A boy on a train with a birthmark on his forehead
Listening to language tapes and all he hear is birds
Everyone laughs cause he brings his own chair to the office
Convinced that the cushions will give him steadier thoughts

The muscles of the intellectuals are atrophying
Nobody’s running, nobody’s hiding
They’re lit by a light that isn’t even the sun
Lit by a light that isn’t even the moon
Ave maria…

Now how many times have i told you not to go there?
How many times have i begged you not to go?
And how many times have you snuck down to that cellar
Just to watch how the roots begin to grow straight up through our floor?



Lyrics submitted by lemonjelly


Ave Maria song meanings
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19 Comments

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  • 0
    General Comment:boy on a train with a birthmark on his forehead

    heh i got a birthmark on my forehead. it sucked so bad growing up in the 80's. i can't count the number of times i hear "Gorbachev"

    anyways love the song and her voice. ne me quitte pas was the first song i heard from her years ago and have loved her since.

    @SpeKtorGasm thanks for that info. i like the insight
    Flag feartanicon September 20, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:this is some little treastise on the instinct/spirit vs the intellectual, the people on the train are listening to language tapes cramming their heads,deaf to the peace of the birds.

    she feels the intellectual mind goes into atrophy when it stops running or hiding from its darker or deeper/unconscious roots [the cellar].
    they begin to light up from somewhere else from something that has no material source [neither the sun or moon]

    reminds me very much of the d.h lawrence quote 'I conceive a man's body as a kind of flame forever upright and yet flowing, and the intellect is just the light that is shed into the things around us. And I am not so much concerned with things around, which is really mind, but with the mystery of the flame forever flowing…. and being itself.'

    defnately a similar theme,I enjoy her riddles,she speaks my language.
    Flag kaatrienon February 11, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Surprised not to see any comments regarding to the song fading to "Happy Trails to you". I wonder if the the song is a "fare well" to someone she admired.

    Shot in the dark here but in 2006 a writer/director/poet/statesmen by the name of Lennart Meri (Hail Meri?) died of a brain tumor (birth mark on his head?). President of Estonia from 1992-2001. Estonia declared their independence from the USSR in 1991 after the "Singing Revolution". The "birth mark" could also just be a reference to Mikhail Gorbachev who of course was in power when Meri was an activist opposed to Soviet rule. When Meri was 12 years old the Soviets deported he and his family to Siberia (perhaps on a train) after "incorporating" Estonia. While in exile he became interested in the languages of the other exiles eventually learning to speak 4 or 5 languages. Hardly "language tapes" but "all he heard was birds", could be a reference to his desire for freedom. Meri is acclaimed for his works for human rights and certainly shared Regina's love of classic literature and the arts. Google this guy, Regina would have appreciated him.

    Of course if Regina wrote this before 2006 my theory is shot... Hail Meri in any event.
    Flag SpeKtorGasmon April 23, 2010   Link
  • +2
    General Comment:This might not be what Regina intended, but this song always makes me think of Plato's Allegory of the Cave.

    "The muscles of the intellectuals are atrophying" ... We might think that we have a broad understanding of the world, but we are really just prisoners in a cave, only seeing shadows of reality.

    "Nobody's running, nobody's hiding" ... They are chained inside of the cave. They think what they see is reality, so they are conent... they don't try to escape their shackles.

    "Lit by a light that isn't even the sun, lit by a light that isn't even the moon" ... They are watching shadows on the wall of the cave, projected by a huge fire.
    Flag besstudoron May 23, 2009   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:I think it's about a boy who has moved to/is living in a place where he doesn't quite fit in, thins are a bit alien to him, maybe he is an immigrant or a student. he has to work in an office and doesn't enjoy it, but doesn't complain. the intellectuals live in their own heads, don't even pay any attention to the sun or moon, just those artificial lights. I think maybe he is fascinated by the Christians despite his own family's tradition ('how many times..?') (I am pretty sure that the cellar = church? the roots growing up through the floor, a sort of history) and he finds beauty there, just like listening to the birds instead of the language tapes when he's on the train. but, the 'lit by a light that isn't even the sun' could also mean a sort of inner light and maybe that is what fascinates him, he wants to feel that too, sings 'ave maria' like a prayer. I am probably completely off, oh well. this is such a magnificent song, why has it not made it onto any of her albums yet? I guess the demo is the definitive version really, I love her whistling at the end <3
    Flag l3naon April 14, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Does anyone know where I can download this song? I've been trying to find it for ages, only seen it on youtube and such. I love it, and would be tremendously grateful if someone could help me out.
    Flag MirabileDictuon November 03, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:in the begining i think it is talking about a boy who is ...hm... excentric and people laugh but he doesn't care because he knows it is right. Then i feel like when she sings about how many times she said not to go down to the cellar it is a mother trying to keep her daughter from knowing something. I also feel it is like mary (for Ave maria means hail mary) is looking down at the world woundering what happened? "They live by a light that isn't even the sun. They live by a light that isnt even the moon..."
    Flag SeraphimAledaon June 29, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:in the begining i think it is talking about a boy who is ...hm... excentric and people laugh but he doesn't care because he knows it is right. Then i feel like when she sings about how many times she said not to go down to the cellar it is a mother trying to keep her daughter from knowing something. I also feel it is like mary (for Ave maria means hail mary) is looking down at the world woundering what happened? "They live by a light that isn't even the sun. They live by a light that isnt even the moon..."
    Flag SeraphimAledaon June 29, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:i don't know why but this song kinda reminded me of an immigrant coming to America for the first time and how everyone thinks he's odd. maybe not even an immigrant but an odd person. but everyone els is just dull
    Flag its real loveon January 16, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:ave maria means "hail mary" in latin, doesn't it?
    Flag xniggercakeon November 03, 2007   Link

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