It takes the pain away
That could not make you stay
It's way to broke to fix
No glue, no bag of tricks

Lay me down, the lie will unfurl
Lay me down to crawl.

Your smile would make me sneeze
When we were Siamese
Amazing grace in here
I'd pay to have you near.

Lay me down, the lie will unfurl
Lay me down to crawl.

Don't go and lose your face
At some stranger's place
And don't forget to breathe
And pay before you leave

Lay me down, the lie will unfurl
Lay me down to crawl.
Lay me down, the lie will unfurl
Lay me down to crawl.


Lyrics submitted by Ice

The Crawl Lyrics as written by Stefan Olsdal Brian Molko

Lyrics © BMG Rights Management

Lyrics powered by LyricFind

The Crawl song meanings
Add Your Thoughts

26 Comments

sort form View by:
  • +2
    General Comment

    This is the ultimate breakup song... The lines "don't go and lose your face at some strangers place" relates to the tendency to fall into a rebound-type situation or to just go and have a one night stand after a difficult breakup.

    LadyShadeson October 21, 2004   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    this song is about someone who has just lost the very thing he lived for. now he doesnt want anything anymore, he just wants to dissapear

    FalleN-AngeLon July 02, 2002   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    I love this song, it's a perfect end to such an amazingly good album. My favourite line in the song is 'Your smile would make me sneeze when we were siamese'. Although I'm not sure whether I've put the right meaning to it, my interpretation is that when he was with the person he loved before they left ('...when we were siamese'), their smile was like a ray of sun ('Your smile would make me sneeze'). Because the sun makes you sneeze, right?

    Anyway, good song. No matter how my music tastes change, I always have a soft spot and a lot of respect for Placebo.

    save pelamaron May 07, 2003   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    that's the song that made me fall in love with placebo, really. there's something completely amoral, obsessive and sexual about it.. a loveful hate or hateful love, and dependency, need. it's amazing. the thing that takes the pain away is obviously the drugs.. which probably turned this person he loved/hated away. they had no bond, no glue anymore, they're distant now, and he has no more tricks to makes her/him stay. but still.. the person lays him down and makes him crawl and beg for his/her attention and love. it's a bit like he's submitting his personallity for this person's love/sex. they were too tight, or siamese, for their own good, and got sick of each other. allergic to each other. it also gives the impression that the person pretends to be holy, when he/she isn't any of it. and brian's obssessive, and would even pay to have the person near, he'd do anything. the don't go and lose your face thing is like.. his identity lies with brian, and the person knows that. so if the person leaves him for someone else, it's like losing his/her identity, and stop breathing. and paying before he/she leaves, because he/she feels guilty.. like sex for him/her now feels like prostitution, or something to feel guilty about, without brian. so lay him down and let his lies go on, lay him down to start over again, to beg again. so brian starts the song as the poor guy.. but the tables turn, and he know what lies with him now.

    jubarbosaon September 01, 2007   Link
  • +1
    Song Meaning

    I think this is about someones life being destroyed by drugs and also about someone who was in a relationship with him/her.

    It takes the pain away that could not make you stay it's way to broke to fix no glue, no bag of tricks

    The other person has left, because his person is too dependent on drugs.<

    Don't go and lose your face at some stranger's place and don't forget to breathe and pay before you leave

    This sounds like it could be a farewell from the girlfriend/boyfriend to the drug addict. Maybe The first two lines, they are pleading not to do it, but then in the next two lines, they accept they will go do it no mater what.<

    Lay me down, the lie will unfurl lay me down to crawl.

    I think this is about becoming dependent on drugs, the line unfurls and you become useless.

    blue_bathtubon December 17, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I like this song a lot. I learned to play this on my guitar and I already knew the words... coincidencely (I think that may be a word) my friend had passed away soon after. I never played the same song as many times I did this one in my life. This song is very pretty.

    Vivica_Unknownon March 21, 2003   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Yes, this is almost certainly a breakup song.

    The music is fucking CREEPY. The candences make me shiver.

    archagonon November 24, 2004   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    i agree, archagon. this song is delighfully creepy. it's beautiful, though, it gives me the shivers as well.

    miss catastropheon January 23, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I think Brian said once that 'smile would make me sneeze' was a reference to really disliking someone to the point where you were allergic to them, and, it seems, even their expressions

    Scandion April 12, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    i think that this song is one of their best...isn't it?

    ileana_floydfanon May 22, 2005   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
Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
Album art
When We Were Young
Blink-182
This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
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
American Town
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran shares a short story of reconnecting with an old flame on “American Town.” The track is about a holiday Ed Sheeran spends with his countrywoman who resides in America. The two are back together after a long period apart, and get around to enjoying a bunch of fun activities while rekindling the flames of their romance.
Album art
Plastic Bag
Ed Sheeran
“Plastic Bag” is a song about searching for an escape from personal problems and hoping to find it in the lively atmosphere of a Saturday night party. Ed Sheeran tells the story of his friend and the myriad of troubles he is going through. Unable to find any solutions, this friend seeks a last resort in a party and the vanity that comes with it. “I overthink and have trouble sleepin’ / All purpose gone and don’t have a reason / And there’s no doctor to stop this bleedin’ / So I left home and jumped in the deep end,” Ed Sheeran sings in verse one. He continues by adding that this person is feeling the weight of having disappointed his father and doesn’t have any friends to rely on in this difficult moment. In the second verse, Ed sings about the role of grief in his friend’s plight and his dwindling faith in prayer. “Saturday night is givin’ me a reason to rely on the strobe lights / The lifeline of a promise in a shot glass, and I’ll take that / If you’re givin’ out love from a plastic bag,” Ed sings on the chorus, as his friend turns to new vices in hopes of feeling better.