Tore open the package it was an empty box
No meaning to me, just an empty box
Sender was a woman
Sender was a woman

She said, she's sending me everything that I, I
I never gave her before
She said, "Fill it up and send it back
Fill it up and send it back"

So I sent her back an empty box
A big mistake, sent back an empty box
Half in the shadows, half in the husky moonlight
And half insane just a sound

I cross them to a valley, a valley so dark
That when I look back, I can't see where I began
I can't see my hands, I don't even know if my eyes are open
In the mornin' I was by the sea
And I swam out as far as I could swim
Until' I was too tired to swim anymore
And then I floated
And tried to get my strength back

And then an empty box came floatin' by
An empty box and I crawled inside
Half in the shadows, half in the husky moonlight
And half insane just a sound in the night
Half in the shadows, half in the husky moonlight
And half insane just a sound
Alright



Lyrics submitted by Lelon

Empty Box Lyrics as written by Mark Sandman

Lyrics © BMG Rights Management

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Empty Box song meanings
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4 Comments

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  • +2
    General Comment

    Well, my only quesion in this song is if she was sending him everything he "never" gave her before, and what she sent him was an empty box, then wouldn't that mean he gave her everything?

    Lyndsay Killson January 03, 2008   Link
  • +2
    General Comment

    I rather agree with raven9; the image of "empty box" is illogical, it is an oxymoron like loud silence etc. She is sending him "an empty box" or "everything he never gave her" which means she is actually sending him her heart, her longing for him he could "fill up". But in the first place he does not understand or wants her feelings, for him it is " just an empty box" (=a needy woman whose feelings he can not satisfy). But after the dark period, "being too tired to swim anymore" he realizes that he made a mistake rejecting a true feeling, and now he is ready to feel her up with all of his presence. Deep and simple.

    estaalgunacoisaon September 29, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    He waits impatiently to see what is in the box, under the cover "I tore open the package". There is nothing in the box. She replies something like "Well there could have been something if you ever gave me anything at the first place". She insists on making him gave her something "Fill it up and send it back" or she could just have said: "Try one more time but this time harder". He wouldn't fill it up. Then follows a crises of "Where I am, who I am, what's the point?". Which reminds him that he is always in this crises and if he sees an empty box (a ready woman) he can try to rest on her for a while.

    RottenChainon November 19, 2010   Link
  • -1
    General Comment

    This is the way that I also interpret it. I'd send that bitch the empty box back too.

    One thing I considered was that his period of darkness and floating aimlessly caused him to look for some sort of help and although the box was empty, just the memory of that incident somehow gave him some peace.

    mgizmo2005on April 28, 2011   Link

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