Never Let Me Go lyrics by Florence + The Machine, 128 meanings. Never Let Me Go explained, official 2024 song lyrics | LyricsMode.com
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Florence + The Machine – Never Let Me Go lyrics
Looking out from underneath,
Fractured moonlight on the sea
Reflections still look the same to me,
As before I went under.

And it's peaceful in the deep,
Cause either way (Cathedral, where) you cannot breathe,
No need to pray, no need to speak
Now I am under, Oh.

And it's breaking over me,
A thousand miles down (on)to the sea bed,
Found the place to rest my head.

Never let me go, never let me go.
Never let me go, never
let me go.

And the arms of the ocean are carrying me,
And all this devotion was
rushing over (out of) me,
And the crashes are heaven, for a sinner like me,
But the arms of the ocean deliver me.

Though the pressure's hard to take,
It's the only way I can escape,
It seems a heavy choice to make,
But now I am under, Oh.

And it's breaking over me,
A thousand miles down to the sea bed,
Found the place to rest my head.

Never let me go, never let me go.
Never let me
go, never let me go.

And the arms of the ocean are carrying me,
And all this devotion was rushing over (out of) me,
And the crashes are heaven, for a sinner like me,
But the arms
of the ocean deliver me.

And it's over,
And I'm going under,
But I'm not giving up!
I'm just giving in.

Oh, slipping underneath.
Oh, so cold, but so sweet.

In the arms of the ocean, so sweet and so cold,
And all this devotion I never knew at all,
And the crashes are Heaven, for a sinner released,
Then (And) the arms of the ocean, deliver me.

Never let me go, never let me go.
Never let me go, never let me go.

Deliver me.

Never let me go, never let me go.
Never let me go, never let me go.

Deliver me.

Never let me go, never let me go.
Never let me go, never let me go.

Never let me go, never let me go.
Never let me go, never let me go.

And it's over,
And I'm goin' under,
But I'm not givin'
up!
I'm just givin' in.

Oh, slipping underneath.
Oh, so cold, but so sweet
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Lyrics taken from /lyrics/f/florence_the_machine/never_let_me_go.html

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Songwriters: Florence Welch, Paul Epworth, Tom Harpoon
Never Let Me Go lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Universal Music Publishing Group, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.

Never Let Me Go meanings Post my meaning

  • U
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    "the ocean" is love. It's a song about the pressure of love, and how it can be hard to bear but at the same time, it's something you never want to live without.
    The crashes are heaven for a sinner like me- though the intensity of it hurts sometimes, love is cleansing, and the speaker is recognizing the sins in their life and the need for the cleansing power of love.
    I love the phrase "no need to pray, no need to speak"- once you have love, its like you found your higher power. No more need to pray, to search- you're home. Once you have love, you've said everything there is to say.
    Possibly my favorite f+tm song. They truly create art.
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  • U
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    This song remind me of a poem by gustavo adolfo bécquer, one of the most important spanish poets of the nineteenth century. In that poem, he asks the waves to carry him because he wants to forget the pain. That doesn't mean he wants to die, but he talks to the nature as if it was a friend or as a reflection of his own feelings (as many other romantics do).
    I think this song has the same meaning; the sea is huge, deep and unpredictable, water flows and carries everything, so it can take her problems send them away. She can trust the sea because it always listens to her. That's why she talks about "the arms of the ocean", because the ocean is kind of a friend who embraces and helps her in its own way.
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  • U
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    At first, I think that the song talks about suicide and in this way she finds peace and she is finally free probably from her sins and 'torments'. But in a second view, maybe the ocean isn't just a way to kill herself, but a person who takes all her pain away, maybe the true love. So, that's why she says 'never let me go' but I have some doubts about this because some phrases like 'so cold, but so sweet' are weird and they don't match at all. So, at the end of the day, I think that the ocean should be a person not a lover but a supporter who helps her to escape from her problems and take the pain away probably from a boy who broke her heart, so she is not happy (so cold, but so sweet) but relieved.
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  • U
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    There are loves in your life that you have no control over. And sometimes these loves are not able to be expressed because of situations that we have no control over. I think she is finally giving in, to the fact they are meant to be and she loves him but she realizes that they may never be together or that she is willing to do whatever it takes to be with him.
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  • U
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    Something has hit you. You know you are changed. And while undergoing this dramatic change, you have found comfort in this place. It is familiar and new. You submit to this. You surrender and accept. The white flag is raised. The ocean is god. The ocean takes over. You find peace there. Beauty. Pain. Grief. Remembering who you were before and now. The same and yet very different. Finding comfort.
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  • U
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    Never let me go. 6 mo ago my mom was diagnosed to die. 47 years young. 2 children and a husband. One myself. (child)
    I heard this song for the first time when I was riding home from her diagnosis. They gave her anywhere from 2wks to 2 mo to live. She lasted 2 1/2 wks. This song was meant for her. I will never let her go. We spread her ashes in the ocean 5 mo ago. The ocean now literally delivers me.
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  • U
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    Looking at the surface of the lake from underneath, and the moonlight glittering on the water. It all looked the same until she looked at it from underneath.
    Underwater is peaceful, and it's a holy place like a cathedral. You know you're safe because you're there, you don't even need to pray.
    She's too far down to get back, and she rests her head on the sand. She asks the ocean to never let her go.
    Life has become harsh, and filled with stress. The only way to escape was to go under. She hasn't given up on life, but she gave in to the pressure that was dragging her down. She's found a safeness-- a surreal calm beneath the sea. And so she asks the ocean to never let her go, and for the crashing waves to deliver her from her sin (or her sadness.)
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  • U
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    I see this song as someone has given in to everything and is letting go of it. More importantly their life. As they float towards the bottom, they describe their emotions. They see this as the only option to let go. This song bring out your emotions with every word yet it has a haunting feeling to it. This song will never get old. It is perfect for someone wanting to let their emotions out.
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  • U
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    Dreams of a pleasant death experience, drowned in body, having believe you've sent your troubles deep to the seabed, never to surface in your mind again, but your spirit awakes and is governed by depth of ocean, observing the earths wonders from below the surface, seeing that the moon still gives it's shine, but mentally you feel safe and you accept the ocean as your guardian for the rest of your days. Dreaming that this is how it would feel.
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  • U
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    This song is definately about loving again after a heart break. And though you know you are falling, you can't actually help it. And you describe your lover as the ocean because he is coming from every direction pulling you, holding you and coaxing you into falling without reassuring you that he will be there forever. And so the song is beautiful and it has different meaning to each person.
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  • U
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    I think, the song is about surrendering to something larger than yourself. Something bigger that can comfort one when the loss of someone they love is destroying their soul. Surrendering, but also wanting to be saved, not wanting to leave this world. To leave the one they love behind.
    I think that is what the "never let me go" line is about, almost like maybe florence knows there is a point of no return, and if the person lets go of her, she's scared of what will happen. I don't think it has to mean suicide, maybe just pulling away from the world, isolating oneself when feeling rejected in order to heal and find themselves again.
    In the video, it seemed as if florence is very definitely something otherworldly. And the guy, is a loner who is a little creepy. Somehow they find comfort and happiness with each other, accept each other for who they are. And it is true, and it is real. But fleeting.
    The guy walks away, still enamored with her, after their laughs and dances. He looks on, but does not understand what more they could be to each other/lets her go for whatever reason, maybe so she can have the spotlight for herself (in the middle of the ice rink in the video).
    This is traumatizing for the otherworldly florence, who maybe feels more alone than ever, and feels abandoned maybe, more than before she walked into the ice rink by herself (was she coming there to help him?)
    And so, maybe feeling defeated by forces greater than herself, it kick-starts a chain reaction in her. Where she bleeds out all of her deepness, all of her anguish, everything she knows someone else can not understand (or fears they can not). And while she is letting go the oceans from within her, she cleans/swallows herself in her own essence, and disappears.
    The sea hag (janitor) seems to have been more than a little deranged and maybe envious of the love florence had with the guy, and rather than trying to rescue her at the end, curses her with snickers and seems to be happy with her demise. Which seems utterly unfair. Very sad, but carthartic, the video.
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  • U
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    And the crashes are heaven, for a sinner like me. Even being battered and bruised by crashing waves is heaven to someone with a past such as hers. She does't deserve to live, love, experience. She isn't giving up, shes just giving in, giving in to the inevitable. She begs the waves to never let her go, because she has found her resting place and a place for her head. On the sea bed. Shes begging the ocean to deliver her from her sinsand past mistakes, and once delivered, she wants the ocean to take her and never let her go.
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  • XNobody
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    XNobody
    I feel like it's about suicide. Before I went under I'd before I lost myself. And never let me go, even when I'm gone don't forget me. And it's also talking about how all the things looked before she let go. That almost everything around her was beautiful except herself. Not giving up just giving in. She still loves and feels, shes not giving up people or love, but she's giving in to all the negative things. So cold so sweet, that was how letting go felt to her almost like relief. This is not really what the song means just what I believe it is.
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  • U
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    When you think about someone you love you think of how long are we going to be together or I can picture us getting married well how do you know that they mite let you go. This is what this song is about hold that person tight that they won't let you go show them how much you love them how much you want to be with them how much you love them. Tell them to never let you go.
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  • U
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    I strongly agree with the ideas about suicide. I feel like this song could also be interpreted as someone relapsing in a recovery, whether it's from alcohol/drugs, or a mood disorder. I'm currently relapsed with an eating disorder and the song speaks to me greatly. If someone is in recovery and having temptations to turn back to their old behaviors, and finally give in. I feel like this song describes perfectly the feelings of release and relief and not caring and bliss felt at the beginning of a relapse.
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  • U
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    Sometimes for a person who sees his/hers mistakes and sins as is referred to here a cold and deep ocean - a depth of no return and complete forgetting seems a legit and welcome option. To be lost in the cold depths, experiencing the crushes of the waves and finally reach the sea bed to rest your head. For me personally it is a phase someone can be going through - a desire that can be understandable and has its meaning but I don't think it should be the end station. I like the expression of those feelings though.
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  • U
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    This song is a suicidal song. But the beautiful side of suicide. Most people see suicide as ugly, disgusting and destroying and that it is a waste of life. But trust me sometimes when your in that state, that nightmare state, everything is depressing, people say, "come on, be happy, you only live once your wasting your life". Well easier said than done. Depression is dark and it's like a limbo and once your their, you can't get out.
    This song represents the true meaning of escaping, florence expresses that the sea lets her escape. She s also giving a dark meaning of drowning herself, and only once she is gone, she is at peace and can rest her head and escape. As you can see in her video she has a lover, you can see in his face that he has excepted what she must do to escape and he lets her go. Once florence is under the sea, she does not want the sea to let her go, because she can not go back to feeling depression because it really does eat you away.
    My favourite line is "i'm not giving up, i'm just giving in".
    When you look at it first time it could be the same meaning. But unrevealing you realise that giving up is choosing to give up yourself, but giving in is giving into a temptation so strong. In this case the temptation is suicide.
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  • U
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    Powerful all consuming forces that can crush us and overwhelm us, from which there us no escape, such as grief or loss, can also deliver us with grace if we simply give in, and feel and let it take us wherever it needs to. The voice pleads to remain and rest deep within, never to be let go. But also longing for deliverance from the despair. It is the paradox of lifes cruelest twists and turns which we cannot escape from but who make us who we are.
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  • U
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    I think its about giving in to something, addiction, perhaps. Depression or sadness that drives you to escape to whatever it is that allows you to do so, though it's not really what you want. What you really want to be saved from it all. The "sinner released": that's the singer releasing herself into relief of her own making, but she still asks for deliverance. Refused to give up, just giving in for now.
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  • U
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    She is talking about committing suicide, she doesn't want a loved one to let her go because she will definitely do it, it will be sweet because she won't have to deal with life any more; the oceans crashes are heaven. Firstly pushing her to heaven but they are killing her rather than herself killing so she is no longer committing that sin of suicide. Some religious references; she is fighting with the guilty thought of suicide and hoping a loved one keeps her grounded.
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  • U
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    I believe that she lost someone close to her and the only thing that is keeping her moving on is the ocean that might be a special part of her and she believes that the only way to get over this is for the ocean to help her with that "drowning" and she saya it over she is goin under "drowning" and she's givin up and not givin in! And in the end "slipping underneath so cold but so sweat" is drowning the water is cold but sweet cause she is done with all the pain inside.
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  • U
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    At the beginning the persona uses metaphor to potray herself as the moonlight. The fact that the moonlight is fractured symbolises that she herself has errored in certain ways despite the fact that others may look at her normally, the moonlight still looks fractured to her. However when she begins to dive into the ocean which in this case represents love, she starts to feel peaceful and eventually compares love to a holy experience by referring to a cathedral. Finally when she finds true love, she feels complete and "rests (her) head". "the arms of the ocean" in this song refers to the arms of her lover and how they carried her. The passion of their love is so strong that all her devotion is rushing out and since she sees herself as a fractured moonlight before, the love that she has found, has proven to be as equal to heaven for a "sinner" like her. All in all this song revolves around the theme of how love delievered her.
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  • U
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    Maybe it's about the ending of the original andersen story of the little mermaid? I mean, everything else has already been mentioned, I might as well mention this.
    But no, I think it's about suicide, or at least about "drowning yourself" in some new, unfamiliar, dangerous, powerful thing. Could just be love. Could be god. It's hard to tell. I mean, evanescence has the song "i'm going under / drowning in you / i'm falling forever. "
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  • U
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    Letting go of the old self and surrendering herself to the ocean of god's love and mercy and peace! If grace is an ocean, then we are all sinking! The ocean accepts, and delivers! The ocean never lets you go! And you don't want it to. Even though the pressure is hard - the persecution from friends and the world you can see at the surface - you know that this is where you're meant to be. You're soul longs to feel this peace that the depths of the ocean bring!
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  • U
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    She s dying and she is happy cause of that
    and she feels that love in her heart but she is willing to give up of this world cause is to hard for her, and she feels that death is just something that you can't escape, but at the sam etime, is something that you can rets, something that will save you, because sometimes, loving today, here, it is not easy. So if you love someone, and if they love you, you will be saved, no metter what will happen the next day.
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  • U
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    My husband took his own life 17days ago. I cannot describe how painful it is to be left behind without him. I hope he has found the peace & freedom he was seeking. I look forward to the day I am in his arms again. We have 5 precious children together & they are all truly devestated as am I being here without him. Still seems surreal. This song is poignant & hopefully he is awaiting our time together in this seemingly distant future.
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  • U
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    It's a song about drowning. She's talking about how the ocean's so swet and cold, and when it says "though the pressure's hard to take, it's the only way i can escape,it seems a heavy choice to make" I think she means the pressure of the decision to do this. I think the words "never let me go" mean, "even after i'm dead, live like i'm still here".
    This song means so much to me.
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  • U
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    I interpret it as her view of love as a whole. She's falling in love again after being hurt before. She's dwelling on her last love and see's that in the beginning as it being special but eventually something went wrong with it either being lies, or unfaithfulness. She's afraid that this love will turn out like that, but instead of giving up she gives in to the love and gives herself to the feeling. She's letting the feeling take over her and leaving it all up to chance, she's also comparing love to maybe the ocean. A refreshing love, an inviting love. She never wants the feeling to end.
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  • U
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    I think it's a hauntingly beautiful song about drowning. She isn't giving up but she is surrendering her life to the all mighty powerful ocean. She is letting the ocean take her because it is the only way to end her pain but she is calm and graceful because she likes the sensation of being wrapped in the arms of the ocean and just simply surrendering and letting go of life. She doesn't want her lover to ever let the memory of her go because she is still deeply in love with him.
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  • U
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    I think it's depression and the feelings associated with it. That you don't want to have to do it. But you know it's the only way to be free. It says that someone isn't giving up, they are simply giving because they believe they aren't strong enough to cope with it. She knows it's heavy choice to make, to end your life but that's the only way she can escape the pain and hurt.
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  • U
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    I think the song is about a couple that love each other immensely and are trying to stay strong through insurmountable odds but everything is beyond their control. I find it hauntingly beautiful. They love each other and don't want to give up but have to give in. Life isn't changing around them. Even though they can't be together they don't want the other to let go. 'never let me go\'.
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  • U
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    "it's all about the illuminati and the way they have finally taken over her. In her last song she sings about how they were trying to take her under and she was trying to "shake it off" obviously she has, in a sense, lost the battle and they have finally taken over her just like they have taken over many other (just about all) other artists.
    This was one of the easiest songs to read. "
    No, it quite clearly isn't.
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  • U
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    It is the moment when I stood on a cliff top and could feel the size of the universe and felt the size of me against it. I also felt how big and powerfull I was at the same moment and that the universe loves me and has me wrapped in it's power. I am it and I feed it and draw from it all I have and all I need. This song lets me know that someone else has felt its power and I didn't make it up and thatr I am not going to hell just for loving with all my heart, soul, and strength.
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  • U
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    It's all about the illuminati and the way they have finally taken over her. In her last song she sings about how they were trying to take her under and she was trying to "shake it off" obviously she has, in a sense, lost the battle and they have finally taken over her just like they have taken over many other (just about all) other artists.
    This was one of the easiest songs to read.
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  • U
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    I think this song is about death, not saying alive, and not about love. It is beautifully sad. The character she is singing about is dying, sinking into the water and unable to breath, likely by her own intention (the song before this on the album is what the water gave me, where a character drowns herself). And she is begging the ocean to never let her go.
    She has given up on life, given in to death. If the ocean lets her go, she is a self proclaimed sinner, so she fears where she will go if she leaves the ocean (a fear of damnation perhaps? This is a suicide). Instead, its her desire to stay in the ocean for all eternity (crashes like heaven, they suggest powerful arms preventing her from ever leaving). So the crashes, cold, and light reflections that look the same as the did on the surface are strangely comforting.
    No need to pray or speak or breath. She is dying.
    Obviously florence is still alive, and this is all her romantic and macabre fantasy. But it is a beautiful take on an completely mysterious process (death).
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  • U
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    I think it's about letting it go, actually. At the beginning she contemplates what she is going to do, feels the beauty and calm envelopping her. Then she lets go, and compares it to swimming in the deep, thus adding to the calmness she needs. She appreciates it but maybe the repetition of "never let me go" shows she is a bit scared that she may never be able to come back at all. That's why she says "it seems a heavy choice to make", but she's already diving and she enjoys it, fatally. That's also why she says it is both "cold" and "sweet". But her "delivery"/"givin' in" was all she wanted.
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  • U
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    The arms of the ocean represent god's love which is why she says she's "going under" the water which is love and she wants god's love to "never let [her] go. " that's also why she says the arms of the ocean are sweet. She's not giving up she's giving in to god and asking for forgiveness ("the arms of the ocean deliver me". From my sin.). "for a sinner released" (from sin) by the arms of the ocean (god's mercy). She's saying she "found the place to rest [her] head" which is heaven and god.
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  • U
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    Honestly if you listen to "shake it off" also on this album, she says 'its hard to dance with the devil on your back' meaning that we should forgive ourselves and shake off all our bad and embrace our good and 'learn to dance in the rain'. People are so obsessed with illumanati these days that they look for any line to critisize a musician. What if florence was talking about washing away your sins? The ocean could have been a metaphor for something deeper. People who are narrow minded should either not listen to music or they should just listen to drum n bass where there are hardly words, then they can critisize how the beat is demonic.
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  • U
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    She's letting the waves take her under (maybe sin?) and she's not giving up, just giving in. Because her sin was so big? And she thinks god might not forgive her? So she lets them pull her under, and figures that either way you can't breathe. And that it would be better if she was dead. Hmm. She thinks it's the only way to escape her sinful life, by letting the waves take her under and die in peace in the cold and sweet ocean. =) mayybe.?
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  • U
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    The purpose of this song is to glamorize death and is aimed at those contemplating suicide. How many people have listened to this song and decided to kill themselves I wonder. It's amazing the power music has over people. Lucifer is a fallen angel who was the head of the ministry of music in heaven when he was in heaven. He knows what kind of power music has over people and uses those who sell their souls to him as puppets to drag as many away from god as possible. Florence is very deceiving. She knows who she's worshiping.
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  • U
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    This song is about suicide, believe it or not. It is about "not giving up, but giving in" if you really read the lyrics you'll find it in there. "oh, so cold, but so sweet. " "and the crashes are heaven, for a sinner released. " a sinner (a person committing suicide because it is against faith to kill yourself) released. Crashes are heaven? The waves? She is drowning herself at sea. And the crashes are heaven, for a sinner like me, the arms of the ocean deliver me.
    She is writing about the beauty of death. It is an experience that we, as mortal humans, never experience until the end. Until we are gone. Nobody knows what it is like. But it is beautiful. The complete and utter release. Devoid of anything. Just poof, gone. It's scary but beautiful in the same breath.
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  • U
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    I think she's talking about love, referring it to the ocean. When you're so deep in it, you can't breathe wether it's rough or peaceful but you don't need to make any effort as love figures things out. Found the place to rest her head-a soulmate. All this devotion rushing out, out of ones control. She says for a sinner like me the crashes are heaven (all the high points and purity from love is undeserved). Maybe love is too hard and heartbreaking even when your in so deep but not going to give up, just giving into it. Love can be soo cold but yet so sweet, so 'deliver me'.
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  • U
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    When I first heard this song, my sister came into my room crying from all the pressures of her life caving in at one moment. She told me what was wrong, and right when she broke down crying and wrapped her arms around me, "never let me go" was sang. I began to cry as well. Then a message spoke to us lyrically, "i'm not giving up, i'm just giving in". One of the most meaningful songs I think is out there.
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  • U
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    I feel like a lot of her lyrics are relating to god helping her through her struggles. She refers to herself as "a sinner", which states in the bible that everyone is a sinner. The she goes onto to saying how "the arms of the ocean" deliver her. I think she's talking about god in this line. God never let her go and is always staying by her side through thick and thin. A lot of her other songs have lyrics referring to god as well such as, "you've got the love". Great song.
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  • U
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    "heaven, a sinner like me, the arms of the ocean deliver me"
    - beautiful description of the christian baptism.
    "a sinner released, and the arms of the ocean, deliver me"
    - spot on, in the arms of the ocean you are released from your sins and delivered.
    "and it's over" - jesus said on the cross "it is finished"
    "and i'm goin' under" - baptize actually means submerge or 'go under\'.
    "but i'm not givin' up! " - it's not an act of giving up - I was born christian and made a decision to become devout, but for years I was arguing and debating I didn't need to be baptized.
    "i'm just givin' in. " - I realised it's an act of obedience and submission to god which jesus himself followed - I gave in to the reality I needed to be baptized.
    "oh, slipping underneath. Oh, so cold, but so sweet" - exactly how I felt that cold winter's night I was baptized at a beach in sydney. It was freezing but it was the sweetest feeling you could ever imagine with the waves crashing over me.
    Jesus will never let me go, never let you go. (there are countless testimonies.)
    Awesome.
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  • U
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    I think it's not quite as hidden with its overall meaning. She is finding something overwhelming in her life and can't deal with it. She has a love for the ocean, which is why she chose here to end her life. She sees herself as a sinner so she has done something she sees as wrong and she feels like shes being freed of those sins in the ocean where it is so peaceful. She says she doesn't feel shes given up, just given in, to me that means that she has been feeling this for some time and has been fighting with herself to not end her life. She wants to be forgiven and to always be loved. This song is very powerful. I heard 2 lines of it and started crying. It spoke to me quite alot.
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  • U
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    I feel the words to this song about her sinning or betraing a lover or partner and she turns to the ocean to take her life, taking her to the botton of the ocean where she finds the presures of sinning hard to take but it is the only way she can escape, it is cold and deep but she finds salvation at the bottom of the ocean where the ocean delivers her to heaven, when she feels safe the words say it over and she is going under se has not givin up but she gave her sins in and a sinner released and the ocean delivered her, she asks to never be let go now she has foud a place to rest her head.
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    For me it's about a relationship with some she loves and trusts absolutely, and she knows they wont leave, but she's singing these words almost because she is so happy she doesn't have to worry. And this person she loves is the ocean, and it would crush her but instead it just makes her feel secure. I love the way the mood of the water is created with the that swelling rushing noise, but at the same time it's so tuneful: d love this song!
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    Florence was in the water, at the bottom, when she was a child. She found that she could breathe at that point, and has been striving to find it ever since. She's fascinated by the idea of being engulfed by anything, especially water. This is her pouring out her feelings for the water. It's hers. She isn't giving up; she's giving into finding that feeling of being able to breathe again.
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    I love florence and the machine! One of my fave bands! My best friend and I are going to do this song and maybe mash it up with another one. Considering, this song is amazing, we might actually keep it like this. I think th meaning of this song is she has loved and lost, and wants to get away from the world and the ocean and her dreams could be the only place to go. That is my interpretation of this song. It could be wrong, and if it is its my opinion and everyone should have their own.
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    Well I'm not too sure whats its about but to me it means that she feels like she is nothing without that one person she loves and she is scared about what will happen when they face the storm together or if they will get that far. She is suffering watching the people around her fade around and shes scared that she will fall back into darkness. But nothing will stop their love and that she would rather die than let the love fade away from her.
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    She is feeling so, but so sad that the only place she feels a little bit better is under the ocean, is peaceful. She can forget the pain that is left outside. Is a situation that she can't change.
    Probably a very bad relationship, and althoug is better to end it, she just can't do it. That's why, never let me go. Its is painful, but don't let me go, because is worst without you.
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    I think it relates to a young girl who is in a realtionship with the boy of her dreams, and is fighting to stay with him, because she feels empty without him, she would do anything to stay in his arms and never let go. But she is having flash forwards of them breaking up, so she's thinking of suicide. I don't know, that's just aswell what I'm going through.
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    I love this song
    it reminds me of the hard times in life and how I just let them go and moved on and how I held onto the hapy, easy times. Its sort of saying never let me go but I think it means let go and look forward to the next thing in life and be gratful for what comes next. Like my pop said miss me but let me go.
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    It seems to me that this song represents someone who is drowning either by accident or most likely from the lyrics committing suicide. I think she believes in a higher power (religion) she mentions a devotion and also how she beleives she has committed a sin. The lyrics not giving up just giving in represent her not giving up her faith but giving in to her fate and preparing to be embraced by her beliefs. It's not a song about sadness or sorrow it's a song about reunification and love and faith. The fact that it uses suicide/ accidental drowning as its fulcrum just makes it real. The lyrics are very beautiful it's a masterpiece.
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    I think that ocean can be a metaphor of lover.
    "and the arms of the ocean are carrying me,.
    And all this devotion was rushing out of me,.
    And the crashes are heaven, for a sinner like me".
    (she is the character of the song).
    She devotes herself for him and she feels like sinner who was taken to heaven after all wrong things she did in her life, because she's in love and it's a heavenly feeling. And she asks him to never let her go. It's pure lovesong, as I understand it. :)
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    I think the song is a beautiful song and whilst quite sad, I believe it has a happy meaning, in that it is about love.
    I think the woman has come from a dark place where she felt the ocean was drowning her from seeing her own potential and this one person has pulled her up and she now has somewhere to rest her head.
    She feels that her sins have been forgiven by this one person and that she is finally giving in to love instead of perhaps running from it as she may have done in her past because of bad experiences etc. She is telling him to never let her go because she doesn't want to slip into that dark part of herself ever again.
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    Well, the case is different for me.
    It's when you realize the fact you are abandoned, when one loses faith that sincere caring people would ever exists. When you don't have a place to call home, thus you decide to distance self and burry your deep demand and hope of having a shoulder that you can constantly lean on. Reaching the static inner state of loneliness watching the world from underneath. It's the coldest peaceful state, a real heavy choice to take but yet bitter sweeter than getting hurt every now and then having selfish people around. And then waves delivered me, where the day came, the day where I found who can make it up for me. Touched my life heavenly, released me from the sin of chaining myself to the under. Finally, and for good I found the valid place to rest my head.
    All I ask for, desperately "never let me go" to the dark side again where I only watch, you're my savior. Dedicated to the love of my life.
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  • U
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    Well, the case for me is different.
    It's when you realize the fact you are abandoned, when one loses faith that sincere caring people would ever exists. When you don't have a place to call home, thus you decide to distance self and burry your inner demand and hope of having a shoulder that you can constantly lean on. Reaching the static inner state of loneliness watching the world from the underneath. It's coldest peaceful state and a real heavy choice to take but yet bitter sweeter than getting hurt every now and then having selfish people around. And then waves delivered me, where the day came that I found who can make it up for me. Finally, and for good where I found the place to rest my head.
    All I ask for, desperately "never let me go" to the dark side again where I only watch, you're my savior. Dedicated to the love of my life.
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    This song has so many interpretation from all kinds of different people. I believe that this song is about god's never ending love he has for each and every single one of us. We used this song at a christian event a few weeks ago to worship and praise god with. It is so incredible to see god speaking through the lives of ordinary people doing ordinary things in ordinary, everyday life. Many people will hear this song and not take two seconds to really think about the depth of what it's about, others will really see the love of god that fills this song! God is like the ocean and the holy spirit. She's giving in and turning her life to god, giving god her everything and letting go of all the crap - kinda like baptism? God loves each and every single one of you and he wants you to give him your everything; every single bit of you. I believe that god has used this song to say just that. My heart completely breaks for this song every time I hear it, it does amazing things for me, and as a christian I feel so filled with gods love and amazing power every time I hear this! I hope people will accept god as their everything when listening to the true, deep, powerful meaning of this song. I'm just an ordinary person, yet god has done some seriously extraordinary things for me through this song. He loves you all. :)
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    She almost seems like shes caught up in sorrow, and her mess, aswell as depression, but can't save herselve, she is dragged underneath. "never let me go, never let me go" saying she doesn't want to slip to far in but only someone else can save her. This is the most beautiful song I have ever heard and it means alot to me. I think its also about a person drowning and not being able to save themselves, "oh, slipping underneath.
    Oh, so cold, but so sweet. " and "looking out from underneath,.
    Fractured moonlight on the sea.
    Reflections still look the same to me,.
    As before I went under. " this pointing out, that it is too late and she watches from heaven now, "and the crashes are heaven, for a sinner like me, the arms of the ocean deliver me. " along with "now I am under" explaining it all.
    But I guess its how you take it. This song really got to me, due to my personal experiences, and how I also took it two different ways.
    This may also be about a drowned love and how it was never saved.
    There are so many possibilities, only you can take it in, the way you see it, never follow other people, make it your own experience and interpretation.
    This song has probably meant a lot to many different people and that's why I thank florence + the machine for producin/making this song! X
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    I think its about the last few moments someone has before they die, and the recognition that they have of what is going on and the longing that they feel towards their loved ones.
    And it's over,
    And I'm going under,
    But I'm not giving up! I'm just giving in.
    Oh, slipping underneath. Oh, so cold, but so sweet.
    Never let me go, never let me go. Never let me go, never let me go.
    That's just my opinion, you could draw endless parallels to lyric, and they would all be correct. Beautiful words, and beautiful music.
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    Why would any aspiring song-writer compose a song about two fictious character's of a movie that is fifteen years old? You'd be just as likely say this song is dedicated to the deadliest catch series, as it is for the 1997 titanic movie. Moreover, the film clip draws no comparison to titanic. In saying this, the lyrics are very powerful and carry lots of meaning and symbolism. There are many strong themes, such as losing love to an unstoppable, and uncontrolable natural force, like the ocean, or not being in control of your own destiny and 'not giving up' simply 'giving in'. This is just a couple of the themes apparant. The song is a complilation of human experiences, dark and/or otherwise.
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    In the arms of the ocean, so sweet and so cold,.
    And all this devotion I never knew at all,.
    And the crashes are heaven, for a sinner released,.
    And the arms of the ocean,.
    Deliver me.
    Hate to be the so called "bible basher" but this song is about releasing her sins and giving herself to god. It is about baptism. Her previous song "you've got the love" was also about god. Love the fact that her lyrics go mainstream without being labeled as "christian pop".
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    The great thing about this song is that it has many interpretations but I see it as 2 main types.
    1. Titanic.
    Could possibly be because the first time I heard it was when it was a backtrack for the titanic ad on tv. It describes how even though she's going under the waves, it's peaceful there, no need to think or struggle, just relax as she's drowning but begging her lover not to forget her. Could also be veiwed as rose/jack's relationship.
    The second meaning I get from it is a woman making a choice to be in a relationship which is turbulent like the sea and all consuming, a heavy choice to make but she feels like she never really had a chance to escape, she was drawn in. She's begging her lover not to let her go as they go into the depths of their relationship. It reminds me of elena and damon from tvd.
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    Looking out from underneath.
    Fractured moonlight on the sea.
    Reflections still look the same to me,.
    As before I went under.
    Gah! I just instantly picture rose lying on that door staring up at the stars. For me, this is about titanic. And not just about jack and rose, everyone in general that had to lose somebody upon the ship. Waaay more fitting than 'my heart will go on. '.
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    I think this song is about a baptism. Never let me go is saying of god. And, the arms of the ocean, deliver me. Meaning the water you are submerged into during baptism, delivers you to god. And all the devotion she never knew was rushing in. A sinner released. Its a heavy choice, it's peaceful in the deep. Not giving up but giving in. I think this is a very happy song about someone finding god and being devoted to him and being delivered from the deep.
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    I read an interview she did with a music journalist about how she is obsessed with the idea of being swallowed up or engulfed by something bigger than her which is why she writes about drowning so much, because that is what it symbolizes. So I think this song is about being afraid at first of something so big and profound as love, but when she finally lets go it feels like heaven at last and she can finally find peace after giving in to something so much bigger than her.
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    I think that this song is about a woman who is about to die in the ocean by drowning. I believe she is accepting of this fact and perhaps, finds comfort in it. In this lines "it's over and i'm going under", " so cold and so sweet", "for a sinner released", " deliver me", it's peaceful in the deep", " no need to pray", "its the only way I can escape" reflects her feelings of acceptance of death and her willingness to not fight no more and let the ocean current take her away. When she says "I'm not giving up, I'm jus giving in" can mean she had fought the current for long or she has fought her problems for so long that letting go is the only option and if that means death than so be it because "the pressure is hard to take" anymore.  
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    What you all say the meaning is, is compleatly wrong. Although it may be about love and things like that, it is actually about drowning. If you watched the video, you would see that it is about her being dead, and the man in the video dancing with her, is her last bit of life that she is holding onto. She is in a hockey rink, which is symbolising the ocean. When you see the light shine down, the man fades away, which symbolizes that hthe last bit of life left her and that she is complatly dead. Then, all the foam is turining her into the dead person she is meant to be.
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    The ocean is such a pure part of this world, so this song means to me that we shouldnt dwell on what happened yesterday and let who we are slip away becasue of it, just like the waves in the tides each day brings something different. So why not just sit back and enjoy each day as they come and see where life takes us, just like waves and the ocean!
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    This song is so beautiful. Flo has the most beautiful voice I've ever heard. This song (i believe) is about how she is drowning and she is leaving her love behind, she has been pressured into something she didn't want and this was to hard to handle. She wishes that someone would tell her not to kill herself but no one comes. She might have gone through a break up?
    This is such an amazing song and I love it and her voice xx.
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    Det er en utrolig fin sang som alltid er grei å synge. Den minner meg litt om titanic filmen som ble filmet I 1997 med kate winslet og leonardo dicaprio :) en utrolig film og en utrolig sang. Og sånn nåare vi er inne på filmer ellet tv-serier, så var det et stor sjokk at elena kysset damon etter at steffen hadde sakt hva han følte om henne, han sa aldri at de skulle kysse. The vampire diaries er det beste showet ever! P. S er det noen som hvet hvor gammel damon salvatore var da han ble forvandlett til en vampyr? I the vampire diaires.
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    This song is about how love is all-consuming, like a drowning death in an ocean. It's the affectionate and beautiful way she speaks about the ocean; she is dying in a sense, in the way a great love or passion can consume a person and kill them, and how they can submit to it even though "the pressure is hard to take. " florence shows there is an inevitable, all-consuming nature to death and love, that they are essentially the same thing. In my opinion.
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    I think she means she is dying. She is on the point of giving her last breath, and feels as though she is submerged by water; she describes what she feels. On the one hand she wants to be delivered: "and all this devotion was rushing out of me,.
    And the crashes are heaven, for a sinner like me,.
    The arms of the ocean deliver me. "
    On the other hand she is trying to hold on to life as much as she can "never let me go, never let me go".
    That might be explained by the two voices singing in the same time: like two contradictive parts of her.
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    This beautiful song makes me think of ishiguro's incredibly heartbreaking book "never let me go. " just the repetition of "never let me go" makes me think of little kathy clutching her pillow to her chest and dancing around, pleading with the world to never let her go, never let her slip away, and never forget her. And the beautiful scenes with her and tommy, and looking out to the field and imagining it were a beach where everything she ever lost would wash up on shore.
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    To me the song represents what it was like for not only the people who died and drowned on the titanic but what it would have been like fo9r the captain who went doen with the ship. I know tha sounds crazy but if you read the lines 'and the arms of the ocean are arrying my, and all this devotion was rushing out of me' it almost sounds like the captain is trying to save her but theres nothing he can do because the ocean has claimed her. The captain of the titanic would have loved her a child- and going down with her.
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    I love this song and I love to sing it. The meaning to this song is really sad, it's about a girl commiting suicide by drowning herself just to escape the pains of life, but her moving on is painless and she is in peace. How sad is it that someone has to kill themselves in oder to stop the pains in life? Why didn't this victim have anyone to help her through? Was she all alone? How sad!
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    I believe it means that giving in to something you've been telling yourself isn't good for you doesn't make it wrong. When you do give in, you realize that there's more to what you thought it was. If it is a loved one, and you've been in denial about loving this person, when you accept your own feelings for this person, it's possible that person is who's best for you even if he or she doesn't seem like it.
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    She is singing about a love that causes her to feel delivered, possibly from a former life where she felt unsafe or unsure. All of a sudden she finds new devotion for this person flowing out of her as she allows herself to sink into relationship. She sings about the strength and depth of this love that she has been swallowed up in, and finds herself a places to safely rest her head in the depths of this ocean of this loving relationship.
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    I believe it's mostly about her love for someone. Rather her feelings about being in love. It's almost like she feels like she's in too deep in this love, and it's overwhelming her. She knows that it may not be good for her to continue loving this person, but she can't help herself. It's about one of those fatal-feeling loves. The most tempting kind there is. So she uses the ocean as her main comparison. Since the ocean can be both calm and rough, it can reflect back on her feelings.
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    I think its beautifull and the lyrics are just stunning. After I heard it a few times it begin to strike me how it actually related to titanic so much especially around this time too. I wonder if florence meant for this link to be made? But whatever way you interperet the song it has such a sad but beautifull tone to it and it makes you grt a little emotional. My favourite of all her songs.
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    This song's used for the ad for the titanic miniseries, and it works really well. The gothic yet romantic way the idea of drowning in the song is characterised gives it a slightly peaceful edge to the possible suicide. It could also be interpreted as the water being a form of cleansing and renewal which could be seen through death being the beginning of a new life in heaven. With the titanic, for those who didn't manage to get on the lifeboats, drowning could be seen as the escape from suffering experienced during the sinking and possibly event an escape from the psychological suffering from losing a loved one. Whichever way this song is interpreted, it's beautiful.
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    Very powerful lyrics full of meaning (never let me go) never give up and keep pushing yourself to survive. Drowning is so peaceful I have nearly died by drowning I had to be resusatated when your floating there and you look up and all you see is the sun rays beeming through the water it is so peaceful. I think this song is about giving in to life but never giving up with your dreams and your soul.
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    lila13
    From the perspective of depression I believe it could be a powerful poetic piece on the moment of suicide. Drowning is said to be one of the most peaceful ways to die. She justifies her action by saying I am not giving up on you god but giving into the tidal pull or rip that suicidal thoughts/emotions have on a person. 'though the pressures hard to take. Its the only way I can escape. It seems a heavy choice to make now that I'm under. There is the element of guilt. 'and the crashes are heaven to a sinner like me' the arms of the ocean " could reflect on the cradling effect of the tide. Deliver me to my death and salvation 'no need to pray, no need to speak. Now I am under.
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    You retards. Being all sappy about titanic for nothing. Florence the machine didn't write this song for the titanic ad! If you wanna go cry over the movie do it somewhere else where it's actually relevant!
    No hate towards the actual titanic sinking. The movie isn't a factual movie guys, there was no jack or rose who loved each other.
    I love this song and came here for the lyrics and I recon the comment below me is pretty accurate.
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    The meaning has nothing to do with water or titanic or anything synonymic to that! All the talk of ocean is just a way to describe what this song is trying to express. I think this song is about knowing when to give in and taking the punishment you deserve. Also the feeling of giving in a big struggle and the moment of rest is "so cold but so sweet". The "never let me go bit" was confusing but I think it's about the "arms of the ocean" never letting her go at the "bottom of the ocean" taking her punishment and giving in and resting.
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    Nothing to do with titanic, its just a powerful song, she feels trapped and unsure, she thinks its the best option she thinks its easier but all these bad stuff that happens outside the sea, she's devoted to reaching her goal, going through choices and loads of commotion and difficulties finding comfort the sea symbolizing her comfort arms symbolizing care and also comfort, guidance and assurance. She gives in to her weaknesses and we all do at times we find it hard and feel soo alone and like there is nothing left fr us to do, but she's not going to let that stop her, she'll use her comfort to succeed. We learn from our mistakes, but in order to do so, we must fail at them and learn the lesson. Titanic was something utterly different, he couldn't hold on anymore, he fought against it but in the end eventually gave in and he died. She isn't dying, she isn't giving in,.
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    This is about moments in your life, wchich taste like someone leave you alone in closed room, flooding by water. Only thing you can do is let the water cover you. You have to sink, and then see what happened. But this is not givin' up. You let it. So this is givin in. For me this is about faith, and sacrifice. Florence is a prophet, but you don't know it yet: p
    sorry for my english, I am from moon.
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    I think it is about realising that god is the way and she is being cleansed of all her sin and being "delivered" from them. She is giving in to god "but im not giving up im just giving in", being cleansed in the oceans waters and being delivered "the arms of the ocean deliver me" "cathedral where you cannot breathe, no need to pray no need to speak" it's a way of giving yourself up to god with no praying and no speaking just the action of being put under water (baptised). Never let me go, (god), florence and the machine are, after all, religious.
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    I find she just feels that she gave up on someone that she would have never dreamt of giving up on. She gave up on a love, but she's still in love. And it's a hard choice to make, but she cannot carry on off sone reason. So now her decision are like the ocean crushing down on her, she's user pressure, and it's hurtful and it's cold but it's also sweet as she feels this is the right choice, but when she's down there she's in a sacred place a chatedral where she doesn't only face herself but she has to face all her decisions that took her there, she confessed all her sins in a chatedral where irs hard to deep.
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    I think that this song is about her dealing with great pressures in her life that make her want to end it. She's not giving up on life, she's giving into her deepest darkest desires of ending it all. The ocean is literally an ocean that she can see herself drowning in. She's looking up from under the water realizing that just because she's gone doesn't mean that anything is changing, but it's so peaceful that she was right in this choice of dying. The never let me go is maybe her inner self telling her differently though, never let life go. Maybe? That's what I got from this song.
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    Unregistered
    Florence herself has said that she's had this fascination with drowning; that is, drowning but not drowning. The idea of "jumping off and being enveloped in something, not bad or good, just enveloping. " she said "when i was a kid, i had a moment when i got under the water, lying on the pool floor, and felt i could breathe. I've been trying to recreate that feeling ever since. " listening to the beginning of the song really does capture that essence very well, I think.
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  • U
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    Unregistered
    It's acknowledging life and seeing it for what it is, through instead of 'rose-tinted vision' the water, and the sorrow that you have to accept that you can't change it and the relief you feel through letting go, and she compares this to drowning(relaxed drowning though)/being just below the surface of water. Or she actually is talking about submerging herself. Either way, the song has a different meaning to everyone and this is just mine :)
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    Unregistered
    It's about knowing that choosing to give in is a hard and heavy choice but "the crashes are heaven for a sinner like me". That line kind of says that she feels she has done so many bad things & made so many bad choices that they are weighing her down and so the sea bed is the only place she can find peace. Even though she doesn't want to let go, she doesn't want to live with herself anymore.
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  • U
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    Unregistered
    To all the people who can't work out what is going on:.
    Its a suicide by drowning, both the lyrics and video. "never let me go" refers to the ocean holding her under. "but i'm not giving up! I'm just giving in. " is a reference to why the choice is made, the video implies romance. The rest of the lyrics describe being held under the water and never making it back out. In the video the rink is the ocean, and the lights are search lights. At 4: 18 the male dancer is revealed to be a rescuer.
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  • U
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    Unregistered
    Like langston hughes poem. Suicides note. The calm cool river asked me for a kiss. It is a song about suicide & death: a place where you will never be let go for all will end and it is oh so sweet for the sinner has been released. But I say, have you? Or are you bound to the depth of hell? For to take you life there is no turning back; is a another trickery of the dark one. Excellent song I am a poet/singer/songwriter.
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    Unregistered
    It's kind of about a deathwish; the deathwish that people have at times in their lives, where it is not completely resolved (they don't die.), they just 'want to die' and feel a bit better for actually giving in to the feeling for a bit. Go with that feeling and realise it would be a relief to die, and it is kind of cathartic. Being in the water and letting go. Allows her to respond to that feeling in herself. It's terribly peaceful.
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  • U
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    Unregistered
    I have just seen her video: ddd so coo and I came up with a theory. From my point of view it's about being in love with someone that is not really convenient, you can not fight against that you are just under. Reflectios = prejudgeces look the same to me even now that I know him, behind all the dark appereance of his lover's heart she found a place to rest herself. If you see the video you will understant it: d ps: the old lady could be like experience or people who try to advise you when you're about to hurt yourself because of your nonsense. I don't know xdd btw= a perfect video to a perfect song. It's just epic.
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    Some people say it's about suicide (wrong by the way) or about god (justified reason) but to me it's about loving someone even if it destroys you. Even in the end, if your bruised and scared the end is always a great feeling. The metaphore used for the bottom of the ocean is that the feeling takes you down, it's an amazing feeling until you can't breathe even if it feels like heaven. In the end you choode to give up on that feeling or give in. It's love lion children, it's love.
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    This song is all about god's grace. Giving in to his grace, his mercy, his "hey- i love you. Just relax. :)" attitude doesn't mean you have to give up on becoming a good person- that is, like his son, jesus. It just means you gotta relax so that you can give up your sin. Its trusting that he's gonna take care of it- just relax and give it up as he asks for it, that's all. Just keep going with it.
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    Well, can I hust say first, I am a very big fan of florence, and this is one of my favourites from her new album. I think the meaning of the song is to show that even if someone has passed away, they are peaceful where they are and there are lots of thing that comfort you and the person you have lost. For instants "cathedral where you cannot breath" shows that they are dead and that if they are buried there it will give you comfort and prehaps you will feel closer o them. I love the songs shee writes and I pick up lots of insperation from her. Go flo! Keep up the hard work, and get a 3rd album out! .
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    I think its about all those times people find themselves drowning in society's pressures. Only this time giving into it and letting go. As she stated in her cd, she use to try to lay under water and finding a sense of peace and feeling of being able to survive it. To bring it all together, its about not being able to put up with the pressure of society, feeling like your drowning. So instead of fighting it, you let it be, realizing that its much more peaceful underneath.
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    You guys just make it too complicated. She explains it herself. It says in the book inside of the cd case that she was lying in the bottom of her pool and she felt like she could breathe although she knew she couldn't and she has been trying to recreate that feeling through percussion and lyrics like these. This song is just her trying to make you feel what she did then.
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    What I come to think about when hearing this song and reading these lyrics, is the situation you might be in when you're very depressed. After a certain point, you stop caring about things. It's like slipping under water. What people say sounds blurry and as if from afar, you feel dead when alive. I also come to think about self-harm where it says "and the crashes are heaven, for a sinner like me" and "though the pressure's hard to take, it's the only way i can escape, it seems a heavy choice to make".
    Still, it's a powerful song which brings me hope and motivation. She says that she's not giving up though, and I think that's an important line. Even if things are hard atm, you must never give up!
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    The ocean is a love so deep that it seems scary, and something that is so comforting that when you finally give in and let yourself be held, you never want to leave. It's like, here in this place I am protected and everything is serene, and the love is so deep that it will never dry up and leave me out in the open. I know some may think of it as a song about suicide, but it can be both - in death, we return to the creator and he or she loves us all in a way we can never truly comprehend, but that makes us feel at peace and at home.
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    I think she is talking about how life and love can push you down to the bottom of the ocean. That shes just going to stay down there, bc the view is the same. She is tired of fighting and that she isn't giving up, but saying ok life if you want me to be down then ill stay down. Letting go of the fight and accepting what is, is her sweet release. We all have a moment in life where we fight so hard to be at a certain place, or be a certain someone, or have a certain life, and it comes to point where you must accept your fate. You win, life. I give up!
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    I had read somewhere that what the water gave me, from the same album, is about virginia woolf's suicide. When you consider that this song follows what the water gave me on the ceremonials album, it's actually quite easy to view this as a companion to that song.
    What the water gave me is a little more overt: the line "pockets full of stones" is a direct reference to how woolf drowned herself. However, the tone of never let me go is less triumphant, more believable as a song about suicide. Either way, these songs should be 'read' together to glean meaning.
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    To add to my explanation, she also talks about being "delivered". And a place to rest her head as if she is now safe.
    Coming from a musical perspective too, the crescendos at certain points of the song like when she says "i'm not giving up". This song is supposed to feel powerful and uplifting not depressing.
    She makes a point to express the majority of the meaning of this song simply from the dynamics.
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    I associate this song to my real life situation. I have been in a relationship with someone for about two years now, but to get to this placeit took us a very long time. I was stubborn enough to fight my love to this boy for three years, because I knew we could have a future but I also knew it wasnt the right time. But then, two years ago I gave in. Because we waited for me and never let me go.
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    I think the song is about losing yourself in a relationship, whether it be between friends, or someone you are in love with. Giving your all and everything to that one person. She might have been let down, or hurt and feels that she needs to cleanse herself in a sense. But she calls herself a sinner, in need of a deliverance, so maybe she is the one who messed up. The water is just her metaphor for washing it all away, so she can be new again, clean.
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    Florence seems to use the ocean as a metaphor for absolution; the water is there to purify her. She's "giving in" in the sense that she's allowing the ocean to carry her away, cleanse her of her sins, and bring her peace; and it's such a wonderful feeling that she never wants to give it up. Honestly? I wouldn't want to give up that feeling of being in heaven either.
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    It's about depression. About giving 'in' to depression and the exhaustive battle.
    Battle it can be not to give in ('suicide'). It's about surrendering to it and giving up the struggle - the peace that (drowning) being under the water would bring - no noise, no sound, just peace and the gentle sway of the tides beneath the water 'in the arms of the ocean'. Never let me go - deliver me. Even the crashes of the angriest ocean waves are gentle and liberating in comparison to the angry torment of a tortured soul 'and the crashes are heaven for a sinner released'. :-)
    . "oh to float in the sea, to be free, to be me. One day i'll know it, one day will come and serenity will be mine, and mine alone"
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    I think the ocean to her is the universal spirit, so expansive and engulfing. She's given in to the great spirit (the great sea) taking her, and she never wants it to let her go. I think it's about dying. A release from the earth, and into the ocean, and it could be in a physical or spiritual sense. This song is so beautiful, and she really has been able to bring us a piece of heaven. I think of my father when I hear this song, and would actually like to play it at his memorial service. He was just released into the arms of the ocean.
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    To me the song is about having found a place of peace in the ocean. The ocean is a haven where nothing seems wrong and that all wrongs or sins are cleansed. It is about having found that place where it may be painful from the heavy crashes of the waves or the cold from the water, but nothing matters, what is gained from being out there and happy means more than anything else.
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    For me, this song is about escaping. She's imagining what it would be like to be in a place where the normal pressures of life don't apply. When she can just let go and let something else can take control. She's passing over the responsibilities of her life to something else. She says 'but I'm not givin' up! I'm just givin' in. ' almost as if some greater power is in charge, something that she is incapable of resisting.
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    She's talking about a transitioning point in her life(or possibly even death) where she did something bad ("sinner like me") and needs to escape from the overwhelming thoughts and feelings it brings her. And she doesn't want to make this transition, but she's realizes she has to hold her head high and accept this transition head on, pleading with it to 'never let me go' because she wants absolution and relief from what she's done.
    Genius song. :)
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    I read in a magazine that it's about how kids often get swept out to sea and their parent dive in after them. Then, because the children are lighter, they end up getting swept back to shore, and the parents drown. However, the idea is that the parents would rather it that they died trying to save their child (even if they would have lived anyway), than live having left it up to chance.
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    I think this song has lots of connections to "what the water gave me", for me there is a great continuity between the two. Like "what the water gave me" pictures the very moment before jumping to the water, or the desire to jump in ("pockets full of stones") and "never let me go" is about falling, sinking in the water - picturing the moment of freedom in the water, before you realise that you are actually drowning.
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    Its very symbolic of the people letting go of their previous beliefs or what we may call faith on whatever religious affiliations we had. Never let me go speaks of the new found love or peace with the new found awakening that it is better to be under. For a christian like me, its a bit scary to sing this from th heart. But also, as a christian like me who still commits sin all the time, sometimes its better to let go. Let go of all the control. And to live life the way we wanted, no pressure, no guilt.
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    The ocean is our loving god. He's so huge, and he pours so much grace over us that it can be overwhelming. It's like being at the bottom of the sea, feeling completely surrounded by his spirit, yet the pressure is a comforting feeling, not scary. When she says "i'm not giving up, i'm just giving in," it's her finally letting herself accept his love that he so desires to lavish upon her. He is our deliverer, who will never let us go.
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    The ocean is god's powerful and all-consuming love. And though it has taken her a long time to get there spiritually, and though it has and continues to be a difficult choice to live for god, she finds that his love is what gives her life, and the most fulfilling life. It is the challenging road to travel in this age, but after knowing god she cannot live otherwise and is giving in to living for god.
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    I think it's about death, a peaceful death. I'm imagine a girl entering in the sea, her suicide. But that's okay for her, because she feels that she is a sinner, and she needs redemption. She's going to die, but she feels fine. "and the crashes are heaven, for a sinner like me" this is the most significant phrase, she is a sinner and she needs a punishment, so the sea is who's going to judge her. Xoxo mica.
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    The song is about someone who is confused, who doesn't know what to do with their life, who feels nothing but pain and hurt who just wants to feel some peace, who wants to escape and forget, to feel like they are being surrounded by something that can protect them, something that's peaceful. So they jump into the ocean, maybe planning on taking their life. To get rid of all the pain "it's the only way i can escape, it seems a heavy choice to make".
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    I think this song about girl whos is drowning under the water but the wierd thing is the video clip it has 2 meaning to me: 1 maybe she is remembering her life with her bf while drowning, 2 or the guy whos dancing with her it the ocean it self because she is drowning and telling the guy (the ocean) never let me go. Its like the ocean and her become lovers.
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    She feels like she is so sad that she is in the ocean. When she says, 'the waves are crashing over me', it would be referring to the waves of pain and grief of losing her man. The chorus of 'never let me go', is her begging him not to leave her. The last part of the song, which I think is really sad, "and it's over, and I'm join under, but I'm not giving up! , I'm just giving in, oh, slipping underneath, oh, so cold, but so sweet. ' it's over is that she is so over come with her sadness, that she is just giving up, and I'm join under, means that she is so in her pain, that it is like being in the ocean. Surrounded, by it. But I'm not giving up, is that even though she is in her saddens, and what not, that part of her is still willing for her man to come back. Then the last two verses are he, one again, going under in her pain. This song completely fits my life, unfortunately.
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    Omgoddess I have felt this way so many times. Submerged in the ocean is where I feel safe and at home, that'w where we come from you know and sometimes we just want to go back (from dar williams) I feel at home under the waves and think that is where I need to end my life. I often think of swimming out so far that I can not get back and falling into grace in the arms of the ocean and yemaya. I think it is about letting go. No giving up but giving in. Sometimes life is so hard that you have to just let go.
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    For me, it is about finding peace in god's grace. The crashes from heaven are what I deserve for being a sinner, but god is so merciful and wants to save me from that, just like how he wants to save everyone. He carries me in his arms even when the world gets messy and hard to take. By giving into the love, admitting what I have done, which is a pressure that is sometimes hard to take, and accepting the grace, it is so sweet and I can rest my head knowing that he will never let me go.
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      "the ocean" is love. It's a song about the pressure of love, and how it can be hard to bear but at... Read more →
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      This song remind me of a poem by gustavo adolfo bécquer, one of the most important spanish poets of... Read more →

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