Pray for Rain Lyrics

Lyric discussion by Bettyforsmut 

Cover art for Pray for Rain lyrics by Massive Attack

I think the people who's necks crane have emerged from some catastrophe. A system failure that left behind a deep and lasting impression on the collective psyche.

The dull residue of what once was is what is left after the event has shattered the living as they confront the world that was once teeming with swirling doves, or life.

And their eyes change, they see the world differently now that the world they new is no longer a reality. Their new reality brings challenges that they have to learn to overcome.

A prayer for rain is symbolic of the peoples lost hope that they now need to find a reason to keep living in a world they no longer recognize. The old rules they lived by no longer apply.

The people find the will to survive and life continues as hearts and wings commence to beating.

"What's unseen with all believing"

Again, the people see the world in a completely new way as the world they knew no longer exists.

Drops on rocks fall fast and fleeting. Could be reinforcing the idea that the people have found hope, a reason to keep living, or it could be that peoples hope is failing fast and slipping away.

With no system of laws to govern over the people, the more fundamental laws confront them in this new world. Either laws of survival forcing them to do things and behave in ways that never would have been tolerated in the old world, or in this new world we abandon our old way of thinking and turn to a more basic "golden rule" law that usher us into a new world.

The will to live in the people and the world is a circle of life all unending and all completing.

The song to me is about hope as we survive the world we once knew and discover a new way to live.

My Interpretation