Beaches make the sand white
Make the sand all romantic and shit.
Palm trees, branches, imagine them
Green light and shining with pride
Oh arrogant island being buried in humility
Like the beaches were buried in ash.

Who will remember you now?
Billows and billows see the smoke rise
Smoke stack for every sin
But did they believe that
At the center of the island was a volcano? Oh no.
Oh no
Who will remember you now?
You're dead and gone.

We came here on a plane,
Just a couple of scientists
Among the ruins and remains
This island could have been saved,

But some people just choose death
And can't see a way out
Till their bones are all that's left,
Their chests were hollowed out
But some people never know,
Too caught up in the beautiful
But their heart's a volcano.



Lyrics submitted by constant

Track duration: 03:39


Speaker For The Dead song meanings
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15 Comments

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  • -1
    General Comment:I think the has split references and influences between the book Speaker of the dead, the great Gatsby, Jurassic Park, and Pompeii. The final stanza and closing of the song adequetely draws them all together to form a consistent message.
    Flag thew_maticon October 07, 2010   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:Speaker for the Dead is a science fiction novel by Orson Scott Card...
    "We came here on a plane, Just a couple of scientists, Among the ruins and remains
    This island could have been saved"

    Two biologists die from the descoloda virus, which is the virus that keeps the natives alive... their daughter calls Ender, who is the SPEAKER OF THE DEAD to speak on her parents behalf... I am sure there is more meaning than just that...

    Flag ashnicaron June 18, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I can still see how someone might have gotten Green Light and thought of the great Gatsby though >.>
    Flag Kaizeron November 18, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:beaches make the sand white
    make the sand all romantic and shit
    palm trees, branches, imagine them
    green, naive, and shining with pride
    oh arrogant island being buried in humility
    like the beaches were buried in ash

    who will remember you now
    billows and billows see the smoke rise
    smoke stack for every sin
    but did they believe that
    at the center of the island was a volcano oh no
    oh no
    who will remember you now
    you're dead and gone

    we came here on a plane
    just a couple of scientists
    among the ruins and remains
    this island could have been saved
    but some people just choose death
    and can't see a way out
    till their bones are all that's left
    their chests were hollowed out
    but some people never know,
    too caught up in the beautiful
    but their hearts a volcano

    These are correct lyrics.
    Flag Kaizeron November 18, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:My opinion The song has to do with evil inside of us.

    we came here on a plane,
    Just a couple of scientists
    Among the ruins and remains
    This island could have been saved,

    This is obviously referring to Jurassic Park, the evil is that the scientist cloned
    the dinosaurs to show them off basically.. Trapped in the beauty.


    I agree with Sparty about Pompeii
    Beaches make the sand white
    Make the sand all romantic and shit.
    Palm trees, branches, imagine them
    Green light and shining with pride
    Oh arrogant island being buried in humility
    Like the beaches were buried in ash.

    And I also agree with Spatt
    with "green light" referring to the great gatsby
    In the great Gatsby jays love affair drove daisy to kill someone basically.

    But some people just choose death
    And can't see a way out
    Till their bones are all that's left,
    Their chests were hollowed out
    But some people never know,
    Too caught up in the beautiful
    But their heart's a volcano.

    this part of the song i think sums everything up basically stating a lot of people
    try to kill or choose some sort of evil because they think theres no way out. Or that
    they wont accept something and go for the good you know? "too caught up in the beautiful"
    but they're being greedy "their hearts a volcano"

    Flag Kaizeron November 18, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:i feel like everyone's right on this one. Pompeii is an actual occurence, but its such a metaphor for what happens when one becomes too proud. The album is titled "volcano" which i think is a metaphor for human emotion, which can just explode. hence the songs about LotF, another perfect example of human nature's explosiveness. And this song is about the ash left behind after the violence, the explosiveness. Maybe a stretch, and a lot of stuff in one song, but that's what i got.
    Flag sictransiton September 20, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:But isn't there the fact that pompeii wasn't an island or am I just stupid?
    Flag Jozzygrlon April 03, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:"We came here on a plane,
    Just a couple of scientists
    Among the ruins and remains
    This island could have been saved"

    Thats a reference to Jurassic Park, most definitely.
    Flag Co&Cafreakon April 13, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:The song could obviously be referencing a couple of books... with similarites to "Fable", it could be talking about the end of Lord of the Flies. The green light indeed is a reference to Jay Gatsby, but what it has to do with LotF or even Pompeii is anyone's guess.
    Flag ass0bandon March 26, 2006   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:Orson Scott Card, who wrote the book Ender's Game also wrote this book which is part of the Ender's series.
    Flag Pennon February 28, 2006   Link

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