Florence and the Machine – Landscape

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She can't see the landscape anymore
It's all painted in her grief
All of her history etched out at her feet

Now all of the landscape, it's just an empty place
Acres of longing, mountains of tenderness

Cause she's just like the weather, can't hold her together
Born from dark water, daughter of the rain and snow
Cause it's burning through the bloodline
It's cutting down the family tree
Growing in the landscape, darling, in between you and me

She wants the silence but fears the solitude
She wants to be alone and together with you
So she ran to the lighthouse, hoped that it would help her see
She saw that the lighthouse had been washed out to sea

Cause she's just like the weather, can't hold her together
Born from dark water, daughter of the rain and snow
Cause it's burning through the bloodline
It's cutting down the family tree
Growing in the landscape, darling, in between you and me

I wanna give you back the open sky
Give you back the open sea
Open up the ages, darling, for you to see

You put the gun into your mouth to bite
You pull it and spit out
Cause it's running in the family
Oh the rich and

Cause she's just like the weather, can't hold her together
Born from dark water, daughter of the rain and snow
Cause it's burning through the bloodline
It's cutting down the family tree
Growing in the landscape, darling, in between you and me

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Lyrics submitted by _lastwords, edited by Mellow_Harsher

Track duration: 04:02

"Landscape" as written by Florence Leontine Mary Welch, James Ellis Ford

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.

Lyrics powered by LyricFind


Landscape song meanings
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12 Comments

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  • 0
    My Interpretation:This song to me seems to be about a girl who's family has been messed up with a series of suicides and mental illnesses. "It's burning through the bloodline" and "born from dark waters" make me think that there has been more than one such problem. Now this girl, who has been relatively stable despite all this, suddenly suffers through the suicide of a close family member, like a parent or close grandparent, and is now unstable like the weather. The song is being sung by a friend who is outside the family and can do nothing to help. The part about the lighthouse to me is about an internal strength that had supported the girl through the previous troubles, but which is now gone. At the end when she almost commits suicide, I think what stops her is a desire to rise above her family, at least for a little while longer, until maybe she can move past the most recent death.
    Flag AbbyPaigeon January 05, 2013   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Currently obsessed! I've been beating out the drum line of the song on my bed, on my legs, on chairs, on desks, on doors. The last one weirded out my sister as she thought I was going up to the door to hug it. :P
    Flag ladyfrommarson September 19, 2012   Link
  • 0
    Lyric Correction:"You put the gun into your mouth
    to bite the bullet- then spit it out,
    'Cause it's running in the family,
    All the rituals of you and I"
    are the lyrics...
    Flag SummLifeeon August 16, 2012   Link
  • 0
    My Interpretation:I think that this is about a girl who had a sibling that she was close with. Her brother/sister committed suicide and she's grieving (It's all painted in her grief). Her life feels empty without her sibling and she wants them back because her sibling was the only kind one in her family. Now she's unstable, her emotions constantly changing like the weather. Born from dark water probably means that she was born under unfavorable circumstances (like, her mom accidentally got pregnant with her). I think that daughter of the rain and snow is referring to her parents. Her mother is the rain, because she's always crying and grieving over the loss of her other child and their father is the snow, which means that always working and he's never in the house. Snow just says that he's a cold and distant figure. The sibling's death is tearing apart their family (It's cutting down the family tree). The girl wants all this madness to stop but at the same time, she's afraid of what will happen if it does stop.I think the lighthouse bit is about a person she was seeing that gave her advice. When she goes to look for that person, they're gone. Either they left or they died. I can't be sure. Someone else is talking about the girl in that part about the open sky. They want to help the girl. She is thinking of committing suicide (You put the gun into your mouth to bite). The girl stops herself at the last second and realizes that killing herself will bring only more pain to her family.

    And that's what I think.
    Flagged RedBulleton July 11, 2012   Link
  • +2
    General Comment:I got the idea that this song is about a girl with a mental illness. It's strange but that's the way I feel.
    Some of the lyrics make me think this way:

    "Cause she's just like the weather/ Can't hold her together" -Unstable, temperamental (Not that all people with mental illnesses are this way, but this is how I interpreted it)

    "Born from dark water" -She has the genetic and personal disposition to mental illness, maybe she inherited it from her family.

    "Daughter of the rain and snow"- She's both full of sadness (rain) and emptiness (snow)

    "Cause it's burning through the bloodline"- The disease is affecting the family or runs in the family

    "She wants the silence, but fears the solitude"- She doesn't want to hear the voices/negative thoughts and craves for peace but she's afraid of being alone.

    And also "You put the gun into your mouth to bite" makes me think of suicidal behaviour

    I think it's a nicely written song, very poetic and sad.
    Flag canuckgirl105on January 13, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I love the lines:

    "I wanna give you back the open sky
    Give you back the open sea"

    I want to believe that those lines are about trying to help someone with depression, trying to make them happy when they're obviously not, 'giving them back' their happiness.
    I think the song is definitely about someone with severe depression.
    Flag cellophaneskinon January 13, 2012   Link
  • +3
    Lyric Correction:It's:
    You put the gun into your mouth to bite the bullet
    and spit out
    Cause it's running in the family
    all the rituals of you and me
    Flag lushsnowfairyon December 28, 2011   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:I also think it's about suicide and depression. I love the imagery of "cutting down the family tree" and it's interesting to imagine someone who is 'just like the weather.'
    But... I think the line "Oh the rich and" is something different... It sounds almost like "Oh the ritual between you and me" or something like that.
    This is probably my favorite song right now :)
    Flag lionheartedgirl334on December 19, 2011   Link
  • +7
    General Comment:I had another thought...when Florence was about 13 (I think) her Grandmother committed suicide...I wonder if this is about her Grandmother. And about how her difficulties were passed down through her family and as a result of the environment, and now have been passed to Florence, too (she suffers from depression)...
    Flag sakurablossomon November 30, 2011   Link
  • +5
    My Interpretation:I agree about the Woolf reference. I think it's about being a product of your genes and your environment. And being sort of doomed because of that. like we just find ourselves here with so much history behind us that isn't really our fault, evolution and traits, learned behaviours, through the "family tree". Then an environment that we can't always control and for this girl has been harsh (rain and snow).

    I too think "What the water gave me" refers to Woolf...and the following song on the album which I think is about suicide by drowning.
    Flag sakurablossomon November 30, 2011   Link

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