Arcade Fire – Ocean of Noise

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Send "Ocean of Noise" Ringtone to Cell

Ocean of noise
I first heard your voice
Ring like a bell
As if I had a choice, oh well

Left in the morning
While you were fast asleep
To an ocean of violence
A world of empty streets

You've got your reasons
And me, I've got mine
But all the reasons I gave
Were just lies
To buy yourself some time

An ocean of noise
I first heard your voice
Now who here among us
Still believes in choice?
Not I

No way of knowing
What any men will do
An ocean of violence
Between me and you

You've got your reasons
And me, I've got mine
But all the reasons I gave
Were just lies
To buy myself some time

And can we work it out?
It's time to work it out
Going to work it out
It's time to work it out for you
We're going to work it all out
It's time to work it out
We're going to work it out
It's time to work it out
Time to work it all out

Send "Ocean of Noise" Ringtone to Cell


Lyrics submitted by afimrtl

Track duration: 04:54


Ocean of Noise song meanings
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51 Comments

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  • 0
    General Comment:In an interview with the New Musical Express December 8, 2007, the interviewer asked about this song and Arcade Fire's fascination with the power of the sea. Multi instrumentalist Wim Butler explained: "My parents live near the ocean and we've gone there quite a bit over the history of our band. It's really isolated there by the ocean. I remember one time we went out on the 4th of July. It was dusk and we had a little motorboat, so we went out and the fog was starting to roll. We stopped and all of a sudden we were surrounded by fog. We had no idea where we were. And there was a fog horn. It's like you're never less in control of your own life than when you're in the ocean underneath a big wave and there is fog all around you. You can just see that you're a passenger in a weird sense. Things are out of your control. It was just that kind of feeling that I wanted to express."
    Flag FloridaGuyon October 18, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Could it be a Juda's inner speech about betraying Jesus?
    It occured to me yesterday, and since then I have a much more deep feeling about this song, but maybe I'm mistaken. Some verses make sense for me on this subject.
    Flag josteron July 10, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:i know that arcade fire usually has a reference to things political or biblical... but im really not seeing it in this one. i definitely see an abusive relationship and such but i cant seem to take that piece and see if it fits anywhere else in a "grand scheme" kinda way.
    Flag soundandfuryon January 29, 2011   Link
  • 0
    My Interpretation:"You've got your reasons
    And me, I've got mine
    But all the reasons I gave
    Were just lies
    To buy myself some time"

    This makes me think of the current situation that my ex & I are in. We don't want to be apart, & I keep making excuses to my friends about the whole ordeal.
    Flagged zmbklr13on October 02, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:End of This song is the best!!
    Flag bm15420on August 01, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:This is one of my favorite songs on this album. His voice is a bit reminiscent of Leonard Cohen in some parts of this song.
    Flag OutsideOfSaneon June 24, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:This song really reminds me of the relationship in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. That they have their problems, but he obviously wants to get back together.
    Funny, that's my favorite movie, and this is my favorite band.
    Fucking amazing song.
    Flagged bananafish66on January 24, 2010   Link
  • 0
    My Interpretation:beautiful, sad song, I think about being in love, the hardest kind, between two people who love each other deeply but aren't very good at relationships whether for addiction issues or other self-destructive tendencies. Ultimately it's optimistic because they want to work it out but the sad horns at the end hint at failure in that regard. So beautiful and sad...
    Flag avanceon July 27, 2009   Link
  • 0
    My Interpretation:I am pretty sure that this song is not just referring to a relationship between two people. Instead it is also referring to the relationships between everything and everybody in this world. When I hear this song, I hear two similar stories being told, one being about a couple and the other about everyone.

    "An ocean of noise
    I first heard your voice"
    The ocean of noise is everything connecting everyone and everything on this planet. It is the human interaction, nature, politics, economics, etc...

    "Now who here among us
    Still believes in choice?
    Not I"
    The speaker seems to be doubting free will because the ocean of noise limits free will. "Choice" is affected and determined by the world around us (i.e. physics, governments, societies, jobs, etc).

    "No way of knowing
    What any men will do
    An ocean of violence
    Between me and you"
    This verse pretty much sums up the ocean of noise. It's unpredictable.

    At the end of the song, the speaker thinks it's time for both the couple and the world to "work it all out."
    Flag dejectedroboton April 21, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:The noises we hear and how they necessarily trigger certain reactions, forcing us to make our response work for ourselves. That is; the chain of events caused by his hearing her voice was unstoppable. A laydown-to-deterministic-love song, hah.
    Flag Chicopacon March 25, 2009   Link

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