Black Lab – Keep Myself Awake

• 0
  My Interpretation:The way that I read this song, it's sung by a guy whose girl has either died from a sleeping pill overdose and he dreams about her every night. The dream itself is bittersweet (It's always cold/It's always day) but in it he gets to see her again and she says that she'll be fine as long as she stays awake with him (You always say,"I'll be alright, I'll be okay, if I can keep myself awake."
  
  The rest of the song talks about how much he loves to see her again (But when I'm sleeping I'm so deep in it [love], so much more real to me, closer than reality) but the dream and waking up from it without her there is so painful that he never wants to have it again and instead tries to keep himself awake.
  
  It's probably a bit of a strech, but that's the way I thought about it when I first heard it.

  Flag {5x5}Fallenon September 10, 2010   Link

  • No Replies Log in to reply
    
      There was an error.
• 0
  General Comment:I thought this website was supposed to be about people posting song meanings, not with how much you like the song. I think this song is great too, but looks like I'll be the first to post what I think the song may actually be about. O.k., from the beginning lyrics of the song, he says he "hates to talk like this, and hates to act as if there's something wrong, but can't say", so far the meaning could be that he doesn't want to show that something's bothering him to others, and finds it hard to say, but finally feels compelled to say it, when he goes on describing how he has a dream every night. The dream is not a good dream, most likely like a nightmare because in the chorus, he describes it as "always cold, always day, always here, always say I'm alright" could mean that he dreams that it's daytime, but that it's cold and the other person is always there in his dream telling him that he's alright, but really he's not. The other person could be someone he was in a relationship with, but she broke up with him and she's trying to tell him that he'll be alright. Many years past, but he's still haunted about that relationship and his feelings for her. He'll always still love her, but she dumped him and doesn't feel like he'll ever be over her because he still has dreams about it. The part "always say I'm alright" could also instead be himself trying to tell himself that, trying to make himself stronger, but that doesn't seem to be working too well. The next line of the chorus about "I'll be okay if I can keep myself awake" is obviously about him not wanting to fall asleep because if he does, he'll have the same repeating nightmare again. The next verse of "I get up early and, look around me and, Can't help but wonder what you mean " most likely means that everyday that he wakes up, he's still reminded of what she's told him before "that he'll be alright", but he "wonders what she means" by that especially because she's the one who broke up with him(she's shallow). Then the next part of "But I'm sleeping, I'm so deep in, so much more real to me, closer than reality" I think means that, even though he already woke up in the day, he states that he's still sleeping, almost like he's sleep walking because he's still haunted by it in the day when he's awake, especially because he goes on to say "I'm so deep in", meaning he's so deep in this mess of feeling this way, and that he was hurt so bad that the hurt and the painful memory seems more real to him than even reality. The line "Buying coffee by the pound" is obviously him trying to stay awake from the caffeine in the coffee, but from the last line "I can't keep myself awake" means he knows that even coffee won't keep him awake forever, and he'll eventually have to sleep, which means the nightmare will happen again of course. I know this song was on the movie "Buffy the vampire slayer", but I never saw that movie, I noticed that it is on that movie though, so this song may have a completely different movie about vampires trying to keep themselves awake or whatever, or about the character of this song getting bit and infected as a vampire, etc. Now it looks like I'll have to rent it to find out if this song was written for and about the movie, or if the song was written before the movie, and the song being chosen for the movie later.
  

  Flag GuitarTeacheron June 25, 2009   Link

  • No Replies Log in to reply
    
      There was an error.
• 0
  General Comment:this song on the BTVS soundtrack introduced me to Black Lab. i think im the only person in the southern hemisphere who has their albums lol ;) totally awesome

  Flag indierock01on November 21, 2007   Link

  • No Replies Log in to reply
    
      There was an error.
• 0
  General Comment:Keep Myself Awake... the one song that got me into the band. Then I realised that ALL the songs were brilliant.
  
  

  Flag deaks101on February 09, 2006   Link

  • No Replies Log in to reply
    
      There was an error.
• 0
  General Comment:this is one of my favorite songs, it's gorgeous.

  Flag shadows_fallon March 20, 2003   Link

  • No Replies Log in to reply
    
      There was an error.
• 0
  General Comment:do you,or anyone,know the lyrics to see the sun?i've been looking for them and can never find them

  Flag aicguy22on July 29, 2002   Link

  • No Replies Log in to reply
    
      There was an error.
• -1
  General Comment:I love this song, its so beautiful. But there are some minor things wrong, he says "its always cold, its always day, your always here, you always say" and then he says "Cuz when im sleeping, im so deep in its so much more real...." just some minor things.
  -¦- Alternaviteaddict06-¦-

  Flag alternativeaddict06on July 28, 2002   Link

  • 1 Reply Log in to reply
    
      There was an error.
    0

    I feel you are mistaken, you say there are things wrong with the song, but that's just you reading it literally. It's symbolism, which you'll understand if you read my new posting below about the song meaning(I'm "GuitarTeacher"). Many and most songs use symbolic lyrics, phrases, and many times what appears to be contradicting lines, but if you study a song deeper, and get song writing/lyric writing training, then you'll find otherwise. The easiest songs to understand are the ones written with more literal and straight forward lyrics, but hey, those get boring after awhile, haven't you ever read poetry?

    Flag GuitarTeacheron June 25, 2009  

Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.

Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!