The XX – Angels

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  Memory:When I was in a short-term relationship (we were both students going separate ways to continue our education) the guy I was dating played this song a lot. I guess it can mean different things to different people, but for us it described the feeling of being with someone you care about while knowing that the relationship will end.
  
  Light reflects from your shadow
  It is more than I thought could exist
  You move through the room
  Like breathing was easy
  If someone believed me
  
  This could describe being surprised at how much you care about someone and how comfortable you feel around them, especially if you weren't intending for things to get serious.
  
  And everyday
  I am learning about you
  The things that no one else sees
  And the end comes too soon
  Like dreaming of angels
  
  And leaving without them
  
  This describes the process of forming a deep connection with someone despite the cognitive dissonance of knowing that it won't last.
  
  And with words unspoken
  A silent devotion
  I know you know what I mean
  And the end is unknown
  But I think I'm ready
  As long as you're with me
  
  This describes the willingness to endure the pain of a relationship and breakup for the companionship of someone you value. The "words unspoken" are them both knowing that they became more attached than they wanted to be and although the end will be painful the whole experience will still have been worth it if they can count on each other for understanding and support.
  
  Just my experience! Thanks!

  Flagged Cassandra108on February 28, 2013   Link

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• +12
  My Interpretation:I just listened to this song five times in a row on the way to work this morning. It is perhaps the most straightforward and earnest declaration of love committed to song. It will be my wedding song.
  
  I think it's about three distinct phases of falling in love with someone.
  
  Phase One: The Meeting
  "Light reflects from your shadow
  It is more than I thought could exist
  You move through the room
  Like breathing was easy."
  
  That's about seeing someone and instantly becoming smitten with them. Their every movement is magical. And that feeling is so personal that if she could share it with you, make you understand what she alone is seeing you'd be "in love with you as I am."
  
  Phase Two: Getting To Know You
  "And everyday
  I am learning about you
  The things that no one else sees
  And the end comes too soon"
  
  Spending time with someone and they share secrets and you fall for them even more and understand their deeper selves. This phase of love also has that sense of yearning, like when you spend time with someone and now it's time to go home, or it's 1am and you have to get off the phone. That feeling is like "dreaming of angels, and leaving without them."
  
  Phase Three: Reciprocity/Commitment
  "And with words unspoken
  A silent devotion
  I know you know what I mean
  And the end is unknown
  But I think I'm ready
  As long as you're with me"
  
  Remember the end of "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" where Joel and Clementine know how their relationship will end but they shrug it off and decide to be together anyway? That's the fear most of us have when we fall in love and are ready to commit to another person, but will it work? Will we have kids? Will we hate each other? She's saying "We love each other, the future is scary but I'm okay to go forward as long as I love you as much as you love me."

  Flagged kinoescalateon September 12, 2012   Link

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    Perhaps the best interpretation that could ever be made for this song. It's enchanting and I'm entranced every time I listen to it. And it really does fit so well with Eternal Sunshine, which, incidentally, is the movie that I have fallen asleep watching every night since I left my boyfriend at home to visit with family for 2 weeks.
    
    This album is just as good, if not better, than their first one. It's honest. And the honesty is beautiful.

    Flag geeastaireon September 12, 2012  

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    This song is beautiful and that was a really good interpretation.

    Flag fallonon February 09, 2013  

    0

    Excellent interpretation.. :) xx

    Flag MissCelicaGTon March 24, 2013  
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  General Comment:this song is simply about being in love

  Flagged gustavohkon August 27, 2012   Link

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  My Interpretation:I agree
  
  I guess this song is about the adoration like 'Creep' by radiohead
  
  Angels are so beautiful that you can't even try to touch them
  Overwhelming greatness, that makes you just see them from a distance
  
  "And the end comes too soon
  Like dreaming of angels
  And leaving without them"
  
  But you can't give up that feeling, and help him/her secretly on a wing and a prayer
  
  "And with words unspoken
  A silent devotion
  I know you know what I mean
  And the end is unknown
  But I think I'm ready
  As long as you're with me"
  
  Maybe I'm not the only one who think the chorus sounds like 'But there's no one as in love with you as I am'

  Flagged potatohoonon August 24, 2012   Link

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• +2
  General Comment:I think it is just about falling in love. She thinks she is ready for the relationship, but she needs to know they'll be as in love with her as she is with them.
  
  It's that fear at the beginning of a relationship - this person is great, surely they can't love me?
  
  It's that doubt and fear - but also there's hope, not all sadness.

  Flag darkfrankhson August 20, 2012   Link

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• +2
  My Interpretation:I think it's about caring about someone more than they care about you. they don't really notice you or care too. and you seem to think that they are so great and if everyone else knew them the way you did they would feel the same way.
  
  "if someone believed me
  they would be in love with you as i am"
  
  i also think she is saying that she is so in love with this person that if something went terribley wrong to where she was greated by angles she would be ok with it as long as he was with her.
  
  "And the end is unknown
  But I think I'm ready
  As long as you're with me"
  
  i love the xx and cant wait to buy the whole album of coexist!!

  Flagged ashleym917on July 28, 2012   Link

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  General Comment:To me, it sounds like it's about unrequited love. Dreaming of angels= loving x, y, and z about some person. Leaving without them= not actually getting to act on that love. Something like that.

  Flag lilyflowerliveson July 25, 2012   Link

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  General Comment:to me its about loving someone or something that other people don't understand.

  Flag ksmith08on July 23, 2012   Link

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  General Comment:this song is so pretty.

  Flag ksmith08on July 23, 2012   Link

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  General Comment:Quite obviously, the song is about adoration. What specific kind though is the tougher nut to crack here.
  
  Is the person a part of their life directly, someone that they're in an active loving relationship with? Is it a deep, heartfelt crush sort of situation, the kind where the object of desire seems almost supernaturally perfect? Is it a person that they love but is no longer on this plane of existence?
  
  Whichever way it truly is, I cannot say for certain. All I know for sure is that if this had been something that I'd stumbled upon as a 16-year-old girl with the world's biggest crush on a boy in my class, I would have been in my room listening to it on loop and swapping his name in at certain points as well.
  
  Also, I am really digging this song and it makes me very excited for the new album. New XX, hooray!

  Flag wednesday181on July 23, 2012   Link

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