And I'd give up forever to touch you
'Cause I know that you feel me somehow
You're the closest to heaven that I'll ever be
And I don't want to go home right now
And all I can taste is this moment
And all I can breathe is your life
And sooner or later it's over
I just don't wanna miss you tonight
And I don't want the world to see me
'Cause I don't think that they'd understand
When everything's meant to be broken
I just want you to know who I am
And you can't fight the tears that ain't coming
Or the moment of truth in your lies
When everything feels like the movies
Yeah you bleed just to know you're alive
And I don't want the world to see me
'Cause I don't think that they'd understand
When everything's meant to be broken
I just want you to know who I am
And I don't want the world to see me
'Cause I don't think that they'd understand
When everything's meant to be broken
I just want you to know who I am
And I don't want the world to see me
'Cause I don't think that they'd understand
When everything's meant to be broken
I just want you to know who I am
I just want you to know who I am
I just want you to know who I am
I just want you to know who I am
'Cause I know that you feel me somehow
You're the closest to heaven that I'll ever be
And I don't want to go home right now
And all I can taste is this moment
And all I can breathe is your life
And sooner or later it's over
I just don't wanna miss you tonight
And I don't want the world to see me
'Cause I don't think that they'd understand
When everything's meant to be broken
I just want you to know who I am
And you can't fight the tears that ain't coming
Or the moment of truth in your lies
When everything feels like the movies
Yeah you bleed just to know you're alive
And I don't want the world to see me
'Cause I don't think that they'd understand
When everything's meant to be broken
I just want you to know who I am
And I don't want the world to see me
'Cause I don't think that they'd understand
When everything's meant to be broken
I just want you to know who I am
And I don't want the world to see me
'Cause I don't think that they'd understand
When everything's meant to be broken
I just want you to know who I am
I just want you to know who I am
I just want you to know who I am
I just want you to know who I am
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"I don't want the world to see me, because I don't think they'd understand" suggests that he doesn't know how to tell anyone/ express his feelings or he doesn't want people to know because they won't get it or he could be referring "world" as the girl he likes (she won't understand).
"When everything's made to be broken" suggests that he thinks it is wrong to be in love with this girl for some reason, or he tried to stop himself from loving her but can't help it.
"I just want you to know who I am" shows that he really wants the girl to know him on the inside and to know his deep feelings and not to see him as what he seems (how everyone else sees him). He would like her to understand his feelings for her - what makes up his world. It could also mean that she doesn't know who this man is at all and he wants her to meet him.
"when everything feels like the movies" shows that the love he has for this girl is like a love story from a movie - he loves her so much that it's almost un-real/ hard to believe.
A brilliant song, 5 stars - Leah
Therefore it has alot of personal meaning to me.
"And I'd give up forever to touch you"
Saying that I'ld give up my "forever", my life, my plans, my goals.
Or giving up forever to one person, as in spening your life with them.
"to touch you" Bacially just to be with them.
" 'Cause I know that you feel me somehow"
You feel like they understand you, they feel you and see who you truley are.
Me personaly, my ex understanding how i feel, my pain, my disorder.
"You're the closest to heaven that I'll ever be
And I don't want to go home right now"
Finding "heaven" i that person, Heavan we know stands for peace, love freedom ect.
Just finding that in this one person.
Then " I don't want to go home right now" Saying I dont want to go back "home" Could mean
normality. Wanting to stay in that moment as long as you could.
For me back then my home was a mental hospital so that personaly is a strong meaning for me.
"And all I can taste is this moment
And all I can breathe is your life
And sooner or later it's over
I just don't wanna miss you tonight"
Agian living in the moment, The was they are using the words taste and breath as if the loved one
is part of them. "breathe is you life" could it mean you are my oxygen. I couldnt live without you?
"sooner or later its over" Not wanting the moments with them to end.
"And I don't want the world to see me
'Cause I don't think that they'd understand
When everything's meant to be broken
I just want you to know who I am"
This really had alot of meanin to me personaly at the time.
"i dont want the world to see me" I had alot of people asking where i was at school. not wanting
them to know i was in a mental health hospital. I didnt want people to see me. then as it says
"Cause I don't think that they'd understand".
"I just want you to know who i am" I wanted my ex to understand my disorder and understand me.
"And you can't fight the tears that ain't coming
Or the moment of truth in your lies
When everything feels like the movies
Yeah you bleed just to know you're alive"
"you can't fight the tears that ain't coming" I was numb from disosation. Unable to feel the pain.
So i wasnt able to cry. Like how can i fight my pain when i cant feel it from numbness.
"Or the moment of truth in your lies" These words explain just how i was suffering with coming to
terms with being mental ill. Wanting to lie to myself about not being ill yet i couldnt fight the truth.
When everything feels like the movies yet again talks about being numb.
"Yeah you bleed just to know you're alive" I am sure this is talking about self harm. It one of
the bigest self harm quotes i know infact.
"I just want you to know who I am
I just want you to know who I am
I just want you to know who I am"
By repeating this at the end is showing the real need to be understood. In my case my mental illness.
Wanting to be understood and exepted.
Thank you for reading. I know this might not be the soild meanin of the song but its what it means to me
Hope you enjoyed my view.
‘Cause I know that you feel me somehow
You’re the closest to heaven that I’ll ever be
And I don’t want to go home right now
I’ve been into song lyrics meaning and interpretation for a while now, but have yet to write about any on my official page. Well, that’s all about to change, and I can’t think of a better first song to write about than Iris by the Goo Goo Dolls (strange band name I know), the song that’s inspired me to do just that.
First of all, let’s get some back story going on. Iris was a song written for the movie City of Angels (98’) starring Nicolas Cage (one of my favorite actors) and Meg Ryan. In a lot of ways, the lyrics coincide perfectly with the storyline of the movie, and I’ll get to all of that. But in other ways, they can have an entirely different interpretation, depending on the person, and that’s one of the reasons it’s such a powerful song. I must say, I can relate to the song, at least my own interpretation of it.
When you can go stanza by stanza, and really find something to love about each lyric, you know you’ve got a great song on your hands. So, I’ll start with the first one. You could arguably say this is the best lyric of the entire song, and the song’s peaked before it’s even begun! However, there’s some great lyrics with powerful meanings after the fact, so this is mostly irrelevant.
In the movie, the character, being an angel, literally chooses to “give up forever” to touch this person he’s fallen in love with. Are you kidding me? You can look at this two ways. One way you entirely scoff at the concept, the other way represents the deepest kind of love you could possibly imagine. To give up forever, just to touch someone?
As the lyric progresses, it explains itself a little better, and why someone might give up forever, just to touch that person. It’s goes on to say “cause I know that you feel me somehow.” In the movie, the main character, Seth, is feeling something he’s never felt before. Not only does he feel, what you might call an alarming connection with someone he’s never actually met, but he knows that even though she can’t see him, it’s such a powerful force, he’s still felt by her.
Ok, so outside of the movie interpretation, what can we make of these two verses? First of all, they’re extremely powerful. And the second verse only adds to the first (this will continue). Would you ever actually “give up forever” just to touch someone? I don’t think so. But it’s not the literal interpretation that makes it powerful. It’s the symbolic message behind it. Why would you “give up forever” (in real life, maybe take a huge chance, or give up that amazing job opportunity, or sacrifice anything of significance) just to “touch” (we could say ‘be with’) someone? Well, it goes on to say it, “cause I know that you feel me somehow.” As stated earlier, in the literal sense from the movie, this is about a connection so strong that she’s actually sensing someone that she can’t actually see. What about a real world interpretation? To me, it’s simple. It’s about someone actually somehow, feeling and understanding someone else totally as a person, and how valuable that actually is. To find the ying to your yang, the person that makes you feel harmonious in an unharmonious world. Isn’t this what we’re all looking for? Comfort and peace amidst the chaos found through another soul. Could we call that love?
Ahh, but then it goes even further. “You’re the closest to heaven, that I’ll ever be.” This is an especially powerful message seeing the context of the movie is coming from. Being an angel, Seth was already in “heaven”, and yet, this lyric is saying that this person was the closest to heaven that they’ll ever be. That’s something… The real interpretation would be in the everyday. Finding heaven on earth through another person. Is it possible? I don’t think so, but the point here is “the closest to heaven.” Expanding on the earlier point, it’s about finding that person that makes our lives in this imperfect world the closest thing on earth we could actually find to “heaven on earth” or personal harmony.
Moving on…
“And all I can taste is this moment
And all I can breathe is your life”
To me this is about being so caught up in a moment with another person, that’s the only thing in the world that matters. Forget about the past, forget about the future, this moment is so friggin’ powerful, it’s the only thing that matters, all you can taste.
“All I can breathe is your life.” In a sense, their life is giving you life. Good stuff. Like I said, really powerful lyrics. I didn’t write them, I’m just the interpreter.
“And sooner or later it’s over
I just don’t wanna miss you tonight”
God, isn’t this true. I’d say sooner rather than later. But yeah, these lyrics just express how quickly time passes, even the best moments in the world, but you “don’t wanna miss” it, no matter what. You don’t want it to slip through your fingers. You want to hold onto it, however best you can. They say to “live in the moment.” To me, that’s a bunch of words. It’s not about “living in the moment.” You can’t live in the moment because by the time the moment happens, it’s already in the past. I’d prefer saying, “fully appreciate what just happened.” Squeeze the most you possibly can out of every incredible second that passes by. Hmm….
“I don’t want the world to see me
‘Cause I don’t think that they’d understand
When everything’s meant to be broken
I just want you to know who I am”
Well, this is the chorus of the song. This takes on some darker undertones I suppose, as opposed the earlier “sappy” tones. I could say how this applies to the movie, but screw the movie right now. Watch it and come to your own conclusion. The only thing that matters is the real world application. This lyric is about not being understood by anyone (I don’t want the world to see me— maybe out of fear?), and not feeling that the world really understands you. In the context of this song, there appears to be one person, and one person who does understand them. Sad perhaps, but once again, might we call this the strongest kind of love? “I just want you to know who I am.” I think it’s talking about one person and one person alone who will truly understands you, and (you’ll see this as the song goes along) this becomes a mantra, a plea for the person to really know who they are. To truly understand them, so they can be in harmony with each other.
Before we go any further, let’s talk about the song title for a second, “Iris.” There’s a lot of different meanings for the word, but in the context of the song, I think it’s about two things. For one, we associate the iris with vision. In this sense, it’s about seeing things as they really are. You could say there’s a large portion of the song that represents that sentiment. However, there’s another meaning for the word, Iris, and that’s from mythology and the Greek god Iris, (gotta love the Greeks). As a god she’s a messenger, and links all the “gods” to mankind. So I’m going to go out on a limb and say in one way this song is about a greater eternal message about love (nice touch huh?), maybe one that’s not supposed to be fully understood.
Not only that, but Iris was a personification of the rainbow, and because your actual iris reflects the colors of the rainbow, that’s where the name “Iris” (relating to your eye) comes from. I suppose this song is all about sight, and seeing clearly.
Second verse….
“And you can’t fight the tears that ain’t coming
Or the moment of truth in your lies
When everything feels like the movies
Yeah you bleed just to know you’re alive”
I think the second line is about personal deception, as well as awakening. “You can’t fight… the moment of truth in your lies.” You can lie to yourself all day and night about something, or someone, whatever that might be, but that’s not going to change the truth of the situation. Truth is an eternal path and reality that can’t be avoided. What do I think this verse is really getting at? I think it goes back to “I just want you to know who I am.” Just because you want it to be true, doesn’t make it so; “you can’t fight the truth in your lies.” You can wish and want all day, but you can’t fight the truth with your own personal deception.
Bringing this point home a bit, and further from this philosophical jargon nonsense, I think we all lie to ourselves every day, all the time. It could be about anything. In this case, I suppose it’s about love, but it really could be about anything. We lie to ourselves to feel more at ease, and feel more comfortable. We convince ourselves of thing that may or not be true.
What about the not being able to fight “tears that ain’t coming?” I think the person is actually longing to fight tears, but “they ain’t coming” so you can’t fight them. Tears represent emotion, and emotion is better than numbness (we see this we the next line(s)).
“When everything feels like the movies, you bleed just to know you’re alive.” I really don’t think “movies” here actually means “movies.” I think it means “not like reality,” or “fantasy,” something movies represents. Sometimes life doesn’t feel as it should, and you might feel disconnected from the reality of it all, a sort of numbness. What’s real and what isn’t? Sometimes you have to bleed or feel pain (a deep emotional turmoil) just to feel and find yourself. We’ve all heard, “you gotta hit rock bottom first.” Before you can know you’re alive again, and start living, sometimes you have go through the deepest type of pain. I suppose pain helps you appreciate what you have more. So, when you’re disconnected from reality, pain brings you back from this derealilzation.
How does this apply to the rest of the song? This is a tough one, and I think it goes back to finding what the meaning of this song is really about. I said earlier it was about sight and seeing clearly (“iris”), so how can this apply to the rest of the song? And that’s where this verse un-seemingly brings the entire song together. It’s basically saying, it’s better to feel pain (“bleed”) than live in a false reality “movie.” Like the previous verse, the truth will always outshine the lies. Once again, we go back to sight and seeing things as they truly are, through the “Iris.”
So is this song about love? Yes, clearly. But it’s a deeper interpretation of love. It’s a characterization of some type of twisted and strange journey for love. On one hand you have a deep expression of love “I’d give up forever to touch you”, followed by a struggle for that person to understand you, “I want you to know who I am,” amidst a personal deception that you’re coping with “the moment of truth in your lies,” and finally, “bleeding just to know you’re alive,” or accepting the pain or reality of the situation to live again.
I said earlier this song’s all about sight, and seeing clearly. I think it just may be about seeing love for what it really is. A strange and mystifying journey we can’t put our fingers on, maybe a bit like the lyrics to this song. Extremely powerful, moving and yet terribly confounding. But isn’t that what love can be? An intense feeling, followed by a longing to be understood (a connection, a harmony) and often the reality that you can lie to yourself all you want, but that doesn’t make the love real (unrequited love). You have to accept the pain (they say love is the most painful thing) and move on (they also say love is the most pleasurable thing— so you better move on) if you want to appreciate what life has in store next.
I’m not entirely sure if I see this song clearly, but interpretation is entirely subjective, just like sight through the iris.
-J
my wife was a breast cancer victim... i was holding her hand whispering to her how much i love her and how much i wanted her to stay... i look at her teary eyes staring at me... asking me if am i gonna be ok? are the kids gonna be ok? tears shed while i answered everything's gonna be fine... go... ill see you soon. she hold my hand tight... tears flows from her eyes then she stopped breathing. she died in my arms then i gently closed her eyes and wiped her tears.. for 14 years that weve been together its time for me to kiss her good bye. she died at age of 30 fighting cancer for 3 years... leaving behind our 12 yr old daughter and two sons ages 8 and 7.
my wife was a breast cancer victim... i was holding her hand whispering to her how much i love her and how much i wanted her to stay... i look at her teary eyes staring at me... asking me if am i gonna be ok? are the kids gonna be ok? tears shed while i answered everything's gonna be fine... go... ill see you soon. she hold my hand tight... tears flows from her eyes then she stopped breathing. she died in my arms then i gently closed her eyes and wiped her tears.. for 14 years that weve been together its time for me to kiss her good bye. she died at age of 30 fighting cancer for 3 years... leaving behind our 12 yr old daughter and two sons ages 8 and 7.
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