The Loudest Sound

This is what the man himself has said about the song: "About my biggest fear about the future: it was inspired by staring an old couple walking along the beach in front of my house." - Robert Smith

So I think we quite surely can say it is about a decaying and dying relationship. But what I find very interesting though, is that different people have so different interpretations of the song. It would be interesting to know what experience with relationships the people who find the song happy compared to those who find the song sad. I suspect that people who find it happy haven't experienced a hurtful end or a slowly decaying, dying relationship (whether it is a friendship or love, direct or indirect (example: parents divorce), doesn't matter) or are just really romantic, while those who find it sad have experienced a hurtful/slowly decaying end to a relationship.

I have to admit that in my opinion the more I listen to this song, the harder I find it to see the 'bright' interpretation in the lyrics. "He looks up at the sky She looks down at the ground" & "They wish for different worlds She dreams him as a boy And he loves her as a girl" I think these lyrics are those that makes it clearest that this is not a happy love song. The first couple of lines shows that the couple views the world in different ways. The first line in the second couple of lines tells us that the couple wishes for different things in life and the next two lines tells us that the couple once loved each other a long time ago and still loves the person they fell in love with, however they are not the same anymore.

The repeat of "side by side in silence" shows that there is a silence between the couple. Since the silence is described as "it's the loudest sound I ever heard" it is clear that it is an unwanted silence, a silence which won't shut up because you know it shouldn't be there and it makes you uncomfortable.

When I hear this, I see an elderly couple walking along the beach at sunset, just enjoying each others company, yet they reminisnce of their younger days. "Nothing left to say" doesn't have to mean the conversation has run dry; it could mean that nothing is needed to be said: the love between the couple is just... understood.

im going to have to go with Ztarlight with this one... it seems more like a song about "true love" and not just infatuation.

I'm up with Ztarlights view too, it was really the first thing I thought about hearing this song.. It reminded me of my own grandparents, and I can only hope I ever find a love that I want to be together with forever, loving eachother unconditionally 'till the end.. That's a bit the feeling this song gives me.. Was actually surprised that some people hàve other thoughts over the song :)

this is really my interpretation, it's not as profound as the others are but.. I think that it's about two people who really love/like each other, but they don't say it to each other because it goes without saying.

in that sense, this song is really very true for me.

This sound is about established love. and i agree with Ztarlight, "nothing left to say" really is about their love is understood. the things they do "so comfortable, so habitual". established love where time can "pass away the day" with out worrying about each other. Its old love. rememberting themselves as children

Ztarlight's got it. If you need more convincing, look at the picture in the album booklet for that song; it's a little boy and a little girl holding hands on a beach. It shows who the people in question are in their hearts.

A boy and a girl, grow up, side by side, loves each others as a boy and girl loves, in two different way. Now they are old, it's useless to say everytime "i love you", cause love is understood. Maybe R.S. think to his wife, "so comfortable, so habitual", he wrote this song as a gift to her. The meaning? Love in silence, and pacience, is louder than ever word, than ever song, in this sense Love is "The Loudest Sound".

I don't agree at all with these interpretations. While fanciful and nice, I think that all of you are missing the parts where it says he "looks up at the sky" and she "stares down at the ground", and "they wish for different worlds". These are two people who once loved one another, but they're no longer on the same page in life. They're still together because the situation is safe and familiar, not because they're in love. They have nothing left to say to each other because it's all been said, and everything that's being done now is just going through the motions. The silence and the distance will just keep growing and growing the longer that this goes on.

This song is obviously about a child whose parents don't love each other anymore. The way Smith sings it leads the listener to show that he is the true victim. The guitar is perfect for this song, very repetitive(habitual) and yet very soothing(comfortbale). It all gels too well. We're not worthy.