I'm gonna be released from behind these lines
And don't care whether I live or die
And I'm losing blood, I'm gonna leave my bones
And I don't want your heart, it leaves me cold

I don't want your future
I don't need your past
One grand moment
Is all I ask

I'm gonna leave my body (moving up to higher ground)
I'm gonna lose my mind (your history keeps pulling me down)
Said I'm gonna leave my body (moving up to higher ground)
I'm gonna lose my mind (your history keeps pulling me, pulling me down)

I don't need a husband, don't need no wife
And I don't need the day, I don't need the night
And I don't need the birds, let them fly away
And I don't want the clouds, they never seem to stay

I don't want no future (want your future)
I don't need no past (need no past)
One grand moment (one grand moment)
Is all I ask (is all I ask)

I don't want no future (want your future)
I don't need no past (need no past)
One grand moment (one grand moment)
Is all I ask, and I

I'm gonna leave my body (moving up to higher ground)
I'm gonna lose my mind (your history keeps pulling me down)
Said I'm gonna leave my body (moving up to higher ground)
I'm gonna lose my, lose my mind (your history keeps pulling me, pulling me down)

(Pulling me down)
Pulling me down (and it's pulling me down)
Pulling me down (and it's pulling me down)
Pulling me down (and it's pulling, pulling me down)
Pulling me, pulling me down

I'm gonna leave my body (moving up to higher ground)
I'm gonna lose my mind (your history keeps pulling me down)
Said I'm gonna leave my body (moving up to higher ground)
I'm gonna lose my, lose my mind (your history keeps pulling me, pulling me down)

Yeah, said I'm gonna leave my body (moving up to higher ground)
Gonna lose my mind (your history keeps pulling me down)
(Moving up to higher ground, your history keeps pulling me, pulling me down)


Lyrics submitted by llscience, edited by johnsstar

Leave My Body Lyrics as written by Thomas Edward Percy Hull Florence Leontine Mary Welch

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

Lyrics powered by LyricFind

Leave My Body song meanings
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33 Comments

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  • +13
    General Comment

    Wow, really, sex? Huh. Maybe, but I think it's a little more metaphysical than that.

    Sometime this site comes across to me as everything being either about a. sex or b. drugs/getting high which it just isn't.

    I don't know Florence's relationship with spirituality/practice of any kind, but to me it comes across pretty clearly as an anthem about one's own desire for shedding all the bullshit that keeps us so worried about whether we're doing things right, being cool, having strong attachments to things etc - and just giving oneself up into the flow of things, whatever they are. Being free of identity for a moment. Trying to let go of yourself and merge with the unknown. I dunno. That's what I get out of it.

    shespeakssoftlyon October 25, 2011   Link
  • +10
    General Comment

    This is a masterpiece, because only a absolutely flawless song can have multiple interpretations. It can be about a sexual encounter; one night stand; relationship or mental issues, even religious confusions. Admit it, Florence is a musical genius.

    connectorganizeon November 07, 2011   Link
  • +8
    General Comment

    I interpret it as a relationship between her body and her soul. It sounds like she wants to leave her flesh/reality because life seems to be cruel and trivial at times and she wants to experience the absolute peace, carelessness and spiritual experience of being away from her body and life in general.

    She wants to not care, she wants to lose her mind (turn off her thoughts), leave her heart (stop feeling emotions) and she doesn't need what the World has to offer her. She wants to feel nothing.

    Her body is the human part of her, not her soul. Perhaps she is just done with the human part of her and wants to be free from sorrows of the past and anxieties of the future.

    Just my interpretation, but I think anyone could cast their own opinion on it and it may work.

    EightThirtyon November 19, 2011   Link
  • +7
    My Interpretation

    Yes, this isn't about sex at all, especially not a one night stand. That's a very shallow interpretation. xD I feel it's about relationships, saying she's leaving them behind for something greater--possibly her spirituality.

    "I don't want your future, I don't need your past," and "I don't need a husband, don't need no wife," she's basically saying she doesn't need relationships. She doesn't want a future with someone, she doesn't want to deal with the past of her old ones. She doesn't necessarily care about gender, either. She just doesn't want to be a part of any of it. Even when she says, "I don't want the clouds, they never seem to stay," is another hint that this might be about relationships. They always come and go.

    "I'm gonna leave my body (moving up to higher ground) I'm gonna lose my mind (History keeps pulling me down)" The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd lines seem to hint at the spirituality. She'd rather have a higher, metaphysical connection than with a person (hence "moving up to higher ground). Saying, "I'm gonna' leave my body," reminds me of out of body experience in religion, and things like that. That's what I think of, kinda'. Then the 4th line, "history keeps pulling me down," I think is referring to how she always get dragged back into it, perhaps. Regardless of her feelings and wanting to leave dating/relationships behind for something greater, she keeps remembering her past and wanting to start again.

    That's just my two cents, anyways. Song interpretations aren't just wishy-washy, people. They aren't always about sex, money, or fame. ESPECIALLY if we're talking about an artist like Florence + the Machine. ._.

    Cobehnon October 30, 2011   Link
  • +6
    General Comment

    Ok, just my thoughts on this one:

    She doesn't really care about the basics of life or death, she is tired of being held down by rules and laws of life itself. She doesn't want his heart, it leaves her cold, relationship of course. Then I think Cobehn is right on the rest of it.

    I think its a song about wanting to break away from relationships, she doesn't need it anymore. But it keeps pulling her back, despite her will.

    "One bright moment, is all I ask" could be talking about a final hurrah before its all said and done. She wants to live her life focused on the spiritual aspect and wants one true moment where everything makes sense and to know that her life wasn't meaningless. "History keeps pulling me down" is back to the fact that she wants to be focused on her spiritual life and wants that to make sense in the end but her past of getting tangled up in relationships always tries to get in the way.

    Just what I think, but combine what Cobehn and I said and I think you'll get the jist of what we're saying anyway.

    Peas4Lunchon November 03, 2011   Link
  • +4
    General Comment

    Given the other suicidal references on the album ("What The Water Gave Me" for example) I agree with that interpretation. However, I don't think suicide here necessarily means wanting to die...just wanting to let go and leave all your troubles behind.

    missmeon November 26, 2011   Link
  • +3
    General Comment

    I think this song is about thoughts of suicide. She wants to leave her body, her mind, and her past behind. "One bright moment" refers to seeing the light after death. She keeps saying that she doesn't need anything because it's almost like she's convincing herself that she doesn't. She doesn't need to live.

    indieloveon November 10, 2011   Link
  • +3
    General Comment

    Leave My Body is the road to peace. Peace is unavoidable when we are no longer attached to outcome. The world is a representation of something greater, something unknowable. Attachment to the world is silly when you know that it is only guiding you to love. The world is pain, but it is a growing pain. Pain helps to show us what we deeply need and in that way, the world is a system of unfathomable love. What we deeply need is not the world, so attachment to the world is silly.

    AmberBon December 04, 2011   Link
  • +3
    My Interpretation

    For whatever reason, Florence wants to let everything go. "Everything" could be everything she thought she knew about love, or religion, or life in general. She wants to give everything away and have nothing to start with again. I wonder what triggered her to write this song?

    ucs806on January 29, 2012   Link
  • +2
    General Comment

    yea this song is not about sex i think the song is about forgetting about all the problems in your life and just staring all over

    yogi203on February 26, 2012   Link

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