And the heart is hard to translate
It has a language of it's own
It talks in tongues and quiet sighs
And prayers and proclamations in the grand days
Of great men and the smallest of gestures
In short shallow gasps

But with all my education
I can't seem to commend it
And the words are all escaping me
And coming back all damaged
And I would put them back in poetry
If I only knew how, I can't seem to understand it

And I would give all this and heaven too
I would give it all if only for a moment
That I could just understand
The meaning of the word you see
'Cause I've been scrawling it forever
But it never makes sense to me at all

And it talks to me in tiptoes
And sings to me inside
It cries out in the darkest night
And breaks in the morning light

But with all my education
I can't seem to commend it
And the words are all escaping
And coming back all damaged
And I would put them back in poetry
If I only knew how I can't seem to understand it

And I would give all this and heaven too
I would give it all if only for a moment
That I could just understand
The meaning of the word you see
'Cause I've been scrawling it forever
But it never makes sense to me at all

And I would give all this and heaven too
I would give it all if only for a moment
That I could just understand
The meaning of the word you see
'Cause I've been scrawling it forever
But it never makes sense to me at all

No, words are a language
It doesn't deserve such treatment
And all my stumbling phrases
Never amounted to anything worth this feeling
All this heaven never could describe
Such a feeling as I'm healing, words were never so useful
So I was screaming out a language
That I never knew existed before



Lyrics submitted by ValH1618, edited by Mellow_Harsher

Track duration: 04:06

"All This and Heaven Too" as written by Florence Leontine Mary Welch, Isabella Janet Florentina Summers

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

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All This and Heaven Too song meanings
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15 Comments

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  • 0
    My Interpretation:When I read it, I thought the music talks about making lyrics! How difficult it is to describe your feelings, your thoughts and such in words, poetry, musics. How the lyrics, even when so detailed and well written, would never me able to really express the unique feeling of the one who wrote it.
    This lyrics are just superb.
    Flag PeJofAron April 14, 2013   Link
  • +3
    General Comment:I remember hearing Florence say before she say this song live that this song was about her home and family. To me, this is her wanted to figure out just what this feeling means; this unconditional, wholesome feeling of comfort and love you experience in life. Love is just a words and as she says: "Words are a language, it doesn't deserve such treatment." This feeling it seems to her can only be put into words but she wants more than that. Love can mean a lot of things, romantically, friendly and between family, however, it is just a word we say. It possesses us, makes us do crazy things, its an indescribable feeling. It means so much more than we even know. She would give it all just to get the answer: Why is this feeling described with one word? What does love actually mean?
    Flag btw2lungson January 14, 2013   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:This song to me is about understanding life. Not just love, but everything, about finding the meaning of life, about finding one's place in the world. It's about trying to find a word to describe one's condition as a human being, and the willingness of some to do whatever it takes to know that word.
    Flag AbbyPaigeon January 05, 2013   Link
  • +1
    Song Meaning:Firstly it's worth knowing that 'All this, and heaven too" is a 1940 film with Bette Davies playing a French woman who flees tragedy to a new life in America. I don't believe there is any connection apart from the fact it's a nice phrase to use in a song.

    The lyric itself seems to refer to the inadequacy of language to express heartfelt emotions. It's a beautiful song, one of their best.
    Flag raynermanon September 01, 2012   Link
  • -1
    General Comment:"And all my stumbling phrases never amounted, to anything WORSE than this feeling", thats what i always hear, like she's trying to express her love for someone, and she doesn't understand it, and she tells the one she loves, and she falters and feels Embarrassed. Beautiful song, inspired one of my own :)
    Flag FindingMyWayon June 20, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:This is what I hear:
    -------------------

    And the heart is hard to translate;
    it has a language of its own.
    It talks in tongues, and quiet sighs,
    in prayers and proclamations.
    In the grand deeds of great men,
    and the smallest of gestures.
    In short, shallow gasps.

    But with all my education
    I can't seem to commend it. (I don't think the word is "command". The "it" is love throughout the song. So why would "it", for only one sentence, change to mean language?)
    And the words are all escaping
    and coming back all damaged.
    And I would put them back in poetry
    if I only knew how.
    I can't seem to understand it.

    And I would give all this and heaven, too.
    I would give it all if only for a moment
    that I could just understand the meaning of the word,
    you see, 'cause I've been scrawling it forever
    but it never makes sense to me at all.

    And it talks to me, it tiptoes,
    and sings to me inside.
    It cries out in the darkest night
    and breaks in morning light.

    But with all my education
    I can't seem to commend it.
    And the words are all escaping
    and coming back all damaged.
    And I would put them back in poetry
    if I only knew how.
    I can't seem to understand it.

    And I would give all this and heaven, too.
    I would give it all if only for a moment
    that I could just understand the meaning of the word,
    you see, 'cause I've been scrawling it forever
    but it never makes sense to me at all.

    And I would give all this and heaven, too.
    I would give it all if only for a moment
    that I could just understand the meaning of the word,
    you see, 'cause I've been scrawling it forever
    but it never makes sense to me at all.

    And oh! words, poor language -
    it doesn't deserve such treatment!
    And all my stumbling phrases
    never amounted to anything worth this feeling!
    All this heaven never could describe
    such a feeling as I feel/as I'm here/as I heal. (not sure about the last word)
    And words were never so useful,
    so I was screaming out a language
    that I never knew existed before!
    Flag Wild Childon May 10, 2012   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:This is a magnificent song. She doesn't understand the language of love, and wants to give everything to understand it, even just a little of it for a moment. The mystery of love. Great chorus and very catchy. Katy Perry would never sing this, don't dare compare Florence to Avril Lavigne. This isn't as tribal and funky but beautiful. I hate it when "fans" kill songs for others with poor critiques.
    <3
    Flag annaburron April 30, 2012   Link
  • +1
    My Opinion:'All This And Heaven Too' is one of my favourites. I love Flo's lyrics and music; I can connect to a lot of her songs. This beautiful song, as I believe, is about feeling an emotion that is new to you. Flo is singing about an emotion that she couldn't recognise and she could only describe how her heart feels.
    Flag thejaguarchickon April 28, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Pretty sure it's "I can't seem to command it," not "I can't seem to commend it."
    She's talking about how it (love, or whatever) is a language itself, and you command a language, not commend it.

    So yeah, it's command, not commend.
    Flag J181on January 11, 2012   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:I interpreted this to be an extremely spiritual song. It sounds like she is in a state of confusion and she's hearing something she has never heard before something that is beyond this world, but she can't make out the meaning. I do not think this song is about a romantic kind of love.
    Flag nimota92on December 15, 2011   Link

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