The Only Way Lyrics

Lyric discussion by Sublime Subpar 

Cover art for The Only Way lyrics by Gotye

Sounds like it’s about death. Gotye uses lyrics such as ‘end of the journey’s in sight’ as a metaphor for death, ie the end of the journey of life. Leaving your life’s no easy ride could also be taken literally.

“All the grief you gave All the love you made All your yesterdays Everything you were Will fade”

When you die, all of that doesn’t matter any more. This is the same with “Nothing matters now that your time is through”.

“All the things you thought you came here for Everything you thought you knew for sure No meandering No more wondering Everything is true”

I’m having trouble deciding on what perspective the song is taking. The singer is perhaps a murderer luring the other into death and delusional in his own mind – “this is the only way” gives that image and “don’t you fight” as well as ‘say goodbye’ also strengthen the image of a murderer.

Or maybe the person Gotye is singing to is deciding to take their own life, which would give more meaning to ‘leaving your life’s no easy ride’. These words suggest that the person is leaving their life of their own accord. ‘This is the only way’ also fits into this, as when you reach a stage where suicide is the only option, it seems that it’s the only way out of the dark pit you’ve found yourself unable to get out of.

Also, the part about all the stars being aligned could signify a ritualistic killing (The Zodiac Killer?) or could be taken less literally and taken to mean simply as a ‘it’s now or never’ kind of thing.

4 and a half years later I reply to this person to say I enjoyed reading your insights as they were very similar to mine. Well put, good guy or gal.