My body is a cage
That keeps me from dancing with the one I love
But my mind holds the key

My body is a cage
That keeps me from dancing with the one I love
But my mind holds the key

I'm standing on the stage
Of fear and self-doubt
It's a hollow play
But they'll clap anyway

My body is a cage
That keeps me from dancing with the one I love
But my mind holds the key

Standing next to me
My mind holds the key

I'm living in an age
That calls darkness light
Though my language is dead
Still the shapes fill my head

I'm living in an age
Whose name I don't know
Though the fear keeps me moving
Still my heart beats so slow

My body is a cage
That keeps me from dancing with the one I love
But my mind holds the key

Standing next to me
My mind holds the key

My body is a . . .

My body is a cage
We take what we're given
Just because you've forgotten, doesn't mean you're forgiven

I'm living in an age
Still turning in the night
But when I get to the doorway
There's no one in sight

I'm living in an age
Realizing I'm dancing
With the one I love
But my mind holds the key

You're still next to me
My mind holds the key
Set my spirit free
Set my spirit free
Set my body free
Set my body free
Woo!
Set my spirit free
Set my body free
Oh, oh
Oh, oh



Lyrics submitted by mad_world87, edited by akimika, Mellow_Harsher

Track duration: 04:47


My Body Is a Cage song meanings
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145 Comments

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  • 0
    General Comment:I think the meaning for this song is quiet simple. As the song says, "My Body is cage keeping me from dancing with the one I love." Its about the doubt to phisically dance with the person he has a liking for, or to ask, take the realsionship to the next level ect.
    Flag ThatGingeron April 26, 2013   Link
  • 0
    My Interpretation:When I first heard this song, and the "that keeps me from dancing with the one I love" line, I immediately thought of of like, a LGBT theme. The singer's body is a cage, i.e. because of the backlash there is with gay marriage, and just generally gay acceptance, and so the singer's gender stops them from "dancing" (being) with the one they love.

    The stage bit, and the "hollow play"? Perhaps the singer pretending they are straight. Pretending, and they feel nothing but hollow inside. The living in an age bit, I'm not so sure about when it comes to this theme I managed to connect to the song. Maybe they mean that everyone says they accept gays, but when it comes deep down to it, and the singer coming out as gay, they are actually quite harsh and different.
    Flagged branstarkon February 14, 2013   Link
  • +1
    My Opinion:Body is caged by depression and anxiety. Can't find the "key" in the mind to get moving, reach out.
    Flagged lexbcmomon November 22, 2012   Link
  • 0
    Lyric Correction:am i the only one who knows that the lyrics are
    "im living in an age
    that screams my name at night
    but when i get to the doorway
    theres noone in sight"
    ???
    and hes says "doesnt mean your forgiven" not "that dont mean your forgiven"
    Flag honorandpeaceon July 16, 2012   Link
  • +2
    My Interpretation:I believe this song is talking about a man who can't be with the one he loves because she is dead, he wants to be with her but he would have to be dead too (set my spirit free) and he has to make the choice to die or not (my mind holds the key). She is still in his heart but he can't truly be with her.

    He's standing on a stage of fear and self doubt, this might mean he's contemplating whether or not he should die but he fears she may not be there when his spirit is free..
    "It's a hollow play but they'll clap anyway" could be saying he has no purpose without her and no reasons to live in so much pain because everyone dies in the end.

    "I'm living in an age That calls darkness light" may mean people today don't show if they are sad and he shows his feelings and his sadness (Though my language is dead).
    Or it could mean he DOESN'T show his sadness because the way of openly expressing your feelings is dead.

    But either way he still can't get her out of his head (Still the shapes fill my head)

    "I'm living in an age Whose name I don't know" He doesn't know what is happening around him because he feels too dead inside to notice anything around him, but the fear of never seeing his love again even if his spirit is freed keeps him alive (Though the fear keeps me moving Still my heart beats so slow).

    "Still turning in the night" He is having nightmares about when he dies, and his spirit is freed, she isn't there anyways. (But when I get to the doorway There's no one in sight)

    "Realizing I'm dancing With the one I love" He might as well be dead because, to him, he feels dead.

    I'm still working on the "We take what we're given Just because you've forgotten, that don't mean you're forgiven" part.
    Flag Jacabbbon May 31, 2012   Link
  • -6
    General Comment:I don't claim to know exactly what this song is about, but it is a cover from Peter Gabriel. I was a little shocked when I found out, as I cannot find any reference or credit given to Gabriel on the album. If you listen to his version it is clear though.

    My take on it was always that he loved someone who is now dead, and he yearns to have his spirit freed from his body and reunited with her in heaven.
    Flagged Bad23Llamaon May 21, 2012   Link
  • -3
    General Comment:This song is actually quite clear. The singer is insecure about his/her body. The body being a cage that keeps him/her from "dancing" with the one he/she loves is saying that the reason is his/her body. The, her mind. is actually what can really help him/her accept him/herself. The play is the way other people perceive him/her, and it being of fear and self-doubt, they see, but "clap anyways". or in this case say "nah, you looks great". The age is this generation that causes self-doubt. It's all a big metaphor.
    Flagged JustCallMeDiegoon February 22, 2012   Link
  • -1
    General Comment:The album is about the war in the middle east. I think that the song, therefore, is about a crippled veteran, but has a dual meaning about attaining peace.

    For the soldier part of the message:
    "My body is a cage...the one I love" - quite possibly paralyzed from his injuries, or otherwise incapacitated in a major way (no legs, etc), and obviously can't dance with his wife/girlfriend/lover.

    "I'm standing on a stage ... but they'll clap anyway" - people look at wounded vets and think that they're heroes for carrying on, that they're so brave and such incredible people. He's saying that it's all just an act, and a barely passable one at that, but they'll still think those things.

    "Living in an age that call darkness light" - obvious enough yeah? We look at war and the soldiers who fight it as a noble and heroic thing. To us it's a good thing. He knows it's not.

    "My language is dead, though the shapes fill my head" - he was a trained soldier, but now he can't fight (the "language" of his craft). Yet, he still has flashbacks and memories of being in battle.

    "We take what we're given... don't mean you're forgiven" - he's broken, and he's got to live with it now and take what he's given. Even if he puts the anger and pain behind him and forgets about it, it won't fix his crippled body - as though his wounds are a punishment.

    "I'm living in an age, realizing I'm dancing with the one I love" - he comes to the realization that in this age, we love inflicting pain and suffering on each other. Every day that he carries on that act, up on that stage in front of the world, he's dancing with that pain and suffering. It's sort of admitting that you reap what you sow.

    The end is him asking to die. Just get me out of this bed/chair/body and let me die so that in my spirit I can be free to dance and love again.

    The religious/peace tone has already been touched on, and goes along with some of the soldier stuff about 'dancing with suffering' and the like. Sort of saying that there's peace out there, we can have it, but we're too tied up in the physical world (or maybe too crippled to deliver the message, in the soldier's case) to ever attain it.
    Flag SlyBlu7on February 15, 2012   Link
  • 0
    My Interpretation:I have heard many people say that they believe this song is about a man who is unable to obtain a woman because of some fault in him. What I love about this song is that while the lyrics are suggestive of this situation it is also fairly easy to apply them to others.

    This piece reminds me of an epic space saga, the trumpets, scale, atmosphere all evoke a Sci-Fi related theme; to me at least.
    I like to think this song is about an angel who has fallen to Earth, he is forever trapped in his human forum and has no way of ever continuing his role in Heaven. There is a way back however, hence his mind holding a key, a metaphor for some loop hole in achieving ascension. The age he inhabits is one that he does not know personally, the darkness and corruption are of a scale he has never seen, he tries to remember the basic morals he was taught yet they are nowhere to be seen in this new frightening land.
    The crescendo makes me feel as if he has achieved this goal of returning to Heaven, that, or he has died trying to so either way he no longer has to worry or fear this horrid world he has called home.

    Even if you dont agree keep this in mind next time youare listening to it.
    Flag maxgygeron January 27, 2012   Link
  • +2
    General Comment:It hits me really hard, because this is exactly how I felt in my own life until recently. The song is fairly simple: the speaker is simply describing what it's like to struggle with your own internal voices telling you not to go after what feels right. Either that, or I don't even know what lyrics are for :-P
    Flagged bernlin2000on December 27, 2011   Link

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