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I opened my eyes last night
And saw you in the low light
Walking down by the bay
On the shore,
Staring up at the stars, that aren't there anymore
I was feeling the night grow old
And you were looking so cold
So like an introvert
I drew my over shirt
Around my arms and began, to shiver violently before
You happened to look
And see the tunnels all around me
Running into the dark
Underground
All the subways around, create a great sound
To my motion fatigue
Farewell
With your ear to a seashell
You can hear the waves in underwater caves
As if you actually were inside a saltwater room
Time together isn't never quite enough
When you and I are alone, I've never felt so at home
What will it take to make or break this hint of love?
Only time, only time
Can you believe that the crew has gone
And wouldn't let me sign on?
All my islands have sunk
In the deep,
And I can hardly relax or even oversleep
But I feel more with your hand
In mine
When we walk on the shore line
I guess we'll never know, why sparrows love the snow
We'll turn off all of the lights and set this ballroom aglow
So tell me darling do you wish we'd fall in love?
(Yeah all the time) all the time
Time together isn't never quite enough
When you and I are alone, I've never felt so at home
What will it take to make or break this hint of love?
Only time, only time
When we're apart whatever are you thinking of?
If this is what I call home, why does it feel so alone?
So tell me darling, do you wish we'd fall in love?
All the time, all the time
Time together isn't never quite enough
When we're apart whatever are you thinking of?
What will it take to make or break this hint of love?
So tell me darling do you wish we'd fall in love?
All the time,
All the time
And saw you in the low light
Walking down by the bay
On the shore,
Staring up at the stars, that aren't there anymore
I was feeling the night grow old
And you were looking so cold
So like an introvert
I drew my over shirt
Around my arms and began, to shiver violently before
You happened to look
And see the tunnels all around me
Running into the dark
Underground
All the subways around, create a great sound
To my motion fatigue
Farewell
With your ear to a seashell
You can hear the waves in underwater caves
As if you actually were inside a saltwater room
Time together isn't never quite enough
When you and I are alone, I've never felt so at home
What will it take to make or break this hint of love?
Only time, only time
Can you believe that the crew has gone
And wouldn't let me sign on?
All my islands have sunk
In the deep,
And I can hardly relax or even oversleep
But I feel more with your hand
In mine
When we walk on the shore line
I guess we'll never know, why sparrows love the snow
We'll turn off all of the lights and set this ballroom aglow
So tell me darling do you wish we'd fall in love?
(Yeah all the time) all the time
Time together isn't never quite enough
When you and I are alone, I've never felt so at home
What will it take to make or break this hint of love?
Only time, only time
When we're apart whatever are you thinking of?
If this is what I call home, why does it feel so alone?
So tell me darling, do you wish we'd fall in love?
All the time, all the time
Time together isn't never quite enough
When we're apart whatever are you thinking of?
What will it take to make or break this hint of love?
So tell me darling do you wish we'd fall in love?
All the time,
All the time
Lyrics submitted by seepersauce
Track duration: 04:56
"The Saltwater Room" as written by Adam R. Young
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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The line "I guess we'll never know/why sparrows love the snow" is about cocaine. When you're on cocaine your body goes through constipation and fevers, which is why rehabilitation clinics prefer to position themselves in cold climates -- i.e. sparrows (drug addicts) loving the snow.
"Can you believe that the crew/Has gone and they wouldn't let me sign on" is STILL about drugs. There are a lot of references here, but I won't list them all.
Adam is an amazing singer. He really captures what it's like to be stuck in addiction and unable to watch anything other than My Little Pony. It's like a dream world...only it's always a nightmare. And Owl City makes me feel less addicted.
Even though the guy may not feel that he is in love with her anymore, he still cares deeply for her, wanting to be with her all the time. He wants to be in love with her (or vice versa) so badly, but he just can't feel it.
So, they keep asking each other if they want to fall in love (maybe fall back in love). And they want to, they say the do all the time.
They feel like they never get enough time together, and when they are, it feels like a safe and warm place to be. However, they question whether or not "home" is in the other person's arms. They have called it home for so long, that they just don't know if it really is anymore.
Define "relationship." They were in love romantically? Define "with her." Feel what? They have time together? I'm just trying to grasp your interpretation. It seems so foreign to me, although I've heard just two or three songs by the band and the band is not my favorite.
I doubt it will make sense to me in a few months, but that's OK 'cause so many other interpretations DO/WILL make sense. Could have something to do with my old age and less-than-average looks, or perhaps I'm just plain stupid. I have been known to play the fool for years on end.
I opened my eyes last night
'Opening the eyes' could be opening the eyes to a memory, allowing it to be viewed in one's mind. Boy 'opens his eyes' and remembers seeing Girl 'last night' (last night meaning any time in the past).
And saw you in the low light
Walking down by the bay
On the shore, staring up at the stars
That aren't there anymore
Boy recalls walking with Girl along the shore and she was watching the stars. The stars not being there anymore shows that the stars of his memory are not, at least to him, the same as the stars he sees now.
I was feeling the night grow old
And you were looking so cold
Boy remembers how the night passed and suddenly, was over, and remembers how, as the night grew deeper (older), Girl got colder. Also a metaphor for the distance- the older the night, the farther the distance.
So like an introvert
I drew my over shirt
Around my arms and began
To shiver violently before
Boy's back in the present and is chilled by the memories because he can't see Girl anymore so he draws his shirt and his arms around himself to console himself.
You happened to look
And see the tunnels all around me
Running into the dark
Underground
All the subways around
Create a great sound
Girl looks at all the ways she can communicate with or see Boy, but the great distance is darkness that is filled with great sound (busyness or other time-filling commitments).
To my motion fatigue
Farewell
Boy hates travelling, but bids farewell to this hatred so he can meet Girl.
With your ear to a seashell
You can hear the waves
In underwater caves
As if you actually were inside
A saltwater room
Boy and Girl share the memories of the beach and Girl listens to the 'ocean' in seashells so that she feels closer to Boy because they have so many memories by the water.
Time together isn't ever quite enough
What little time Boy and Girl spend together is nowhere near enough to satisfy them.
When you and I are alone
I've never felt so at home
They feel at home with each other, so if, say, Girl went to visit Boy, she is far from home, but she's still at home because she's with Boy.
What will it take to make or break this hint of love?
Only time, only time
Boy and Girl realize that they need to wait to see where their relationship is going before they can 'make or break' their feelings for each other.
Can you believe that the crew has gone
And wouldn't let me sign on
Girl has to leave to return home or wherever and Boy isn't allowed to due to obligations where he is.
All my islands have sunk
In the deep, so I can hardly relax
Or even oversleep
This is harder. The islands could be a metaphor for the distance between Boy and Girl, meaning that the farther from Boy (mainland) Girl (island) gets, the fewer islands there are and she is 'sunk' in her own life away from him.
I feel more with your hand
In mine
When we walk on the shore line
Boy feels his love more strongly when he is walking with Girl, especially along the seashore where they keep going back to in their memories.
I guess I'll never know
Why sparrows love the snow
Sparrows and snow seem like two contrasting ideas, so here, Boy could be thinking how love for someone (Girl) so vastly different could be possible, but acknowledges that it is a mystery to him.
We'll turn off all of the lights
And set this ballroom aglow
They'll finally turn off the 'lights' which, to me, based on personal experiences, could be city lights, as one (presumably Girl, because Boy seems to have the capability of returning to their shoreline) of the two is in the city while the other is farther away. Turning off the lights means they're so far away from the city, they can't see the city lights.
When we're apart whatever are you thinking of
Boy wants to know Girl better because the distance is hard to communicate over and wants to know her thoughts and if they're of him.
If this is what I call home
Why does it feel so alone
Boy is home, but he feels alone because the love of his life is not there (home is where the heart is).
So tell me darling
Do you wish we'd fall in love
Boy asks Girl if she wishes they could have a relationship rather than be friends who love each other and want to see where it goes.
All the time, all the time
Boy and Girl think all the time that they wish they could date.
This is, as I said, based largely on my personal experience of loving a guy who loves me and is very different, but we are waiting before we do anything so that we can be sure this is what we need. We're also far apart, leading to all my comments on the distance between.
"Time together is just never quite enough" hinting that maybe they don't get to see each other as ofturn as they like, I'm quite sure a lot of people can relate since time with your lover never seems enough..
"When you and I are alone,I've never felt so at home" He feels relaxed and at home around her, more then he would with others.
"What will it take to make or break this hint of love?"Saying will they be able to move forward and begin a relationship or if it will ruin their friendship.
"When we're apart whatever are you thinking of?" wanting to be able to read the other persons mind.
"If this is what I call home,Why does it feel so alone?" this says that they feel lonely whenever he's without her.
"Do you wish we'd fall in love?"asking if he would also like to fall in love with her.
"All the time, all the time" saying they do, because they in fact love each other.
On a more personal note this song really remind me of my girlfriend. I thought she was cute and admired her from afar at first so whena mutal friend introduced us I was delighted to finally become her "friend" we got really close in the space of a few weeks and I began to develop feelings for her.
Anyway our friends began dating, and we went to town with them one day. They had been nagging us for weeks about how we should "go out" I kept refusing to of course and so did she. One day they finally corned us into answering and i confessed.I expected to get rejected on the spot but it turns out it was mutal all along ><.
"Time together is just never quite enough" Really relates to us as my parents are quite strict and rarely let me out the house, so I don't get to see her as much as i would like.
"When we're apart whatever are you thinking of?"also relates alot.
While the Saltwater Room is definitely about two long time
friends, it is also about the arrival of difficult understandings.
The opening refrains talk about a vision, or waking dream, where
the vivid impression of one's love appears, and with great empathy
he begins to shiver in response to "her" cold. Then, with this close
bond between them established, "she" (the dream vision) looks and sees
his dark elements, his fears and repressions(tunnels), and then he is
no longer afraid, because he now realizes in real life that he is no
longer alone; he no longer has to run away from his dark side,
farewell motion fatigue.
The magic of these lyrics, so far, is the confusing of the timeline:
staring up at the stars that aren't there anymore'is placed in the
middle of the story, effectively discounting any importance of
a before or after, but placing the focus on the relationship now.
The title arrives just ahead of the chorus with a reference to a whisper
(ear to a seashell), creating the imaginary isolated togetherness of
a Saltwater Room.
The stresses of life, now after the exchange of empathy - his shivering
and her understanding, allow calmness in the face of abandonment by
others (crew leaving), dashed hopes (islands sunk), and their
physical effects (bad sleep). In fact, the warmth of this companionship
allows freedom from worries about unknowable questions (sparrows) and
creates celebration in the joy of life (ballroom aglow).
What is most troubling is now introduced. Given this closeness, why is
there not love already? Why is it asked "do you wish that we would fall
in love"? Perhaps fear of losing the friendship, but if so, do not even ask.
This closeness, this 'hint of love' provides so many benefits, but while
answering so many questions, the closeness does not answer the question of
'What will make or break this hint of love?".
This is troubling: that people, young and old, do not know what it takes
to fall in love. There are only "As if's", as if there were a Saltwater Room,
a secret place to find the answer to how to fall in love; as if we can wish our wishes
true.
The answer is provided in two special ways. Breanne Duren’s infinitely compassionate
and searching voice opens the question, for which Adam Young had already provided
the answer. Only time, all the time, will provide the means for love to appear.
But as a final twist, we also stare up at the stars that time has already
removed. So, the undercurrent running through the song is both that time alone
will allow love to grow and that time will also remove the chance for love to grow.
And I think that underneath this, we all know that we are powerless to prevent time
from stealing these chances for love from us, just as we are powerless in forcing
love to hurry up.
For all works of art, multiple interpretations are all valuable; I especially
liked the 'rainbow and sugar' allusion.
In other words, well done. :)
I feel like the singer in the song is having troubles in his home(like a divorce, abuse, whatvs). Whenever he is actually at home it doesnt feel like it. It feels alone. But when he meets a girl(who is also having troubles also) and meets with her, it feels happy and just right, they feel at home, and the emptiness of not having a proper home is filled.
Thats just how i feel about it.