Okkervil River – A Glow

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Come into the den
Come into the den
You've got a glow
You've got a glow

Climb into my arms
With blood on your clothes
You've got a glow
You've got a glow

And you're no ones but mine
And nobody knows
The lane where he's lying
No heat in his bones.

No heart that was mine
No hand that i'd hold
And you've got a glow
You've got a glow

And there's no escaping
The thing that is making its home
In your radio

Your light and alive
You're lithe and you're strong
And you've wanted to do that, my love
For so long

My live and dead men
Come into the den.
You've got a glow
You've got a glow.

No heart that was mine
No hand that i'd hold
And you've got a glow
You've got a glow

Send "A Glow" Ringtone to Cell


Lyrics submitted by master_debater

Track duration: 03:46


A Glow song meanings
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17 Comments

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  • 0
    General Comment:I think it's about heroin. That's certainly my interpretation of the song preceding it ('So Come Back, I'm Waiting'), and in the end heroin killed Tim Hardin, who was an inspiration for the entire album and wrote the title track. This is the end, I think, or at least the beginning of the end.

    "No heart that was mine/ No hand that i'd hold." Is this about how drugs can kill people's actual human relationships?
    Flag Basileus1on December 18, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I think the murder in this song is the girl's father who raped her. The "glow" is him justifying the murder by believing that she is happy with his death.
    Flag ChristianBrotheron June 11, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:i agree with coolpootie. she was in love with a stone, though his reserved nature was so unlike her, simply because that was good for her--like a vacation from her black sheep boy. she fell for the stone, but it was never meant to last. and abandoning him was like murder because she truly did love him. i think the artist relates things to murder because this love he has experienced is so painful.
    Flag eyessplitearlyon February 17, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:He's finally got her at the end of the album, after all those songs about his one-sided, frustrated love for her, and of her hopeless and unhappy love for the man that is a stone. She's light and alive because she's finally "killed" her feelings for the other man, and the black sheep boy is basically... reveling in the glory of it, and does so shamelessly by using language related to, well, murder!

    Or, the murder imagery is all part of a fantasy of his, and he doesn't really get her after all. He could just be saying that the only way he could ever get her in the end would be by killing the other man. And he could never do that, so the love is as hopeless as it was in the beginning, but... he can still have wild fantasies about it to appease himself. I am convinced it is a sad song!
    Flag coolpootieon September 20, 2008   Link
    • 1 Reply
  • 0
    General Comment:i think this song could be about an affair resulting in a pregnancy. the reference to the glow is either the well known glow that pregnant women have or the glowing vibe that people who have just made a life changing decision carry. perhaps she had an abortion, thus the blood on her clothes. i think the father is someone other than the singer and that the pregnancy has been terminated or the baby died at birth: "no heart that was mine, no hand that i'd hold"
    Flag crustyknickerson March 16, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I'm not sure it's about homicide, to be honest.

    Someone mentioned Black Sheep Boy, one of their more... prominent albums, it seems.

    In many of their songs, you hear of how a woman still loves a stone, especially in the Black Sheep Boy album. How she cannot be with the man (singing) because she's still in love with the man that died long ago. She's in love with a head stone and the guy singing just really wants to be with her.

    Because someone died and she has blood on her, doesn't necessarily mean she's the murderer. He's asking her to come into his arms because she's upset. I'm suspecting this might be the original place where the girl's love dies.

    But that's just my take.
    Flag Heathlingon January 31, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:i agree with sminneman sort of, this song seems to be a sort of persuation. but the end makes it seem like that feeling was never a real thing, it was just something he made up to comfort himself.

    No heart that was mine
    No hand that i'd hold
    And you've got a glow
    You've got a glow
    Flag scottelyon November 22, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Sminneman, I kindof agree that it seems as though the song should be a resolution to the relationship dealt throughout the album. The tone seems way to depressing to me for it to be such a happy ending though. Perhaps the song describes the narrator's fantasy that never comes to fruition or perhaps she caves but her heart isn't truly in it.
    Flag JeremyB1on August 13, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:i agree, this song is very creepy, as is the entire album, but it also has this dark sort of whimsy that really draws you in and holds you- again, so does almost everything the band has done...
    Flag lightningrodon June 26, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I don't think it's literally about a homicide. Several other songs on the album talk about how he wants a girl who's in love with someone else (who may or may not be dead -- see "A Stone" and "Songs of Our So-Called Friends"). In this song, he finally convinces her to forget about the other guy (i.e. emotionally "kill" the guy) and be with him instead. This song takes place right after she finally makes this choice ("And you're no one's but mine / And nobody knows").

    The line "And you've wanted to do that my love / For so long" fits this too. He's telling her she made the right choice, it's something she should have done a long time ago.
    Flag sminnemanon April 17, 2007   Link

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