Oh the heads that turn
Make my back burn
Oh the heads that turn
Make my back burn
The sparkle in your eyes
Keeps me alive
The sparkle in your eyes
Keeps me alive
And the world and the world
The world turns around
And the world and the world
The world drags me down
Oh the heads that turn
Make my back burn
The fire in your eyes keeps me alive
The fire in your eyes keeps me alive
I'm sure in her you'll find
The sanctuary
I'm sure in her you'll find
The sanctuary
And the world and the world
The world turns around
And the world and the world
The world drags me down



Lyrics submitted by numb

Track duration: 04:12

"She Sells Sanctuary" as written by Ian Robert Astbury, William Henry Duffy

Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.

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She Sells Sanctuary song meanings
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23 Comments

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  • +1
    Memory:This song takes me back to college. I remember listening to this song/album on my Walkman while training for the long distance track team. Songs like this kept me alive, gave me the motivation and spark I needed to keep going when it would have been so much easier to just give in and quit!
    Flag paislei27on March 21, 2013   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:This song always takes me back to college days. Late at night/early morning Bourbon Whiskey opening the windows to the mind.........deep longing/melancholy still at times looking for that Sanctuary........................................................
    Flag johnt555g1on November 02, 2012   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:At the time, I was sure this song was about a booty call.

    I remember me slipping into her house and we were the only two people who knew where we were all night. For reference, we both had unbelievably stressful jobs and it was common for me to get calls about work in the middle of the night. (No cellphones yet)

    Her home and bed were a Sanctuary.

    But now, decades later, I just like the song. lol
    Flag thecrossboneon July 09, 2012   Link
  • 0
    My Interpretation:Just because it's got "sells" in the title doesn't make it about prostitutes. One can "sell" for more than money. You've heard the phrase "Everyone pays for sex", right? And sanctuary doesn't imply sex, tho it might mean love.

    The "her / you / she" might just be different points of view.

    You've all heard of poetic license, right? It's a rock 'n' roll song! Not an instruction manual! It doesn't have to have a literal and direct meaning! Like a lot of songs, it might just be intended to evoke a feeling, imagery, ideas. Doesn't have to be tightly defined or specific. Not everybody has REALLY heard the word about the bird!
    Flag greenaumon June 21, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:It could be aswell.
    a guy with a ugly girl,,, but her sparkle,,, awsome loving and happy girl.. he is being with her and loving her for her character, nature, personality’ .

    he feels people turn their heads while passing, and make his back burn,, thats a saying when people looking at you when you cant see them,, but you know they are looking,,, "makes my back burn"

    "i am sure in her he'll find sanctueary," lets say the the place where he can find peace and happines That he will have a happy live with her.

    what is strugeling me,,, i am sure in her he'll find sanctueary is put as a line of a third person,,, and could be a sarcastic line,,, if you a wprostitute would be more in place,, but everyone makes up his own tale,, don't we, haha Greetings from the Netherlands
    Flag alfredzoeron March 13, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:It seems like if the song is about someone who meets a girl and he falls in love with her. Thinking of her makes him happy and alive (The sparkle in your eyes Keeps me alive) and lets not forget that everything else seems so dizzy all around him when only thinking of her and being excited (And the world and the world The world turns around). Those are some things I presume in it.

    Flag NeonsOfMe91on January 17, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I think HowardMoon is dead on.
    Flag noftwon September 13, 2010   Link
  • +2
    General Comment:If you ask me, it is about a guy at a farmer's market who is trying to sell his chickens that he raised from little chicks and is having separation anxiety.... The makes your back burn part is obviously talking about his sunburn from when he was feeding the chickens.
    Flag tobyiniton February 23, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:This song is about social isolation, as touched on above by HowardMoon and flaminmofo.

    Not sure why everyone seems to think this is about relations with a prostitute, although the lyricist-- Ian Astbury-- has said that this song is about sex.

    It seems to me that the world is dragging along and dragging him down, but for the love in his life and the "sparkle" in her eyes. That love keeps him going, despite feeling like the world is a difficult, judgmental place.
    Flag psychoticfunremoveron December 20, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Not sure of the meaning. But MAN! this song ROCKS!!!
    Flag monster36604on January 14, 2009   Link

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