Lyrics for Crown Of Love as interpreted by drinkmilk

Crown Of Love Lyrics
They say it fades if you let it
Love was made to forget it
I carved your name across my eyelids
You pray for rain, I pray for blindness

If you still want me, please forgive me
The crown of love has fallen from me
If you still want me, please forgive me
Because the spark is not within me

I snuffed it out before my mom walked in my bedroom

The only thing that you keep changing
Is your name, my love keeps growing
Still the same, just like a cancer
And you won't give me a straight answer

If you still want me, please forgive me
The crown of love has fallen from me
If you still want me, please forgive me
Because your hands are not upon me

I shrugged them off before my mom walked in my bedroom

The pains of love, and they keep growing
In my heart there's flowers growing
On the grave of our old love
Since you gave me a straight answer

If you still want me, please forgive me
The crown of love is not upon me
If you still want me, please forgive me
Because this crown is not within me
It's not within me, it's not within me

You got to be the one
You got to be the way
Your name is the only word that I can say

You got to be the one
You got to be the way
Your name is the only word
The only word that I can say

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tackledspoon
09-28-2004

Rated 0 
I think it's about someone torn between love and indifference. They want to just let it fade, but their other half won't let them let go.
They don't have it in them to love, anymore.
The first and third verses are crazy clever.

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Mad Ape
10-13-2004

Rated 0 
Very emotional and interesting lyrics like the rest of their songs. This one actually reminded me of Ocean Rain by Echo and the Bunnymen. That line "Screamin' from beneath the waves."

Different perspective here: Maybe the indiference isn't his but hers. The crown and spark are no longer within him because he is unable to shake her indifference towards him. And he's impotent to change her heart. Crowns are usually bestowed upon others (her love upon him) and sparks are exciting reactions that happen when two things contact each other unexpectedly. These things are gone so the pain is growing within him at the recollection of their former happiness:

"The pains of love, and they keep growin',
in my heart there's flowers growin'
on the grave of our old love,
since you gave me a straight answer. "

Her 'straight answer' buried their love.

Then there is the "before my mom walked in my bedroom'" line that shows up twice. This seems to be a sort of reference to the secret lives of boys (as in the third harry potter movie). *Wink wink* But I imagine that the idea here is that he is thinking these things in his room just before his mother walks in and he pretends not to be emotional or in the middle of deep and painful thought. Hiding it just like most boys hide weakness (Boys don't Cry).

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cdconn
12-17-2004

Rated 0 
Oh my god, this is THE most amazing song of 2004. The Arcade Fire are simply incredible.

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Gama
12-24-2004

Rated 0 
I was thinking of all the different things this song could be about. Commitment, sex, parental approval, all three...I dunno. I picture a scenario about a couple who's having sex out of wedlock but is scared to commit to engagement, and the guy makes some big mistake somewhere in there and is now sort of struggling with it.

Fucking great song.

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dbl456
12-28-2004

Rated 0 
You guys may be right but this song means something different to me. I think that it is the other way around. The woman is still in love with the singer and he is still going along with the relationship. He finds himself going along out of habit and he actually no longer loves her.
"If you still want me, please forgive me,
the crown of love has fallen from me.
If you still want me, please forgive me,
because the spark is not within me. "
This is very clear he is apoligizing for not loving her anymore. At the end he is trying to convice himself he loves her.. he says hers is the only name he knows, but he knows that it is over... he no longer loves her.

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indignity
02-28-2005

Rated 0 
i agree with dbl456. he wants to love her, but the feelings are no longer there, and he is apologizing.

this song seems very teenaged to me because of the line: "before my mom walked in my bedroom". it makes me think of rushed teenaged love being interrupted by parents. i don't know if this would have anything to do with him falling out of love, but it sets a good tone for the song.

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kateri
03-04-2005

Rated 0 
I think it is fairly clear from the diction ("if you still want me") and imagery (mother walking in on an illicit activity in her son's bedroom- either sex or masturbation, and probably the latter because of the emphasis on the word "I" rather than "we") that the song takes place within the context of teenage angst, of the inner turmoil of a young boy.
Within the context of the album, this is the first song that represents the burgeoning adolscent sexuality of the protagonists, their first experiences with infatuation. The male in the song undergoes a rite of passage in coming to understand the transience of his new, extremely powerful, feelings of love/lust. His ideals of sacred love, however, have fallen by the wayside in his journey into adulthood, which, it seems, is the primary theme of the entire album.

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1 Reply
newkicks
04-08-2005

Rated 0 
Beautiful song. Just beautiful. :D

I think this song is about someone who wants to love a someone, but the interest in that person is lost. Hes apologizing for this whole mess, and hes telling her hes not interested anymore.
"The pains of love, and they keep growin',
in my heart there's flowers growin'
on the grave of our old love,
since you gave me a straight answer. "
Love is so hard, but everythings over now, so they can live their love rest in peace.

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newkicks
04-08-2005

Rated 0 
let their love rest in peace**

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precipitate
05-01-2005

Rated 0 
"your name is the only word that I can say"

one of my all-time favorite love songs--

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latelylow
05-25-2005

Rated 0 
i mostly agree with Mad Ape. however, i think that the

"If you still want me, please forgive me,
the crown of love has fallen from me.
If you still want me, please forgive me,
because the spark is not within me."

lines are meant more ironically. it goes along with him trying to act all stoic and hiding his emotion. rather than admitting that he is hurt, he plays it as if he was the one who lost the feelings for her. but how he really feels is shown through the majority of the song, like praying for blindess so he doesn't have to see her name carved across his eyelids any more. i think the emotion in his voice lends to this interpretation as well, the parts that he sounds the most emotional on are the parts that he is outright lying about, and you can hear his pain in the struggle to put up a strong front. the rest of the song has a very sad tone, but it's also composed, as if he's had time to think through it and it's the way he truly feels. he also has a hard time in the verse which ends with him saying he finally got a straight answer, which makes sense, the straight answer was especially hard for him to hear after he had been holding out so much hope. then at the end he becomes almost frantic, now that he has gotten the straight answer and it was in the negative (we assume) and he is really just on the verge of emotional panic, trying to reason against reason with himself and her.

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God2005
06-30-2005

Rated 0 
"I carved your name across my eyelids,
you pray for rain I pray for blindness."

I think this line is saying that the only person that he can see is the girl. There isn't any way to get rid of it either, even with his eyes closed the name shines through, and the only way to forget about her would be blindness.

My idea of the rest of the song is a little different from the previous ones. I think the reason that he’s asking for forgiveness is because he starting to give up on the love. His love for her keeps growing, and with it the pain keeps growing, but because she wont give a straight answer, he’s starting to lose hope. So he’s asking her to forgive him if she really does love him, because he’s losing hope.

The part about the mom walking in the bedroom I don’t think has anything to do with masturbation or sex, I think he is just trying to hide his feelings because that’s just what people do. Before these two parts he’s apologizing because he snuffed out the spark and shrugged off the hands before his mom walked in, which means he has finally given up.

Finally she gives the final answer, which is obviously that she no longer loves him, and he still apologizes for giving up hope on the love. He might think that his giving up hope was the reason for the loss of love, or it might just be that he doesn’t believe her when she gives him the final answer. Either way, he blames himself for the loss of love. That’s why the whole song is asking for forgiveness.

In the end, even though she gave the final straight answer of no, he wont believe her, so he shouts, “You gotta be the one, you gotta be the way, your name is the only word that I can say.” He doesn’t care what she says, and he doesn’t want the love to fade, even though the beginning of the song says that’s just how it happens. He wont accept it, that’s why he yells in the end.

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God2005
06-30-2005

Rated 0 
To sum it up, he is confused about his feelings, he hides his feelings, he waits for a response from the girl, she is the only person he can think about, finally she gives him a straight answer of no, but he wont accept it because he doesn’t want the love to fade, and he doesn’t want to forget it. That’s why the beginning of the song says, “They say.” It isn’t what he thinks, its just what he’s been told. He just wont accept the fact that the love might have died.

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Disco
07-14-2005

Rated 0 
I'd say its about an internet relationship.

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thither
07-28-2005

Rated 0 
I love the 10,000 tears organ breakdown at the end.

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s0rr0w
08-10-2005

Rated 0 
I would say that God2005 has completely read my mind.

I love this song

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nortymorty
08-20-2005

Rated 0 
I just think that it's about a relationship that he wants to rekindle, but she doesn't. It's all well and good writing songs about it but before you know it, there's a restraining order in your letterbox!

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RT--
09-16-2005

Rated 0 
I genereally agree with what God2005 said in his/her first post.

The one strange lyric is

'The only thing that you keep changing,
is your name'

which inititally made me think that perhaps this is about more than one person, but about his tendency to fall in love with people he is unlikely to be with. That he keeps suffering the same pattern of infatuation and rejection over and over again.

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deathcab_
09-17-2005

Rated 0 
Im probably way off the mark here.
I think a girl cheated on him.
I think thats what the straight answer is about. Her finally admitting it. She now wants him back, he still loves her, but cannot trust her again. So wants to move on.
Its definitely not about him not loving her anymore. Because he clearly still does. "Your name is the only word i can say" And the bit about preying for blindness.
Its such an amazing song.

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atreides
11-04-2005

Rated 0 
It's about boyish infatuation and young "love".

"They say it fades if you let it,
love was made to forget it.
I carved your name across my eyelids,
you pray for rain I pray for blindness."

He's under the belief that all love is something that is meant to last forever so when he falls for someone, he does all these intense and almost drastic things that young boys do when they're not quite mature enough to know how things really are.

"The only thing that you keep changin'
is your name, my love keeps growin'
still the same, just like a cancer,
and you won't give me a straight answer!"

Obviously he's not been successful with his love. Notice, he never mentions the name of his love. In fact, her name changes. He falls for one girl after another but none of them ever feel the same for him, probably because he's a little intense and perhaps a little scary. But his feelings not only do not diminish but seem to get stronger and more intense with each new girl, creating a bit of a self-defeating cycle.

"I snuffed it out before my mom walked in my bedroom.

I shrugged them off before my mom walked in my bedroom."

Of course, he masturbates. What boy wouldn't? Whatever girl he's into is the focus, but well, we all know about mothers...

"The pains of love, and they keep growin',
in my heart there's flowers growin'
on the grave of our old love,
since you gave me a straight answer."

He probably thinks that his unrequited love is somehow romantic and even though each girl rebuffs him, he still feels that "love" for each one personally. He feels something growing from the frustration and suffering and thinks it something beautiful. Too bad it's probably going to end up as seeds of bitterness later in life...

"If you still want me, please forgive me,
the crown of love has fallen from me.
If you still want me, please forgive me,
because the spark is not within me. "

"If you still want me please forgive me
because your hands are not upon me."

"...cause this crown is not within me.
it's not within me, it's not within me."

The choruses are his litany of words and placations to all these girls. Eventually they become excuses to himself... He prefers to beat himself up than to think ill of these girls who have constantly rebuffed him over and over. These same excuses are going to feed the end result...

"You gotta be the one,
you gotta be the way,
your name is the only word,
the only word that I can say! "

He says this over and over to each girl, getting angrier and more frustrated each time until...

Cue fast paced music...

Maybe it's his intense suffering... Maybe it's a breakdown. Maybe he does something drastic. But something really big and different happens here. Maybe it's time for him to have a revelation or a shift in perceptions...

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nursejen
11-11-2005

Rated 0 
I wonder if perhaps they had a relationship when they were younger (hence the references to his mom walking into his room) and he did something that ruined their relationship. The lines "I snuffed it out" (the spark) and "I shrugged them off" (someone's hands) lead me to think he has something to hide. Perhaps he cheated on her. Because of this he feels he is no longer worthy of her love. "The crown of love is not upon me" --he is flawed, and he will always carry that truth with him.
Years have passed. "The only thing that keeps changing is your name", maybe she's been married and divorced. He can't get over her and still loves her-- "my love keeps growing". He is looking for forgiveness, but knows their love would be flawed because of his past mistakes.
"The crown of love" represents that which is true and good in a relationship, and he knows their love would never have that pureness because of what happened in the past. "It's not within me" is so tragic because he knows he will never be able to give her what she needs--the ability to trust him. She probably told him so when she gave him her "straight answer".
Still, he can't get her out of his head: "Your name is the only word that I can say"...

So tragic and so beautiful...I love this song and Arcade Fire is quite possibly the most briliant band out there!

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ikemayusay
12-12-2005

Rated 0 
this song is so beautiful and heartfelt. i agree with the interpretation that he made a mistake and that he's asking for forgiveness but knows that he can't get it.

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strokesman
12-21-2005

Rated 0 
"i snuffed it out before my mum walked in my bedroom"
I dont think this has anything to do with masturbation. I think he is either crying or really upset and he doesnt want his mum to know

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indie_power
02-05-2006

Rated 0 
This song about love. It's as simple as that... if you're overanalysing it you're ruining it! " You gotta be the one,
you gotta be the way,
your name is the only word,
the only word that I can say!" that's so true. Being in love hurts like that, feels like that...

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Rockefeller
02-23-2006

Rated 0 
I'm thinking this song is about him wanting to love but is unable to. "the crown of love has fallen from me....the spark is not within me". he desperatley wants a companion but is unable to love because to him love just "fades away"

"the only thing you keep changing is your name, my love keeps growing" meaning theres not a specific girl hes inlove with. he already has the feeling of love so hes looking for the girl, instead of finding the girl and then falling inlove with her.

"still the same just like a cancer" cancers main intent are to build families and have someone take care of them, and sounds like in this song he is like a cancer in the way that he is unable to love long-term, but wants to be with someone anyway for the sake of not being alone.

but i dont know, that just my guess. it may just be about love or whatever

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