Lyrics for Flume as interpreted by J.Diddy

Flume Lyrics
I am my mother's only one
It's enough

I wear my garment so it shows
Now you know

Only love is all maroon
Gluey feathers on a flume
Sky is womb and she's the moon

I am my mother on the wall, with us all
I move in water, shore to shore;
Nothing's more

Only love is all maroon
Lapping lakes like leary loons
Leaving rope burns --
Reddish ruse

Only love is all maroon
Gluey feathers on a flume
Sky is womb and she's the moon

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kdundy
09-16-2009

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Here's a theory:

When coupling the lines "sky is womb and she's the moon" and "I move in water shore to shore" I start to think of tides, which are determined by the moon. I think that it's a metaphor for how his emotions are tied to her movements. This also helps explain the line "lapping lakes like leary loons". And I agree with HopeSoForYou that "gluey feathers" refers to the loons' feathers' color on the water. Ultimately I agree with pretty much everyone else about the importance of "reddish ruse" and "maroon" in symbolizing the often harsh realities of love.

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themilman
08-25-2009

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Lots of good ideas here, here's a new take. First, remember where he comes from/where this was recorded - upper mid-west, land of 10,000 lakes, in a hunting lodge. I think this song is based on several observations of the landscape/nature around him, particularly based on watching loons on a lake. Some of his other songs include Wisconsin, wolves, and the woods as subject matter.

It seems clear to me that this song is about the nature he observed, in particular that surrounding or on a lake, with particular attention paid to the loon.

Let me explain:

I am my mother's only one
It's enough

(Here he sees a gosling with its mother, only one gosling, it's enough for the mother)

I wear my garment so it shows
Now you know

(Here he speaks of the gosling's feathers, or some other animals feathers/fur/skin, keeping with the observation theme, could be a reflection on how he or others often hide their true feelings/meanings)

Only love is all maroon
Gluey feathers on a flume

(Like everyone this is open to some many interpretation [maroon from a sunset maybe?], but I would point out that even the groove down the back of the loon could be the "flume", anything really that is "V" shaped, so gluey feathers on a flume could be the loon feathers.)

Sky is womb and she's the moon
(The sky, where the loon fly, is the womb, and the mother or water is the moon. Alternately, the moon reflects the light of the sun and orbits around the earth so he could be referring to the mother loon as the source of light to the gosling or referring to the gosling as orbiting around the mother loon)

I am my mother on the wall, with us all
(He's in a hunting lodge so I immediately assumed he referring to a stuffed duck/loon/bird on the wall)

I move in water, shore to shore;
Nothing's more
(Referencing the simple life of the loon)

Only love is all maroon
Lapping lakes like leary loons
(lapping here refers no doubt to the water lapping on the shore, but lapping has deeper meaning:
1 a : to fold over or around something : b : to envelop entirely : swathe
2 : to fold over especially into layers
3 : to hold protectively in or as if in the lap : cuddle
4 a : to place over and cover a part of

So he could be allegorizing the protective and leery mother loon)

Leaving rope burns --
Reddish ruse
(this could refer to actual rope burns from when he was on a lake using a rope, or it could refer to the ripple from the loons swimming or landing on the water in the sunset, the original definition of ruse is "a roundabout path taken by fleeing game".


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FromGrace
08-24-2009

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In my head this song is about a mans relationship with his mother - the first line, for some reason allways have me think that he believes, or excuse himself for believing, that no other woman (girlfriend) will ever be really necessary in his life: "I am my mother's only one. It's enough". He is the only child, or at least the only son. I picture the character to have lost his mother at an early age, but he imagines her still being with him in some way ("I am my mother on the wall, with us all"). Her picture hangs in a frame on the wall, keeping the memory of her alive. Regardless the interpretation, this song is perfection.

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mogman
08-08-2009

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Great Song. Shiver down my spine every time. If Bon Iver lyrics is an art movement, it will be most similar to cubism. He takes simple and arguably ordinary lyrics, chop them up, stitch them loosely together with his amazing vocals. So instead of one meaning, listeners can interpret the song their own way. They hear what they feel. For example, "i am my mother's only one, and its enough. i wear my garment so it shows". I have many siblings, so my mother never knit us clothing. I wished my mother could spend more time with me. Justin wore the garment his mother made.


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tomasblender
08-05-2009

Rated 0 
This song i feel is about his relationship with his mother,

I believe that I wear my Garment so it shows is not a refrence to his heart on his sleve, i believe it is his pride in his orgins (mother)

Only love is all maroon i believe that he believes that the only real love which exists is that between family, those with which he shares blood which could be depicted as being maroon

I believe that gluey feathers on a flume refurs to animals being born, as gluey would indicate how they are born, and the flume being the vagina (assuming they do not hatch).

I believe i am my mother on the wall is him being in the uterus and moving `wall to wall` while being inside.

Finally Sky is womb and she`s the moon to em atleast displays his affection for his mom and i think he is stating that she is untouchable and superior.

Dam i wish he toured in Toronto.

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moqirl
07-26-2009

Rated 0 
i thought it was:

i am my mothers only one,
"that's" enough

and i thought it was:
only love is "on the rue"

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hollbee
07-10-2009

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Before I actually read the lyrics to the song i thought the line "only love is all maroon", was really "only love is on the loom". Although this isn't correct (at least not that I know of), it makes it interesting. The meaning of loom is to seem imminent (likely to happen soon), or impend (threaten to occur). Another definition is "to come into view as a massive, distorted, or indistinct image". Kind of cool. Think about it.

A loom is also on object used to weave yarn into cloth.

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loe831
06-21-2009

Rated 0 
Only love is all maroon
Lapping lakes like leary loons
Leaving rope burns --
Reddish ruse

for me, is the feeling of loneliness that can be felt when you feel like you are the only person that has a certain memory or a feeling about something painful. if people don't understand the situation you're in and it's not going well.

I am my mother's only one
It's enough

I am my mother on the wall, with us all
I move in water, shore to shore;
Nothing's more

For me, this is about family, and it's a lovely feeling.

I really don't understand what this could mean:
I wear my garment so it shows
Now you know

But I like it.



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1 Reply
HopeSoForYou
05-27-2009

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In my opinion, "gluey feathers" is more of a literal reference to the pale gray-white feathers of the leary loons on the water, which then gives way to one of the major metaphors of the song - water as his love, or ability to love. The flume, then, is probably a metaphor for these past relationships gone awry (romantic and band-related) - the extraction of that love in a way and to a place that is unnatural for it.

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KWahDB
05-06-2009

Rated 0 
Have to disagree strongly with this notion that the lyrics are not something to be noted and merely a variety of lexus chosen almost at random as their sounds moulds nicely with the sound of the music.. Justin is not that shallow and wouldn't write like that.. i think anyway..

In terms of what the feathers mean... my theory is that its a reference to a disguise.. It's a topic that's dealt with alot and is often portrayed as a metaphor relating to masks. In this use i think the feathers form the plume and its.. ya know beautiful and attractive.. but the fact that they are gluey shows how its fake. They've been stuck on. It could be him saying that he has constantly had to pretend to be someone else to fit in or to just meet peoples demands..

Could be way off but i feel that fits in with his reasons for writing this whole album and the circumstances in which it was written.

Thanks =)

KWahDB

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2 Replies
mali86
04-24-2009

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First of all, this song is gorgeous. I agree with the comments above about wearing your heart on your sleeve, and with that being the overall idea of the song - accepting and expressing emotions openly, not holding them back.

With that thought in mind, my favorite verse is:

Only love is all maroon,
Lapping lakes and leary loons,
Leaving rope burns --
Reddish ruse.

The idea that only love can make you truly feel emotion - the passion, the heartache, the desperate need for it. Maroon is one of those colors where if I close my eyes and think of it, it's this deep, rich color, but painful, too. It's not something anyone can really describe - just a feeling.

Lapping lakes and leary loons - I'm surprised no one else is from Minnesota here! The loon is the state bird - they're beautiful, but to me they seem like a very lonesome bird. You can usually only see them from a distance, sitting on the water in the middle of the lake, but their call is very distinct. There's a link below to a site that has some audio clips, just to get an idea if you've never heard or seen a loon. Growing up, it was always a real treat to see a loon on the lake, because they'll dive under water and come up hundreds of feet away from where they dove. I guess that's where you could call them leary - whether they're diving for fish or just disappearing from our sight because of suspicions - just an interpretation. :)

Then, leaving rope burns, reddish ruse - love does that to you, leaves a burn from the fall, and to say that it was all a ruse, a lover's clever trick to make you feel so much and then to take it all away from you. I guess that's where the loons could tie in - the deception of being in one place and then disappearing, diving under water.

http://blog.syracuse.com/indepth/2008/07/audio_hear_the_calls_of_the_co.html





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TundeTV
04-16-2009

Rated 0 
I think it's about a pretty personal thing he experienced but he wanted to express it in a subtle way, maybe it's meant to be left alone because of it's personal lyrics, and that no one will really understand them and you shouldn't look too deep into them.

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andruuub
03-21-2009

Rated 0 
mothers only child = love verging on obsession.....which can be ok.."enough" better than nothing
garment = fultile feathers glued on pointlessly to fly to the sky(womb) and to "she", moon. desparate fantasy one gets about returning to lost love.
garment shows = its not private, anymore. split-ups can go embarrassingly and frustratingly public , making him want isolation even though isolation is assosiated with heartache.... now you know
Only love is ALL maroon: deep red yes but also maroon means stranded/shipwrecked on island, no-one knows where you are. marooned assosiated with surrounded by water. crashed his icarus-feather-garment-fantasy on a remote shore...lost.. confused ...trying to find an emotional flume. flumes take water away from the main channel/river for an engineered purpose..they are man made.
the water emotion is all over inluding moon..the unatainable lost love(u2's light bulb over my bed)
also maroon is red.. reddish ruse (ruse is a deceit, a con') so clever abstact link.; what you think love is about at the beginning..its a ruse.
deliberatly confusing like the mind of person loosing or lost.
he is IN the water , not On it , ..he is out of (essential) control like water lapping ..moving shore to shore. seeing his own sweet memories is now like learing(means observing in a rude/pervy way) ..
old intimate memories of love-lost become inappropriate..for your own emotional sanity(hence:loons)
also no-one else will do so he is drifting from person to place, unless he just accepts his crash landing.
dont know about mother on the wall, maybe as its for us all, its a holy-mum type metaphor. virgin mary is a compassionate symbol no?
anyway i like it and look up lyrics and meaning so i can sing along knowing what its for.
thnks for suggestions: icarus and portrait



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generalguyz
03-03-2009

Rated 0 
For the most part I'm with fickyvid, but given what everyone is saying regarding the womb metaphor, I would assume the feathers on the flume could be from the wings he's losing as he moves from a pre-birth angelic state to a human state.

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fickyvid
02-23-2009

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I enjoy this song, like many of you. I find it quite beautiful. I've been unable to understand most of what he's saying while actually listening - he mumbles in that layered falsetto and it's hard to discern the words. But, I can't say I understand or even really care for the lyrics now that I know them. My main question is - what do feathers have to do with anything, especially a flume? When I first heard the song I thought maybe he was saying "plume" but obviously the word "flume" doesn't appear anywhere else in the song and being as this is the title, I can't be right. Anyone have any thoughts on this? The womb theory is interesting. But, in fitting with that theme, "gluey feathers on a flume" can only mean one thing, and it's really quite distasteful, especially when in reference to one's mother. I get the impression that these lyrics are meaningless and were chosen for a certain sound, hence why he mumbles through them to the point that they are almost unintelligible.

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MJT09
02-17-2009

Rated 0 
I see the first two lines as him saying how he is the different one of the family, but that is all he has really. Thats why he says its enough. For the garment part, he's refering to how he's not like most people and shows that through the wqay he acts and thinks. I don't know, this is how I see those lines. Lines mean different things to different people. You take it how you want to.

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jdiggerboyx1
02-15-2009

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i have this to contribute.

the second refrain, starts,


"i am my mother on the wall, with us all"
Which i think is a portrait of his mother while she was pregnant with him, also in the portrait are other close members of his family.

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Steve0h
02-06-2009

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I agree with dragonfly on the pregnancy interpretation,

"I am my mother's only one", rarely twins.

His "Sky is womb, and she is the moon".

Redness abounds, "Only love is all maroon", "Reddish ruse".

Amniotic fluid, "I move in water, shore to shore", "Lapping lakes like leary loons".

That umbilical cord, "Leaving rope burns".

All I will say is that a Flume is a narrow water channel.




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kevhecat84
02-02-2009

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I agree that 'I wear my garment...' means 'I wear my heart on my sleeve', follwed by 'now you know'.

I particularly love the phrase 'lapping lakes like leery loons' - great imagery/alliteration.

The 'pregnancy' interpretation is an interesting one also.

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lyrics01
01-20-2009

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I must agree with selfishisgorgeous in terms of the overall meaning of the song being "I WEAR MY HEART ON MY SLEEVE."

I think he also touches on his feelings of isolation and displacement within the world around him, and the danger that comes along with falling in love.

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redm0th
01-13-2009

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Well, I mostly agree with selfishisgorgeous. however, a flume is a narrow gorge with a stream running through it (so sayeth Google), while I believe selfishisgorgeous was reffering to a flue, which is part of a fireplace.

Regardless, great song. I think it is talking about the moon, explicitly, and perhaps memories that it recalls...

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selfishisgorgeous
01-10-2009

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in an interview i read (but cant remember where)he says that he chose some words for their rhythm and sound more than literal meaning. just kind of agreeing with trusso and blue.painted.tears.

having said that the lines 'I wear my garment so it shows/Now you know' sounds to me like another way of saying 'I wear my heart on my sleeve'. And 'Flume' is probably a reference to a stove he had in his cabin. maybe he just looked at the flume and thought it sounded right and sang it.

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Trusso32
01-10-2009

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I kind of agree with blue painted tears. Some lyrics are meant to be like wow those were some beautiful sounding words put together and they created some beautiful images and emotions...and it's left like that

If I had to analyze the lyrics I;d just say there;s and obvious connection between a child and mother.

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blue.painted.tears
12-12-2008

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who knows what it means? this is one of those songs, where, if you try to dissect the lyrics, it makes them less impactful than if you just left it alone. beautiful fucking lyrics, so mysterious, and i want it to stay that way.

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lyrics01
10-28-2008

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Garment, in respect to this song, simply means "an outer covering." I think Justin is demonstrating a wall between he and everything else in this world. He feels alone and perhaps betrayed by people he once surrounded himself with (whether it be his former band mates or girlfriends from the past) "I am my mother's only one, it's enough."

I believe he is using the British definition for maroon, which is a "firework used as a danger or warning signal." By doing this, he is showing us how the word love (and all that's in between) can in fact be sour.

I get lost in the rest of the lyrics, but I believe this first song sets the precedent for the rest of the album, which I believe is supposed to be played in the correct order in which he lists them on the album; ultimately each song is part of a narrative that starts with Flume and ends with Re: Stacks (which is his liberation).

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