Under a blackened sky
Far beyond the glaring streetlights
Sleeping on empty dreams
The vultures lie in wait
You lay down beside me then
You were with me every waking hour
So close I could feel your breath

When all we wanted was the dream
To have and to hold that precious little thing
Like every generation yields
The new born hope unjaded by their years

Pressed up against the glass
I found myself wanting sympathy
But to be consumed again
Oh, I know wouldn't be the death of me

And there is a love that's inherently given
A kind of blindness offered to appease
And in that light of forbidden joy
Oh, I know, I won't receive it

When all we wanted was the dream
To have and to hold that precious little thing
Like every generation yields
A newborn hope unjaded by their years

You know if I leave you now
It doesn't mean that I love you any less
It's just the state I'm in
I can't be good to anyone else like this
When all we wanted was the dream
To have and to hold that precious little thing
Like every generation yields
The new born hope unjaded by their years


Lyrics submitted by kevin

Wait Lyrics as written by Sarah Mclachlan

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Songtrust Ave

Lyrics powered by LyricFind

Wait song meanings
Add Your Thoughts

16 Comments

sort form View by:
  • +1
    General Comment

    I think this song is about having a baby. she really wants one...but it just isn't hapening. "When all we wanted was the dream to have and to hold that precious little thing" I think not being able to have one makes her unable to stay with this man. "You know if I leave you now It doesn't mean that I love you any less it's just the state I'm in I can't be good to anyone else like this"

     this song is a beauty. i love the beat.
    Empirer85on July 02, 2003   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    I think it’s about a failed relationship. Being so in love with someone but knowing that you have to walk away and get yourself sorted out first. There’s an extremely deep love that started out with two people wanting the same thing but over time the skeletons came out and she can’t live anyone else until she loves and heals herself first.

    Be!ngYOUon February 24, 2023   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I am shocked that no one has commented on this gorgeous, meaningful song. It basically sounds like it's about a relationship where both people had a lot of dreams and those dreams have been shattered, and now she is jaded, but she wishes she could go back to innocence.

    butterflydreamson May 07, 2003   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I don't know what it means truly but this song has always haunted me... one of my earliest favourite Sarah songs.

    Heliamphoraon November 24, 2004   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I don't know what it means truly but this song has always haunted me... one of my earliest favourite Sarah songs.

    Heliamphoraon November 24, 2004   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I also love the beat. Here's an interpretation:

    She's singing from the viewpoint of an alcoholic (i.e. addict to whatever drug of choice) in a broken relationship and has come to terms that she needs a break from her habit first before she can attempt a try at the "dream" of "that precious little thing." ANyhow, I still love this song because of the emotional entry of that synth piano riff.

    Peace

    daedoloson December 10, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    This song is truly haunting, the backround music is makes it sound very somber, but it is beautiful, and I like the lyrics too. "You know If I leave you now, It doesn't meant that I love you any less. . ."

    cay15on April 23, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    truly beautiful song

    cay15on October 07, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    The opening verse is an image of sterile dark wasteland, no people, no light. Her partner is very close, perhaps too close, but she feels isolated.

    The chorus talks about how they wanted a child.

    Pressed up against the glass...one of the viewing windows where you can see babies in the hospital? It makes her want the child she can't have even more the automatic love of a child for a mother but it would be the "death of her". She has a medical problem that keeps her from carrying safely.

    The song ends with her walking out on her man. The relationship has broken on their failed attempt to have a child.

    Letmeinon May 19, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    To me this is a song about failed (or failing) marriage and depression. She's feeling smothered, he's always around and she has no time for herself or her dreams. She maybe feels guilty that the relationship is ending ('to have and to hold'). The 'blindness offered to appease' is her going along with it all cos it's easier for her. And finally, she can't take it anymore; she has to leave, mostly because she had no business being in the relationship to begin with ('the state I'm in...') because of her condition.

    reiko7176on March 26, 2008   Link

Add your thoughts

Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.

Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!

More Featured Meanings

Album art
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines: "Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet" So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other: "I had all and then most of you" Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart "Some and now none of you" Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship. This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
Album art
Mental Istid
Ebba Grön
This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
Album art
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version. Great version of a great song,
Album art
No Surprises
Radiohead
Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
Album art
Amazing
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran tells a story of unsuccessfully trying to feel “Amazing.” This track is about the being weighed down by emotional stress despite valiant attempts to find some positivity in the situation. This track was written by Ed Sheeran from the perspective of his friend. From the track, we see this person fall deeper into the negative thoughts and slide further down the path of mental torment with every lyric.