Third Eye

This song is everything. It's my favorite off of HBHBHB and my favorite by Florence period. I'm just gonna make points,and it's gonna be really disorganized,but I don't care:

• I cried when I first listened to this song. I had been going through so much heartache and figurative punches to the face and worthlessness. I cannot describe the relief I felt from this.

• The "original lifeline" she talks about seems like it could mean two things. It could be the man's heart that was 'originally' there,and it's what he depended on in dark times,or she could be referencing a lifeline in the context of palmistry. In that sense,the lifeline is a line on your palm that dictates how long someone will live,and maybe in the song,she means how long their relationship originally could have lasted had they not broken up before.

• I'm heavily convinced that this song is referring back to Queen of Peace,where the man was in constant grief,but now he just has a hole in his heart since she left. In this song,she's trying to make him know that he deserves to be loved,more than she decided she was able to at the time,and she is that same person but is trying to change.

• I love that after the "I'm the same,I'm trying to change" part,she belts it with all of her might during the last chorus,and you can hear her voice struggling to rise above the drums and the brass. I think that's intentional,like she's trying to drive home the point that she is truly trying for this man. It's like breaking the fourth wall of music,and it's unstoppable in its beauty.

• The bridge is honest to god the best out of any ever to me. I like to hear it as,"Could you pay it as a tribute/The only thing you let hold you/Wear it now like a mantle/Always there to remind you/That your pain is a tribute/The only thing you (in general) let hold you/Wear it now like I meant to/I was there to remind you," because it feels so much more personal and contrite. She learns from her mistake and wants to really help him. Gosh. <3

• The way the instruments,her voice,and the background vocals change is incredible. The way the second chorus has that,"Hooooooo" in the background,and the third one has that vocal that grows into almost a cry. The way the pre-chorus parts build with that one instrument,and it's sounds epic,like from a movie. I don't know what kind of kind of voice she sings with during the bridge,but it's heavenly and ethereal. The way she sings,"I'm the same,I'm the same,I'm trying to change," starting kind of timidly but becoming confident in her words and screaming it by the end. The way she sings those lines last at the end of the song differently. It's all amazing.

• I think she says "And oh,how much" in a rhetorical manner,as in,"Look how much this grief tore you open/Look at how much you deserve as a person."

This song is just everything someone could really need to hear. Thank you,Florence.