Close to Heaven

This song is all about not allowing your loved one to move on and transcend either in the afterlife or in their life on earth. The main character refuses to move on and wants that love to last forever. He's willing to be hated for holding onto lost love. Finally the loved one says "release me, my love". The main character still doesn't want to move on, which is sad...tragic. Sleeping close to heaven - as good as it gets but not true bliss..

I'm pretty sure this song is about some kind of addiction. It's pretty evident in the first lines, "Pain come alive, I try to breathe, shade my eyes/Follow the damned, I have lost the way again." He's waking up after relapsing, realizing he's now following the "damned," basically addicts.

He says "I'll sleep close to Heaven" which really strikes me as a reference to heroin use as it makes you both very blissful and pretty sleepy. He's "coming home" to the bliss he feels from the drug, which he compares to Heaven.

It seems like there's a slight homage to the great band Metallica hidden in this song. If that's true, then there's an incredibly deep meaning in the lyrics. The Unforgiven 1&2 told a story about a guy who endured a lot throughout his life and found someone who understood what he'd been through and how he felt. The woman and man both had painful pasts. He tells her about his demons, and she accepts him for who he is.

In this song, Close to Heaven, the lyricists found someone who held the key to his soul, however, he's still fighting his demons, evident in the first two verses; "pain come alive, I try to breathe, shade my eyes, I have lost the way again"

He is no longer with the female who held the key and saw into his true self, perhaps his soul mate, but it's not over between them. "I'm coming" home refers to going to heaven.

The song doesn't indicate how their relationship ended, but it could be due to her death... perhaps suicide, or moving on with her life to face her own demons.

It happens everyday, we meet someone who helps us, who we adore and love, but love is complicated and doesn't always work out. Only, the male in this song loves her so immensely that he will go to great lengths to allow their love to exist. However, it is no longer a mutual feeling. Perhaps it once was, but now only the male seems to be the one who is holding on to the love they shared.

Also, if you look even further in to the words, it seems like the male is committing suicide to be with her, after she is dead, hence, he'll sleep close to heaven.

Amazing song, however way you interpret it.

Pain come alive, I try to breathe, shade my eyes (He feels pain when he thinks about his ex. HE tries to breathe but he feels like he can’t without her. Shade my eyes could mean hide my shame) Follow the damned, I have lost the way again (He goes down on to a path of criminal behavior. He’s lost from the light in the moment) Stay, trust in life, carried beneath, dead arise (He wants her to stay with him. Dead feelings arise) Sorrow avenged, I will face the weak within (Taking revenge on the pain, he faces her. She’s his weakness) So I'll stay unforgiven (it’s a forbidden love. Being with her means, he’s sinning.) And I'll keep love together (He’ll make sure they won’t lose love again) And I'll be yours forever (He wants to be her always) I'll sleep close to Heaven (She is heaven to him, even if it is a forbidden love. Without her he feels pain. With her, he knows it’s wrong but it’s all he wants) Hate lost inside, I dare to dream, faithless lies (Pushing the truth away, he dreams of them being together.) Caught in the web, I will face the weak within (caught in the web could be trapped in the feeling of love for her) So I'll stay unforgiven And I'll keep love together And I'll be yours forever I'll sleep close to Heaven I'm coming home (He’ll find his way back to her) I'm coming home (He’s coming back for her) I'm coming home (She is home) Release me, my love (This could be sexual. He needs her to release him. He needs it.) So I'll stay unforgiven (If they commit this sin together, God won’t forgive him) And I'll keep love together And I'll be yours forever I'll sleep close to Heaven To me, it’s about a relationship that shouldn’t be. He can’t live without her, but he’ll probably be judged for staying with her. In the end, he’d rather be unforgiven than left a broken man without her.

He won't abandon the one he loves but he's well aware of the fact that if he holds onto his love for her forever, he'll be hated by her "unforgiven". She's out of his life, and he's refusing to let go and is saying, no I'll always be here and I'll always love you. Maybe he thinks that even God considers it a sin because he's with someone else and she's with someone else, but he still lusts and desires her, thus making him stay "unforgiven".

"And I'll keep love together." - Maybe he feels like she still loves him and that's why he feels the need to be the bad guy and hold onto the love, until she caves in and starts loving him back. Like I know you love me, I'm showing you after all this time I've always loved you and still do, now show me you still love me. Lol. Hope that's not too confusing for anyone.

He's being stubborn. He's like, babe even when you die you're still mine and I'm going to love you even then.

---> release me my love--> she's asking for him to stop it and let her go. Like saying please stop loving me and let me move on.

Or maybe there was a suicide pact (which I doubt) and she wants him to kill her "release me" to end her pain. I'm coming home--> is when he kills himself to be with her after she's dead. Idk. My mind is odd and I look into things.

I don't see it as tragic song about love that can't be... but more of a romantic song of love that should be. She's stubborn and won't let him in and he's stubborn and won't let her go. Cute.

I think this song is about a cheater´s feeling...got caught and is asking for forgiveness. I think here you can see the other side of the coin, real regret of someone that is trully sorry...

Relationships are complex, sometimes we love someone so much but they kind of fade away or vanish and we stumble without them, trying to fill the emptyness that grows in the place where they should be, then well, shit happens and we tray to cover what we did wrong, but somethimes truth just come out right in the moment we don't need it. I think life just sits there and thinks "This is getting boring, let´s put some shit sause to this to make it spicy!"...

Pain come alive, I try to breathe, shade my eyes Follow the damned, I have lost the way again (Wakes up feeling guilty about dating another person at the same time, maybe waking up in the same place)

Stay, trust in life, carried beneath, dead arise Sorrow avenged, I will face the weak within. (When he is with his love again positive feelings arise again, what once seem to be dead beacause of distance)

So I'll stay unforgiven
And I'll keep love together And I'll be yours forever I'll sleep close to Heaven (As the other person is dissapointed may not forgive this easily, but he/she decides to fight back and fix things no matter what, will stay close to true love, close to heaven, even if it´s hard)

Hate lost inside, I dare to dream, faithless lies Caught in the web, I will face the weak within (Nobody likes to make mistakes, remember sometimes makes us angry, yo can feel desperation to wait when you want somebodys love and happiness, he needs forgiveness, but somedays it feels like meaningless everthing he/she is doing, cause sorrw sidefects make it harder to see the good stuff)

So I'll stay unforgiven And I'll keep love together And I'll be yours forever I'll sleep close to Heaven (Surrenders, and acept the storm just to say close)

I'm coming home I'm coming home I'm coming home Release me, my love (Trully asking for redemption)

So I'll stay unforgiven And I'll keep love together And I'll be yours forever I'll sleep close to Heaven

I'll sleep close to Heaven I'll sleep close to Heaven (Will stay like this until redemption)

Reading some of of Ben's recent interviews makes me think that this is about him feeling sick, but loving his fans and making music enough that he wants to keep giving his all even if it kills him. Kindof gives me that 'punch' in the gut to think about it this way, and thinking about the sacrifices we make for the things/people we love. Beautiful song.

Yeah I tend to agree with the comments before me. I think it's about love, his disease, and his wish to keep playing music. The first verse is about the symptoms and his decision to carry on. The second verse is about the crap the doctors told him about not having a cure for his disease and his decision to just deal. The verse is his way of saying, 'Fuck it.' He's going to do what he loves until he drops dead. The verse could be a conversation between he and his wife with him telling her that he will come home and she doesn't want him to go so he says release me my love.

So I’ll stay unforgiven (no matter what anyone says or tries to do to make him change his ways, he won’t change) And I’ll keep love together ( he will keep their love alive no matter what) And I’ll be yours forever ( he will never love another the way he loved them) I’ll sleep close to heaven ( his heart will always be close to them, in memories and dreams)

When I hear this song it makes me think of my late boyfriend who committed suicide. Until the day I join him in heaven, my heart will always be his and I’ll forever love him, no matter who comes into my life, no one will ever compare to the love we had.

One way I feel this song can be interpreted is that it’s about someone who has fallen in love with another who is married or in a relationship, someone they can’t have, and is struggling with their thoughts and feelings because they know it is wrong.

Pain come alive, I try to breathe, shade my eyes (They are struggling with the pain their feelings are causing them.) Follow the damned, I have lost the way again (They have thoughts about the person they love who they cannot have, thoughts about if the marriage/relationship didn’t work out, thoughts about doing things with the person they want, even though it’s wrong. They’ve strayed from the right path, and gone down a sinners path, losing the way.)

Stay, trust in life, carried beneath, dead arise Sorrow avenged, I will face the weak within (Knowing the thoughts they have are wrong, they know they must face the weakness within them and deal with it.)

So I'll stay unforgiven (They can’t help but covet what they can’t have.) And I'll keep love together (But they choose to not act on their feelings, no matter what situation would ever present itself. They choose to not do anything that would break apart the marriage/relationship.) And I'll be yours forever (They can’t move past their feelings for the one they can’t have but regardless of the situation they still vow to be theirs forever.) I'll sleep close to Heaven (They will stay as close to that person as they can, even if it’s only friendship, but not interfere with the marriage/relationship. Because something is better than nothing.)

Hate lost inside, I dare to dream, faithless lies Caught in the web, I will face the weak within (They are still struggling with their feelings, still dreaming about what they can’t have, thinking about the lies the one they can’t have would tell their significant other if anything intimate/wrong was to happen. They need to face this weakness and deal with it.)

So I'll stay unforgiven And I'll keep love together And I'll be yours forever I'll sleep close to Heaven (See above.)

I'm coming home I'm coming home I'm coming home Release me, my love (They are retreating to a safe space in attempt to remove themselves from the situation. They don’t want to feel the feelings anymore.)

So I'll stay unforgiven And I'll keep love together And I'll be yours forever I'll sleep close to Heaven (See above.)

I'll sleep close to Heaven I'll sleep close to Heaven (See above.)