For me this song is about a romantic relationship and the narrator’s complicated, conflicting feelings regarding her unfulfillment, and yet she holds tightly to the possibility that things might improve. There’s also a sense that they struggle to be close to each other at the same time – they’re always on different sides of the bridge. She starts letting go, and he wants to hold on. Maybe she struggles with true, lasting intimacy or even fears it and has to flee. Ultimately it reflects the couple’s collective denial of the true state of the relationship breaking down.
The fountain/rain metaphor represents two perspectives of the same relationship. The fountains represent the places she goes in her head to fantasise about things being fixed, that things might improve and their love may still flourish. Or, it could also represent where he is emotionally – still holding onto hope and wanting to make the relationship work. Whereas “up here”, where she is emotionally – or, in the part of her head that isn’t engaging in denial – she has taken a step back to gain perspective. Up here, it’s still raining – there are problems that mean she must leave.
When the narrator says everybody feels so far away, it feels like she’s circling around the issue that she struggles to form healthy intimate bonds or unconsciously creates distance. In many ways, she wants to be completely free from attachments, even though she craves love, and justifies her personal need to leave by saying freedom is something everybody wants. This also reminds me of the themes in Halah, which for me, tells the story of a person in a state of bargaining about relationship breakdown. In Halah, she is also in denial about her own faults in the relationship and her inability to open herself fully to the other person.
Look away from the sky is a call to collude in denial in order to keep things going, but she admits she has emotionally checked out and cannot be present for him anymore in the same way. She bargains with herself, suggesting she close her eyes to the issues and keep going, especially when she sees the light in his eyes. But he knows - pointing out that he is in a state of denial too.
And still, she struggles to let go fully, even after the relationship ends. She feels unable to say goodbye and accept reality. To the extent that even after she says goodbye, and things have ended, she still finds herself waiting for him under the bridge. Maybe she wants the relationship only when she knows it's no longer within reach.
For me this song is about a romantic relationship and the narrator’s complicated, conflicting feelings regarding her unfulfillment, and yet she holds tightly to the possibility that things might improve. There’s also a sense that they struggle to be close to each other at the same time – they’re always on different sides of the bridge. She starts letting go, and he wants to hold on. Maybe she struggles with true, lasting intimacy or even fears it and has to flee. Ultimately it reflects the couple’s collective denial of the true state of the relationship breaking down.
The fountain/rain metaphor represents two perspectives of the same relationship. The fountains represent the places she goes in her head to fantasise about things being fixed, that things might improve and their love may still flourish. Or, it could also represent where he is emotionally – still holding onto hope and wanting to make the relationship work. Whereas “up here”, where she is emotionally – or, in the part of her head that isn’t engaging in denial – she has taken a step back to gain perspective. Up here, it’s still raining – there are problems that mean she must leave.
When the narrator says everybody feels so far away, it feels like she’s circling around the issue that she struggles to form healthy intimate bonds or unconsciously creates distance. In many ways, she wants to be completely free from attachments, even though she craves love, and justifies her personal need to leave by saying freedom is something everybody wants. This also reminds me of the themes in Halah, which for me, tells the story of a person in a state of bargaining about relationship breakdown. In Halah, she is also in denial about her own faults in the relationship and her inability to open herself fully to the other person.
Look away from the sky is a call to collude in denial in order to keep things going, but she admits she has emotionally checked out and cannot be present for him anymore in the same way. She bargains with herself, suggesting she close her eyes to the issues and keep going, especially when she sees the light in his eyes. But he knows - pointing out that he is in a state of denial too.
And still, she struggles to let go fully, even after the relationship ends. She feels unable to say goodbye and accept reality. To the extent that even after she says goodbye, and things have ended, she still finds herself waiting for him under the bridge. Maybe she wants the relationship only when she knows it's no longer within reach.