively suicidal. Wishing his life kept is a really good sign of recovery here.

"Im not done yet" Saying again that the singer is not ready to die, he is saying to his dead love that he is not done yet being alive and he is not ready to die.

"How many years I know I'll bear."

He's going to try and live out the rest of his natural life because -- "I found something in the woods somewhere."

What he found in the woods was his will to live.

First off, I would suggest that the line is, "the night so black, that the darkness hung."

Anyway, I sometimes think that we read too much into lyrics, poems, etc. I was part of a creative writing class that would publish the students' works without names and then we would talk about them. Afterwards, the writer could choose to identify themselves if they wished. We found that most of the time, the people would read way more into the works than the writers intended. This is a feature of true art, but can also sometimes be finding hidden meanings for their own sakes.

Why the fox screaming? Their screams can sound like women - plain and simple. No other reason. I tend to think this song is about the writer wishing for death (joining you) to either be with his dead love in the afterlife, or simply be dead to end his own pain. When he heard the scream, he reacted from a normal human place, rather than the fatalistic, self-absorbed place he was in before. He began to care about something/someone else (the fox), and when the creature appeared, he began to care about himself again.

The juxtaposition of the 'something' that he found in the woods being both some unnamed beast and also his will to live is awesome.

A woman's voice in the woods, but the fox, no sound HE made. Will someone please enlighten me with the meaning of this song. I can't stop listening.

I really love @teaspill's interpretation. I admit my interpretation is pretty nonsensical but here goes:

In the first stanza, I took it to be death which broke the fever. The last positive impression the narrator has is of light, of the moon, which appears to be the same in both life and death. However, now all else is extinguished and the darkness--purgatory--is becoming tangible around them. Whether or not this narrator was suffering from an illness or addiction, I couldn't positively say, but I second the addiction idea, to finally succumb to death in the grip of hallucination.

When the narrator next awoke, it was in purgatory. There's nothing around them except the light and the forest, which calls them forward with the horrible noise: a scream from life permeating the narrator's state of consciousness in death. In this warped sort of reality, the narrator seeks the noise and in doing so is seeking a way back their body.

A woman's voice! I quickly ran Into the trees with empty hands. A fox it was, He shook afraid. I spoke no words, No sound he made. The fox, being the deceiver in this narrative, has pulled this person fully into purgatory and away from the light. It presents itself as precursor to what the narrator will encounter.

Then, here: What caused the wound? How large the teeth? I saw new eyes were watching me. The narrator begins to realize what is happening

The creature lunged. I turned and ran To save a life I didn't have. Dear, in the chase There as I flew Forgot all prayers of joining you. For me, this is where the narrator fully realizes they're doomed. They realize there is no escape and all thoughts of joining their loved ones are extinguished.

I clutched my life And wished it kept. My dearest love, I'm not done yet. How many years I know I'll bear. I found something in the woods somewhere. The narrator wishes to have returned to life but realizes that their time in purgatory isn't done yet. Then, like some twisted Sisyphus, they repeat, finding the fox and the creatures in the woods again and repeating the hallucination in their death for years.

I don't know if this makes sense to anyone but me but there it is!

Am I the only one who thinks this is the story of a werewolf? I think this guy just reverted back to his normal self and is disoriented and confused. HE was the one who originally attacked the fox, but in his human state doesn't remember. The fox in turn retaliates and the hunter becomes the hunted. Of course, you could argue the metaphor of a werewolf for any number of very human afflictions.

A man lay in bed very sick, feeling as though he is dying. His fever breaks, but he lays unconscious and we see the majority of the song describing the dream/nightmare he has where he is alone in the woods, longing for someone he has lost.

The fox is his subconscious mind's interpretation of himself. As he nears the point where he was going to end the fox's suffering, the prospect of the unknown or some other fearful feelings scare him off. He's too cowardly to die, though he still misses the love who he is grieving for.

I love everyone interpretations using drug addiction. But when I hear the song I'm picturing someone with PTSD.

With the first verses, someone going through the physical effects of suffering a mental illness or the memory of their physical injury that is making them suffer from nightmares or nightsweats. They are crying out for anyone to help or maybe a fallen soldier. And even though they awake from their memory/dream/nightmare, they can still feel the event(s) haunting them.

"I raised myself, My legs were weak, I prayed my mind be good to me." Being physically weak and the sufferer praying they can cope with their deteriorated mindset.

"An awful noise, it filled the air" this being the trigger for their PTSD. A sound in this case.

"I quickly ran, Into the trees with empty hands" the sufferer trying to face the fear, there are no weapon they can use to fight a mental illness.

Coming across an injured and frightened fox could be the manifestation of the situation or event that is the basis for the illness. An injured soldier or civilian. The memories of a tour. The impact of a death. The stress and pressure placed on the sufferer. Picking up the stone to try and end the suffering caused by the memory or the victim trying to end their own pain by suicide.

The woods being the representation of their broken mind. But the creature could represent the will to live and possibly resemble a life not in the armed forces. The change of lifestyle being so fearsome it manifests as a beast and they fear they don't know how to cope not being in the forces anymore.

"The creature lunged. I turned and ran. To save a life I didn't have.

Dear, in the chase. There as I flew. Forgot all prayers of joining you."

Just when they try to end their life, symbolized by raising the stone to end the life of the fox, the creature stops them. While they served in uniform they had no choice but to follow orders(to save a life i didn't have) The wish the sufferer has of joining their dead comrades but still wanting to live.

"I clutched my life And wished it kept. My dearest love, I'm not done yet."

They're still trying to fight their illness and trying to keep the promise of not letting the past take their life. "My dearest love" could represent a spouse, a child, or friend and the subjects urge to still fight.

"How many years I know I'll bear. I found something in the woods somewhere."

The sufferer is able to escape the darkness of their mind but they know the many years ahead of suffering and PTSD episodes they still have to face. But they may have found a will to live or a way to cope with the illness (I found something in the woods somewhere)

Just my thought. Hope it makes sense if you decide to read my comment :) cheers