It's colder than before,
The seasons took all they had come for.
Now winter dances here.
It seems so fitting don't you think
To dress the ground in white and grey.

It's so quiet I can hear my thoughts touching every second that I spent waiting for you.
Circumstances afford me no second chance to tell you How much I've missed you.

My beloved do you know
When the warm wind comes again
Another year will start to pass?
Please don't ask me why I´m here.
Something deeper brought me than a need to remember.

We were once young and blessed with wings.
No heights could keep us from their reach
No sacred place we did not soar.
Still greater things burned within us.
I don't regret the choices that I made.
I know you feel the same.

My beloved do you know
How many times I stared at clouds
Thinking that I saw you there?
These are feelings that do not pass so easily.
I can't forget what we claimed as ours.

Moments lost though time remains.
I am still proud of what we were.
No pain remains, no feeling.
Eternity awaits.
Grant me wings that I might fly.
My restless soul is longing.
No pain remains, no feeling.
Eternity awaits.



Lyrics submitted by David Gahan

Track duration: 07:24


Beloved song meanings
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67 Comments

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  • +2
    My Interpretation:Not to be morbid, but I've always honestly thought this song was about, er, 'releasing one's mortal coil'.
    In the beginning of the song, he speaks about returning to the place where he experienced his relationship with his love. In the middle, he reminisces about his experiences in love, and how it changed him. And at the end, he speaks about the life leaving him as he waits to rejoin his love.

    "It seems so fitting don't you think
    To dress the ground in white and grey."
    Symbolizing sorrow, death of both him and his love

    "Circumstances afford me
    no second chance to tell you
    How much I've missed you."
    Hints that his lover is deceased, or their relationship is unsalvageable

    "I can't forget what we claimed as ours."
    His inability to let go of the past, and the fact that it's dragging him down in the present

    "No pain remains, no feeling.
    Eternity awaits.
    Grant me wings that I might fly.
    My restless soul is longing.
    No pain remains, no feeling.
    Eternity awaits."
    Him fading from life and waiting to rejoin his lover, the angelic imagery symbolizing him going into the afterlife

    Depressing, but still one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard.
    Flag absolutioninanathemaon June 16, 2011   Link
  • 0
    My Interpretation:I see a lot of comments that it is about losing a loved one. To me the lyrics is about someone that died and is waiting for their loved one.

    "It's so quiet I can hear my thoughts touching every second that I spent waiting for you."
    "Please don't ask me why I'm here. Something deeper brought me than a need to remember."
    "My restless soul is longing. No pain remains, no feeling. Eternity awaits."

    These lines make me think it is the "storyteller" that died and is now waiting.
    Flag Sabathielon May 02, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:One of my favorite bands/songs/lyrics of all time.
    He has such passion in his voice...sounds even better live! This song is beautiful in everyway
    Flag Erika144on December 18, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:This song for me its obviously about the death of someone you really love.
    It makes me cry every time I hear it, it's perfect.
    Flag Laurizmon June 25, 2010   Link
  • 0
    Song Meaning:To me, this song will forever be associated with the death of my best friend and ex, the person who introduced me to this band, who died tragically at 22. But unlike many of the other interpretations posted (and probably because of my own association, I'm sure), I don't feel that this song is optimistic or about moving on at all. To me, it sounds more like the person who lost someone still misses them and isn't truly at peace--only numb.

    The lines "grant me wings that I might fly," "my restless soul is longing," and much of the first few verses, all sound like he's still truly missing that person and wants nothing more than to see them again. "No pain remains, no feeling" sounds like he's shut himself away to protect himself from hurting anymore. It doesn't seem like someone who's moved on would feel nothing at all. And finally, "eternity awaits" as the last line sounds a lot more like the person is ready to rejoin the person he has lost in death. To me, it feels like a mournful, sad song. Very touching.
    Flag staynighton June 10, 2010   Link
  • 0
    My Interpretation:Here's a different take...

    In the Hindu religious structure (Including Kundalini Yoga meditative practices) the 'Beloved' is not a term referring to another person, but rather to the enlightened 'godself' Our Beloved selves are, essentially the state of being we are "tasked" with coming to. Take reincarnation into mind here as well (i.e.: "It's colder than before" a return.) And, a prevailing theory that we as people are closest to Enlightenment, or 'magic' before we are made impure by the world around us, i.e. as children - "We were once young and blessed with wings.No heights could keep us from their reach"

    In the end I feel this is a song about that cycle of Living and enlightenment. Finding the Beloved Self because after all, when one attains enlightenment -
    "No pain remains, no feeling.
    Eternity awaits.
    Grant me wings that I might fly.
    My restless soul is longing.
    No pain remains, no feeling.
    Eternity awaits."
    Flag VoxParadoxon August 30, 2009   Link
  • -1
    General Comment:well i can agree with those who think it's about a beloved one who died..
    but everyone is free to interpret the lyrics to a more personal meaning..



    i want to tell you what this song means to me..


    it was year 1999 or 2000 (i was 12) when i met this guy marco in a chatroom..
    he was 5 years older than me, but that didn't bother me..
    we were just chatting..
    though this ended up with us being "together" as an "internet couple"..

    one day i told him why my mother, with no doubt in her mind, saw me as an angel..
    she was very depressed and saw no meaning in life; considering committing suicide. then she found out that she was having a baby; me.. which didn't make much sense to her, since the possible time and dates the doctor told her that i would've been concieved didn't fit at all for her.. she could only find one solution: i was an angel send from above, to save her..

    now marco took that story seriously..
    - i myself have never believed in angels or god or anything like that..
    he has always called me "angel", ever since...
    though i've always felt as if he was the angel of the two of us.
    ("we were once young and blessed with wings")
    he was everything to me; my best friend, my soulmate, my love..
    he made me become a better person - the person i am today.

    the story continues, almost 2 years later he "broke up" with me,
    he told me he found a girl he liked.. well they dated for 2 years..
    and when they finally broke up, first thing she did was e-mail me;
    "talk to him, he needs you" ..and so i did..

    marco and i kept in touch after that, maybe not as before, but still..
    he promised me, for as long as he lives, he will never leave me again.

    after him, i've had my share of heartbreaks (way too many times)..
    being abused, being cheated on, being physically torn apart..


    some weeks ago, 9 years after we first talked, i dreamt about him.. (4/12 -08)
    ("now winter dances here")
    i don't remember the dream, only the feelings in it..
    ("something deeper brought me than a need to remember")
    i decided to tell him.. even after us barely talking at all anymore...
    i don't know what happened or why, but somehow he was right there again..
    as if no time had passed, he was the same person, but even better somehow..
    as if waiting for me all this time, waiting for me to say something..
    so many years later and still we feel painfully drawn to eachother...
    we still have a chance, no matter how much time have been lost during the years..
    ("moments lost though time remains")

    i had been young, way too young, when we first talked..
    the chance of us lasting then barely existed, i realize that..
    so neither of us regret the years that passed since then
    ("i don't regret the choices that i made, i know you feel the same")


    the first thing he did then was to send me this song..
    and now he tells me "it's our song".. well i can clearly see why!
    it fits us so well... if you see it the way i do!


    he was, he is and he will always be my most beloved one..
    i could wait forever... though.. "my restless soul is longing" <3
    Flag MierinEronaileon December 30, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I never thought about the death possibility, though, until now. This could very well be words spoken to a grave. I think it could be either way.
    Flag Innocentdevilon October 30, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:This isn't a love song, it's one of the few songs of VNV Nation that feel very clear to me. It's about moving on after love.
    When you're young and very in love, it's wonderful, nothing can compare. But things happen, break ups happen:
    "...greater things burned within us.
    I don't regret the choices that I made.
    I know you feel the same."
    A mutual break up.
    He's revisiting a place of meaning to him after time has passed. He's not trying to bring anything back, though he's missed that person. Maybe at first couldn't get her image out of his mind, like seeing her in the clouds. Maybe he still loves her but isn't in love anymore. But he can look back at the happy memories without pain.
    A simple and realistic song. The lyrics are about not dwelling on the past in regret and sadness.
    It reminds me of a couple I know who broke up because of "greater things" in their lives and I'm glad they may stay friends. That is a perfect breakup.
    Flag Innocentdevilon October 30, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:ooooooo I love and hate this song!! I love it of its own accord but it was the song I would listen to when I was going through my divorce and it made me CRAZY!! fortunitly I am over all that now so I can love it again lol
    Flag Zensunnion September 26, 2008   Link

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