She calls me from the cold
Just when I was low, feeling short of stable
And all that she intends
And all she keeps inside, isn't on the label
She says she's ashamed
And she can take me for a while
And can I be a friend, we'll forget the past
But maybe I'm not able
And I break at the bend
We're here and now, but will we ever be again
'Cause I have found
All that shimmers in this world is sure to fade
Away again
She dreams a champagne dream
Strawberry surprise, pink linen and white paper
Lavender and cream
Fields of butterfliess, reality escapes her
She says that love is for fools that fall behind
And I'm somewhere in between
I never really know
A killer from a savior
'Til I break at the bend
We're here and now, but will we ever be again
'Cause I have found
All that shimmers in this world is sure to fade
Away again
It's too far away for me to hold
It's too far away....
Guess I'll let it go



Lyrics submitted by yc324

Track duration: 03:34

"Shimmer" as written by Shawn Mullins

Lyrics © EMI Music Publishing, Universal Music Publishing Group

Lyrics powered by LyricFind


Shimmer song meanings
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93 Comments

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  • 0
    General Comment:Fools*
    Flag Eyespeakstroofon February 18, 2013   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Also like to elaborate on the phrase "She says that love is for falls that fall behind.." She doesn't believe in love she believes in marriage, she wants more than that. "I'm somewhere in between never really know a killer from a savior" That's my favorite line because he feels so trapped and paralyzed by his feelings he doesn't know whether to think she's condemning him or saving him. He questions and doubts his love. He knows they can't remain friends after all they've been through together.
    Flag Eyespeakstroofon February 18, 2013   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I think this couple was very serious. She had dreams of getting married and he didn't. He still loves her but she gets more distant from him knowing that he doesn't want the same things as she does. Someone wants to remain friends in the relationship but she can't accept that it isn't what he wants.
    Flag Eyespeakstroofon February 18, 2013   Link
  • 0
    My Interpretation:I've been obsessed with this song for the past 3 and a half years, and for the past few days it's been stuck on repeat.

    I believe that the guy in the song is starting to heal from a breakup with another girl when she enters. The guy has been dealing with some sort of depression in the story. She wants just to be friends, but once she's back in his life he can't picture her as a friend, only a lover. She doesn't realize that he can't keep up the facade of just being friends. They hook up again and he wants something more, which he'll never get because she doesn't believe in love anymore. He ends up breaking off the relationship.

    I think one of the most powerful things in life is when someone comes back into your life, and I've been on both ends of this song.
    Flag k3eblyon December 17, 2012   Link
  • +2
    My Interpretation:Here's the real, on the song, and it's not what you think. It seems that the real meaning is easily lost amongst us simpletons. The standard on this forum seems to break down the song, line for line, so I shall follow suit.
    The song is a simple breakdown of the relationship between the Sun and the earth, and all on it.
    "She calls me from the cold" - She, being the Sun, in the cold of space…
    "Just when I was low, feeling short of stable" - I, being the earth and humans and the state of the planet's destruction from man, feels low and unstable.
    "And all that she intends and all she keeps inside, isn't on the label" - The extreme, destructive force that she will ultimately release on the entire solar system, is her true intentions and no one knows what is in the center of the sun or what causes it.
    "She says she's ashamed and can she take me for awhile?" - There would be shame in sharing time with someone you intended to destroy and I know the words say "awhile" but everyone has to admit it sounds like he sings "a whirl". Either word explains the time spent in direct relation to one another.
    "And can I be a friend, we'll forget the past, but maybe I'm not able" - The friendship is that She actually provides a life source for the entire planet, but any past Extinction level event caused by the sun can easily remain unknown or forgotten but shouldn't be, by it's inhabitants.
    "And I break at the bend" - Once the Sun grows to the point of scorching the earth when the elliptical pattern sends us close again it will be the breaking point of life surviving on the planet.
    [Chorus] "We're here and now, but will we ever be again" - this is a dual example of reality in our minds and this dimension. Here and now is truly all that applies in life since it could all end in a second, but we don’t live that way as a society, where instead, we live correcting the past or planning for the future, when, if we ever, are living here and now, meeting our immediate needs, (not wants and desires) equally distributing the resources available in a way to meet the most needs.
    "'cause I have found all that shimmers in this world is sure to fade away, again." All natural light we experience here is a direct result of the sun and it will end and be dark in this region again, as it was before there was a sun here.
    "She dreams a champagne dream" - If you're going to dream, dream big! She knows she's going to explode and the biggest star explosion, we are aware of, is the champagne super nova. Also note that the music bursts into loud, explosive, hard rock tempo, with this line in the song, and it totally jams.
    "Strawberry surprise, pink linen on white paper" - colorful descriptions of humans, red jelly insides, pink skin on white bones, and a fragile description applied.
    "Lavender and cream, fields of butterflies, reality escapes her" - all the lavenders and creams we use to protect ourselves from her, simple existences we know as reality, have no meaning to her.
    "She says that love is for fools who fall behind" - Love is generally a possessive statement, feelings related to persons seeking attachment. If you love the relationship, (earth and sun) possessively, with the hope of preserving its love for eternity, instead of finding a way for the species to survive in a new location, we will be left behind and destroyed.
    "And I'm somewhere in between" - Earth has reached its half life.
    "I never really know a killer from a savior, till I break at the bend" - regardless of beliefs, most religions in history of man, are but anthropomorphized for the worship of the sun. Even Jesus Christ is a copy of Egyptian religion and similar stories are the only reference to the behaviors of the sun and the earth's relationship. The sun is our ultimate killer, leading to our bodies decay and the earths decay, but is also the provider of life and is represented, by us, as a Savior, throughout history. When we break at the bend, the truth will be revealed and then we'll know for sure.
    "It's too far away for me to hold, it's too far away… guess I'll let it go?" - too far away, in actual space and actual time, as well as in our thoughts, for any of us to truly grasp, as a concept of singularity of the species, so I guess I'll let the conversation or thought just go!
    Flagged trieyeopenon February 21, 2012   Link
  • 0
    My Opinion:I've always had the personal belief that the song is about being in love with someone out of your league, and it eats away at you has try your best to become hers. "All that shimmers in this world is sure to fade-anything that is good, will never stay that way" means to me that everything in this world you want is worthless without her. "She dreams a champagne dream" means to me how someone can be luxurious to you and dream of better things than you. This applies to my case of having a crush on a girl who is most definately more decent than I am, and has ambitious dreams.
    Flag MajorAirmanon December 22, 2011   Link
  • 0
    Memory:I think it means the guy and the girl hooked up against his better judgement and the stories he's heard from her, and he develops feelings for her and something happened between the two of them and he still wants to be close with her, but she doesnt believe in things like that. Idk.
    Flag Heyitsarchieon September 26, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:In love with this song! Ive been in the same position as the girl in this song... so sorry =(
    Flag chrisguzman16on September 17, 2011   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:The key to this song is and i break at the bend. Means that he chooses the familiar over the Unknown. He chooses to go back to her even though he thinks she isnt right for him, because the one that he dreams about (who shimmers) is too far away for him to hold.

    So the song is about him settling for her.
    Flag Raycharles01on July 12, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Gosh I love this song. I agree with razberry, I could listen to this song multiple times and never get tired of it.

    I have two interpretations.

    1. A guy is dating a girl, and then she moves away. They decide to keep a long distance relationship. He decides she is "too far away for him to hold," so he just lets it go.

    2. A guy and his girlfriend break up, and he wants her to date her again because he's still in love with her, so she asks him to be her friend. He then decides being friends isn't enough, so he lets it go.
    Flag SoreBleedingHearton December 02, 2010   Link

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